A Design Research Approach to Developing User Innovation Workshops in Second Life

Abstract

The Design Science Research approach is increasingly being applied in the field of Information Systems (IS) research. The philosophy behind design science research is that new scientific knowledge can be generated by means of constructing an artifact, and the core of this approach is a problem-solving process used to develop the artifact. As virtual worlds are a relatively new IS medium, limited attention has been paid to investigating the use of design research in virtual worlds. Nevertheless, it is considered a relevant approach as much research in the field of virtual worlds involves the design of virtual spaces to support some kind of business activity. As such, the research purpose of this paper is to investigate the use of the design research approach in virtual worlds. In this paper, we describe and take a practical perspective of a specific case study in which design research was developed and used for a specific project. The specific project in focus is the development of a user innovation workshop inside Second Life for a start-up company interested in gaining insights and ideas for the development of its product.

A New Design Approach and Framework for Elderly Care Robots

“…Following the design-science research (DSR) methodology is a proven best practice for IS design research (Helms et al 2010;Hevner et al 2004;Peffers et al 2007). DSR is described by Hevner et al (2004) as being both a set of activities (process) and a design product (artefact).…”

A consumer perspective on moving images: The design and adoption of public audiovisual heritage services in the Netherlands

“…Each process step will be elaborated on in the next sections. The methodology has previously proven its value by its successful application in the context of for instance, the facilitation of reusing experience among software project managers , IT performance management (Ardakan & Mohajeri, 2009) and user innovation workshops in Second Life (Helms et al, 2010). …”

“…In terms of output, scientific articles that use the design science approach are primarily published by the six leading journals in the information systems discipline, according to the Association for Information Systems (AIS), with the notable exceptions of Hrastinski, Keller and Carlsson (2010), and Helms, Giovacchini, Teigland and Kohler (2010). Although returning the research outcomes to multiple home disciplines and communicating to these audiences could be a significant challenge (Purao et al, 2008), overcoming this challenge would support the establishment of the design perspective as an interdisciplinary science.…”

Towards Open Innovation in Universities: Fostering the Inside-Out-Process Using Ideas Competitions

“…By adopting the theoretical account proposed by Malone et al (2010) as well as the conception presented by Ebner et al (2008), we comprise the various dimensions regarding the consummation of ideas competitions at university level. This paper follows a Design Science Research approach which has gained great popularity especially in the IS domain as a research method in which the development method itself or the outcome of the development process is the subject of study (Helms, Giovacchini, Teigland, & Kohler, 2010;Hevner, March, Park, & Ram, 2004). Hence, we first focus on the development of an integrated concept for the implementation of ideas competitions within universities before presenting the case of the "UniKat Business Plan Ideas Competition" that we conducted at a university in Germany to demonstrate our approach.…”