In the context of the participation society, roles and expectations of citizens and municipalities are vastly changing. While designers and design researchers explore the potentials of apps to empower citizens, municipalities are interested in data dashboards—accompanied by applications and community platforms—to increase civic participation in public (space) issues. In this paper, relevant criteria and design decisions are discussed through reflecting on the lessons learned from two civic apps that were designed by the authors and analysing prominent existing civic apps that have citizen empowerment as their objective.
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Summary Self-managed shelters claim that participants who have been homeless, are better able to run a shelter than regular providers. Little research has investigated self-managed shelters. In this paper we described the experiences of participants and peer workers with empowerment processes in Je Eigen Stek (Your own place, JES), a self-managed shelter, based on an eight year qualitative responsive evaluation. FindingsWe distinguish three clusters of individual experiences: 1) enthusiastic, 2) moderate to critical, and 3) negative, respectively associated with decreasing engagement with social life in and management of JES. Those not engaged can still benefit materially and from the freedom of choice JES offers, which is generally appreciated. Empowerment provides a useful framework and JES in turn offers new insights into the dialectical nature of empowerment. Empowerment consists of freedom of choice and capacity development and neither should be emphasized over the other. The emphasis in JES is on freedom of choice, which does not automatically lead to developing capacities. Social workers try to balance both aspects of empowerment.Applications Our analysis shows how offering freedom of choice can contribute to empowerment, although social workers need to be aware that participants might opt not to work on capacity development.
"Lifestyle and Digital Sovereignty, a new-media arts approach to collective technological empowerment for holistic care" is een praktijkgericht artistiek onderzoekstraject dat een nieuwe mediakunstinterventie creëert in het domein van de gezondheidszorg. Dit project onderzoekt hoe artistieke interventies die technologische processen integreren kennis kunnen genereren die kan worden toegepast in een bredere context, namelijk het verhogen van gezonde levensstijlgewoonten bij de bevolking. Het onderzoekt hoe artistiek onderzoek de digitale geletterdheid kan vergroten en deelnemers in staat kan stellen hun levensstijlgewoonten te beheren met behulp van kunstmatige intelligentie, waardoor ze op een soevereine manier kunnen interageren met technologische sensoren en systemen. Het project omvat een mensgerichte benadering van AI, in overeenstemming met de ethische en morele vereisten ervan. Het zal veldonderzoek toepassen in de vorm van AT-LABS: een ruimte in kaart gebracht door middel van technologie en artistiek geïntervenieerd door middel van geluid, licht en choreografie, om een optimale bodem te creëren voor artistiek onderzoek naar gemeenschapsvorming, technologisch gemedieerde interactie, digitale geletterdheid en performatieve praktijk, die een interdisciplinaire aanpak mogelijk maakt. De AT-LAB's vinden iteratief plaats tijdens het vierjarige doctoraatstraject. De informatie die bij elke interventie wordt verzameld, zal leiden tot aanpassingen en verbeteringen in de volgende iteraties. De tweede onderzoekslijn zal de artistieke mogelijkheden van nieuwe mediakunst in deze context bekijken en onderzoeken. Het project wordt uitgevoerd binnen het Consortium Healthy Living as a Service (HLaS), een programma geleid door het Universitair Medisch Centrum Groningen (UMCG). Verder zal worden samengewerkt met V2_ Lab for the Unstable Media, en ARC in het Noorden. Het wordt begeleid door Prof. Dr. Anke Coumans van de onderzoeksgroep Image in Context van de Hanze Hogeschool en Dr. Bianca Herlo, UDK Berlin, Design Research Group. Secundaire professionele begeleiders zijn Dr. Michel Dartel, V2_ Avans Hogeschool, en Prof. Dr. Claudine Lamoth, UMCG, en leider van het HLaS project.
With the help of sensors that made data collection and processing possible, many products around us have become “smarter”. The situation that our car, refrigerator, or umbrella communicating with us and each other is no longer a future scenario; it is increasingly a shared reality. There are good examples of such connectedness such as lifestyle monitoring of elderly persons or waste management in a smart city. Yet, many other smart products are designed just for the sake of embedding a chip in something without thinking through what kind of value they add everyday life. In other words, the design of these systems have mainly been driven by technology until now and little studies have been carried out on how the design of such systems helps citizens to improve or maintain the quality of their individual and collective lives. The CREATE-IT research center creates new solutions and methodologies in “digital design” that contribute to the quality of life of citizens. Correspondingly, this proposal focuses on one type of digital design—smart products—and investigate the concept of empowerment in relation to the design of smart products. In particular, the proposal aims to develop a model with its supplementary tools and methods for designing such products better. By following a research-through-design methodology, the proposal intends to offer a critical understanding on designing smart products. Along with its theoretical contribution, the proposal will also aid the students of ICT and design, and professionals such as designers and engineers to create smart products that will empower people and the industry to develop products grounded in a clear user experience and business model.
