From User-Centered to Adoption-Centered Design

Abstract

As we increasingly strive for scientific rigor and generalizability in HCI research, should we entertain any hope that by doing good science, our discoveries will eventually be more transferrable to industry? We present an in-depth case study of how an HCI research innovation goes through the process of transitioning from a university project to a revenue-generating startup financed by venture capital. The innovation is a novel contextual help system for the Web, and we reflect on the different methods used to evaluate it and how research insights endure attempted dissemination as a commercial product. Although the extent to which any innovation succeeds commercially depends on a number of factors like market forces, we found that our HCI innovation with user-centered origins was in a unique position to gain traction with customers and garner buy-in from investors. However, since end users were not the buyers of our product, a strong user-centered focus obfuscated other critical needs of the startup and pushed out perspectives of nonuser-centered stakeholders. To make the research-toproduct transition, we had to focus on adoption-centered design, the process of understanding and designing for adopters and stakeholders of the product. Our case study raises questions about how we evaluate the novelty and research contributions of HCI innovations with respect to their potential for commercial impact.

Technologies, Methods, and Values

“…For example, Pinelle and Gutwin's 1998 questions regarding "How do we evaluate" resonate with advocates for "adoption-centred design" [4] that can aid in translating HCI research to commercial products. Similarly, the eld continues to struggle with foundational aspects of CSCW, such as Grudin's Eight Challenges for Groupware [13], and their application to new technologies such as public wall displays [5] and social computing [3].…”

Seeing Through the Eyes of Heavy Vehicle Operators

“…Buur et al observed, doing user studies of forklift operators, that the skilled operators perform many operations in parallel, as well as, tasks far beyond the everyday notion of 'lifting', 'carrying' and 'dropping' a load [36]. The knowledge must therefore be based system use and adoption "in the wild", thus giving a true understanding of use to complement laboratory tests and prior assumptions [37,38]. Benyon notes that designers need to understand the people who will use their systems and products.…”

Scaling Up to Tackle Low Levels of Urban Food Waste Recycling

“…Others have identified various problems that can arise when scaling up research projects [11,18,43]. For example, Chilana, Ko, and Wobbrock [18] discuss the challenges of moving from a research project to a commercial product, noting how there are multiple stakeholders that need to be taken into account aside from users, including business customers, administrators, financers and regulators.…”

“…Others have identified various problems that can arise when scaling up research projects [11,18,43]. For example, Chilana, Ko, and Wobbrock [18] discuss the challenges of moving from a research project to a commercial product, noting how there are multiple stakeholders that need to be taken into account aside from users, including business customers, administrators, financers and regulators. Blumenfeld et al [11] note, too, the unforeseen challenges they faced when trying to scale up a technology that they had developed for a school setting, including dealing with school legislation, limited resources, and organizational culture.…”