Show and Tell: Accessing and Communicating Implicit Knowledge Through Artefacts

Abstract

This paper contributes to the current discourse on the role of artefacts in facilitating and triggering interaction among people. The discussion will focus on artefacts used as part of an interview method developed in order to discover knowledge that was observed but absent from both project reports and other documentation within multidisciplinary collaborative research projects, located within the field of Interaction Design. Using artefacts in an interview context enabled participants to reveal insights that were, in turn, participatory and human-centred. Thus the method was effective and appropriate in illuminating knowledge situated in interaction. This ethnomethodological tool enabled participants to reflexively externalize their understanding of the complex interactions that occur within projects, encouraging participation, interaction, visualization, reflection and communication through the use of tools aimed at capturing and illuminating the lived experiences of human engagement. These interviews were conducted with a selection of participants, chosen because they were researchers, working together within a cooperative research centre. Keywords: best practices, consultancy, critical systems, theory, user-centered design (UCD) Keywords: design methodology, ethnomethodology, interaction design, playful triggers This study draws from our exploration of an interview method that uses artefacts to elicit information, and was employed to illuminate knowledge built among collaborators. That knowledge, embedded in multidisciplinary interaction design practice, was absent from project reports. In order to identify this missing information, we explored the use of artefacts based on Playful Triggers (Loi, 2005) This case study involved 11 interviews with project participants within a funded research centre. These interviews were not intended to be a comprehensive survey of the research projects themselves, but rather to explore the various roles involved in interaction, as well as the experiences of collaborators through a representative sample of different projects. The intention was to illuminate human interactions, which are situated in practice (Suchman, 1987), in order to discover knowledge that was observed but absent from written documentation.In this work, we first provide background on the research centre's projects along with a critique of their documentation procedures. We also develop the rationale for this interview method within that particular context. Second, we discuss the origins of the artefacts used in the interviews and how the use of these artefacts draws on work developed by Loi (2005) as well as Akama's 1 ongoing research, and the work of other researchers (Arias & Fischer, 2000; Gaver et al., 1999;Sanders, 2000). Examples and visuals drawn from our case study demonstrate how these artefacts were used in accessing and communicating implicit knowledge embedded in human interaction within design projects. Finally, we will discuss why the adaptation of Playful Triggers was an appropriate ethno...

Representing Future Situations of Service : Prototyping in Service Design

“…In the case described by Boer (2011) a provotype was designed in the shape of a lamp and five boxes to make people experience and relate to, in new ways, the concept of indoor climate. Yet another example can be found in the playful triggers, used by (Akama et al, 2007;Rettig, 2007) that support both collaboration and create meaningful dialogue.…”

The human touch

“…It is a tool associated with means of inspiring participant communication, built on the work of Loi (2005), Gaver et al (1999) and Sanders (2002). It uses commonly found, playful, everyday objects to access, interpret, visualise, articulate and communicate implicit knowledge through facilitated conversations (Akama 2007). The residents were shown an example of use undertaken earlier by a household in the local area.…”

What community?

“…They were artefacts called Playful Triggers (Akama et al, 2007;Loi 2005). Figure 4 shows a close up of the objects that make up the Playful Triggers.…”

“…Figure 4 shows a close up of the objects that make up the Playful Triggers. Playful Triggers are ethnomethodological tools, building on the work by Loi (2005), Gaver et al (1999), and Sanders (2000), where commonly found objects are used to access, interpret, visualise, articulate and communicate implicit knowledge through facilitated conversations (Akama et al, 2007). This methodology utilises playful, tactile, everyday qualities of objects.…”

“…The design tools, as 'scaffolds', enable people to express their thoughts, feelings and dreams. Playful Triggers (Akama et al 2007;Loi 2005), an ethnomethodological tool used in this research, is one such example of 'scaffolding'. They are playful, everyday objects that were explored to facilitate co-creation and communication of local knowledge of the geographical environment through visualisation.…”