Research and practice have shown that user involvement is a way to develop better systems, more inclusive systems and usually doing so faster and cheaper.
Despite potential benefits most projects have little or no user involvement, and in discussions with practitioners, we often encounter a lack of understanding of basic ideas e.g.:

• Users contribute as experts in their domain, thus
• Techniques and tools should support and include
• Users’ creative contributions
• Mutual learning between users and developers
• Hands-on exploration of mock-ups and prototypes

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Part of an explanation may be found in current participatory design research, which often has a focus on democracy.

Democracy is important, but it is not a primary concern in most IT-projects. We want to re-connect research to practice, and we believe that a good starting point is a focus on the basic ideas in the bullet list above.

Programme

Intro and background 15 min

The Danish User involvement initiative initiated by ATV, DIREC and Dansk IT – The first years
Morten Kyng, Professor, Computer Science, Aarhus University & Ole Lehrmann Madsen, Professor, Computer Science, Aarhus University

Presentation of the participants 15 min

Developing an interactive floor for learning – a case on children involvement 13 min 
Karen Johanne Kortbek, Principal User Experience Specialist, ph.d., The Alexandra Institute

Ordinary, mundane or just muddy: User involvement in public infrastructure 13 min
Johan Søltoft, Postdoc, Science and Technology Studies, Technical University of Denmark

Short break 8 min

Preconceptions of Participation: Municipal Care Professionals’ Expectations of Co-design Processes 13 min
Kamila DzierzakI, IT University of Copenhagen

Involving users to model perspectives in public transportation planning 13 min
Csilla Duray, PhD student, Science and Technology Studies, Technical University of Denmark

Workshop session on barriers and opportunities 70 min

• Intro, Karen Johanne Kortbek
• The participants work together – in groups if many. Based on the presentations and their own interests and experiences, they identify problems, issues and potentials for more user involvement. This includes organizational issues, competences, and culture.k together – in groups if many. Based on the presentations and their own interests and experiences, they identify problems, issues and potentials for more user involvement. This includes organizational issues, competences, and culture.

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Next steps 20 min

How to re-connect science and practice in support of more and better user involvement: The participants suggest and prioritize

• Types of research is needed to support and accelerate user involvement in “the 95% ordinary IT-projects”
• Potential follow-up activities

Level

Intermediate: For attendees who have basic understanding or some experience with the subject but are not yet advanced.

Organizers

• Morten Kyng, Professor, Computer Science, Aarhus University, mkyng@cs.au.dk (lead organizer)
• Ole Lehrmann Madsen, Professor, Computer Science, Aarhus University, ole.l.madsen@cs.au.dk
• Johan Irving Søltoft, Postdoc, Science and Technology Studies, Technical University of Denmark, johaso@dtu.dk.
• Csilla Duray, PhD student, Science and Technology Studies, Technical University of Denmark, csidu@dtu.dk.
• Karen Johanne Kortbek, Principal User Experience Specialist, ph.d., The Alexandra Institute, kortbek@alexandra.dk
• Kamila Anna DzierzakI, IT University of Copenhagen, kaadz@itu.dk