Session 8: Participatory Approach of Design -> Theory vs Reality

Participatory Design: This is an approach used to design technological and organizational systems incorporating end user as a member of design team. By involving end user as active participants in the design process makes design effective within the context of usability.

Alan Dix (2004) suggest three specific characteristics of the participatory design. [1] This makes the design work oriented instead of system oriented as it tries to improve work environment. [2] This is based on the collaboration of design team and end user as a designer. [3] This is an iterative approach, which makes it flexible.

This design proscess uses different methods for effective communication between designer team and users. (Alan Dix, 2004). few of them are

1. Brainstorming Sessions
2. Story Boarding
3. Workshops
4. Pencil and paper exercises and so on.

Analysis of PD in reality: While writing this blog i come across very good websites which are very good examples of PD. few of them are as follows:

• Conversations That Work http://www.conversationsthatwork.net/
• Information & Design http://www.infodesign.com.au/usability/participatorydesign.html
• Interface Hall of Shame by Isys Information Architects Inc. http://www.iarchitect.com/mshame.htm

While browsing through these, i come across few examples of bad designs from real world. Let us have a look on few of them (Taken from http://www.baddesigns.com/index.shtml)

Example-1

Men's room sign This sign is on a men's room door at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. I was going to go in, but it seemed that maybe this restroom was for handicapped men only. Just to be sure I watched some guys walk up to the door, look at the sign and then walk away, presumably to go down stairs to the IMAX lobby, like the sign says. Other guys went on in, so I did too. It was a perfectly normal men's room. I don't really know what I was expecting!

Design suggestion: The words Men and handicapped need to be separated on the sign. By putting them next to each other and giving them about the same amount of salience, one is misled into thinking that the room is only for handicapped men.

Example-2

This is my cell phone. In addition to using it as a phone, I use it to see the time of day. The cell phone has the time on the display, so all I have to do it pull it out of my pocket and look at the display (See photo C.) Like many other people who carry a cell phone, I don't wear a wrist watch anymore.
The cell phone has a keypad lock feature which keeps buttons from accidentally being pressed and making "pocket" calls, while the phone is in my pocket. When the phone is not in direct light and you want to see what time it is, you can not easily read the display without the display light on (See photo A). If you press any button, the display will light up (See photo B.) Unfortunately, this also brings up a message instructing you how to unlock the phone, which covers up the time. You have to wait for two seconds until the message disappears and reveals the time (See photo C.) Two seconds doesn't seem like much time to wait, but it is annoying because it happens frequently.

Design suggestion

One solution would be to make the message smaller so it doesn't cover up the time (See photo D.) This could be done by having the message only describe how to unlock the phone, since that is what the person needs to know to use it. For me, and probably many others, seeing the time immediately is important, since this is our primary way of telling time.

Excellent videos on participatory approach:

References:
1. http://www.baddesigns.com/index.shtml
2. Dix Alan, Finlay Janet, Human Computer Interaction, second edition.
3. http://www.youtube.com

Session 7 Workshop: PART B

We continue working as two companies (U and Q). In your company, you are about to develop a new training event. You need the input of your company staff as well as input of the other company's, in order to make your design robust.

The following are three alternatives with some (only some) features:

• Participatory Design. Rapid prototyping, consultation with users
• Soft Systems Methodology. Build a model of the human activity of the training system; validate it with the mnemonic CATWOE
• Ethnography. Observe people when they plan a new training event. Take notes.

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Company U (the buyer/indian company) is going to organise a training event for members of both companies. The objective of the combined event is to understand the needs of both companies, and provide a solution or model that is suitable to both. The event is going to be developed by a trainer in the company U, making use of Participatory design, to ensure the users/participants in the event are involved from the design stage itself, and that the event caters to everyone's requirements.

The participatory design will involve consultation with the users, and rapid prototyping.

1. The trainer creates a plan for the training event, including what all areas he's planning to cover, and in how much details he intends to cover each portion.
2. He then sends his prototype (plan for the training event) and explanations to employees of both companies, and their trainers, so that he can receive their feedback.
3. The employees and trainers of both companies, respond by adding their suggestions to the prototype, and also listing further areas that needs to be focussed upon.
4. The trainer uses the feedback provided by the employees and trainers, to create another prototype, that includes their requests. He then sends this prototype again to all the employees and trainers involved in the event.
5. If there are further suggestions, or changes needed to be made, the users inform the trainer about them.
6. After reviewing the suggestions, the trainer changes the design to include the suggestions. He sends the modified prototype to the employees.
7. This procedure continues, until a satisfactory agreement can be reached among all the users.
   
8. Once the users have agreed upon a prototype, the trainer can go ahead and design the training event, which will be catering to all the users needs, as they were involved in the design phase also.
   

Session 7: Revised design of video conferencing using participatory approach !!!!!

Background: The previously proposed video conferencing design was presented to the company Q and company U employees. They had been asked for their own expectation from this design as well as for their view point on the presented design. They provided some valuable comments in order to modify the proposed design.

Participatory Approach: Considering all the attendee from both the companies, and asking for their ideas and expectations from the new video conferencing design, we came to know some very useful aspects which were missing in earlier design. {From our group of 4, 2 people participated as company Q employees and rest 2 as company U employees.}

Revised design of earlier proposed video conferencing: Active participation of employees from both the sides come up with missing aspects. After having a close look of suggestions, following modified design is proposed.


Step 1-9. ... Same as earlier ...

Step 10. While communicating the final mail of conference with all the relevant details, brief profile of all the attendees should also be communicated. This profile might contain some basic information of an employee such as Name, designation, department etc.

Step 10-16. ... Same as earlier .....

Session 6: Workshop -> Learnings from it.

Background: In the last session workshop we organized a video conferencing with the company who bought our company. The work shop explored the idea of 'Coordination' in designing of communication system.

Objective: In this workshop we have to reorganize the same video conferencing using the concept of co-ordination designs such as

1. Common ground approach
2. Affordance
3. Space
4. Deictic references etc.

and also, we have to keep in mind the emotional, technological aspect of the people and available resources.

Proposed design of Communication system for the given case: In order to achieve the goal of the video conferencing meeting and to make it successful, a proper communication needs to be put in a place prior to the meeting. We suggest to use the following system for effective communication.

Note: Steps written in blue should be followed by the child organization (company Q), and which written in red should be followed by parent company (the buyer one, company U).

Step 1. As this video conference is going to be organized by Q company, Q company is the responsible for the success of the conferencing and for the co-ordination of the meeting.

Step 2. Company Q should have very clear objective of this conference. Company Q should do some research about the background of company U, so that they can have better idea of the people whom they are talking.

Step 3. Before planning anything company Q should check whether they have all the required equipments to execute this conference, if not, such a meeting should not be planned on the first place.

Step 4. Once objective are clear, company Q should identify the people from their own organization as well as from the company U who they want to be in meeting, who are going to attend the conference.

Step 5. After identifying their own people, company Q should organize an internal meeting so that each of them can have the better understanding of the objective of the video conferencing. and should prepare an clear agenda of the conference. {Common Ground Approach}

Step 6. Company Q then ask company U for the video conference and its necessity. This information can be communicated using an email. Also Q company should ask company U for the date and time suitability as well as the availability of equipments required.

Step 7. Company U should analyze the objective and should discuss the same with their people. Also they should check the availability of required equipment/technology. If everyone agrees then they should come up with 2-3 different date and time schedules for the meeting, keeping in mind the time zone difference and convenience of the company Q people as well as their own and should sent the information to company Q using an email.

Step 8. After receiving the confirmation, different schedule of the meeting, Q company should consult their own people and pick one schedule. The same should be intimated back along with the agenda of meeting to company U.

Step 9. Once company U receives the confirmation information, they should ask their own people for agreement. Once all agreed, the final confirmation mail should be communicated.

Step 10. Both the Companies should ask their people to gather all relevant information and data. And they should decide their meeting place depending on the number of attendees. They should look for the equipments required such as smart board, video conferencing setup, computers, mike, speakers, pointing etc. If they don't have any required one, they should request other to use theirs, and should sent the required piece of information for the equipment. Similarly both the organizations should ask their people to follow meeting guidelines such as dress code, they should request their people to be at the place 15 minutes earlier than the scheduled time.

Step 11. On the meeting day, both the companies should start and check their equipments 15 minutes prior the meeting. They should place all the required information in place, as well as keep the resource sharing system such as net meeting, meeting-place ready. They should also assign one person as the controller of equipments.

Step 12. Being an organizer of the meeting, company Q should initiate the meeting. If possible all of them should greet each other in their own language (in most cases it is just a single word) and vice versa. Company Q should show the enthusiasm, excitement of becoming a part of company U, similarly company U should show the welcome and gratitude.{Emotional Aspect}. Also they should introduce each other with their designation. (Generally it is good in video conferencing if everyone wears a tag of their name, so that it become easy to point out.)

Step 13. Both the sides should adjust their language accent, use simple sentences/words.

Step 14. Attendees from both side should take care of the following to make the meeting for effective.

• Less noise level in the room.
• At a time only one person should speak.
• Should address people by their names.
• Should not speak in their own language, during the meeting.
• Should not chatter, if someone else is speaking. etc
  

Step 15. Equipment controller should take care few following things to make session more interactive.

1. Camera should always focus on the person who is speaking.
2. If complete room is not being covered by single camera, time to time different views should be used, it keeps audience engaged.
3. Noise level in the room.
   

Step 16. After the end of the meeting, a general email (minutes of meeting) of conclusions, decisions, discussions should be sent over to all attendees by company Q.

Session 5: Video Conferencing - A new look.

Cisco Telepresence Magic: A new innovation in video conferencing world. Have a look, it is worth watching.

References
[1] Website - www.youtube.com

Session 5. video conference

Video Conference


Session 5

Your company are going to set up a video conference with another company (they bought your company) you are going to discuss how people will be re-assign some staff to other job.

Think of following element:

- preparation : which element you need to consider? (room and equipment)
- content : how will you structure the video conference? Will you send some material in
advance, will you have an agenda?
- Closing : what will be the planned outcome, what happens if you do not achieve it?

Use the ideas explored in today’s lecture
Write a narrative with the above elements in 300 words in your blog

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Video Conference Narrative

In order to make a video conference, a well preparation and organization on both companies is required to make sure everything will work properly. For instances, how is the sound? Where should the microphone position be placed to make the voice clear? How was the LAN to do the data transfer? How does the webcam? What the room lay out? So in this section, the company will check on the equipment such as decoder, modems, webcam, microphone, projector, network to ensure it will run as it should be.

A suitable time arrangement such as deciding on day, date, and time for both companies will be one of the most important things to do especially with the time differences and schedule between our company and another. However, it might be difficult to find a convenient time for both companies. Therefore, we have to be more flexible about the time and have a clear discussion about it with both perspectives previously by phone or email. We need to consider meet the convenient time for us might be the inconvenient to another.

Because we held the meeting from a distance, both companies have to make the meeting in a comprehensive way to avoid any unambiguous. In this case, material and agenda will be certainly useful to be spread beforehand as it will inform participants about what each to prepare. Our company will make sure that all the participants should have the access of our employee information that will be shifted in advance, to give them a process to learn and make a consideration about it. The information will include their detail to gives a view of who they are, how their performance in our company, what are their achievement, etc. We also will use agenda to organize our meeting so it will not waste the time and keep the participant stay on focus. It also gave the participant a gist about how the meeting will happen and certainly it will give them a process to learn about the meeting schedule itself. To prevent a noisy along a meeting, the meeting will be conducted by a chairman on both sides. However, the other participants will be also welcome to speak up their opinion and added their point of view during the meeting.

After all the preparation are finished and the video conference ready to be held, what will happen on the meeting are both sides will introduce each other, who are the participants and their role on the company. After it finished, our company will explain about the agenda of meeting. We will introduce the employee background (from the slide) and give the other company some perspective about it. Then, our chairman will give the reason or reference why they are being shifted and how we will use the approach. Finally, we will do an open discussion about it, hearing what other side perspective, and it will lead us to the conclusion at the end. Nevertheless, there is always a failure possibility in order to deliver the information from video conference although the preparation had been done properly. If this happen, the chairman could speak each other in a closed discussion afterwards or they arrange to make a real meeting.

Merging between two companies

Session 4: Workshop, Oct 22nd 2008

Part A

Imagine that one organisation is merging with another. You need to consider how 2 (new owners and the old employees) group communicate. (Considering an example of two companies, Company U and Company Q, to better understand the issues involved in this transition. Company U is a British training company, that's been around for 20 years. It consists of 15 people, and Company Q, an Indian company, with employee strength of 200 people, has bought it.)

> What emotional aspects do you see involved?
> What would you do to improve communication on each side (owners, employees)?
> Any support of information technologies?

Emotional aspects: Negative aspects - job insecurities; downsizing; adapting to rules and regulations of new company; adaptability of new environment; cultural differences; loss of independence;shift of control; insecurity about remuneration, vacations; insecurity about efficiency of new employees.
Positive aspects - excitement over new things (new stationery, location, opportunities, ...); company going international, new market, better career prospects;
more exposure, interacting with new people; pride over merging with an international company.

Imrove communication: Keep everyone aware of what's happening, by emails and newsletters; joint presentation by representatives of both companies, example of working together; informal meetings, lunches; representatives from each company visiting the other country to get familiarised with the new environment; video conferencing among employees; constant feedback from employees by questionnaires and meetings;

Support of information technologies: Technology has made communication better and easier; video conferencing, emailing, telephone.

Narrative of 300 words describing the stratergies to make the merging of the two companies very smooth.

The merging of two companies is a difficult time for everyone involved in the transition. Consider an example of two companies, based in two different countries. Both companies involved have to work together in order to make the transition as smooth and hassle-free as possible. Good communication is essential between both parties. As far as employee concerns, both companies should make sure all their employees are involved and kept aware of what's happening. Representatives from both companies can conduct presentations/induction programmes together to make their employees comfortable with the other company and the people they're working with. Seeing their superiors working together, discussing the new company policies and regulations, helps make the employees comfortable.

Downsizing and job insecurity being the major issues, employees should not be made promises that cannot be kept. If any assurances are made, they should be ones that can be kept. Regular updates, through something as simple and effective as an e-mail/newsletter can help the employees be kept informed at every step and learn about the new environment.

The employees would be feeling a loss of their independence. Cultural issues come in, some practices considered efficient maybe considered as a waste of time by the other side. When a merger occurs, sacrifices are usual, but they should be taken as a step towards growth. Care should be taken to make sure both companies are comfortable with the issue at hand. Perhaps by getting feed back from the employees in the form of questionnaires and open sessions, involving employees and executives discussing issues face-to-face, would help in better resolution. Video conferencing among employees of the two companies can help both sides understand their work and culture, or even personal visits. Better communication between everyone involved can make the whole process much smoother, and the employees and owners will look forward to working together.

Hunter-Gatherers: Continued

>What do you learn about human beings in general from this comparison of collaboration now and in the past?

Human beings, when in a group tend to work together to attain their objective. This hasn't changed throughout the centuries. When faced with a common goal or adversity, they put aside their differences and work together. Even when there is nothing in common between people, they tend to find ways to co-operate. Humans are good at organising and planning, and hence they're effective at what they do. The organisational skills have improved considerably over the years, due to the development of languages, and modes of communication. They tend to make the most of the available resources.

>What do you learn from this comparison of tools now and then?

The tools required for any particular task are readily available today. One probably already owns it, or can easily get them from the store. In ancient times, man had to make use of what was available in nature to do his job. For example, to make a fire in order to prepare his meal, man had to find stones and dry wood. Nowadays, one can use match sticks, flares, stoves, ovens, micro wave ovens, and other facilities to prepare his meal. However, as technology has advanced, so has man's dependence on technology. In today's world, one cannot survive without a mobile phone, cash, watch, and other things. Technology, has made man closer to people all around the world. One can speak to a person all across the world by just dialing a number, which takes mere seconds. Something that was unthinkable just a couple of centuries back.

>What you learn from this comparison about human communication?

Human beings have always had the urge to communicate, whether to convey messages or to pass on ideas. While in the case of cave-men, they were restricted to body language, and hand movements to communicate, nowadays, there are many modes of communication. The advent of languages has improved communication by leaps and bounds. People knowing a common language can easily converse. Then came the problem, of people from different regions communicating, as they each had their own language. Ever since English has been adopted as a common language throughout the world, communication has vastly improved. With the growth in technology, man has ways to communicate, other than just speaking. Telephone, telegraph, mobile phones, letters, email, chats, video conferences, have just made communication more and more easier.

>What do you learn from this comparison about cultural change and innovation?

Civilisations have played a huge role in making humans what they are now. In ancient times, human behaviour was quite similar to that of animals. Men had just basic needs, to find food and to rest. Then, as years went by, man slowly but steadily learned how to use nature's gifts to his own advantage. From the stone age, to metal age, to today's technological age, man has expanded his horizons in such a manner that nothing is out of his grasp. Civilisation and culture were important in man's growth. Without records of earlier civilisations, man would probably have advanced a lot slower. Technological innovations have completely transformed the way man lives today. The need to innovate has always been there in humans. From eating raw meat, to learning how to build fires and cook, to building sky-scrapers and traveling to the moon, man has been innovating in order to make his life more easier and comfortable.

Hunter-gatherers sitting around a fire eating

Imagine how they ended up eating there

What similarities can you find in the chain of actions of their group and your group?
1) Make a list of 6 similarities.
2) Make a list of 6 differences.

Discuss the similarities and differences.
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Similarities:

(A is the group of hunter-gatherers, B is our group)

1. Same purpose in each individual's mind : A: Hunting/finding some food to eat;
B: Getting to know each other better.

2. Working together as a group : A & B: Despite of differences, everyone is involved in working together.

3. Communication was essential/required.

4. People from different backgrounds, same objective : A: find food;
B: study in RHUL.

5. Disagreements, difference in opinions, but finally agreeing on one thing : A: how to hunt, cook; B: where to eat, meeting point.
6. Innovation was involved in every step


Differences:

1. Mode of communication : A: hand gestures, body language(limited options);
B: speaking common language, different options to communicate(phone, text, internet, direct)

2. Organising and planning : A: very difficult due to lack of common langage;
B: better and easier, due to common language.

3. Civilised manner : A: more disagreements due to more misunderstandings and lack of civilisation;
B: civilised, calm and more understanding.

4. Use/dependance on technology : A: no means of communication after leaving the group;
B: exchange of numbers and email to contact each other.

5. Availability and use of resources : A: had to find resources like stones and dry wood to start fire;
B: resources are readily available.

6. Surrounding environment: A: probably in a jungle or somewhere in the wilderness;
B: inside the university area or a shopping place, airport etc.

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>What do you learn about human beings in general from this comparison of collaboration now and in the past?

>What do you learn from this comparison of tools now and then?

>What you learn from this comparison about human communication?

>What do you learn from this comparison about cultural change and innovation?

Communication in future ....

No one knows what type of communication is going to take place in future. It can be a telepathy or something else. Who knows? But one thing can be guaranteed that future communication is going to be more faster but more complex than the present one. Have a look on some of the imagined future communication..

References
[1] Website - www.youtube.com

How this task/story fits in Engestrom's activity theory .....

Engestrom's activity theory:

Engestrom's activity theory diagram (Engestrom, 1987: 78)

Analysis of the story writing activity with respect to Engestrom's theory:

Few Thoughts: In order to get a successful outcome for any activity, all the core elements should communicate with each other in a way which is understandable by other non participating elements. In order to complete this activity successfully, we communicated in various ways such as

1. Email
2. Face to face with common language(English)
3. Mobile Phones etc.

So there are n number of communication modes which people are using from a long time and will use in future. The only difference I can see is the involvement of technologies in these modes. Following are some of the “Conventional” & “Old” ways to communication

History of Communication: Communication is one of the basic needs of a human being. People need to know each other in order to tell them when they are in danger, when they need help, when a child is hungry, when they are ill etc. Communication was there on this planet even before human's origin. Animals do communicate with each other. The only difference which can be seen is the types of communication. In ancient times people used fire, sound, gestures etc to communicate, in present time people use mobile, internet, letters etc to communicate. Following is a video which shows the history of communication in brief

Communication is changing so fast over the time, that by the time someone feels that s/he got good knowledge of the latest communication technique, that particular mode of communication becomes obsolete. Following are some of the revolutionary changes occurred in last 100 years in the field of communication.

1. 1906 -> First Wireless communication of a human voice
2. 1915 -> Commercial AM Radio Broadcast
3. 1920 -> First regular licensed radio broad casting
4. 1929 -> 10 million US households have a radio
5. 1939 -> First electronic digital computer was created
6. 1936 -> black and white television
7. 1949 -> Stereo FM broadcast
8. 1952 -> 22 million TV sets in the U.S.
9. 1956 -> Home tape recorder launched.
10. 1957 -> USSR launches sputnik, first artificial earth satellite
11. 1960 -> Doug Engelbart got first computer mouse patent.
12. 1965 -> Ted Nelson came up with word "hypertext"
13. 1969 -> Neil Armstrong walked on the moon.
14. 1978 -> First hyper media video disk came in picture.
15. 1980 -> Compact Disk
16. 1991 -> Birthday of WWW
17. 1994 -> E-commerce became reality.
18. 1998 -> Google started.
19. 2000 -> 2 Million websites on internet
20. 2003 -> iTunes, online music store from apple.
21. 2005 -> You tube
22. 2008 -> This blog containing Formatted text, images, video, voice.

References

[1] Informational Research, an international electronic journal ISSN 368-1613. Available at http://informationr.net/ir/11-4/paper260.html

[2] http://thepostman.wordpress.com/2007/12/10/brainstormings-conventional-old-ways-to-communicate/

[3] Website - www.youtube.com

Communication: Today

Workshop

Part A

First imagine that you are sitting at a dinner table together.

How did you as a group end up being there, i.e. everybody turning up at the same time in the same place for the same purpose.

Describe the chain of actions required/leading to such situation.

• What kind of actions were preceding it?
• What kind of agreements/decision had to be made?
• What was the initiative?
• What was your role in it all?
• What were the others' roles?
• How did you communicate?
• What tools did you use in the process of getting together?

Write a narrative describing it.
Draw a picture of the process.

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Sep 21^st, London Heathrow International Airport: The day we all met for the first time. We’d all flown in from different places: Aliena from Pakistan, Anil and Anoop from India, Ajeng from Indonesia, but the common thing was, we were all heading to Royal Holloway, for our Post-Graduate studies. Aliena and Ajeng arrived first at the Student Pickup point, and since they were the only two students there, Ajeng introduced herself to Aliena. Anil and Anoop were on the same flight and had already spoken to each other during the flight, and they arrived a while later. We started chatting amongst ourselves and found out that, coincidentally, the four of us had opted for the same course, BIS. By then, the bus arrived, and on the way to the university, we discussed each other’s backgrounds, and came to know a bit about each other. Aliena mentioned the Welcome drinks arranged for Management students the next day, which the others didn’t know about, so we agreed to meet there and continue our chat.

Sep 22^nd, MX34, Royal Holloway: We met at the party, and were happy to see each other again. We also got to meet other students and faculty members. We had loads of fun catching up, and exchanged phone numbers and email ids. After the party we didn’t want to go home early as we were getting along really well, so Anil suggested we’ll have dinner together. We all thought it was a good idea, but were confused about the restaurant, as we were all new to the place. After hearing everyone’s suggestions, Anoop came up with the idea of going to the Hub. Everyone agreed and headed to the Hub.

Sep 22^nd, The Hub: After a long day, all of us were really hungry, so we just grabbed our plates and went down to the buffet table. After filling our plates, we found a free table, and sat down together. Over the course of dinner, our discussions continued. We shared our different life experiences, and had a few laughs over the blunders and goof-ups. Ajeng brought our attention back to the course, and found out that everyone was really concerned about the choice of electives. As Ajeng was from a Management background, and the rest of us from Computing, we had a short discussion about our thoughts about each elective and our expectations from the course. Aliena, who did her Undergraduate degree in the UK, gave us a lot of valuable pointers about the British way of life. She explained to us the use of an Oyster Card, NI and details of getting a bank account. After chatting for hours, we were all glad that we’d met and become friends, and that dinner was a good idea.