This project explores the notion of participation within the graphic design and problem-solving process. Through projects using generative tools and collaboration, I explore ways to instigate controlled participation from designers and non-designers. I observe and document how the methods and means of participation affect the creative process during these projects.

Master of Regional and Community Planning / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional & Community Planning / Mary Catherine (Katie) Kingery-Page / There is currently a dearth of planning literature concerning participatory processes relative to children, particularly in the planning and design of schoolyard or playground spaces. Through a local, place-based, participatory approach emphasizing local knowledge and active listening, this master's report seeks to confirm the value of children in the planning and design of a schoolyard space. The study took place at the Northview Elementary School in Manhattan, KS comprising students as primary stakeholders, teachers/administrative staff as secondary stakeholders and parents as tertiary stakeholders. Additionally, the study employed Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s childhood cognitive development theories and five operational play categories in guiding the development of a learning landscape design aimed at supporting and maximizing cognitive development, physical activity and recreation. The report concludes with a set of five (5) recommendations designed to equip prospective researchers in undertaking participatory processes within school settings. The implication of this study is that sustained stakeholder engagement during planning and design processes of schoolyards will result in spaces reflective of the target audience.

The shift from traditional models of public service design to public-driven ones has been slow in the health service and particularly in the General Practice Consultation in the UK. This hesitation about fully adapting these design methods has been found to be motivated by a lack of evidence regarding the successful implementations of public involvement activities and the use of its tools, partial coverage of these tools, and failures to report on the use of alternative tools, among other reasons. This research therefore aimed to propose Human-Centred Design (HCD) as an underlying philosophy and a pragmatic set of methodologies to better understand the challenges related to the application of customer involvement activities and the use typical methods when deployed in the investigation of issues and opportunities for the design of healthcare settings. This research consisted of three stages. An exploration stage, in which it was identified and confirmed several research gaps as well as a specific case for study with a degree of complexity and known for supporting customer involvement approaches. These activities involved a literature review about customer involvement processes and a qualitative interview study (with 30 participants) in which it was identified that, a suitable case for study to perform a large ethnographic investigation using representative Human-Centred Design tools could be 'Communication and relationship between GPs and patients'. A development stage, in which it was investigated the design of public involvement activities as well as the identification and selection process of some ideal HCD tools (Focus Groups, Future Workshops / Rich Pictures. Love & Break-up Letters, and Crowdsourcing) to work with the selected case. For these activities, a total of 72 participants were recruited (n=18 per activity). Lastly, an evaluation and proposal phase, analysed these tools through a comparative study to identify several of their strengths and weakness in order to identify the best tool or combination of tools. The outcome from this comparison suggested that among the tools used for this research there was not a most optimal option or combination of options and that the success of an involvement activity relies in the careful and thorough preparation of such processes. This research concludes, that the most optimal form of helping health researchers to undertake public involvement research and to better understand the process of identifying and selecting ideal engagement tools, could be by providing a best practice informative guide containing a simplified and comprehensive version of the most commonly found steps embedded in this kind of design practices.

abstract: Advances in technology are fueling a movement toward ubiquity for beyond-the-desktop systems. Novel interaction modalities, such as free space or full body gestures are becoming more common, as demonstrated by the rise of systems such as the Microsoft Kinect. However, much of the interaction design research for such systems is still focused on desktop and touch interactions. Current thinking in free-space gestures are limited in capability and imagination and most gesture studies have not attempted to identify gestures appropriate for public walk-up-and-use applications. A walk-up-and-use display must be discoverable, such that first-time users can use the system without any training, flexible, and not fatiguing, especially in the case of longer-term interactions. One mechanism for defining gesture sets for walk-up-and-use interactions is a participatory design method called gesture elicitation. This method has been used to identify several user-generated gesture sets and shown that user-generated sets are preferred by users over those defined by system designers. However, for these studies to be successfully implemented in walk-up-and-use applications, there is a need to understand which components of these gestures are semantically meaningful (i.e. do users distinguish been using their left and right hand, or are those semantically the same thing?). Thus, defining a standardized gesture vocabulary for coding, characterizing, and evaluating gestures is critical. This dissertation presents three gesture elicitation studies for walk-up-and-use displays that employ a novel gesture elicitation methodology, alongside a novel coding scheme for gesture elicitation data that focuses on features most important to users’ mental models. Generalizable design principles, based on the three studies, are then derived and presented (e.g. changes in speed are meaningful for scroll actions in walk up and use displays but not for paging or selection). The major contributions of this work are: (1) an elicitation methodology that aids users in overcoming biases from existing interaction modalities; (2) a better understanding of the gestural features that matter, e.g. that capture the intent of the gestures; and (3) generalizable design principles for walk-up-and-use public displays. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Computer Science 2019

abstract: There has been growing interest among learning scientists in the design and study of out-of-school time (OST) learning environments to support equitable development of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) interests among youth from groups that are underrepresented in STEM fields. Most of these design studies assumed the youth came to the learning environments without well-developed STEM interests. I challenged this assumption by enacting a social design participatory study to engage youth (aged 11 to 14), from groups that are underrepresented in STEM fields, as partners in designing an OST networked club to support the youth in growing their own STEM interests. Based on longitudinal ethnographic data, I report a three-year iterative design of this networked club. I characterize the heterogeneity of STEM interests that emerged and grew across the networked club. Building on ecological theories of interest development, and leveraging the cultural assets of the nondominant community, I argue that heterogeneity of interests, resources, and practices served as a design tool and a catalyst for the development of STEM interest in the OST networked club. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Learning, Literacies and Technologies 2019

Young children in the United States are widely using technology at ages 3 and 4, but to date there are no well documented participatory design methods for including this age group in the development of technologies. A few attempts at using methods designed for older children were unsuccessful. To address this gap in methods, this research developed Play-based Design, a novel participatory design method inspired by make-believe play in the style of Tools of the Mind, an evidence-based preschool curriculum. Play-based Design first sets the context for play and design through stories. It then enables children to plan play by selecting roles and contribute their ideas as they act and speak during make-believe play activities in which they interact with other children, voice agents, adult facilitators, and generic props. This research includes four sets of design sessions with 3-4 year old children. The first provided the design of StoryCarnival a web-based app to set up Tools of the Mind style play. The second set of design sessions led my research team through the development of voice agents to support Tools of the Mind style play as it happens. These two sets of sessions provided inspiration and insight for using StoryCarnival combined with voice agents to support design activities for technologies with physical and social components. The last two sets of sessions gave me an opportunity to understand whether Play-based Design could be applied to obtain design requirements from children for technology unrelated to make-believe play by focusing on obtaining ideas for Internet-of-Things applications in the home. The research presented in this dissertation required an interdisciplinary journey through child development theories, storytelling for children, graphic design, qualitative methods, software development, and related approaches from the literature. Participant observations, group discussions, and video analysis were used to collect and analyze data. Results from the last two sets of design sessions focused on obtaining ideas for Internet-of-Things technologies to provide evidence that Play-based Design can enable 3-4 year old children to contribute their ideas to the design of technologies. More specifically, in this dissertation, I provide supporting evidence for my thesis statement: “When applied to participatory design sessions with young children, Play-based Design can: (1) allow young children to express their ideas through make-believe play, which is a developmentally appropriate activity; (2) enable children to act out design ideas or verbally express them by conversing with researchers or voice agents; (3) support fluid communication between adult researchers and children; and (4) inform the design of technologies that facilitate activities that have social and physical components (e.g. tangible user interfaces, voice agents, IoT).”

This dissertation brings attention to the communication processes taking place during design of an Idea Zone at a science center. It focuses on the conceptual phase of design, during which designers seek to integrate the ideas and needs of stakeholders into design processes through such frameworks as Participatory Design (PD). In bringing a focus on communication process to conceptual design frameworks such as PD, I explore the assumed roles behind participatory design processes and the contexts created through those processes during actual design work. As these Idea Zone design efforts took place in a museum and also within the context of an ongoing action research program there, I explored the organizational challenges of cultivating spaces and conversations where designers, community members, researchers, and other participants cooperatively explored contexts and spaces for jointly designing together. A central assertion of this work is that the World Café, a designed discussion format, fits with the needs of a science center for inviting community participation in design processes. A related goal of this work was to test that assertion not as a success or failure but as an emergent and contingent process requiring changes and course adjustments through reflective practice. To do this, my central method was an ethnographic engagement in the spirit of action research where with the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) in Tampa, Florida I planned for and hosted a series of World Cafés revolving around design of an Idea Zone in the science center. Café participants included MOSI leadership and board members, designers, community members, University of South Florida (USF) students, museum staff, and other stakeholders. Data sources from the World Café included the Café planning efforts, conversations and other data generated during the Cafés themselves, as well as organizational outcomes from hosting the Cafés. Outcomes in this sense might include, for example, the potential for future Cafés around design of the Idea Zone or how what is learned in the Café becomes integrated into other Idea Zone design processes or everyday organizational contexts such as meetings at MOSI. In addition to the Café and as part of understanding Café outcomes, I also drew from data generated through follow-up interviews I conducted with Café participants including designers, community members, and others. Finally, I drew upon ethnographic data generated through my observations and interactions within the Idea Zone and the larger scene of MOSI, ranging from everyday conversations with museum visitors to the possibility of performances in the space. With this research we (MOSI, the MOSI community, and I) learned together 1) how assumptions and issues of participation play out during group communication processes in the conceptual phase of design, 2) about ways of engaging in ethically challenging work of designing group communication processes for design, 3) how generative metaphors for the group communication process might emerge from the World Café that foster flexible and inviting space for participatory design, and 4) how each of these local questions related to designing communication for design of the Idea Zone play out within the larger organizational context of MOSI specifically and science centers more broadly. Key outcomes from these four research questions include practical contributions to design for learning spaces in MOSI, how the World Café fits with Participatory Design processes at a science center and also potential redesigns for the future, how the World Café metaphor became a way to rapidly prototype new museum experiences, and how democratic invitations offered by MOSI to the community brought about creative possibilities for community design of the Idea Zone and for staff to engage in designing MOSI's broader organizational processes of change.

‘The commons’ is a concept originating from the traditional shared use of land, but which now often refers to any social asset, physical or abstract, that is shared. This research concerns one aspect of the commons, namely the knowledge commons. The thesis explores community roles in developing and sustaining cultural institutions as key components of the knowledge commons. It focuses particularly on processes of participatory design, and on the capacity of digital technologies to support community engagement. The study takes place across the cultural contexts of the State of Victoria (Australia) and Singapore. The three key aims of the thesis are to explore in what ways and to what extent: I. The emerging concept of the knowledge commons relates to the role of cultural institutions as systems for the creation and sharing of sustainable knowledge resources by their communities. II. The notion of participative design may be applicable to the ongoing development of such systems as multi-stakeholder partnerships to meet community needs. III. Differences in national culture may affect the generality of such an analysis. The research design employs literature analysis and multiple case studies as a basis for proposing new theorisations and an analytical tool to assist future action by cultural institutions and relevant communities. The main perspective used in framing the literature analysis and case studies is Giddens’ structuration theory. Structuration sees the continuing interplay between social action and social structure as the means by which the cultural patternings known as institutions are recursively produced. A complementary perspective used is Hofstede’s model of cultural dimensions. Other theorists from a range of disciplines provide perspectives on particular concepts or aspects, such as the commons and participatory design. Five chapters are headed ‘Foundations’. These seek to explicate key dimensions of the research, namely the knowledge commons, community knowledge, cultural institutions, participatory design, and the cultural contexts of Victoria and Singapore. Four chapters are headed ‘Case Study’ and deal with individual cultural institutions, or clusters of institutions, which were the sites of exploratory enquiry (generally consisting of interviews and observation, but in the case of Museum Victoria also elements of action research). The cultural institutions covered by these chapters are Museum Victoria/Women on Farms Gathering, the Asian Civilisations Museum, Public Libraries in Victoria and Public Libraries in Singapore. These insights are analysed to propose a series of related typologies. The coverage of these typologies includes resource characteristics, collective processes, and cultural dimensions. The typologies come together as components of an integrated, explanatory conceptual model concerning the relationships between the commons, cultural institutions, communities, collective processes (including the role of information and communication technologies) and participatory design within cultural institutions. In the final chapter answers are formulated for the initiating research questions. Also the integrated model developed by the thesis is used as the basis for a proposed analytical tool to assist action towards enhanced community engagement in the development of cultural institutions. Use of the tool is illustrated by application to several examples of collective action encountered during the research.

Ubiquitous computing aims to make human-computer interaction as naturalistic and functionally invisible as possible through embedding computing potential within a particular context to support human activity. However, much of ubiquitous computing research is focussed on technical innovation due to the challenges involved with deploying embedded computing, thereby reducing the commitment to the philosophical ideals of ubiquitous computing in research. This dissertation describes the investigation of a participatory approach to technically-complex research in order to understand how our view of the engineering and human challenges changes when the two are approached hand-in-hand. The domain chosen for this system was a dental surgery. Dentistry involves a complex workspace with computer interaction constrained by surgery hygiene. Ubiquitous computing offers a compelling interaction alternative to the keyboard and mouse paradigm in such an environment. A multi-method approach that employed ethnographic research and design prototyping was undertaken with dentists from several different private practices. A series of field studies used ethnographic methods such as observation and interview. Design events explored prototypes with activities such as design games, contextual interviews, role-playing and contextual prototyping. Activities were devised with the aim of providing a level playing field, whereby both designers and participants feel they can contribute equally, with their respective disciplinary knowledge. It was found that methods needed to be carefully chosen, devised and managed, in order to communicate complex concepts with participants and to constrain the design to technically feasible options. The thesis examines the design problem from the perspectives of a variety of different stakeholders within a participatory design framework, reflected upon by means of human-centred action research. Data was gathered through design speculations and observation, and explored using methods such as the Video Card Game and Video Interaction Analysis. Fieldwork was analysed using a multi-stage qualitative analysis process which informed further design collaboration with participants. The analysis of data gathered during design studies with dentists also contributed to the development of a prototype system to validate methodological contributions. The resulting prototype utilised off-the-shelf hardware and software which allowed for innovative customisation and development. In-situ prototyping (defined by the author as “participatory bootstrapping”) and a comprehensive knowledge of the domain afforded the creative application of technology. In addition to contributing to the prototype design, the interpretive understandings drawn from analysis identified how technical ideas were presented and utilised by participants of the studies, and how best to engage busy professionals. The final outcomes of the research were a multimodal ubiquitous computing system for interacting within a dental surgery; the development and implementation of a variety of methods aimed at communicating technical concepts and eliciting user motivations, practices and concerns; and a set of design principles for engineers engaging in design of systems for human use. The research presented within this thesis is primarily part of the field of human-computer interaction, but provides evidence of how engineering development can be influenced by a user-centred participatory approach. The benefits that derive from inclusive methods of design are demonstrated by the evaluation of a prototype that employed such methods. The contribution of this thesis is to demonstrate and delineate methods for developing ubiquitous computing technologies for the context of human use. This led to a set of design principles for the engineering of systems for human use: 1. Technology needs to be robust and simple to appropriate. This allows users to give insights on technology developments and also to allow users to discover for themselves how they would use the technology. 2. An evolving and carefully considered set of methods are needed to elicit communication between practitioners and across disciplines. The gaps in understandings and the different representations that arise across the disciplines provide essential clues to next steps in design. These gaps and differences form tensions that can be exploited productively. 3. Context is important for determining which design steps to take. Rather than abstracting a problem in order to solve it, as is usual in engineering design, the problem should remain grounded in the context of use. It reveals what the real problems are that need to be solved rather than the imagined ones. This requires an appreciation of the situated nature of action and of the variability of work. In turn it also requires an appreciation of what the human can and does do and what the machine should support. 4. Accountability in design is required. There is a fundamental tension between trying to make something work and seeing what really does work; specifically it is necessary to understand when automation is worth it in human machine systems. While engaged in the design process, engineers should ask how much technology should reconfigure human practices because of a useful outcome, rather than attempting to automate and converge devices for its own sake. A clear understanding of the constraints and workings of the work space needs to be balanced with the understandings of the limitations of the technology in order to design a system that improves work practice and empowers the practitioner.

<p>In 1996, the artillery regiment, A4, in Östersund was disbanded. Their former premises underwent remodelling to serve as the new campus for the Mid Sweden University. The express intention was that the new occupiers would be allowed to take part in the planning process. During 1997 the company Vasallen became the owner of the premises, by direction of the Ministry of Finance. Vasallen was charged with the management of former military premises and increasing their value with the aim of selling the property.</p><p>Thanks to their well-defined mission and good financial resources, Vasallen became a new actor on the property market. In the same year, a number of architectural firms were invited to take part in a competition. At the beginning of 1998, SWECO FFNS was chosen as the winner, and the planning process started immediately. The new campus was inaugurated on September 6, 2002 with the Swedish Prime Minister, Göran Persson, in attendance.</p><p>The aim of this study was to monitor how well the demands of the new occupiers regarding quality and environment were met, and how these demands were managed during the construction process. My ambition was to study the process as a case study in order to better understand and reflect on what actually happens in the communication between partners. The material on which the study is based was gathered by participation in planning meetings and by following the construction process. The Campus Östersund project was unique in many ways. In the first place, the existing buildings form a sound basis as they were intentionally designed with the needs and well-being of the individual in mind. Many qualities were thus already incorporated into the buildings on the site.</p><p>The strict regulations imposed by the fact that these were classed as historical buildings set certain limitations, while at the same time posing a challenge to be overcome. The stark contrast between a military regiment and the activities of a modern university placed high demands on those involved in the project. The user’s wishes and demands, working environment factors, structural issues and demands on comfort always have a tendency to take second place after financial factors. In this case, however, the owner’s and user’s joint ambition led to the reconsideration of priorities concerning, for example, the working environment. Finally, the project was unique as a fully comprehensive view of the process and final product was adopted by the two main partners. This includes, for example, observing environmental assets throughout the whole project.</p><p>In 1996, the artillery regiment, A4, in Östersund was disbanded. Their former premises underwent remodelling to serve as the new campus for the Mid Sweden University. The express intention was that the new occupiers would be allowed to take part in the planning process. During 1997 the company Vasallen became the owner of the premises, by direction of the Ministry of Finance. Vasallen was charged with the management of former military premises and increasing their value with the aim of selling the property.</p><p>Thanks to their well-defined mission and good financial resources, Vasallen became a new actor on the property market. In the same year, a number of architectural firms were invited to take part in a competition. At the beginning of 1998, SWECO FFNS was chosen as the winner, and the planning process started immediately. The new campus was inaugurated on September 6, 2002 with the Swedish Prime Minister, Göran Persson, in attendance.</p><p>The aim of this study was to monitor how well the demands of the new occupiers regarding quality and environment were met, and how these demands were managed during the construction process. My ambition was to study the process as a case study in order to better understand and reflect on what actually happens in the communication between partners. The material on which the study is based was gathered by participation in planning meetings and by following the construction process. The Campus Östersund project was unique in many ways. In the first place, the existing buildings form a sound basis as they were intentionally designed with the needs and well-being of the individual in mind. Many qualities were thus already incorporated into the buildings on the site.</p><p>The strict regulations imposed by the fact that these were classed as historical buildings set certain limitations, while at the same time posing a challenge to be overcome. The stark contrast between a military regiment and the activities of a modern university placed high demands on those involved in the project. The user’s wishes and demands, working environment factors, structural issues and demands on comfort always have a tendency to take second place after financial factors. In this case, however, the owner’s and user’s joint ambition led to the reconsideration of priorities concerning, for example, the working environment. Finally, the project was unique as a fully comprehensive view of the process and final product was adopted by the two main partners. This includes, for example, observing environmental assets throughout the whole project.</p><p>Brukarmedverkan i byggprocessen –en fallstudie 12</p><p>Building the “right product” is an important argument for including the end user in the project. By initiating a planning process in which the user’s demands and wishes are considered, one not only initiates the actual building process, but also a process in the client’s organisation. The capacity to participate in such a process within the organisation is, however, not always good. Clarity and respect for the processes initiated were not always particularly pronounced in this case. Lack of clarity sometimes led to confusion, which in turn led to complications in communication and thus delay in the project. The internal process in an organisation should, if possible, progress simultaneously with, and be firmly established before, meetings with the consultants. Theoretical studies have confirmed the importance of utilizing the process of change in internal organisational development in order to achieve a positive attitude among employees.</p><p>Participation of the end user in a large organisation is often based on representatives in working parties. These representatives should be motivated, be given the time required within the framework of their job, and have the confidence of their colleagues. The opportunity to influence decisions is great in the initial stages. The user should have knowledge concerning the various phases of construction, the financial and legal framework, and the rules and regulations governing the project. Being able to participate in creating one’s own working environment elicits various degrees of commitment and levels of expectation in the user organisation. Both the occupants and the consultants should have the capacity for this kind of development, especially the latter as they constitute the “front line”. The user should understand the relation between desires and possible financial effects. The price tag for alternative demands/wishes and the effects these will have on the final rent should be clearly visible. It is an advantage if this is made clear very early on in the project. The dialogue between the parties should thus be supplemented by the architect explaining to the new occupiers where limitations and opportunities lie in the project. The parties involved must have a certain degree of pedagogical competence in order to explain and manage the project to everyone’s satisfaction. A good environment is seldom described in terms of formulated concepts outside the architectural community. Projects in which the end user is involved thus provide a unique opportunity to start building up a bank of knowledge including expressions used by non-experts to describe concepts of space. Difficulties are encountered when all these views are to be accepted and implemented in the building process through descriptions and drawings. Words are replaced by numbers, and more and more actors are involved, for example, engineering consultants. We simply do not have all the necessary tools with which to express wishes concerning the physical environment. We can, however, bridge the communication gap between users and consultants by using computer-aided information systems. The ideas expressed by the user can be transformed into three-dimensional video sequences, and thus be confirmed as being, “just what we meant”.</p><p>It was apparent quite early on in this research that the technical terms available were not adequate to describe the events of this case. The end user’s feeling of not being able to keep up with the consultants’ technical concepts may lead them to feel that they are at a disadvantage, which certainly will not benefit the process. Here, the role of the architect as a pedagogue is important in leading the various participants into the planning process. One of the actors should perhaps have some kind of skills in behavioural science and Brukarmedverkan i byggprocessen –en fallstudie education. Perhaps changes should be made in the training of architects and other consultants.</p><p>Respect for the common process is perhaps the most important factor for its success, together with clarity and openness. These are terms not traditionally used in construction projects. The interpretation of the customer’s wishes, explaining the opportunities and limitations of the building, and planning for future expansion are the responsibility of the architect. Does a single actor have a reasonable chance of coping with this in a large-scale project? All the participants should gain broad insight into each other’s jobs and roles early on in the project. Respect for the responsibilities and roles of others can be built up by concentrated efforts to exchange knowledge through dialogue early in the process. The incentive for participating varies from one actor to another. Theoretical studies, for example, give clear advice that each actor’s interests in the project be clarified. Trust is one of the most important mainstays in establishing good communication. Feelings of suspicion and unreliability can be disastrous in this kind of project. The development of legal issues and forms concerning contractors and their work is also desirable in order to aid the process.</p><p>When the owner sees the opportunity to take an active part in the management of the premises, this leads to a continuous dialogue and process during and after the planning and construction phases. These studies have given me a greater respect for processes involving the end user, from planning to management. One of my most important personal  reflections, and a partly new realisation, is that the involvement of the user in the process has such a large influence on the building project. Communication and continuous information are essential in projects in which the user is involved.</p><p>Communication can also be made easier if the parties regard each other as fellow partners and not opposing partners. The period spent in education and training is the most important in laying the foundation for these attitudes among professionals. A great deal of responsibility thus lies with teachers to ensure that end users have increased opportunity to participate in and influence the building process. There is no short cut to customer-focused working methods.</p>