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Systematically involving users in product development is considered as a successful strategy and makes companies more competitive. User involvement in various organizational settings, activities or situations can clearly contribute to product development. In order to understand how, dimensions of user involvement and interdependencies between them are in this report identified and investigated. The result shows that the four dimensions of When, Who, Where and How are the most important to consider when involving users. These can each be broken down into a number of aspects that should be used when assessing and comparing sources of user knowledge. With the framework presented in the report, sources of user knowledge can be linked to one or more user involvement situations, meaning when and how to utilize it. The other way around, if a development process enters a certain phase, these aspects could be used to state what requirements there are regarding the users and the context. A source that is to be utilized must hence fulfill these requirements if the user involvement should be appropriate and effective. Additionally, the empirical study showed that apart from the theoretical aspects above, there could be several more aspects to consider when involving users. These are company-specific and should be identified for each company that wants to implicate user involvement. This study shows that there are clearly interdependencies between the dimensions of user involvement. These interdependencies make many types of user knowledge sources suitable only for the Strategy and idea generation phase, and it’s evidently difficult to identify, locate and utilize sources that fulfill the requirements of user involvement in the later phases of a product development process. The empirics showed that the interdependencies between the aspects of user involvement are neglected in many cases, resulting in user knowledge sources being utilized in a phase where they’re not appropriate to be utilized. To overcome this, many different sources are required in order to achieve proper user involvement, and combinations of various sources should be involved to “cover” the whole development process. The models presented and implemented in this study could be utilized in order to pinpoint aspects of existing sources of user knowledge. It could also be employed in order to investigate requirements on a source of user knowledge in relation to a current development phase of a project. This way, companies could specify which type of sources that are missing in their product development process and in a more efficient way work towards filling those gaps.

The Swedish housing sector has changed from being part of the welfare state into being market-driven. During the last century political decisions has enabled this change together with changes regarding the actors involved in the building industry. The role of the architect has weakened and users are not involved in the process of designing housing at all. I propose an alternative estate agency called Bricolage where the users are involved in the design process of their homes from start to finish. Bricolage would not find you the home of your dreams but instead build it together with you. The process started with interviews with the users where functions, materials, style, common spaces, light and atmosphere were discussed. The interview resulted in a written document and a storyboard that worked as a stepping stone to build the first model of the apartment. After that a second interview was held with each family to discuss the models and storyboards. Together with the family small changes were made in the model. When the separate models were finished I assembled them, making an apartment block of eight apartments. I presented the apartment block model at an event receiving very positive feedback from the user group with many of them eager to move in. Designing housing with the architect in a driving role and with a high user involvement the future design of housing can be of much higher architectural quality. The large scale industry of housing is difficult to change but small architect originated practices such as Bricolage can be a good way to take charge over the design process. A practice like Bricolage can have a close contact with the users, conduct personal interviews and really get to the core of what a family needs and want from their home. The transparent design process ensures the user that they pay for what they requested. For the architectural profession it can be a way to strengthen our role in the housing sector.

Produktutveckling i små sportföretag sker idag ofta utan vare sig strukturerad process eller metod för att involvera användare. En anledning till detta är att många strukturerade utvecklingsprocesser är anpassade för större företag med helt andra resurser. Vid involvering av användare i produktutvecklingsprocesser är den vanligaste användaren elitidrottare. Han eller hon har dock i många fall en helt annan kravbild än den vanliga konsumenten vilket leder till att icke maximerade, sett ur ett kundvärdesperspektiv, produkter utvecklas. Resultatet av detta examensarbete är en användarinvolveringsprocess anpassad för små sportföretag baserad på Sister Kenny Research Center Innovation Handbook, en produktutvecklingsprocess som i sig är baserad på en phase-gatemodell.  Involveringsprocessen fokuserar på användarkategorin entusiastiska amatörer, främst då detta är något som efterfrågas av företagen i branschen. Denna process fokuserar på hur små sportföretag skall involvera användare och frångår teorins rekommendationer på hur många användare som skall involveras i en produktutvecklingsprocess.  Processen bygger även på att idéerna skall komma från användare först, för att därefter vidareutvecklas av företagets produktutvecklare. Graden av kommunikation mellan användare och företag lyfts fram och användarinvolveringens intensitet i en produktutvecklingsprocess klarläggs. Den involveringsprocess som har tagits fram har även sammanfattats i en kortfattad guide som skall kunna användas av ett företag på en daglig basis. Denna innehåller handfasta tips om bland annat hur användare väljs och hur en workshop utformas. / Produktutveckling i småsportföretag sker idag ofta utan vare sig strukturerad process eller metod för att involvera användare. En anledning till detta är att många strukturerade utvecklingsprocesser är anpassade för större företag med helt andra resurser. Vid involvering av användare o produktutvecklingsprocesser är den vanligaste användaren elitidrottare. Han eller hon har dock i många fall en helt annan kravbild än den vanliga konsumenten vilket leder till att icke maximerade, sett ur ett kundvärdesperspektiv, produkter utvecklas. Resultatet av detta examensarbete är en användarinvolveringsprocess anpassad för små sportföretag baserad på Sister. Kenny. Research. Center. Innovation. Handbook, en produktutvecklingsprocess som i sig är baserad på en phase Cgatemodell. Involveringsprocessen fokuserar på användarkategorin entusiastiska amatörer, främst då detta är något som efterfrågas av företagen i branschen. Denna process fokuserar på hur små sportföretag skall involvera användare och frångår teorins rekommendationer på hur många användare som skall involveras i en produktutvecklingsprocess.   Processen bygger även på att idéerna skall komma från användare först, för att därefter vidareutvecklas av företagets produktutvecklare. Graden av kommunikation mellan användare och företag lyfts fram och användarinvolveringens intensitet i en produktutvecklingsprocess klarläggs.   Den involveringsprocess som har tagits fram har även sammanfattats i en kortfattad guide som skall kunna användas av ett företag på en daglig basis.  Denna innehåller handfasta tips om bland annat hur användare väljs och hur en workshop utformas.

The involvement of customers and other stakeholders in the innovation process is proposed to be a key success factor and something that makes companies more competitive. As a consequence, more and more organizations alter their innovation strategy accordingly. In order for a company to open up innovation processes, it is vital to foster a practice where there is openness for external ideas and knowledge. However, when external ideas meet internal innovation practices complex organizational situations appear. Creativity, for example, involves co-dependence of other persons’ strategies and actions. New roles for those involved affect hierarchies and knowledge sharing opportunities. This thesis involves three different perspectives of the same process provides an opportunity to study both individual and structural challenges. This research aims to identify on-going challenges for an organization during the transformational processes that adjustment from a traditional product innovation structure to an open service innovation culture implies. This qualitative case study involves two main cases and three supporting cases and aims to understand how users and other external parties, top management and middle managers experience open innovation processes. The results describe interactions between organizations and users or external stakeholders as well as internal interactions within the organization. Top management were dedicated to the idea of increased openness, but detected structural issues to deal with in order to implement user involved innovation. Among middle management, some individual aspects such as attitudes and relational issues matter, as well as organizational structures and practices. Users had mixed opinions about their participation in the process. Favorable experiences, such as benevolence and deepened relationships, were balanced by un-favorable experiences such as incapability and intrusion. Different dimensions of openness regarding open innovation practice are discussed. In this work a relational focus is emphasized. The findings assist managers in their work to create conditions for open innovation. Managers can benefit from this research by getting a better understanding of how different stakeholders’ experience co-creation of value. This is relevant for innovation managers in the process of redesigning innovation processes to understand different aspects of the interactions involved. / KIT / SIMGIC

Australian agriculture is one area in which a number of intelligent support systems have been developed. It appears, however, that comparatively few of these systems are widely used or have the impact the developers might have wished. In this study a possible explanation for this state of affairs was investigated. The development process for 66 systems was examined. Particular attention was paid to the nature of user involvement, if any, during development and the relationship to system success. The issue is not only whether there was user involvement but rather the nature of the involvement, that is, the degree of influence users had during development. The patterns identified in the analysis suggest user influence is an important contributor to the success of a system. These results have theoretical significance in that they add to knowledge of the role of the user in the development of intelligent support systems. The study has drawn together work from three areas: Rogers’ diffusion theory, the technology acceptance model, and theories relating to user involvement in the development of information systems. Most prior research in the information systems area has investigated one or two of the above three areas in any one study. The study synthesizes this knowledge through applying it to the field of intelligent support systems in Australian agriculture. The results have considerable practical significance, as apparently developers of intelligent support systems in Australian agriculture do not recognize the importance of user participation, and continue to develop systems with less than optimum impact.

The purpose of this essay is to study how parents of children with disabilities young people make their choice of support and service LSS. The study takes its lead from questions designed to determine which interventions parents use for their children. What parents think about today's choice and if satisfactory, or if they have other wishes. It is also about how parents experience the freedom of choice and participation in the selection of interventions. Furthermore how the parent discuss the topic of choice from childhood and parental perspective. The study is based on a qualitative method and four interviews were conducted with six parents with disabled children. The study shows that most parents are pleased with today’s services offerings. Many people use different types of interventions that short-term accommodation and /or personal assistance. Others believe that their involvement is important to the disabled person, because they can influence the selection of the service personnel and help with the scheduling efforts. Most parents justify they choice of actions for their children’s sake, while others sometimes take in consideration the parents comfort in order to get some relief and allows them to cope with taking care of their children over the long run.

User involvement is generally regarded as something positive within social work, and is something social authorities in Sweden (as in many other countries) propagates for. This study aims to highlight social workers perceptions and experiences of user involvement within the specific context addiction treatment. A context where users individual status has proved needed to be strengthened. Five social workers, all working within Swedens national government-funded social service agency, are given a voice on the subject. By using semi-structured interviews, the results show how broad and ambiguous the concept of user involve-ment is, when the respondents is asked to define it. This found is supported by earlier studies results, in which researchers also declare the concept unclear. This studys result includes se-veral examples of what the social workers comprehend the involvement consists of in their daily work. The conditions for user involvement to take place in this study’s specifik practice, shows to be closely associated with factors such as the bureaucratic regime, organizational framework agreements and with assessments of the client in question knows its own good (on the basis that drugs affect the human cognitive system in different ways).

No / Dementia has been a latecomer to the field of service user involvement. Although there are now beginning to be welcome signs of improvement in the inclusion of the service-user voice, at present those with milder cognitive impairment, those who are still living at home, and those who come from white, professional s are over-represented. The BSc/MSc Dementia Studies programmes at the University of Bradford recruit part-time students who are already employed in the field of dementia care. The majority of students work in long-term or intermediate care, with smaller sub-groups working in the community, in acute care and on general hospital wards. The client groups with dementia they encounter in these settings are diverse, and tend to have different needs and perspectives from those articulated by mainstream service user groups. For this reason we have been seeking to develop an inclusive approach to service user involvement in the degree programmes we run, in order to ensure that the whole range of experiences of dementia is covered. Over the last five years this has involved developing an outreach programme in order to involve people with dementia in the environments where they spend their time, rather than restricting service user involvement to on-site activities at the University. This presentation showcases one such project which involved members of the course team working with clients attending a resource centre for older people with dementia to develop a series of short film clips (Bay Tree Voices) which were then embedded into the course learning materials in order to model alternative approaches to communication. The presentation includes formal and informal evaluations of these film-based teaching resources from service users, students and care staff.

No / The Division of Dementia Studies at the University of Bradford has a 3-stage strategy to involve service users with dementia in practitioner education. This year¿s conference will be a perfect opportunity for us to show how the involvement of people with dementia in our Dementia Studies courses has moved from rhetoric to reality over the past three years. We now have people with dementia involved in the management, delivery and assessment of our degree programmes. A participatory video outreach project carried out in a day centre for people with dementia in 2009 produced a variety of audio-visual material including voice recordings, photographs, and film which people with dementia were directly involved in making, and which are now used as learning resources for students. In a parallel project, former carers contributed to a DVD that was developed as part of a dedicated training programme for Bupa care staff. Students on the MSc Dementia Studies (Training in Dementia Care) pathway are now also beginning to include people with dementia in the training they provide in order to complete their award. A further project to pilot methods of involving service users in long-term care, including those with severe dementia is to begin in March 2011, and early findings from this will also be presented. The presenters include an academic course lead, a MSc student, a researcher, a service user/campaigner, and current and former family carers. We will present using a variety of formats including small case studies, film, audio, photographs and service user narratives. We will also be open to questions and comments about the practical, ethical and educational challenges arising from this ongoing work.