Fitness by design
Can data heal? Yes, argues Dan Hon, whose type 2 diabetes spurred him to embrace “personal informatics” devices such as the Nike FuelBand and the Fitbit. Yet as such devices become a part of everyday life, a new challenge emerges:…
Insights curated by Experientia, the UX research and design consultancy
Insights curated by Experientia, the UX research and design consultancy
Category Industry sectors
Research on the impact of tablets in secondary schools
Two months ago I wrote about what was then one of the first qualitative studies on the impact of tablets in schools: “Carphone Warehouse (corporate site), a UK mobile phone retailer, recently commissioned the Family Kids and Youth research agency…
How are students actually using IT? An ethnographic study
This ECAR research bulletin describes an anthropological ethnographic analysis of student practices relating to the use of information technology on the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) campus. Using EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research (ECAR) studies as benchmarks, this imaginative research examines…
What’s the future of doctors when the sensors in your electronics diagnose disease?
In a future where biometrics are measured constantly and interpretation is aided by algorithm, what do we want our health professionals to actually do, asks Bradley Kreit on Fast Company. “As technologies enable us to bypass the doctor and measure…
How technology has restored the soul of politics
Longtime political operative Joe Trippi advocates a bottom-up, people-centered politics, and cheers the innovations of Obama 2012, saying they restored the primacy of the individual voter. “New technologies can manipulate, empower, or do both. There will be plenty of actors…
Design in the service of austerity
The UK government’s deficit reduction plan may fall short of its targets, prompting speculation that austerity measures will have to continue into the next parliament. Local government officers who have already seen substantial cuts are now looking at a further…
McKinsey’s iConsumer Global Research Initiative
Recent reports from McKinsey’s iConsumer Global Research Initiative: Moving from “mobile first†to “touch first†December 2012 (published on the EconomistGroup site) Already, more than a third of the time people spend web browsing, using social networking sites, and using…
The man looking to turn Samsung into a Silicon Valley trendsetter
Samsung is doubling down on technology investments in Apple’s backyard, including two new R&D buildings in Silicon Valley that will house 2,000 staff and a recently announced startup accelerator. Leading this effort is Young Sohn, who started at Samsung in…
Charles Leadbeater on scaling and system innovation in public services
On 26 November MindLab, the Danish citizen-centric governmental innovation unit, invited Charles Leadbeater for its morning lecture series. Leadbeater, a leading authority on innovation and creativity, talked about scaling and system innovation in public services. MindLab is a cross-ministerial innovation…
They know what you’re shopping for
Companies today are increasingly tying people’s real-life identities to their online browsing habits. Research conducted by the Wall Street Journal on the practices of more than a thousand websites shows that the border between our public and private lives is…
Service design for innovative banking
Chris Brooker recently ran the Service Design for Innovative Banking workshop at the World Usability Day conference in Silesia, Poland, during which he explored how service design techniques can produce unique service ideas for the rapidly evolving banking sector. Brooker…
Using ethnography to study asthma
Ethnography can be used to inform important health and policy decisions. But there are few public case studies that illustrate the value of ethnography for this specific context. When Erik Bigras of EthnographyMatters learned about The Asthma Files, a project…
How Ford makes its cars smarter
In the fast-evolving world of connected cars, CTO Paul Mascarenas is bringing Detroit and Silicon Valley together to chart Ford’s path into the future. Brian Cooley of CNet interviews him during a walk through Ford’s advanced research facilities.
Research on Android tablet use in 5th grade classrooms
The series of research projects on tablet use in schools (see here, here and here) now also has an Android study. A small research project by Marie Bjerede and Tzaddi Bondi, equipped a 5th grade class of 27 students in…
MedLove, Berlin, 23rd of November
Post by Experientia UX researcher Anna Wojnarowska: The first MedLove conference, a UX and healthcare summit sponsored by Razorfish, took place this Friday in Berlin. MedLove gathered professionals from around the world discussing the challenges waiting for the researchers and…
Learning and the emerging science of behavior change, aka ‘nudging’
The language of learning today is full of references to “softness†and “openness.†Software, soft skills, soft performance, and the softening up of school knowledge go hand-in-hand with open source, open access and open educational resources in much current thinking…
UK study: tech in schools requires a rethink of how learning is organised
In the last five years UK schools have spent more than £1 billion on digital technology. From interactive whiteboards to tablets, there is more digital technology in schools than ever before. But so far there has been little evidence of…
Scotland study: Tablet devices in schools beneficial to children
School children who use a tablet computer benefit the most when allowed to take it home, rather than just using it in school, reveals research from the University of Hull, reports Engineering & Technology Magazine. The iPad Scotland Evaluation Study…
The Talking Circles conference format
The Designing Design Education for India (DDEI) Conference, which will take place in March 2013 in Pune, India, has an unusual, but engaging format: “This will be an interactive conference. Unlike other conferences where the presenters speak from one side…
Service design publications from Finland and Estonia
As part of ServiceD, a three-year service design project, which researched future educational needs and piloted service design education, Lahti University of Applied Sciences from Finland and The Estonian Institute for Futures Studies from Tallinn University have published two remarkable…