Design in Action: From Prototyping by Demonstration to Cooperative Prototyping
Susanne Bødker, Kaj Grønbæk
Abstract
The dental assistants would be the primary users of the application, and they took part in a series of prototyping sessions to specify how they would like to use computers in their work. They knew that some kind of computer application would soon be introduced at their workplace, and it was important for them to be able to influence the choice of system. In this chapter, the authors discuss how to get started with prototyping that involves users actively and creatively. They give examples illustrating how to obtain close coupling between design activities and experimental evaluation of prototypes in work-like situations. A rich variety of approaches to prototyping has been proposed in recent years. They all provide possibilities for users to gain hands-on experience before final application is built; and yet, the way they are used today, they are not often applied this way. K. Gronbak gives critique of three categories of prototyping: prototypebecomes the system; executable specification; and exploratory approaches.