Copyright (c) 2009 Sheffield Hallam University All rights reserved. http://digitalcommons.shu.ac.uk/drs2008/session7/track_d Recent Events in Methodology en-us Wed, 09 Sep 2009 08:28:27 PDT 3600 http://digitalcommons.shu.ac.uk/drs2008/session7/track_d/3 http://digitalcommons.shu.ac.uk/drs2008/session7/track_d/3 Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:00:00 PDT This paper describes the design of a new device (the emotion slider) for the measurement of emotion while interacting with products. Current tools and techniques are reviewed together with the limitations that the device was designed to address. The theories underpinning the design are exposed. The first experiment with the device is then presented. Participants (N = 39) watched pictures of the IAPS (International Affective Picture System) reporting about the valence of their feelings by operating the device. Correlation between these results and the reference rating of the same picture is high (r = 0.904) supporting the validity of measurements obtained with the emotion slider. Keywords: Emotion; Measurement; Self-Report; Self-Confrontation; Feelings; Moment-To-Moment; Device Gaël Laurans http://digitalcommons.shu.ac.uk/drs2008/session7/track_d/2 http://digitalcommons.shu.ac.uk/drs2008/session7/track_d/2 Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:30:00 PDT While diverse theories about the nature of design research have been proposed, they are rarely considered in relation to one another across the broader disciplinary field. Discussions of design research paradigms have tended to use overarching binary models for understanding differing knowledge frameworks. This paper focuses on an analysis of theories of design research and the use of Web 3 and open content systems to explore the potential of building more relational modes of conceptual representation. The nature of this project is synthetic, building upon the work of other design theorists and researchers. A number of theoretical frameworks will be discussed and examples of the analysis and modelling of key concepts and information relationships, using concept mapping software, collaborative ontology building systems and semantic wiki technologies will be presented. The potential of building information structures from content relationships that are identified by domain specialists rather than the imposition of formal, top-down, information hierarchies developed by information scientists, will be considered. In particular the opportunity for users to engage with resources through their own knowledge frameworks, rather than through logically rigorous but largely incomprehensible ontological systems, will be explored in relation to building resources for emerging design researchers. The motivation behind this endeavour is not to create a totalising meta-theory or impose order on the 'ill structured' and 'undisciplined', domain of design. Nor is it to use machine intelligence to 'solve design problems'. It seeks to create dynamic systems that might help researchers explore design research theories and their various relationships with one another. It is hoped such tools could help novice researchers to better locate their own projects, find reference material, identify knowledge gaps and make new linkages between bodies of knowledge by enabling forms of data-poesis - the freeing of data for different trajectories. Keywords: Design research; Design theory; Methodology; Knowledge systems; Semantic web technologies. Frances Joseph http://digitalcommons.shu.ac.uk/drs2008/session7/track_d/1 http://digitalcommons.shu.ac.uk/drs2008/session7/track_d/1 Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:30:00 PDT This paper presents a view of design methods as process artefacts that can be represented using the function-behaviour-structure (FBS) ontology. This view allows identifying five fundamental approaches to methods: black-box, procedural, artefact-centric, formal and managerial approaches. They all describe method structure but emphasise different aspects of it. Capturing these differences addresses common terminological confusions relating to methods. The paper provides an overview of the use of the fundamental method approaches for different purposes in designing. In addition, the FBS ontology is used for developing a notion of prescriptiveness of design methods as an aggregate construct defined along four dimensions: certainty, granularity, flexibility and authority. The work presented in this paper provides an ontological basis for describing, understanding and managing design methods throughout their life cycle. Keywords: Design Methods; Function-Behaviour-Structure (FBS) Ontology; Prescriptive Design Knowledge Udo Kannengiesser