A4hiphophippotomi

A4hiphophippotomi

To-Do

1. selection process: choose one of the design methodologies (not yet taken by another group) from the list (and mark it as chosen by editing the wiki page with the list of options — “first come / first served”)
2. do research (read papers, interview software designers, analyze existing systems—hint: the abovementioned wiki site contains references to resources) and answer the following specific questions for your chosen design methodology:

Define your chosen design methodology.

Hiphophippotomi: Jon Mai Ariel Aguilar Eric Holton

Professional dominated design is the practice executed by professionals that provides the opportunity to utilize prior knowledge and successes to create a systematic-based design.

"In professionally dominated design, professional designers (such as architects, software developers, urban planners, and teachers) engage in design methodologies founded on the belief that they understand the users’ needs. At design time, they create artifacts with which users “have to live” at use time. In professionally dominated design, the “experts” see the creation of artifacts as their primary tasks (e.g., architects build buildings, software developers create software systems, urban planners design cities, and teachers develop courses); and understanding and communicating with other stakeholders are seen as secondary tasks representing extra work and thereby taking resources away from the primary task (Rambow & Bromme, 2000)."

Fischer, G., & Ostwald, J. (2005). Knowledge communication in design communities. In R. Bromme, F. Hesse & H. Spada (Eds.), Barriers and biases in computer-mediated knowledge communication--and how they may be overcome. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publisher.

Characterize your chosen design methodology.

When a company uses a small group or single individual (as opposed to a large group of designers collaborating on the project) to design a product based on their degree or prior experience, leaving the design choices in the hand of the professional and relying on their knowledge to drive the process (instead of the users or outside influences).

What are the strengths of your selected methodology?

Very professional, well-thought out and systematically formulated. The final product will work because the designer has the knowledge to make it work, and very often the final product will be finished quicker than it would be when created collaboratively. When we are talking about design as well, there is a certain element of creative flair that cannot be, or at least is very hard, to collaborate on. Take this quote on open source design: "Beyond that, within a collaboration, when Bob tries to argue for the merits of his design, unlike in the case of Alice’s code he cannot prove that it executes flawlessly, or that it is faster or more resource efficient. The metrics are not as clear.

It is important to remember, in collaboration on code Alice and Bob have a third collaborator, one that cannot be reasoned with – the computer. This collaborator will simply not execute anything that doesn’t fit its way of work. On the other hand, as long as it is syntactically correct and satisfies the inflexible collaborator even “ugly code” executes and muddles through. And so, the different voices expressed in code are flattened into a single coherent executed application.

For better or worse, we lack this inflexible collaborator in design. It doesn’t care about our communicative message and it doesn’t level the playing field for communicative collaboration. And so, the different voices in design simply spell inconsistent multiplicity that dilutes the communicative message."

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/09/01/the-case-for-open-source-design-can-design-by-committee-work/

“Can Design By Committee Work?” by Collaborative Futures is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at www.booki.cc. This essay is also featured in the Collaborative Futures book, written collaboratively, published for free and released under the CC-BY-SA license.

What are the weaknesses of your selected methodology?

Many professionals assume their audience has a stronger understanding than they actually do, leading to difficult to understand topics and writing styles. This method also assumes there is a distinct, proper way to approach a problem, much of which is based on past events.

For what domains or problems is your selected design methodology appropriate?

For higher end technology that most of the users would not have the ability to grasp what is happening without prior knowledge or expertise. Also, time constrained projects can often be motivated by professional dominated design.

For what domains or problems is your selected design methodology inappropriate?

For learning environments, where the users are meant to learn about and collaborate on the subject. Professional dominated design projects are often extremely static and limited in their scope, which can be detrimental to an individual's learning. The professional can only have a certain degree of empathy, whereas in a group it's far more likely that the specific needs of a diverse group of users will be taken into consideration.

Why is design methodology important (suited) or not important (suited) for human-centered computing?

Professional dominated design has both its strengths and weaknesses in human centered computing, but overall, is suited for use in this field. One may argue that it is dangerous to assume that one can completely understand a user's needs without direct user feedback on the interface, feature list, etc, but professional dominated design is optimal for systems to be built quickly and efficiently. If one assumes that one is amply informed of one's users' needs before one begins development of a new product or system, one can bypass the checks and balances of continuous user feedback and the modification of requirements throughout the development phase. Getting a product out on time and under budget that meets most of a general user's specifications can be preferable to having to scrap a project altogether due to time or budget constraints. One can also imagine a scenario in which a single iteration of a product can defeat future iterations by taking too long or too much money from one's budget. A design evolution founded on rapid turnover in the iterations of products and systems who's designs are based on tried and true methodologies is less risky because it is based on past successes. Instead of shooting for user approval and having the potential to miss the target completely, professional dominated design ensures that one will at least be close to the mark. Further development and iterations of one's product and services will get one closer to the balance of appropriate functionality. At some point, one has to assume that one knows enough about one's users to continue development in the hopes that future changes in one's users' needs will be incorporated into future iterations of one's products.