INTERDISCIPLINARY WORKGROUP METHODOLOGY BASED ON INTUITION Application to a Communication Tool Design Based on Kansei Information Approach

Abstract

The artifact is a complex element. Besides its elementary dimensions (material , functional and formal), the artifact is composed of much more dimensions: ergonomic , emotional, cultural, and even ethologic or theological. To take into account this great quantity and diversity of dimensions, the designer's work has to be widened out. Necessarily , this goes through ani nterdisciplinary approach, i.e. through an interdisciplinary workgroup activity . Nevertheless, this brings issues, notably concerning knowledge communication and sharing. For each variety of knowledge (tacit , prescriptive and descriptive), interdisciplinary activity provokes issues either because of disciplinary ontology differences, or because of human subjective understanding differences .I ntuition is a mental process which is able to minimize these issue effects . We then propose a methodology based on intuition, structured on the theory of Ba, on the SECI Model, which an evoked metaphor (EM) is added to . Through the EM, each member of the workgroup is able to participate to every steps of the design process and to communicate with other members , thanks to ani ntuitive understanding permanently validated by involved disciplines . This creates an efficient interdisciplinary dynamics and the realization of fully interdisciplinary projects. To illustrate this methodology , the design of MATiK is introduced as an example. MAT iK is an original workgroup communication system based on a Kansei information approach . In order to understand the expected functionalities of MATiK and to design it, the EM is set up . Considering basic aspects of an extensive workgroup operative process, the Loft is defined as an EM. The Loft offers an opportunity to understand MATiK's original functionalities , MATiK'sd esign, and MATiK's functional and technical requirements intuitively . This methodology, based on the EM, asserts its relevancy for interdisciplinary design. Its strength comes from the fact that the EM links all the levels of the design process (the idea/concept level, the reality level, and the technical level) and makes their understanding accessible to all members thanks to intuition

9th Kansei Engineering and Emotion Research Conference. KEER2022 : Barcelona. 6-8 September 2022 : proceedings

“…• The third pattern relates to papers which have tentatively defined kansei as their main focus (e.g., (Harada, 2003;Lee et al, 2000;Lévy & Yamanaka, 2006;Nagamachi, 2006;), which target the entire kansei community, and often beyond as an audience. Although, many tentative have been published throughout the last two decades, none of these papers seem to have successfully been recognised by the community as a major foundation towards a shared common explanation on what kansei is, or even to have launched a constructive discussion towards such explanation.…”

Research Activities on Kansei Engineering in China

“…The term "Kansei", a Japanese word, no proper equivalent in English, appeared as a keyword for Kansei Engineering in both academic and industrial worlds. It's difficult to come up with specific and rigorous conceptualization of Kansei, since more than 60 definitions have been offered involved in the research related to Kansei [6][7][8][9][10]. Nevertheless, compared to westerns, the concept of Kansei seems to be generally understood for Chinese.…”