The Participatory Design of Tools: Foreseeing the Potential of Future Internet-enabled Farming

Abstract

This paper describes the use of functional models in a participatory design process to facilitate user involvement in complex system design. The particular case study presented here is the design of Future Internet-enabled farming system to address the global food chain challenges. Taking an end-user perspective during the development of systems and infrastructures in order to assist people in their work and everyday lives sets new challenge for complex system design. In extending the use of functional models by adopting the human factors engineering perspective, we show how future practice was made tangible and subject to the value estimations of a variety of end-user groups. In the food chain related development project, functional models facilitated the creative agency of the food chain actors and enabled a participatory design process in which the agricultural engineers and the food chain actors collaborative worked on a vision of future farming.

User involvement in design of a safety-critical operating panel system

“…Through this kind of dialogic contemplation of the different aspects of the TiU model, a shared understanding of the context was created, which also enabled the further enhancement of the smart spraying concept. (Koskinen & Norros, 2018) In the second phase, the main aim of the user interactions was to obtain more detailed user feedback on the benefits and value of the smart spraying concept. A new more specified and revised TiU model according to the results of Phase I -called the smart spraying concept -was introduced for this purpose (Figure 19).…”