Turn Your Mobile Into the Ball:
Rendering Live Football Game Using Vibration
Réhman, S., Sun, J., Liu, L., &
Li, H. (2008)
1) How can media technologies be
evaluated?
First and foremost technology you
develop should be evaluated based on it's usability. Like the authors
mention in the paper they use the ISO recommendations regarding
effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction. It's important that your
service or product is intuitive or easy to learn or the user will
lose interest. In the paper this is evaluated by looking at empirical
data from tests e.g. error rates before and after training but also
through a questionnaire.
When looking at evaluation of media
technologies in general however, I believe it's important to look at
economical factors as well. Instead of just asking “can we do it?”,
you have to include “should we do it?”. This might not be the the
most important aspect during research like in this paper since they
are investigating if the concept works at all. However the authors
still include that aspect somewhat when asking if the test subjects
would be willing to pay for the service. Money is almost always of
importance (even though there are examples like e.g. the development
of Linux) and I would dare say it's an aspect you can't ignore. Will
the taste justify the price? Did we develop with the user that is
willing to pay in mind, or a user that will not?
2) Why could it be necessary to
develop a proof of concept prototype?
One explanation could be linked to what
I previously mentioned about money. Research and development requires
funding and even if a proof of concept is not required by e.g. an
investor, it could still help in lowering the perceived risk in
granting the funding.
It is also a way to test theory when
putting it into practice. Does it translate well into an actual
product or service or are there new parameters we have to keep in
mind and account for to reach a satisfying result? Prototypes serve
this purpose well since you in an early stage can test specific
functionalities and reiterate design choices. Worst case scenario
might be that you choose to scrap a project, but better do it in an
early stage than turning it into a big sunk cost fallacy.
Finding Design Qualities in a
Tangible Programming Space
Ylva Fernaeus & Jakob Tholander
Differentiated Driving Range:
Exploring a Solution to the Problems with the “Guess-O-Meter” in
Electric Cars
Anders Lundström
3) Are there any important
differences with design driven research compared to other research
practices?
When comparing
these two papers to the ones I chose myself for the previous themes,
I would say the main difference is that the design driven research is
attempting innovation. A simpler way to explain my point would be
that it tries to explain how?
rather than why?.
4) Can practical design work in
itself be considered a 'knowledge contribution'?
Choices made
during design work should always be motivated by other theories
and/or user tests in some form. While doing this we are entering the
field of “design and action theory” mentioned in the article by Gregor
in theme 3. Findings during the design process and can be evalutated by
others as can the method itself. I agree with this since you do not
only benefit from learning from your own misstakes, but also those of
others. It is of course also very benefitial to find inspiration in
what have worked for others.
5) Are there any differences in
design intentions within a research project, compared to design in
general?
Once again I want
to bring up economical aspects to back my statement. Within research
the aim should be how to best achieve high usability in a theoretical
sense. Design in general however still have usability as a priority,
but monetary gain is likely to be a driving force compared to
knowledge itself.
6) Is research in tech domains such
as these ever replicable? How may we account for aspects such as
time/historical setting, skills of the designers, available tools,
etc?
I think it's hard
to replicate the research fully since design is very context and user
base specific. However this is likely not an issue since I believe
the important thing to take with you from reading these kinds of
research papers is inspiration for your own methods and early
prototypes since design work is iterative.
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