Jennie Schaeffer

• PhD
• Research affiliate at Mälardalen University

This paper discusses the experience and learning from introducing programming in a museum exhibition design course. Thirty-seven information design students from Sweden, with no previous experience in programming, participated in the course in 2014 and 2015. The students’ tasks were to create interactive exhibition stations at a county museum in fi...

In this paper, one practice-oriented approach to incorporate non-experts in early stages of innovation work is presented and analysed: the method of photo-based group discussions on innovation. The result is based on studies in 7 different organizations during 2013-2014. The method was developed as a response to a current innovation management prob...

A challenge in today's design education practice is to formulate and use methods that support competences in the in-between-space between basic form training and learning that is relevant for designers in the future society. The aim of the paper is to discuss and to evaluate prototyping exercises in design education placed in that in-between space....

There are places in industry intended for communication regarding continuous improvement. This paper presents an observation of the state of practice today in one large and two medium-sized companies. It explores spatial design in continuous improvement areas and how spatial design may hinder or support communication regarding improvements. Althoug...

The paper present research results on how a spatial design can communicate and support production performance in relation to lean production. The main concern of this paper is to discuss the role of interior design and its affect on humans in a production system and to contribute to a more profound understanding of lean production from a communicat...

Human activity has globally affected the earth's climate and ecosystems. The museum sector has an agency in representing topics of societal significance and climate change. The experiment presented here, took place at a history museum with an aim to re-work human subject positions in the museum.The method of object theatre with a departure in an ec...

Preschool, understood as being both a physical and psychological environment, is, according to objectives in national curriculum, required to be inclusive for all those who attend it. Previous studies have identified the stereotypical norms of several everyday activities of preschools, including both interactions and premises. The aim of this artic...

In the design research community, diverse narratives and ontologies are discussed in relation to sustainability. Relational ontology is proposed as an alternative to the dominant dualist ontology as a way to reconnect people with their ecological embeddedness and responsibility. This work presents a dialogical tool called ‘teatime’ created to intro...

Based on the experiences from a social innovation process of Swedish preschool remodelling-aiming to enhance equal and inclusive learning and play-the study investigates socio-material dimensions in complex multi-actor/level (ex)change. Previous studies on systemic change through social innovation ecosystems help reveal dynamics and challenges in t...

Based on the experiences from a social innovation process of Swedish preschool remodelling – aiming to enhance equal and inclusive learning and play – the study investigates socio-material dimensions in complex multi-actor/level (ex)change. Previous studies on systemic change through social innovation ecosystems help reveal dynamics and challenges...

This book is about the Carbon Dioxide Theatre project, in which we explored how participatory theatre and participatory design methods can be used in a museum to create engagement with climate issues. The Carbon Dioxide Theatre project focused on young people’s ability to reflect on and critically review social norms and practices around clim...

Vad säger då forskningen om hur förskolans rum och möbler kan anpassas efter barnens och verksamhetens behov? Boken beskriver, förutom forskning om rum i förskolan, hur barn kan involveras i processer som handlar om rum och förändring, och hur barns upplevelser av rum kan te sig. Utifrån tolv handfasta och inspirerande råd beskriver författarna hu...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to increase the understanding regarding how managers attempt to make purposeful use of innovation management self-assessments (IMSA) and performance information (PI). Design/methodology/approach An interpretative perspective on purposeful use is used as an analytical framework, and the paper is based on empiric...

The biggest changes to the planet are made by humankind and action needs to be taken in order to guarantee a sustainable level of emissions for the planet (Rockström et al. 2009). In the project presented in this poster, we engage young citizens (from 15 to 20 years old), in critically reflecting on social norms and practices around climate goals a...

In this paper, we elaborate on how the future older person is characterised and what future ageing entails in relation to welfare technologies highlighting which actors, social and material, affect innovation governance and discussing who does not. Starting from a distinction between public, private, and academic perspectives we discuss how compani...

In this paper we report on an attempt to let students, companies, and organisations themselves discover the kinds of technologies that could be useful when co-producing knowledge in a Master's-level course in innovation and design. Traditionally, and for various good reasons such as security and stability, universities have had certain online tools...

Co-production Teatime is a prototype developed to support inquiry processes in co-production- the close collaboration and co-creation of knowledge between academic researchers and partners from industry and municipalities. In an attempt to bridge gaps between stakeholders with different interests, expectations and knowledge horizons, the teatime ex...

Despite the prominent role of norms and values in public education policy and practice social innovation studies have rarely investigated how these are converted into practical transformations in the educational sector. The study therefore aims to provide further insight into the impact of contextualized and materialized norms and values in educati...

Children are generally dismissed as being a resource for understanding and forming community projects, as, for example, the design of preschools. In social innovation and participatory design processes, however, all the stakeholders in a project are considered important for understanding and addressing complex organizational and societal challenges...

This chapter proposes a way of understanding and cultivating places for radical innovation in operations. This chapter describes how, organisations can, instead of letting an innovation laboratory be its single economic and managerial priority, foster a decentralised, varied and emergent palette of places in use where radical innovation can occur....

In the presented research, we focus on the connection between aesthetics and visual-spatial information design; we address the understanding of aesthetic matters in information design and its implications, using examples from the manufacturing sector. Manufacturing is one of many contexts for information design practice. Vital and extensive communi...

The paper is based on a research project that the authors are developing with public sector representatives to improve Assistive Technologies for older people in the region of Mälardalen, in Sweden. Drawing from Science and Technology Studies, Design research, and Organization theory, we propose an epistemological approach for studying ageing as a...

We organised an elven day intense course in materiality for musical expressions to explore underlying principles of New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME) in higher education. We grounded the course in different aspects of ma-teriality and gathered interdisciplinary student teams from three Nordic universities. Electronic music instrument mak...

Operators in highly automated control rooms are said to be constantly bored, and boredom is an emotional state that can have economic and environmental consequences. This article presents insights into users’ emotions and their role in the design of control rooms. The study focused on the users’ experience in two control rooms, where operators expl...

Various methods to assess innovation are used in companies and organizations. Audits provide little support for day to day use and few explicitly address how companies can benefit from the audit results in terms of e.g. how to learn, formulate goals and operationalization. Based on a concrete example, this paper explores how innovation assessment c...

This work-in-progress paper describes the lessons learned when introducing Arduino and Processing programming into a museum exhibition design course. 20 information design students from Sweden, with no previous knowledge in programming, participated in the course. The students' task was to create five interactive exhibition stations at a museum in...

Abstract [en] Workspace design, as an enabling factor in innovation, is an emerging topic for innovation and design research. However, little research has been done on users’ experience on workspaces for innovation in a manufacturing industrial context. The aim of the dissertation is to develop knowledge and understanding of workspaces for innovati...

There is a growing interest in the relation between workspace design and innovation. On the one hand, is the idea of designing an “innovation lab” that supports innovation. There are substantial financial investments involved when creating an innovation lab and there is evidence that such spaces can have short useful lifespan and some of them fail...

The possibility that physical space can support or disturb processes for innovation in production systems is overlooked in the manufacturing industry and in research. This article rests on three studies in manufacturing industries and one in a design firm, with a focus on the employees' subjective experience of the physical space in relation to inn...

Workspace design, as an enabling factor in innovation, is an emerging topic for innovation and design research. However, little research has been done on users’ experience on workspaces for innovat ...

Aesthetic aspects, along with a vitalisation of traditional discussions on aesthetic matters, can be a key to a better understanding of the design of working places in manufacturing industry of today. In this paper we address a rethinking of aesthetic matters and therefore also the aesthetic in design practice, while examining examples of superabun...

How do Spaces for Creative Dialogue evolve and how are they experienced in practice? In this paper we will present findings on how space is experienced by informants in the structure of a dialog seminar in an innovation research project. We are investigating the relationship between the physical context and mental content, between the created menta...