User involvement in systems development have for decades been presented by Scandinavian researchers as a way to provide better systems and doing so faster and cheaper. The main argument is that users have a unique first-hand knowledge, and this allows them to go beyond simple interface-issues and contribute to qualitatively better systems – for the users and for others involved.

Despite the benefits, user involvement does not play a prominent role in public IT development. At the same time, these systems are often above budget, behind schedule and perform poorly. The procurement process may also negatively impact the role of users and there is a risk that user involvement becomes limited to testing of an almost finish system with very limited possibilities for changes rather than creating conditions for users to have substantial impact on the systems being developed.

In this workshop we discuss and brainstorm ideas for how to change this situation!

Program

Intro and background: 12 min

• The Danish User involvement initiative initiated by ATV, DIREC and Dansk IT, Ole L. Madsen and Morten Kyng, organizers
• User participation in digital public service design, Erik Grönvall, organizer.

Presentation of the participants: 8 min / Cases on user involvement: 15 min

• Implementation of the Danish Prehospital Journal by Michael Christensen, Director of Digital Health, Alexandra Instituttet
• The Pycipedia platform, by Erik Grönvall

Workshop/hackathon session on barriers and opportunities: 45 min

• Intro, Jeanette Falk, organizer
• The participants work together – in groups if many, on identifying and suggesting/building solutions for more user involvement. This includes organizational issues, competences, and culture.

Next steps: 10 min

• The participants discuss potential follow-up activities

Organizers

• Morten Kyng, Professor, Computer Science, Aarhus University, mkyng@cs.au.dk
• Ole Lehrmann Madsen, Professor, Computer Science, Aarhus University, ole.l.madsen@cs.au.dk
• Jeanette Falk, Assistant Professor, Aalborg University, jfo@cs.aau.dk
• Nicolai Brodersen Hansen, Tenure Track Assistant Professor, Aalborg University, nbha@cs.aau.dk
• Erik Grönvall, Associate Professor, IT University of Copenhagen, erig@itu.dk
• Line Katrine Harder Clemmensen, Professor, DTU Technical University of Denmark, lkhc@dtu.dk
• Kamila Anna Dzierzak, PhD fellow, IT University of Copenhagen, kadz@itu.dk

Level

Intermediate/advanced.