Designing Socially Inclusive Products
Key principles for making our technology designs more socially inclusive to broader population groups
What's it all about?
Designing Socially Inclusive Products
No matter how large or small are the projects technology designers contribute their skills to; the technological products that we develop can impact people’s lives at cognitive, motor and socio-cultural levels.
In 2005, I stumbled upon the doors of the concept “inclusive design” when I applied human-centred design principles to the development of a tangible product for preschool education, as its features enabled children with different physical and cognitive abilities (e.g. preliterate children, emergent writers, and an autistic child) to work at their own pace on a learning activity collaboratively.
Products, services and information systems become inclusive, if the common functional capabilities of all the people who will be interacting with them are considered during the process of feature design.
Since then, I have made an effort to make the technology products I design more inclusive. In real practice, it is somewhat hard to do, but it is possible. Also, I have taught other designers and technologist about it, so they can apply it to their own projects.
How can I develop more socially inclusive products? This question will be answered using key concepts and principles, which will be illustrated using cases drawn from varied sources including my own design practice. During the talk, you will be able to use the principles to evaluate ongoing, completed or future projects.
This talk is at a beginner level. It aims to inspire attendees to find ways to slowly or quickly make their designs (products, services, information systems) more socially inclusive. It is addressed to people who are in the business of designing technology for others. Anyone with an interest in finding ways to make inclusive design a reality in their activities is invited to attend.
What if I cannot attend at these times?
Please register so you can attend this event asynchronously (in your own time) via the OB3 platform. You will be able to access the recorded seminar and engage with the facilitator in a closed collaborative environment.
Speakers
Dr Gloria Gomez is a cross-cultural multi-ethnic female designer of colour, co-founder of OceanBrowser Ltd., and an honorary senior lecturer at the University of Sydney. Gloria undertakes applied design research in educational practice with the Bridging Design Prototype approach. This approach has promoted the novel practice of preschool concept mapping, and has informed the R&D of OB3 – Beautiful Study for Lifelong Learning (OceanBrowser, New Zealand).
Her collaborative research partnerships include a framework to support inclusive design teaching and product evaluation, exploring how professionals with severe impairment use technology for work and study, and conceptualisations on resources for algebraic reasoning in early primary education.
Gloria was born in Guatemala to Colombian parents, raised in Colombia and Ecuador. She has a degree in Graphic Design from La Universidad Potificia Bolivariana (Colombia) and a PhD in Design from Swinburne University of Technology (Australia). Between 1997-2016, she held positions at La Universidad de Los Andes (Colombia), the Florida Institute of Human and Machine Cognition (USA), the University of Otago (New Zealand), and the University of Southern Denmark (Denmark). For 20 years New Zealand has intermittently been her home, where she currently lives, works, and plays.
