Participatory and Value-Sensitive Design

Lecture #6 - February 17th, 2009

213: User Interface Design and Development

Today’s Outline

1) Participatory Design (PD)

2) In-class Futures Workshop

3) Value Sensitive Design

(VSD)

Participatory Design

Participatory Design

Emerged from strong labor movement in Scandinavia in the early 70s

Shift from top-down, management-driven, rationalistic perspective to a bottom-up, democratic, humanistic perspective

New legislation and policies provided workers a role in how technology was introduced into organizations

Legislation was not enough to shift the balance away from the managerial perspective - this required the innovation of new design methods

PD = CD?

Isn’t this the same as Contextual Design?They share certain ideas and approaches, but the underlying emphasis is different

Contextual design emphasizes understanding the context of work

Participatory design emphasizes actively articulating problems and co-creating solutions in cooperation with users

Other names for PD include Cooperative Design and Collective Resource Approach

Landmark PD ProjectsNJMF - 1970

– Norwegian Metal Workers Union– Kristen Nygaard

DEMOS - 1975– Swedish Trade Union Confederation– Ehn and Sandberg

DUE - 1977– Kyng and Matthiasen

UTOPIA - 1981– Nordic Graphic Workers Union (NGU) – Ehn, Kyng, Sundblad, Bødker

Florence - 1983– Nurses– Nygaard, Bjerknes, Bratteteig, Kaasbøll, Sannes, Sinding-Larsen

Scandinavian Culture

Rich social democracies, relatively smallUse technology to a large extent, very fast diffusion

Small and medium sized organizationsEquity and equal rights very importantDemocratic work life (employee representation in company boards, etc.)

High percentage of trade union membershipProtestant ethics

Source: Tone Bratteteig, “Participatory Design - Scandinavian Tradition”, 2003

Computing Applications

Enhance workplace skills, rather then degrade them

As tools, applications should support work activities, not make them more rigid

Organizational issues should be a specific focus of the design

In addition to improving productivity, also improve the quality of work and results

Source: Bødker, Grønbæk and Kyng; “Cooperative design: techniques and experiences from the Scandinavian scene”

Involving Users

Improve the knowledge upon which systems are built

Enable workers to develop realistic expectations

Reduce resistance to changeIncrease workplace democracy by giving the members of an organization the right to participate in decisions that are likely to affect their work (for example, automation)

Source: Bjerknes & Bratteteig, 1991; Bjørn-Andersen & Hedberg, 1977

Participatory Design Process

Recognize conflict

Guided by designers

Situated within user's work

Encourage creativity and draw out tacit knowledge

Simulate the future to aid in prediction and evaluation of design

Adapted from Patrick Williams

Role of Designers

Coordinate activities

Facilitate discussion

Prepare materials

Advocate solutions

Adapted from Patrick Williams

Case Study: The AT Project

National Labor Office (AT) in Aarhus, Denmark

Country-wide labor inspection serviceIncludes inspectors, administrative personnel and researchers

Inspectors conduct health inspections, follow up on workplace accidents, and lead campaigns related to specific work hazards and/or industries

Goal of this project was to decentralize application development and support

Action Research - do research while making concrete contributions to the project

Source: Bødker, Grønbæk and Kyng; “Cooperative design: techniques and experiences from the Scandinavian scene”

Stages of the Project

Workplace visits - understand current situation and work practices

Future workshop - compile current problems and brainstorm potential solutions

Organizational game - Envision possibilities by presenting new scenarios using mock-ups and prototypes

Embodying ideas - Continue development by co-creating mock-ups and prototypes and by trying out new / modified work situations

Future Workshops

“The technique is meant to shed light on a common problematic situation, to generate visions about the future, and to discuss how these visions can be realized”

Participants should share a set of problems, a desire to change the work situation, and the means to achieve that change

Usually involves two facilitators, and no more then 20 participants

Stages of a Future Workshop

PreparationCritique - draw out specific issues and problems

Fantasy - imagine how things could be different

Implementation - figuring out how to make it happen

Follow-up

Critique

Structured brainstorming about current problems at work

Everyone gets a chance to speak– Time can be restricted, for example, to 30 secs.

Statements are recorded, and then grouped into a number of themes

Fantasy

Problem themes are inverted to generate positive ideas for the future

“No statement about the future is considered too extreme - if somebody wants it, it’s OK”

Positive visions are grouped under a number of themes

Themes are selected to develop “utopian outlines” - idealistic visions of how things might work in the future

Implementation

Use utopian outlines as a starting point

Envision the resources, systems and organizational changes required to make the vision a reality

Plan how to access those resources, build the systems and gain consensus around the required organizational changes

Organizational Games

“Act out” alternate work organizations and confront the new problems that arise

Using mock-ups and prototypes as “props”Metaphor of acting in a play

– Playground - the “scene” where the action occurs

– Roles - the “parts” that various actors play– Situation cards - introduce particular breakdowns

– Commitments - actions taken by actors in response to specific situations

– Conditions - requirements for taking these actions

– Action plan - how to propose the idea to the rest of the organization and make it happen

Cooperative Prototyping

Prototyping provides learning not only for the designer, but also for the user

Users can understand the potential of technology to impact work, and envision realistic future scenarios

Users and designers cooperatively envision new designs, and inform each other’s perception of their practicality and utility

The final result is not a surprise!

Mock-up Design

Mock-ups and lo-fidelity prototypes provide hands-on experience with new situations

Everyone has the knowledge and tools (pens, scissors, etc.) to make modifications

Everyone understands their limitations

They can be made cheaply

They are fun to use and modify

Limitations of Mock-ups

Changes can be time-consuming

Hard to illustrate dynamic aspects of the interface

Can lead to a disjoint between the design and technical possibilities

Require someone to have a strong understanding of these possibilities

In-class Future Workshop

Redesign 1) how students register for classes or 2) how you selected your project topics for this class– Critique - 10 minutes

– Fantasy - 10 minutes

– Implementation - 5 minutes

Need one facilitator and one documenter

The rest of you can be participants

Limitations of PDRequires close collaboration between users and developers

– Physical proximity– Resources and time to support collaboration– Difficult to overcome cultural, linguistic barriers– Does not address distributed teams, Internet-based systems

Requires strong organization of labor– In Scandinavia, can rely on existence of unions– In other places, unions may not exist, and workers may be

fundamentally disempowered– This makes it difficult to access the “right” users– Users may not be comfortable with articulating their desires– Users may be disappointed when their visions are not

realizedNot all systems are workplace-based

– What about consumer technologies?– What about systems for fun, or communication?

PD ideology can usually be adapted for dealing with these variations, but not all the formalisms carry over

Value Sensitive Design

Value Sensitive Design

“a value refers to what a person or group of people consider important in life”

Value-Sensitive Design is a methodology that explicitly consider the values of users and other stakeholders in the design process

Developed by Batya Friedman and Peter Kahn at UW, along with other collaborators

Source: Friedman, Kahn and Borning; “Value Sensitive Design and Information Systems”

Practical Suggestions for VSD

Start with a Value, Technology or Context

Identify Direct and Indirect Stakeholders

Identify Benefits and Harms for Each Group

Map Benefits and Harms to ValuesConduct a Conceptual Investigation of Values

Identify Potential Value ConflictsWhen conducting interviews, ask “Why?”

Source: Friedman, Kahn and Borning; “Value Sensitive Design and Information Systems”

Important Values for System Design

Human WelfareOwnership and Property

Freedom from BiasUniversal UsabilityAutonomyInformed ConsentSustainability

Source: Friedman, Kahn and Borning; “Value Sensitive Design and Information Systems”

AccountabilityCourtesyIdentityCalmnessTrustPrivacy

For Next Time

Come prepared to present your contextual observations, scenarios and personas!

Put your presentation on a USB drive before class if possible