Showing papers by "Olof Torgersson published in 2018"

Modelling the roles of designers and teaching staff when doing participatory design with children in special education

Abstract: In this paper we focus on the relational work when doing PD with children in special education as a hybrid practice, meaning that the designer aims to perform design activities with children in their own environment. Based on the experiences of a three-year project in a special education school, we first present a two-dimensional model for 'who participates with whom in what', describing the agency that the designer may need to both plan and execute design activities in relation to the teachers and the children. Thereafter, we relate those two dimensions to different kinds of authority that the designer might wish to have and avoid to have, and provide examples of the backstage work with children and teaching staff that may occur in order to gain the right kind of authority. Finally, we discuss the designer's relational work to balance the different kinds of authority and what may happen if there are mismatches between the different stakeholders' expectations about authority. While we are aware that it is not possible for a designer to precisely foresee how their presence in a special education school will play out, this paper aims to provide a critical reflection on our participatory practices which may help other designers to be prepared for the situations they may encounter in their own work in special education schools.

Intermediate-level knowledge in child-computer interaction

Abstract: In this workshop, we invite researchers to jointly explore how the Child-Computer Interaction (CCI) field can establish intermediate-level knowledge, being a kind of design knowledge that resides in the realm between the design of particular artifacts and theories. In this full day workshop we want to invite (1) researchers and designers who position themselves as producing intermediate-level knowledge (2) people in the field of design research who have not necessarily thought about their work as producing intermediate-level knowledge. Together we will discuss the pros and cons of different kinds of intermediate-level knowledge and how we can promote the creation of these kinds of knowledge in the CCI field.

Plan&do: a technology probe supporting children with intellectual disabilities in leisure activities

Abstract: In this paper, we discuss possibilities for how digital tools can support children with intellectual disabilities to carry out leisure activities. Leisure activities play an important role for physiological and psychological well-being, but children with intellectual disabilities carry out less leisure activities than others. In order to investigate what factors are important for supporting children with intellectual disabilities to carry out leisure activities, we have developed a mobile application, Plan&Do, acting as a technology probe. The contribution of this paper is based on results from a situated evaluation, and consist of a raised awareness of the many challenges parents and children face when choosing and preparing for taking part in a leisure activity, as well as early results from how this can be supported, and directions for future work.

Privacy and design ethics vs designing for curiosity, communication and children: lessons learned

Abstract: This paper describes the lessons learned when designing an empathy-oriented image-exchange app for fifth-grade pupils. The aim was to evoke curiosity and empathy towards someone living elsewhere or under different socio-economic circumstances. In addition, we strived to apply design ethics (e.g. protecting users from insults, humiliation, inappropriate content etc) and take users' privacy into account. By setting up these boundaries for this user group we found ourselves confronted with a set of conflicting design decisions which ultimately led to a lesser and different user experience than we had expected. Here, we discuss the interplay between our design decisions and the consequences thereof, and evaluate the mistakes we made. Moreover we discuss how to balance anonymity and curiosity, and comment on the benefits of making a pre-analysis of potential clashes related to intended UX and other core design decisions.

The Merits of Situated Evaluation as an Alternative UX Evaluation Method to Understand Appropriation

Abstract: Oftentimes, technologies are not used in the ways designers had initially envisioned. Instead, people adapt technologies to their own needs, a phenomenon called ‘appropriation’. Appropriation is an important aspect of User Experience design, related to the situatedness and dynamics of the design, recognizing not only that initial needs and requirements may change over time, but also that a design may change the environment that it was designed for. Appropriation can also contribute to a sense of ownership as people use a design in their own way, sometimes in ways the designer did not intend. However, commonly used User Experience evaluation methods often do not focus on the appropriation process of a technology. Situated Evaluation is an approach that does focus on appropriation, although it has not yet been used extensively in the UX field. In this paper, we therefore present and critically discuss our use of the Situated Evaluation approach for the evaluation of a specific tool that aims to enhance the communication between children, parents, and teaching staff in special education. By presenting this case, we hope to inform other UX researchers and designer about the potential of the approach to understand appropriation is an important factor in UX design.