Situated Reflexive Change – User-Centred Design in(to) Practice

Respondent: Elina Eriksson, KTH, Stockholm, Sweden

Exam: PhD (Teknologie doktor) in Human Computer Interaction

Time: February 8 at 14.00

Place: KTH – Royal Institute of Technology, Lindstedtsvägen 26, room F3, Stockholm, Sweden

Title of the dissertation: Situated Reflexive Change – User-Centred Design in(to) Practice

Abstract:
Technology used in the Swedish workplace is perceived to be controlling, generally still difficult to use, and with a low degree of usability. Even though the field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) has been concerned with researching different ways of developing usable systems for at least half a century, there seem to be problems with the diffusion of the results into practice. One of the possible approaches to developing usable systems is user-centred design, and in this thesis I am concerned with the issue of  introducing user-centred design and usability work in public authorities and institutions. I will present work done in two different research projects with a focus on change, where the aim has been to introduce or  enhance usability work. Through a lens of social constructionism and reflexivity I will explore the outcome of the projects and the implications for the introduction of user-centred design in practice. Furthermore, I will explore whether the focus on the introduction of usability work might hinder the formation of a sustainable change in the organizations interested in developing usable systems. The research question then becomes; can we introduce usability work in organizations? The answer to this question is no. Instead, we need to change our perspective from introduction to situated reflexive change: focusing on sensemaking and a situated process of ongoing change, where the stakeholders in the organization themselves must play an active and responsible part. This entails a shift from dualism to duality and a reconsideration of what our usability methods can contribute with. Furthermore, I will explore possible approaches to working with situated reflexive change with tools that are familiar in the field of HCI, but with an expanded scope. In particular I will discuss field studies conducted by system developers as a tool for  making sense of usability issues, personas as a tool for inducing reflexivity in and on practice, and  usability coaching as a sensemaking tool for both organizational stakeholders and researchers in order to understand and reflect upon change.

Main supervisor: Professor Jan Gulliksen
Assistant Supervisor: Anna Swartling, PhD, Scania
Chairman of the dissertation: Professor Henrik Artman
Opponent: Associate Professor Netta Iivari, University of Oulu, Department of Information Processing Science, University of Oulu, Finland
Examination committee:
Professor Liam Bannon, IDC, University of Limerick, Ireland
Professor Torkil Clemmensen, Department of IT Management, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark
Associate Professor Tone Bratteteig, Department of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
Substitute: Associate Professor Cecilia Katzeff, Interactive Institute, Eskilstuna, Sweden and Centre for Sustainable Communication, KTH, Stockholm

You are all most welcome!