Contextual Invention: A multi-disciplinary approach to develop business opportunities and design solutions (original) (raw)
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2005
This paper describes a new research methodology, which brings together ethnographic, business, design and technical research i n a focused way. Various combinations of these disciplines have been used together in the past, both inside HP Labs and in the wider industry. However, all four disciplines are rarely harnessed together in the pursuit of innovation and new business opportunities. We aim to do this in a principled usercentered way, by using a deep understanding of user and cultural needs to drive design ideas, business modeling and technological investigations. This approach can be seen as an extension of Contextual Design in which social and cultural factors are considered in the deployment of an existing technology. We call this approach Contextual Invention because the aim of the social science research is to inspire and generate new technology inventions with high social and business value. To develop and test this new approach, HP Labs India initiated a project towards understanding user needs and deriving concepts, at the same time providing sustainable business models for the end customer. The project was successful in creating business opportunities and design concepts that were at the intersection of user needs, design, business models and technology feasibility.
Innovating for emerging markets: Confluence of user, design, business and technology research
Proc. Human Computer Interaction, 2005
user centered design, new business opportunity development, contextual invention This paper describes a new research methodology, which brings together ethnographic, business, design and technical research in a focused way. The aim is to do this in a principled user-centered way, by using a deep understanding of user and cultural needs to drive design ideas, business modeling and technological investigations. This approach can be seen as an extension of Contextual Design in which social and cultural factors are considered in the deployment of an existing technology. We call this approach Contextual Invention, a process of using ethnographic data to generate new technology and business ideas in an interdisciplinary team. To develop and test this new approach, HP Labs India initiated a project towards understanding user needs and deriving concepts, at the same time providing sustainable business models for the end customer. Techniques used in the study include the collection of inspirational materials, the explicit discussion of new product concepts, the feed-forward of new concept ideas, and the circulation of user need and concept sheets. The project was successful in creating business opportunities and design concepts that were at the intersection of user needs, design, business models and technology feasibility.
A New Innovation Concept on End user Contextual and Behavioural Perspectives
ArXiv, 2021
The phenomenon of innovation has been shifting away from focusing on tangible to intangible modernization with its vitalizing context. This shift appears vitally in innovation developed by individual end-users in organizations and societies, including the exploration of the intangible end-user innovation existence and impact in the household sector on a national scale. Some examples of intangible end-user innovation include technique, service, and user behavior. Although, there is a variety of intangible end-user innovation discussed in the literature, limited understanding is existed for constructing an efficient and comprehensive typology, which encompasses the nature of this innovation phenomenon. This research study explores this original phenomenon for proposing a new concept that will act as an overarching descriptor of innovation types: idea, object, and behavior. This proposed concept, relating to intangible innovation, will explain the sequence within one or many connected ...
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Design for Social Innovation Supported by Social Based Technologies
2017
The use and democratisation of new digital technologies have given visibility to groups of people and grassroots organizations that can be considered agents of change in the transition to a more sustainable world. Design plays an important role in the definition of strategies and in the development of innovative solutions to tackle some of the contemporary problems society faces. This paper aims to show several projects developed over the last 5 years in the subject Design for Social Innovation at the Master in Design and the Master in Engineering and Product Design at the University of Aveiro, and its relation to the new social media and technologies. By using Service Design tools to improve Social Innovations and the integration of new digital technologies, we design new and improved solutions to foster sustainable development. The creation of a DESIS Lab has also allowed to develop innovative design solutions within local communities. The methodology used is based on Learning-by-...
2021
DEMOCRATIZING TECHNOLOGIES Technology is never neutral, but always plays an important role in the processes of social innovation. In particular, the democratization brought up by the information technologies in terms of usability, communication and connectivity, is opening to a wide reorganization of the processes of creation, production and distribution of goods and services, while enabling forms of reappropriation of the means of production. The process of digitalization is leading to the transformation of the nature of enterprises, while opening to micro-factories and "personal capitalism", able to share locally and globally skills and knowledge, as well as resources and tools, to the accomplishment of projects and products. The division between workers and their reificated work, and be tween this and its product, is therefore virtually abolished, since the means of production become appropriable and subject to be made in common. The computer seems to be as an universal tool, universally accessible, through which the entire knowledge and every activity can be in common. (Gorz, 2003) Therefore, the acquisition of capabilities of self-organization asserts a form of technological activism, which can multiply the chances and the resources for grass-rooted forms of enterprise and cooperation, while allowing the emergence of a collective intelligence (Lévy, 1994). The new generations of designers have come to terms with deindustrialization and, while their predecessors had a role in the assembly line with manufacturing processes, today's designers are becoming aware of their service and strategic role concerning innovation. If industry is living an historical shift of its role within society and production, the designer is in the position of independently incorporating all the productive aspects in his own office, from the concept, to the manufacturing, to the communication and the distribution, and even crowdfunding the project.
TECHNOLOGY-SUPPORTED DESIGN RESEARCH
This survey paper explores the opportunities and challenges of new technologies and social media for design research and design ethnography in particular, and summarizes the results in a framework. Understanding users' needs and observing their behavioral patterns becomes more and more important when designing innovative products or services. Traditional design ethnography mainly consists of indepth interviews and field observations of individuals or groups in the social context to be investigated. Digital technologies might enable new possibilities in collecting, analyzing, and visualizing research data. Advanced hard-and software, the ubiquitous presence of smartphones, global accessibility of data, and new technological and social concepts, such as social media or crowdsourcing, allow for new approaches in design research. We suggest that technology nowadays is able to not only collect large numbers of data but also improve data quality by providing access to new approaches in design research as well as facilitating and assisting the researcher with coding and interpreting the collected data.
Situating Design Research within Social Framework
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This paper explores the expertise in industrial (product) design and contribution of knowledge generated trough the design research. Within this approach the research is situated within the social structure that constitutes people, activity, context and culture where an artifact is seen to be a mediator for the generation of new knowledge and its application. The paper concludes about the importance of research and practice integration and points out that situating the research around the artifacts, as mediators of knowledge, is transferable to Human-Computer Interaction field and any other area of the design research Author
Future Propositions for How People Use Technology: Designing Through Ethnographic Research Methods
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Solutions on a design project for a semester-long elective course called UX Design Tools. The intent was broad in its inception: identify emergent opportunities where technology will play a significant role in people's interactions and experiences. What is the future of physical space? How are advancements in IoT, augmented reality, and telematics influencing how we experience environments? Students were asked to anchor their problem solving in evolving human needs and to understand the role technology plays. Cognizant's human-centered development approach relies primarily on ethnographic inquiry. This evidenced through integrating their anthropologists from acquired firm Idea Couture, and associates from strategic partner ReD Associates. The interdisciplinary majors from upper-level undergraduate to graduate level students learned to use and create multi-method research approaches to identify unique opportunities. Seven teams created future scenarios with newly developed physical product designs, digital interfaces, and new service strategies utilizing various technologies. Three case studies highlight a trio of observed emotional themes in relation to how people utilize technology to benefit their daily life or work: self-election, introduction-exchange, and co-dependency. This poster presentation will showcase three projects that will serve as examples of how industry and academia act as research and development entities; how to approach research as a fundamental tenet for innovation and design; and show how breadth and depth of interdisciplinary skills and experience is a necessity in an ever expanding climate of technology push.
Fueling the ethnographic imagination by design
… Creative approaches to innovation in emerging …, 2004
contextual invention, innovation, ethnographic, user studies, design research, India, design ethnography, anthropology, culture Contextual invention is defined as the process of using ethnographic data to generate new technology and business ideas in an interdisciplinary team. Ethnographic imagination is described as the essential ingredient within this process. An ethnographic study of media use in India is used as an example of how to collect and use ethnographic findings imaginatively. Techniques used in the study include the collection of inspirational materials, the explicit discussion of new product concepts, the feedforward of new concept ideas, and the circulation of user need and concept sheets. The paper concludes with some lessons for design ethnography and its role in invention.