Research methods course DOM E0001
Media Design Research
Prof. Lily Díaz-Kommonen, [email protected]
Tania Rodriguez-Kaarto, [email protected]
Department of Media, Media Lab
11 October – 13 December, 2016
Course location
Miestentie 3B, 5th floor, Room 515
In order to prepare for the class I would like you to see this movie:
Stanley Kubriks Boxes
https://vimeo.com/78314194
Course description
The course provides Master of Arts students an introduction to the
tools and methods of research in design. The work aims to develop the
participant’s analytical capacity to deconstruct, read and re-interpret,
cultural contexts and so-called situations of use. From a critical
perspective we study and analyze the increasingly important role that
digital media plays in the building of our everyday lives and
environments.
We review the work of such theorists and practitioners such as: John
Chris Jones, Klaus Krippendorff, Lazlo Moholy-Nagy, Harold Nelson, Don
Norman, Sarah Pink, Erik Stoltermann, among others.
Among the topics discussed in class throughout the semester are:
Activity theory, design thinking, human-centered design, theory of
affordances, concept of the artifact, culture as interaction and interface
design, design representation, participatory design, among others.
Learning objectives
1. Introduce the student to methods, theory and terminology particular
to research for design and its use, from a perspective of the new media.
2. The course also seeks to provide opportunities for students to
implement the knowledge being acquired.
3. In the autumn of 2016 the course will focus on the theme of designing
an online exhibition.
Learning outcomes
• Learn about how contemporary theories and methods of design
research can be used in the new media. The methods that we will survey
are:
- Artifact analysis: Provides a structured framework for the
research and interpretation of context and material culture.
- Scenario design: It is used to pre-visualize the interaction
between users and the system being designed.
- Ethnographic methods for media design: Allows access and
understanding about those who we service with the artifacts
that we create.
1. Fieldwork and observation
2. Questionnaires
3. Cultural probes
• Learn about how media as design artifacts mediates human
communication and interaction.
Working methods
Participation in the course is graded. The course consists of lectures,
readings, exercises, and writing. Each participant must keep a diary
documenting thoughts and questions for each of the sessions. This diary
is saved to PDF format and submitted at the end of the course. All the
work must be completed within the time span of the class. Class
participation accounts for 30% Attendance is strongly encouraged.
Timeline of work
Deliverables
Item
1. Artifact analysis,
written exercise in
which an example of
an online exhibition is
analysed.
2. Scenario that shows
new notions of online
exhibition.
3. Questionnaire or
fieldwork records
Group/single
Group (X)
Due date (dd/mm)
8/11
Group (X)
8/11
Group (X)
01/12
observations using a
very basic low fidelity
prototype of online
exhibition
4. Cultural probes
(such as ‘virtual
selfies?’) that could
allow us to see how
activities in an online
exhibition could be
develop.
5. New concept design
slide presentation.
6. Course diary
Group (X)
01/12
Group (X)
12/01; 13/12 Final
Single
12/01; 16/12 Final
Please remember that you will be working as part of a group.
Calendar of activities
Activity
Research and
design
Date Topics
11/10 • Introduction. The role of
language in media design.
Scenario design
method.
18/10 • (“What”)
Introduction to artifact
analysis method.
Scenario-based
methods
25/10 • (“How” and “Who”)
Introduction to scenario
design method.
Assignment
Reading: Ch. 1 “History
and Aim” and Ch. 2,
“Basic concepts in
human-centered
design”, pp. 1- 70.
Reading: Ch. 3,
“Meaning of artifacts in
use”, in The Semantic
Turn, pp. 77-145
Exercise (assignment):
Using the template and
information provided,
each group will create an
artifact analysis of one
online gallery.
Reading: Ch. 3,
“Meaning of artifacts in
use”, in The Semantic
Turn, pp. 77-145.
Exercise: Using the
template provided, each
group will create a
scenario with persona(s)
Review session
User studies in
design
8/11
Presentations and
discussions of artifact
analyses and storyboards of
scenarios. (Everyone)
15/11 • (“Why” & “When) Cultural
probes can be used to
understand as well as bring
serendipity into the work.
Participatory
methods.
22/11 • (“Why” & “When)
Ethnographic methods
- Fieldwork
- Questionnaires
(Miia Muurimäki)
Review
1/12
FINAL day
13/12 Final concepts
presentations
DEMO day
Discussion of how to
incorporate all methods
learned into final concept
proposals.
PRESENT SELECTED WORKS
that show how you use
and interact with an
online gallery.
Reading: Ch. 3,
“Meaning of artifacts in
use”, in The Semantic
Turn, pp. 77-145
Reading:
Ch. 4, “Meaning of
Artifacts in language”, in
The Semantic Turn, pp.
147-176.
Exercise: Using the
template provided each
group will create basic
questionnaire or do
fieldwork related to the
online gallery example
being researched.
Reading:
Ch. 5, “Meaning in the
lives of artifacts”, in The
Semantic Turn, pp. 177189.
Exercise: Using the
template provided,
design a possible
cultural probe that could
be used to obtain user
feedback about the
online gallery.
Reading:
Ch. 6, “Meaning in an
ecology of artifacts”, The
Semantic Turn, pp. 193203
Exercise: Each group will
create as well as edit all
materials and make one
final concept
presentation.
Ch. 7, “Design methods,
research, and a science
for design”, in The
Semantic Turn, pp. 207260.
\\o// \\o// \\o// \\o//
!!!
***E-Book from Aalto Library:
Krippendorff, Klaus. The Semantic Turn. CRC/Taylor & Francis 2006.
Groups
All the participants in the course are working together in groups. Our
groups organized according to these roles:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Concept development
Narrative
Production and Scheduling
Styling
Technical.
These tasks are needed to successfully complete the exercises. The
person who is responsible for Production and Scheduling needs to keep
track of these and report whenever is necessary.
Additional readings
• Alexander, Christopher, Notes on the Synthesis of Form (Cambridge, MA:
Harvard U. Press, 1964).
• Cockton, Gilbert, “When and Why Feelings and Impression Matter in
Interaction Design”, in Kansei 2009.
http://www.cs.tut.fi/ihte/projects/suxes/pdf/Cockton_Kansei%202009%20
Keynote.pdf. (Accessed 6 October, 2014.)
• Dunne, Anthony, “Hertzian Space” in Hertzian Tales, (Cambridge, MA:
The MIT Press, 2006) pp. 101-122.
http://libproxy.aalto.fi/login?url=http://site.ebrary.com/lib/aalto/Doc?id=
10173606
• Jones, Chris John, Design Methods, (New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.,
1992).
• Krippendorff, Klaus, The Semantic Turn, (Boca Raton, FLA: Taylor Francis,
2006).
• Eklund, Lina, “Focus Group Interviews as a Way to Evaluate and
Understand Game Play Experiences”, in P. Lankoski and S. Björk (eds.),
Games Research Methods: An Overview, (Pittsburgh, PA: ETC Press, 2015).
http://press.etc.cmu.edu/content/game-research-methods-overview.
(Accessed September 30, 2015)
• Lars-Erik Janlert and Erik Stolterman, “The Character of Things”, in
Design Studies Vol 18, No 3, July (1997), 297-314.
http://transground.blogspot.fi/. (Accessed September 18, 2013.)
• Lars-Erik Janlert and Erik Stolterman, “Complex interaction”, in ACM
Transactions in Computer-Human Interaction, 17, 2, Article 8 (May 2010),
http://transground.blogspot.fi/. (Accessed September 18, 2013.)
• Moholy-Nagy, Lazlo, Ein Lichtspiel Schwarz Weiss Grau,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymrJLhSeIlk, (Accessed September 18,
2913.)
Nelson, Harold and Erik Stolterman, The Design Way, (Englewood Cliffs,
New Jersey: Educational Technology Publications, 2002).
http://libproxy.aalto.fi/login?url=https://www.dawsonera.com/abstract/97
80262305655 ‡z E-kirja/E-book On-Campus
https://www.dawsonera.com/guard/protected/dawson.jsp?name=https://
idp.aalto.fi/idp/shibboleth&dest=https://www.dawsonera.com/abstract/9
780262305655 ‡z E-kirja/E-book Off-Campus (Aalto University login)
• Norman, Don, The Design of Everyday Things, (New York: Basic Books,
1988).
Multiple copies are available in the Media Lab library as well as in other
Aalto libraries.
• Pink, Sarah, Kerstin Leder Mackley, “Video and a Sense of the Invisible:
Approaching Domestic Energy Consumption Through the Sensory
Home”, Sociological Research Online, Volume 17, Issue 1, published 28
Feb 2012, http://www.socresonline.org.uk/17/1/3.html. (Accessed on
September 18, 2013.)
• Purdue Online Writing Lab: The Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue
University houses writing resources and instructional material, and we
provide these as a free service of the Writing Lab at Purdue. Students,
members of the community, and users worldwide will find information to
assist with many writing projects. Teachers and trainers may use this
material for in-class and out-of-class instruction.
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/, (Accessed September 18, 2012.)
• Usability guidelines, http://guidelines.usability.gov (Accessed, 6 October
2014)
• Williams, Amanda M., Alspaugh Thomas A. “Articulating Software
Requirements Comic Book Style” in Third International Workshop on
Multimedia and Enjoyable Requirements Engineering - Beyond Mere
Descriptions and with More Fun and Games 2008, (MERE '08),
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/mostRecentIssue.jsp?reload=true&punumb
er=4797442. (Accessed September 18, 2013.)
Office hours for course: Thursdays, from 10-12.