Author: Jun Takahashi
Affiliation: University of Hyogo
Country: Japan
Title: Inclusive Design Workshops at the Nishi-Harima Astronomical Observatory
I, on behalf of the project team, report our trial inclusive design workshops at the Nishi-Harima Astronomical Observatory (NHAO), University of Hyogo. The NHAO serves as both a research institution which hosts the 2-m NAYUTA telescope and a public observatory which organizes a star gazing session using the telescope every night.
“Inclusive design focuses on the diversity of people and the impact of this on design decisions’’ [1]. In our understanding, the principle of inclusive design emphasizes benefits of contribution by a diversity of users in early design process. They are often excluded from the design target of mainstream products and services. We are interested in the possibility of innovating our astronomical products and services (e.g., exhibitions, tools, facilities, and activities in NAHO) by applying the concept of inclusive design.
In 2016, we launched the inclusive design project in collaboration with the Tanpopo-no-ye Foundation and Prof. Takayuki Shiose (Kyoto University). The Tanpopo-no-ye is a non-profit and non-governmental organization, who promoted the concept of inclusive design in Japan since 2005 [2]. The research field of Prof. Shiose covers inclusive system design and inclusive workplace.
In December, 2016, a two-day inclusive design workshop was organized in the NHAO. Total of 16 persons participated the workshop. The participants include three persons with visual or hearing disabilities, university students in different study fields, staff of Tanpopo-no-ye Foundation, and astronomers in the NHAO. Two groups were formed: each group has one “lead user” with disabilities. The participants walked around the NHAO and took part in some astronomical programs such as a star gazing session. Then, they are asked to derive ideas of new products or services, based on troubled experiences by the lead users. However, the facilitators emphasized the participants not to design ONLY for the lear user but to try generalize the idea to meet the demands by a wide range of users. At the final part of the workshop, each group gave a presentation to propose several design ideas.
In the poster, I will present the specific ideas proposed in the workshop, together with some findings we obtained. I also describe our actions after the workshop.
References:
[1]: Engineering Design Centre, University of Cambridge, What is inclusive design?, Available at: http://www.inclusivedesigntoolkit.com/whatis/whatis.html (accessed July 2019)
[2]: Kitada. K., Takahashi., J, Morishita S., ed., 2006, Inclusive Design Handbook, Tanpopo-no-ye Foundation, Nara, Japan (in Japanese)