Relation Artefacts Type II

Abstract

This chapter is about relation artefacts type II, which are socio-technical ideation sketches. These are presented as a design movement with three sub-types of Type II from the technical to the social. This begins with interaction design patterns, then do collaborative sketching, and finally converge on new workflows. They are explained with reference to the HWID platform and illustrated with examples of how to sketch interaction and collaboration concepts for workplaces. Novel approaches for supporting designers in sketching algorithms, such as alternative machine learning approaches to the same problem, are discussed. Ways of evaluating sketches from a work analysis and organization perspective are introduced. The chapter ends with a summary of how to sketch alternative solutions for interaction design in a complex work domain. A design case with a simple folder design for a complex work environment that illustrates the relation artefact Type II is presented.

4.5 Appendix

Design case with HWID sketching

In a study of a simple design for complex work domains, Clemmensen (2011a) did a case of designing a simple folder structure for a new learning management system (LMS) system for a university study program. The aim was to design help the transition from an old LMS to a new LMS by collaborative sketching design for the work and learning activities of teachers, administrators, and students (Clemmensen, 2006). The action research method was used, with the author in a double role as university researcher and project manager of a developer group consisting of students, administrators, and teachers within the university. During the project, various sketches of the folder design solution, Figs. 4.4, 4.5 and 4.6, were discussed and evaluated within and across stakeholder groups, which resulted in the convergence on a simple folder design with simple workflows (teachers upload, students download, admin only use the platform in special situations). From the scientific standpoint, analysis was conducted through grounded theory, inspired by the HWID framework. The findings supported the use of a holistic framework with asymmetrical relations between in and work analysis and interaction design.

Fig. 4.4

The students’ sketch. The typed text is the students’ suggestions for a hierarchy in the folder structure, with the top level at the left side and bottom level at the right. The handwritten comments (the author’s) are from the discussion when the students explained their sketch to the developer group

Fig. 4.5

The teachers’ sketch. The typed text is the teachers’ suggestions for a hierarchy in the folder structure, with the top level at the left side and bottom level at the right. The handwritten comments (the author’s) are from the discussion when the teachers explained their sketch to the developer group

Fig. 4.6

The administrators’ sketch, annotated with participant comments

In this case, the interaction patterns were possible folder structures that were considered by the multi-stakeholder developer group as workplace interaction patterns. The socio-technical collaborative idea sketching took the form of annotated sketches emerging within each sub-stakeholder group. The group discussion of sketches focused on plusses and minuses of each sketch; each participant in the developer group was required to access the collaborative sketches and test them for three bad things and three good things and be ready to report these at the meeting. In the end, the group converged on a folder design with simple workflows (a year and class structure in which teachers upload, students download, and admin only use the platform in special situations). The converged design is shown in Fig. 4.7. See the full HWID design case in (Clemmensen, 2006, 2011a).

Fig. 4.7

The converged simple design for a complex work domain: The folder structure of a Bachelor study program’s e-learning site. The figure is in Danish; each entry in the folder structure represents a student class