Building a Ubiquitous Artifact That Integrates Problem-Solving and Learning Processes to Support Creativity

Abstract

This ongoing Ph.D. research work started with observations of shortcomings in the innovation and knowledge management processes in two companies, one Finnish and the other American. An extensive creativity and innovation literature survey was conducted. Problems were identified in three areas: idea evaluation (Amabile 1998), systematic idea development to the innovation phase (Drucker 1985), and community participation in individual idea suggestions (Hargadon 2003). A specific model, the technology brokering model (Hargadon and Sutton 1997) was chosen. From this starting point, a mobile prototype was built, evaluated, and gradually improved using a design science research framework (Hevner et al. 2004;Jarvinen 2004) and action research methods. The utility of the prototype is evaluated in three case organizations. This paper focuses on describing the mobile and ubiquitous computing related challenges in this prototype building process.Earlier work relates to the research of mobility, mobile architectures, user interfaces, and mobile learning (Ahonen et al. 2004;Syvanen et al. 2003), most recently in the global MOBIleam project.^ Within this research work, a mobile artifact is built to support learning, problem-solving, and creativity processes. According to Goodyear (2000), such an artifact and related tools should support individual construction of meaning and personal learnplace creation. From the perspective of the current research, the notion of leamplaces points, first, to ubiquitous computing environments and, second, to the informal learning area. However, due to the constantly changing context 'For information on the MOBIleam project, visit http://www.mobileam.org.