"Accessible and ‘a pleasure to read’: how Apple’s podcast transcriptions came to be
Apple rolled out a feature highly requested by both disabled users and podcast creators. Why did it take so long?"
Design Thinking 2 - Open Educational Resource
Take Design Action: Find what works, fix what doesn't!
Sunday 16 June 2024
How Apple’s podcast transcriptions came to be (Guardian article)
Thursday 2 May 2024
Announcement: UCD Launches NaviLens
Announcement:
UCD Launches NaviLens - Accessible Information and Campus Navigation
NaviLens is a free application that uses colourful QR codes to assist users in finding key services and locations around the UCD campus.
Offering audio-cues, written text and vibrations to indicate distances and directions, NaviLens helps users to independently navigate the world around them. This is particularly important for internal spaces that cannot be easily captured by tools such as Google Maps.
(link)
Monday 22 January 2024
Personal Reflection
Note on the Personal Reflection
Grading criteria:
- A single page, approximately 500 words.
- Is it original? Is it your own work? (this is a basic requirement)
- Are the insights and learning described authentic? Does it honestly communicate your personal learning on taking this class?
- Is it critical? Critique isn't a bad thing. It challenges your own and others, even the subject itself. Consider prior understandings, misunderstanding, new knowledge, or changes in understanding?
- Are statements supported with examples? For example, comments or reflections on the homework tasks, the project, themes and subject matter?
- Core concepts? At the very best the reflection offers a compelling account of the significance of some of the key ideas arising in the course.
Guidelines for Term Paper and Video Presentation
Research Project
Presentation Video + Term Paper (including Reflection)
"Evaluating and enabling the design of a whole product"
The project is focused on carrying out practical field studies of everyday challenges and problems people face in their encounters with technology. These could be digital or physical challenges. Challenges ranging from mobility access in the built environment through to digital access and usability for people with disabilities and diverse needs. Design thinking methods will be applied to the goal of enabling the design of the whole product.Guideline plan of steps to deliver this linked set of assignments:
- Devise your own scenario (or select one from the examples below); experiment and play around with the scenario; figure out how to meet the need by using accessibility features/software.
- Decide on one or more research methods to study step 1.
- Find literature for the research methods (see step 2).
- Gather data, analyse the data, and extract insights (using step 1, 2 & 3).
- Discuss and reflect on the usefulness and limitations of the research methods used (using the output of step 4).
- Write-up the research and prepare a video presentation of the project and your findings.
This is an opportunity to conduct a deep dive into the first half of the design process, focusing more on field research and ideation, less so on prototyping and implementation. The project is informed by iterative design systems, for example, applying elements of the GV Sprint Method and the IDEO Design Kit: Travel Pack. These approaches will inform an understanding of how to take part in design-oriented research and fieldwork.
We will address the initial stages of the design thinking process. Discovery, interpretation, and ideation activities place greater emphasis on conducting field research and creating a design brief rather than brainstorming new designs. The design brief as a mid-stage deliverable provides an analysis of AS-IS contexts more so than producing new TO-BE designs or introducing changes. The figure below suggests where a design brief belongs within a design thinking process.
[image adapted from IDEO. (2012). Design thinking for educators.] |
Learning Outcomes: You will become knowledgeable about specific product design research methods. You will learn how to find problems in product/service offerings, gather evidence and create descriptions of areas for improvement and identify shortcomings in extant designs.
- Select from the IDEO research methods or other research methods for product design research.
- Develop a short literature review on your selected method(s).
- Devise your own protocol to employ your selected methods.
- Limit outside field research to UCD's physical/digital campus and services.
- Gather data, analyse it, make findings, and draw conclusions.
Scenario
Devise a scenario studying how people attain goals/needs.You as an individual will personally research the experience of attaining defined user needs. You will personally perform accessibility completion of a goal. You will propose and analyse task/activity pathways, using environments accessibility supports as if for a person with an impairment. Any one of the following examples are suitable and you may propose your own scenarios:
- using available directional information to navigate the campus.
- assessing the ease of operation of access points to and through campus buildings.
- detailed evaluation of defined activity interactions such as point of sale, printing, ticketing, etc. finding a resource in the digital library
- discovering and navigating the digital campus
- keeping up to date with campus status information
- keeping up to date with UCD advisory information
- printing an assignment at home
- submitting an assignment online
- digital access to learning materials, lectures, etc.
- opening a file and commanding a screen reader to narrate the content of the file.
- writing and sending an email using accessibility commands.
- searching for and opening and narrating a selected web page.
- Word - use device/computer accessibility commands to open a word file and narrate the content.
- PowerPoint - use device/computer accessibility commands to open a PowerPoint file and narrate the content.
- other application - use device/computer commands to open an application file and narrate the content.
- Word, PowerPoint, other application - use device/computer accessibility commands to edit a file (e.g., add/modify new content).
- navigating around a computer file system via accessibility commands.
- using accessibility commands to open a file and commanding it to be saved in another location.
Video Presentation
- Problem definition.
- Indication of evidence gathered.
- Statements of design needs identified.
- Relate to the design thinking process, use of an iterative, structured design process.
Term Paper
Include a brief literature review, example protocols for how you chose to apply the method(s) You could discuss issues such as about the quality of field data gathered, how useful or easy was it to analyse, arriving at findings intended for design innovations.
Deliverables: Write an 8-page research paper. This page count includes the References section. Graphs, images, tables are not included in the 8 pages and so are indicated by caption and cross-reference text only e.g., <<Table 1 goes here >> or << Figure 1 goes here>>. Copies of the actual tables, figures, images will go into the appendix after the 8 pages. There is no page limit on the appendix.
References
[note] Use Word's 'Caption' function to identify data boxes, tables, figures, photos etc in the appendix.
- Battarbee, K., Suri, J. F., and Howard, S. G. (2014). Empathy on the edge: scaling and sustaining a human-centered approach in the evolving practice of design.
- IDEO.org (2015). The Field Guide to Human-Centered Design. IDEO Canada.
[note] Data can be included in full in a section in the appendix at the end of the document - not included in the page count.
[note] Lengthy research protocol steps, transcripts, recordings etc, can be indicated or included more fully in a the appendix at the end of the document - the appendix not included in the page count.
Most important! Please ensure direct quotes are presented within quotation marks followed by the appropriate source/identification or citation. Please ensure identifiable images are used with individuals consent with appropriate source/identification or citation and/or are anonymised/obscured if necessary.
Example outline of a typical journal style paper - choose section titles as needed.
Title
The title and abstract should both capture the essence of the study.
Abstract
Introduction / Literature (positioning)
Give a brief introduction to the literature and positioning for the study. Literature review for method(s) being used. Literature (if any) on the research context (AS-IS).
Apply and Evaluate Research Methods to Context
How you applied the research method(s). Outline of research protocol, approach, site, subjects etc.
Data / Evidence
A summary or concise presentation of data / evidence.
Analysis / Discussion
Analyse the data/findings. Analysis and discussion to establish the significance of what was discovered. Your interpretation of the data / evidence. Propose alternatives (TO-BE). Comment on the efficacy of the research method(s) used.
Conclusions
Summarise the findings concisely, often in a page. This is a overall synthesis distilling your analysis and its relevance to theory and the literature. May include a very short note on weakness of the research.
References(all the above sections are included in the page count guidelines/limit)
The bibliography/reference section is crucial to get right as it is the index to prior research and literature that you have cited in the paper.
(the appendices below are not included in the page count guidelines/limit)
Appendix I1-page Personal Learning Reflection included as an appendix.
Other appendices as needed
Use appendices for figures and tables mentioned by reference in the body of the paper. Us extra appendices to provide additional detail if necessary. Usually data samples, or intermediate representations, for example a sample of the data analysis process, coding frames, stages in the coding and summary or intermediate categories from data.
Grading of the Term Paper
Grading of research papers will consider the following criteria:
- The research project (motivation and goals) is clearly explained.
- Critical positioning in literature.
- Empirical work, data and evidence presented.
- Contributions are clear.
- Overall quality of the document as a finished product.
- Is the research project (motivation and goals) clearly explained?
- How is it positioned in the literature?
- Is empirical work, data and evidence presented?
- Are the findings, conclusions, contributions clear?
- Overall quality, how does the document look and read?
A brief explanation of letter grade descriptors is provided below.
Modular (letter) grades for reports and written work.
A+/A
- The report is suitable for submitting to conference, journal, or executive with little revision.
- There is a compelling logic to the report that reveals clear insight and understanding of the issues.
- Analytical techniques used are appropriate and correctly deployed.
- The analysis is convincing, complete and enables creative insight.
- The report is written in a clear, lucid, thoughtful and integrated manner-with complete grammatical accuracy and appropriate transitions.
- The report is complete and covers all important topics.
- Appropriate significance is attached to the information presented.
- Research gathered is summarised in some way, research and analytical methods described and discussed, evidence linked to argument and conclusions.
- The report may be suitable for submitting to conference, journal, or executive if sections are revised and improved.
- There is a clear logic to the report that reveals insight.
- Analytical techniques used are appropriate and correctly deployed.
- The analysis is convincing, complete and enables clear insight.
- The report is written in a clear, lucid, and thoughtful manner-with a high degree of grammatical accuracy.
- The report is complete and covers all important topics.
- Appropriate significance is attached to the information presented.
- The report may be suitable as a discussion draft for further development or refinement.
- There is a clear logic to the report.
- Analytical techniques are deployed appropriately.
- The analysis is clear and the authors draw clear, but not comprehensive conclusions for their analyses.
- The report is written in a clear, lucid and thoughtful manner, with a good degree of grammatical accuracy.
- The report is substantially complete, but an important aspect of the topic is not addressed.
- The report may have used or presented some information in a way that was inappropriate.
- The report may be suitable as a preliminary draft but needs substantial revision in a number of areas to develop further.
- The basic structure of the report is well organised but may need rebalancing.
- The content of the report may be partial, incomplete or unfinished with important aspects not addressed.
- The report used information that was substantially irrelevant, inappropriate or inappropriately deployed.
- The report’s analysis is incomplete and authors fail to draw relevant conclusions.
- The report may contain many errors in expression, grammar, spelling.
- The report may appear to be preliminary, speculative, and/or substantially incomplete.
- Whatever information provided is used inappropriately.
- The structure of the report may be inappropriate or need substantial reorganisation and/or rebalancing.
- There may be little analysis, evidence may not be founded, the findings may be inconclusive.
- The report appears to frequently use information that is substantially irrelevant, inappropriate or inappropriately deployed.
- The report may be poorly written, organised and presented.
- Frequent errors of grammatical expression.
Friday 12 January 2024
Photography/Video Consent - Recording in progress
Photography/Video Consent
We may seek your consent for the use of photographs and/or video recordings, including images of you, for the purpose of research illustration, creating teaching resources and promoting the course. This consent applies to images, videos, and audio recording.By taking part you give permission to be recorded, for the recording to be edited, and for it to be shared and published. Recordings for publication (e.g. via print, podcast and/or video streaming) are licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (Creative Commons license Attribution, Non Commercial, Share Alike). The license can be viewed at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Friday 13 October 2023
Product (inc. Service) Design Resources
https://servicedesigntools.org/about
Thursday 16 February 2023
Exercise: Create and Test a protocol for one chosen research method
Experiment with a research method
A small scale study conducted in order to develop a design brief.
Scope
- Protocol: Devise some steps and instructions to apply the research method to the scenario.
- Evidence: Gather some data - test the protocol by applying your instructions to an example scenario.
- Results: 1 (one) page write-up to present your findings and analysis.
Seek inspiration for your chosen research method using:ororor
Context/Scenario:
Identify a scenario - using some tech or object to attain a goal.- Parcel drop services + returning a parcel
- Anything with a touchscreen + e.g. pay for transaction
- UCD directional maps online and on-campus + e.g. go from bus stop to the sports centre
- Dublin Bus website + arrival time of the next 46A
- ATM machine + make a deposit
- Train/LUAs ticketing + pick up a pre-paid ticket
- Supermarket Self-service checkout machines + apply discount coupon
- Copier machines at the Copi-Print system + print a colour A3 poster
- UCard Top-up + find balance
- Printer + print an email
- Kindle or other E-reader + purchase a book
- Brightspace (from student’s perspective) + submit an assignment
- Alarm System + review the alarm log
- Airport Self-service Checkin + checkin online and checkin bag at tag and drop
- Online Shopping website + search for a specific size shoe
- UCD Library catalogue + find a book by <name>
- Stairs + fire drill
- Doorways + enter/leave the building using a wheelchair
- Queuing in a café + order and payment activities
- Anywhere with a queue + maintaining Covid social distance
Evaluation:
Ireland's Universal Design Grand Challenge...
What is the Universal Design Grand Challenge?
The Universal Design Grand Challenge (UDGC) is a student competition that promotes and awards excellence in student projects that feature solutions that work for everyone. The UDGC invites third level students in their final two years of study, post grads and recent graduates to enter their best student project.Each year, nine finalists from third-level institutions around Ireland present their designs to a panel of industry experts as part of the National Final. Winners are then announced in 3 categories:
- Built Environment,
- Technology,
- Products and Services.
All finalists benefited from expert pitch training as part of the competition process. The winner of each category received a cash prize and the coveted Universal Design Grand Challenge trophy for that category.
Thursday 9 February 2023
The NovaUCD Student Enterprise Competition 2023
The NovaUCD Student Enterprise Competition is now in its 9th year and provides a framework to support UCD undergraduate and postgraduate students who want to work together to develop and grow start-up companies.
Taking place from May 29th – June 23rd @ NovaUCD.
The aim of this competition is to assist students in refining their start-up ideas through a series of structured workshops, including taught content from industry experts, interactive workshops, regular pitching sessions and mentoring. Accessing the competition is via a short application form and 5 min recorded video pitch on or before March 24th. A final pitching event takes place on June 23rd and the competition winner will be selected. Prizes are as follows:
1st prize: €5000
2nd: €3000
3rd: €2000
More info is available on our website:
https://www.ucd.ie/innovation/researchers-and-students/novaucd-student-enterprise-competition/
Writing a precis
The commentary or précis of a reading/article conveys what you learnt and how you might employ the knowledge. In addition you can employ a critical or analytical interpretation, i.e. what is the intention of the authors, who is the audience, how valid are the claims?
- Sentence 1:Name of author, genre, and title of work, date in parenthesis; a rhetorically accurate verb (such as "claims," "argues," "asserts," "suggests"); and a THAT clause containing the major assertion or thesis statement in the work.
- Sentence 2: An explanation of HOW the author develops and supports the thesis, usually in chronological order.
- Sentence 3: A statement of the author's apparent purpose, followed by an "in order to" phrase.
- Sentence 4: A significant quote from the paper used in a sentence.
Focus on the article being reviewed, not so much on other readings, books, articles etc.
Please do identify key quotes from the article. These a short statements or at most a sentence or two that distill some essential aspect of the article. A key quote is used: to point to the authors' evidence or claims; to make a justification for your own arguments; to act as a foundation for your own ideas. However, there must be clear delineation between the authors' content and your use of it therefore.
- For quotes: use quotation marks followed by cite.
- For paraphrasing: follow with cite.
- For extracts and transformations like lists and tables: explain source followed by cite.
- When reviewing, do not quote the author's quotes of other authors. Instead, quote an original passage written by the author of the article you are reviewing.
Please use double quotation marks and page number to identify "the quoted text" p. 23. You could apply one of the standard citation methods if you like e.g. Harvard style:
- (Surname et al., Publication Year, p.#)
- (Surname et al., Publication Year, pp.#-range)
Wednesday 8 February 2023
The 'citing an article in your writing' exercise
How to cite Battarbee et al. (2014)
1. (into your Word document) Paste a copy of the short precis you wrote for "Empathy on the Edge: Scaling and sustaining a human-centered approach in the evolving practice of design" By Katja Battarbee, Jane Fulton Suri, and Suzanne Gibbs Howard,"
2. (into your Word document) Enter the following minimal citation details
authors = Battarbee, Katja and Suri, Jane Fulton and Howard, Suzanne Gibbs3. (into your Word document) insert the citation beside your writing (refer to the associated exercise https://ucddt2.blogspot.com/2020/01/exercise-writing-for-research.html)
title = Empathy on the edge: scaling and sustaining a human-centered approach in the evolving practice of design
publisher = IDEO
year = 2014
Exercise: Writing for research
This exercise looks at MS Word style sheets and References... while the example illustrations are from MS Word for MacOS the same function is available for Windows and for Microsoft 365 web versions albeit with minor differences in screen layouts and functionality.
1. Save a copy of the ECIS template to your own drive (ECIS-inspired-template.doc in Google Drive link).
2. Rename your file using the following pattern "Surname_MyResearchProject_2019.doc".
For example my own paper is saved as "HigginsEtAl_WorkingInVirtualLight_2019.doc". I have used the author convention "SurnameEtAl" as there are three or more authors.
3. From the MS Ribbon "Home" open the Styles Panel. The "Current style" field show the current text style wherever the cursor is in your Word file. Alternately navigate to top menu "Format>Style" for similar.
The current style at cursor location |
4. Select section 1 "First level heading" and rename it "Introduction"
5. Paste and match formatting using following unformatted text as new paragraphs for section 1
Critical management studies appreciate that products and services, produced with technologies, by organisations, and the involvement of users, rely upon "actors having formal and symbolic resources for the exercise of... systematic forms of control over organisational participants, and indirectly over other groups and non-human objects"\citep{AlvDee2000aa}. The techniques and skill of management for producing digital goods and services (through software, hardware and systems) at its best aims to resolve this through the delicate, democratic balancing of power, control of resources, shaping of work culture, and leadership \citep{Kid1981aa}. The following brief introduction to the literature positions this study within the broad field of management information systems and seeks to inform further creative, design, and development initiatives.This study looks at...
6. Confirm that the paragraph current style is "Basic text"
7. Select the following text and change its style to "Subtle Emphasis". You many need to filter the style list selection at the bottom of the styles window.
“actors having formal and symbolic resources for the exercise of... systematic forms of control over organisational participants, and indirectly over other groups and non-human objects”8. With the MS Ribbon "References" active...
Create a new citation source record |
MS Word's new citation source editor |
Adding Tracy Kidder's Soul of a New Machine to the citation list in your MS Word document |
n.b. the bibliography style-type (Harvard - Anglia) and the insert "Bibliography" command |