Designing hubs for connected learning: social, spatial and technological insights from Coworking, Hackerspaces and Meetup groups

Connected learning, as a design approach, does not restrict learning to a dedicated learning space (school, university, etc.), but considers it to be an aggregation of individual experiences made through intrinsically motivated, active participation in and across various socio-cultural, every-day life environments. Urban places for meeting, interacting and connected learning with people from diverse backgrounds, cultures and areas of expertise are highly significant in the knowledge economy of our 21st century. However, little is yet known about best practices to design and curate such hubs that attract and support interest-driven and socially embedded learning experiences. The research study presented in this paper investigates design aspects that contribute to successful place-based spaces for connected learning. The paper reports findings from observations as well as interviews with users and managers of three different types of local, community-led learning environments, i.e., coworking spaces, hackerspaces, and meetup groups across Australia. The findings reveal social, spatial and technological interventions that these spaces apply to nourish a culture of connected learning, sharing and peer interaction. The discussion suggests a set of design implications for designers, managers and decision makers that have an interest in nourishing a connected learning culture among their user community.

Typologies and touchpoints: Designing multi-channel digital strategies

Purpose This study aims to gain a clearer understanding of digital channel design. The emergence of new technologies has revolutionised the way companies interact and engage with customers. The driver for this research was the suggestion that practitioners feel they do not possess the skills to understand and exploit new digital channel opportunities. To gain a clearer understanding of digital channel design, this paper addresses the research question: What digital channels do companies from a wide range of industries and sectors use? Design/methodology/approach A content analysis of 100 international companies was conducted with multiple data sources to form a typology of digital “touchpoints”. The appropriateness of a digital channel typology for this study was for developing rigorous and useful concepts for clarifying and refining the meaning of digital channels. Findings This study identifies what digital channels companies globally currently employ and explores the related needs across industries. A total of 34 digital touchpoints and 4 typologies of digital channels were identified across 16 industries. This research helps to identify the relationship between digital channels and enabling the connections with industry. Research limitations/implications The findings contribute to the growing research area of digital channels. The typology of digital channels is a useful starting point for developing a systematic, theory-based study for enabling the development of broader, comprehensive theories of digital channels. Practical implications Typologies and touchpoints are outlined in relation to industry, company objectives and customer needs to allow businesses to seize opportunities and optimise performance through individual touchpoints. A digital channel model as a key outcome of this research guides practitioners on what touchpoint to implement through an interrelated understanding of industry, company and customer needs. Originality/value This is the first paper to explore a range of industries in relation to their use of digital channels using a unique content analysis. Contributions include clarifying and refining digital channel meaning; identifying and refining the hierarchical relations among digital channels(typologies); and establishing typology and industry relationship model.

Designing 'other' citizens into the city: Investigating perceptions of architectural opportunities for wildlife habitat in the Brisbane CBD

Traditional perceptions of the human-animal relationship in the urban context typically see the spatial rejection of wildlife from the built environment and limiting of biodiversity conservation programs to areas of natural reserve. As urban growth places further spatial demands on natural habitat and contributes to continued global biodiversity loss, the recently introduced conservation approach of reconciliation ecology makes a call promoting ecological stewardship through embedding wildlife habitat within human dominated areas. Coinciding with this, the architectural sphere has seen a recent trend of design investigation addressing artificial animal habitat as features of the built environment. Although these precedents are currently a niche and scattered trend they show potential to address the human-animal dualism challenging the framework of reconciliation ecology. This research explores the role design plays in influencing perceptions of urban wildlife habitat, particularly considering the need to create and communicate value around wildlife biodiversity as a component of urban cultural place-making and ecological literacy. The study purpose sets out to establish a set of approaches and cultural preferences with which to direct further classification and development of this architectural trend. Brisbane is utilised as a case study city, as a locale containing proximities of relatively high wildlife and human populations in an urban setting and an established legislative biodiversity heritage and ethic. Through use of a qualitative and quantitative questionnaire targeting Brisbane residents, the research methodology established that although respondents perceptions generally aligned with traditional prejudice against wildlife around human buildings, artificial habitat intervention would be supported within the CBD provided it allowed for adequate distancing of humans from wildlife and conformed with contextual surroundings, or otherwise addressed habitat through redevelopment at an urban scale. As such further research directions for artificial habitat should focus on integration of artificial habitat as a component of façade design or green infrastructure programs.

Designing and evaluating a persuasive child restraint television commercial

Objective Relatively high rates of child restraint inappropriate use, misuse and faults in the installation of restraints have suggested a crucial need for public education messages to raise parental awareness of the need to use restraints correctly. This project involved the devising and pilot testing of message concepts, filming of a television advertisement (the TVC), and the evaluation of the TVC. This paper focuses specifically upon the evaluation of the TVC. The development and evaluation of the TVC were guided by an extended Theory of Planned Behaviour which comprised the standard constructs of attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioural control as well as the additional constructs of group norm and descriptive norm. The study also explored the extent to which parents with low and high intentions to self-check restraint/s differed on salient beliefs regarding the behaviour. Methods An online survey of parents (N = 384) was conducted where parents were randomly assigned to either an Intervention group (n = 161), and therefore viewed the advertisement within the survey, or the Control group (n = 223) and therefore did not view the advertisement. Results Following a one-off exposure to the TVC, the results indicated that, although not a significant difference, parents in the Intervention group reported stronger intentions (M = 4.43, SD = .74) to self-check restraints than parents in the Control group (M = 4.18, SD = .86). Also, parents in the Intervention group (M = 4.59, SD = .47) reported significantly higher levels of perceived behavioural control than parents in the Control group (M = 4.40, SD = .73). The regression results revealed that, for parents in the Intervention group, attitude and group norm were significant predictors of parental intentions to self-check their child restraint. Finally, the exploratory analyses of parental beliefs suggested that those parents with low intentions to self-check child restraints were significantly more likely than high intenders to agree that they did not have enough time to check restraints or that having a child in a restraint is more important than checking the installation of the restraint. Conclusion Overall, the findings provide some support for the persuasiveness of the child restraint TVC and provide insight into the factors influencing reported parental intentions as well as salient beliefs underpinning self-checking of restraints. Interventions that attempt to increase parental perceptions of the importance of self-checking restraints regularly and brevity of the time involved in doing so may be effective.

Designing a mobile social tool that moderates drinking

A novel mobile social networking tool uses peer support to facilitate responsible drinking among young women. Focus group reports indicate that the tool’s design is easy to use and its functionalities would help peers reduce risk during drinking sessions.

A happy compromise: Collaborative approaches to school library designing

Designing a school library is a complex, costly and demanding process with important educational and social implications for the whole school community. Drawing upon recent research, this paper presents contrasting snapshots of two school libraries to demonstrate the impacts of greater and lesser collaboration in the designing process. After a brief literature review, the paper outlines the research design (qualitative case study, involving collection and inductive thematic analysis of interview data and student drawings). The select findings highlight the varying experiences of each school’s teacher-librarian through the four designing phases of imagining, transitioning, experiencing and reimagining. Based on the study’s findings, the paper concludes that design outcomes are enhanced through collaboration between professional designers and key school stakeholders including teacher-librarians, teachers, principals and students. The findings and recommendations are of potential interest to teacher-librarians, school principals, education authorities, information professionals and library managers, to guide user-centred library planning and resourcing.

A theoretical framework for designing and evaluating strategies to identify cases of serious child abuse and neglect

A central dimension of the State’s responsibility in a liberal democracy and any just society is the protection of individuals’ central rights and freedoms, and the creation of the minimum conditions under which each individual has an opportunity to lead a life of sufficient equality, dignity and value. A special subset of this responsibility is to protect those who are unable to protect themselves from genuine harm. Substantial numbers of children suffer serious physical, emotional and sexual abuse, and neglect at the hands of their parents and caregivers or by other known parties. Child abuse and neglect occurs in a situation of extreme power asymmetry. The physical, social, behavioural and economic costs to the individual, and the social and economic costs to communities, are vast. Children are not generally able to protect themselves from serious abuse and neglect. This enlivens both the State’s responsibility to protect the child, and the debate about how that responsibility can and should be discharged. A core question arises for all societies, given that most serious child maltreatment occurs in the family sphere, is unlikely to be disclosed, causes substantial harm to both individual and community, and infringes fundamental individual rights and freedoms. The question is: how can society identify these situations so that the maltreatment can be interrupted, the child’s needs for security and safety, and health and other rehabilitation can be met, and the family’s needs can be addressed to reduce the likelihood of recurrence? This chapter proposes a theoretical framework applicable for any society that is considering justifiable and effective policy approaches to identify and respond to cases of serious child abuse and neglect. The core of the theoretical framework is based on major principles from both classical liberal political philosophy (Locke and Mill), and leading political philosophers from the twentieth century and the first part of the new millennium (Rawls, Rorty, Okin, Nussbaum), and is further situated within fundamental frameworks of civil and criminal law, and health and economics.

Designing a quality health information system: Case study analysis of maternal and child health in Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea (PNG) is facing what must seem like an insurmountable challenge to deliver quality healthcare servicesfor women living in both rural and urban areas. Glo bal governing bodies and donor agencies including WHO and UN have indicated that PNG does not have an appropriate health information system. Although there are some systems in place, to date, little research has been conducted on improving or resolving the data integrity and integration issues of the existing health information systems and automating the capture of women and newborns information in PNG. This current research study concentrates on the adoption of eHealth, as an innovative tool to strengthen the health information systems in PNG to meet WHO standards. The research targets maternal and child health focussing on child birth records asan exemplar...

Emotional food design: From designing food products to designing food systems

Contemporary food systems promote the consumption of highly processed foods of limited nutrition, contributing to overweight and obesity, diet-related disease and significant financial burden on healthcare systems. In part, this has resulted from highly successful design, development and marketing strategies for processed foods. The successful application of such strategies to healthy food options, and the services and business plans that accompany them, could assist in enhancing health and alleviating burden on health care systems. Product designers have long been aware of the importance of intertwining emotional experiences with new products. However, a lack of theoretical precision exists for applying emotional design beyond food products, to the food systems, services and business models that drive them. This article explores emotional design within the context of food and food systems and proposes a new concept – Emotional Food Design (EFD), through which emotional design is integrated across levels of a food system. EFD complements the dominating deductive view of food systems research with an abductive iterative design approach contextualized within the creation of new food products, services and business models and their associated emotional attachments. This paper concludes by outlining what EFD can offer to reorient food systems to successfully promote healthy eating.

A comparative study of two design charrettes: Implications for codesign and participatory action research

The purpose of this paper is to explore how participatory prototyping, through the use of design charrettes, can advance participatory action research (PAR) approaches and contribute to codesign practices in organisational settings. This will be achieved through the comparison of two varying design charrette experiences from a PAR initiative to redesign spaces in the Auraria Library in Denver, Colorado. Each design charrette followed a three-stage sequence of information sharing, idea generation and prototyping, and prioritisation with each stage building upon the former, both in terms of design concepts and in building up elements of ‘making’. While both charrette structures were similar, leadership and execution varied considerably. Lessons learned from the two design charrette experiences are presented, including the value of participatory prototyping within PAR to support ‘research through design’ activities. In addition, it highlights the value of authentic design participation of ‘designing with’ rather than ‘designing for’ to encourage optimal design outcomes.

Designing informal learning experiences for early career academics using a knowledge ecosystem model

This article presents a ‘knowledge ecosystem’ model of how early career academics experience using information to learn while building their social networks for developmental purposes. Developed using grounded theory methodology, the model offers a way of conceptualising how to empower early career academics through 1) agency (individual and relational) and 2) facilitation of personalised informal learning (design of physical and virtual systems and environments) in spaces where developmental relationships are formed including programs, courses, events, community, home and social media. It is suggested that the knowledge ecosystem model is suitable for use in designing informal learning experiences for early career academics.

From gearstick to joystick – Challenges in designing new interventions for the safety-critical driving context

Consumer electronics increasingly find their way into cars and are often portrayed as unwanted distractions. As part of our endeavour to capitalise on these technologies as safety tools rather than safety threats, we suggest to use smartphones, head-up displays, vehicle interfaces, and other digital gadgets: a) as readily available and lightweight sensing devices, and b) as platforms for engaging interventions that provide safe stimuli in real- time while driving. In our effort to make safe driving behaviours more fun, we explore ways to apply gamification to driving. In this paper, we illustrate the need for a careful balance between fun and safety and reveal ethical issues that arise when introducing new technology interventions into this complex and safety- critical design space.

Designing innovative business models with a framework that promotes experimentation

Purpose – Business models to date have remained the creation of management, however, it is the belief of the authors that designers should be critically approaching, challenging and creating new business models as part of their practice. This belief portrays a new era where business model constructs become the new design brief of the future and fuel design and innovation to work together at the strategic level of an organisation. Design/methodology/approach – The purpose of this paper is to explore and investigate business model design. The research followed a deductive structured qualitative content analysis approach utilizing a predetermined categorization matrix. The analysis of forty business cases uncovered commonalities of key strategic drivers behind these innovative business models. Findings – Five business model typologies were derived from this content analysis, from which quick prototypes of new business models can be created. Research limitations/implications – Implications from this research suggest there is no “one right” model, but rather through experimentation, the generation of many unique and diverse concepts can result in greater possibilities for future innovation and sustained competitive advantage. Originality/value – This paper builds upon the emerging research and exploration into the importance and relevance of dynamic, design-driven approaches to the creation of innovative business models. These models aim to synthesize knowledge gained from real world examples into a tangible, accessible and provoking framework that provide new prototyping templates to aid the process of business model experimentation.

Co-designing social marketing programs

Most alcohol education programs are designed by experts, with the target audience largely excluded from this process. Theoretically, application of co-creation which comprises co-design and co- production offers an opportunity to better orient programs to meet audience needs and wants and thereby enhance program outcomes. To date, research focus has centred on value co-creation with content co-design receiving limited research attention. The current study seeks to understand how young people would design an intervention and continues by contrasting an audience designed program with the earlier implemented expert designed program.

Designing serious gameplay from the ground up

This thesis investigated the use, design and evaluation of video games created for educational purposes. The outcomes from the research include analysis tools and design processes that can be used in the design and development of serious games, as well as games that can be used for training purposes. The contribution of this thesis is a greater understanding of how these types of video games lead to educational improvement, and how we can successfully frame game design and development processes to ensure such positive outcomes.