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The open science movement calls for transparent and retraceable research processes. While infrastructures to support these practices in qualitative research are lacking, the design needs to consider different approaches and workflows. The paper bases on the definition of ontologies as shared conceptualizations of knowledge (Borst, 1999). The authors argue that participatory design is a good way to create these shared conceptualizations by giving domain experts and future users a voice in the design process via interviews, workshops and observations.

This paper presents a novel approach for creating ontologies in the field of open science using participatory design. As a case study the creation of an ontology for qualitative coding schemas is presented. Coding schemas are an important result of qualitative research, and reuse can yield great potential for open science making qualitative research more transparent, enhance sharing of coding schemas and teaching of qualitative methods. The participatory design process consisted of three parts: a requirement analysis using interviews and an observation, a design phase accompanied by interviews and an evaluation phase based on user tests as well as interviews.

The research showed several positive outcomes due to participatory design: higher commitment of users, mutual learning, high quality feedback and better quality of the ontology. However, there are two obstacles in this approach: First, contradictive answers by the interviewees, which needs to be balanced; second, this approach takes more time due to interview planning and analysis.

The implication of the paper is in the long run to decentralize the design of open science infrastructures and to involve parties affected on several levels.

In ontology design, several methods exist by using user-centered design or participatory design doing workshops. In this paper, the authors outline the potentials for participatory design using mainly interviews in creating an ontology for open science. The authors focus on close contact to researchers in order to build the ontology upon the expert's knowledge.

This study aims to find ways to bridge the gap between workplace design and research. Exploring the design process from general design aims to site-specific design makes the process visible to support workplace design research.

Participatory design methods were used to understand employees’ needs and preferences in work-related situations to support the design process. The design process was divided into three phases. The office was temporarily refurbished for the intervention study, and evaluation data was collected with qualitative methods.

Participatory design-generated data revealed typical knowledge work needs, such as the need for privacy, interaction, exposure and preferences for the atmosphere in the workspaces during different situations. The authors identified the following key points to obtain design data: design aims, affordance design and site-specific multidimensional design. An intervention study in a small organisation revealed that lack of activity-supporting spaces created undesirable overlaps for focused work, collaborative work and client communication.

The findings of this paper are explorative and limited to a small knowledge work company. The present approach identifies valuable data collection points in different design phases of workplace design processes. Sharing knowledge from practice to research and vice versa could inform research and improve workplace design.

This study makes the workplace design phases more visible. It supports finding new ways to study the connection between the user-needs and workplaces; and understanding how different design solutions impact workplace experiences, such as satisfaction. This study also brings focus to understanding the versatile needs of small organisations and their workplace design.

While many studies in family business research focus on mono-causal impacts of succession, the purpose of this paper is to employ a systemic approach to analyze dynamic effects of intra-family succession on multiple business areas in family-run companies.

A system analysis using a participatory approach was conducted for a reference family-run company operating in the horticultural retail sector in Germany. The Vester Sensitivity Model, supplemented with principles from system thinking was used to identify key variables related to intra-family succession.

Expert input and analysis of variable co-occurrence revealed key variables associated with succession such as “strategic planning,” “productivity” and “financial flexibility.” Dynamic interactions among various business areas were identified by simulating interventions in succession trajectories. In particular, key variables such as “conflicts between family and work” and “organizational climate” turned out to be highly sensitive to changes during a succession process.

The concept and design of this system analysis tool will allow practitioners such as company managers and business consultants to better understand complex interrelations within companies and provide additional guidance with regard to critical events like business transfer.

The present study uses system thinking to analyze succession and its dynamic and time-lagged impacts on affected business areas in family-run companies for the first time. Repeated application of the systemic approach presented here to real-world business cases will gradually improve the tool and the quality of information it provides.

This research aims to study the economic conditions of fishermen living in the coastal area of Kabupaten Pesisir Selatan.

The method used is a descriptive analysis method supported by a participatory planning method. The importance of primary data is to understand deeply the real problems of fishermen in the field, collected by using a survey method such as field observations, in-depth interviews by gathering fishermen and related stakeholders in the area, undertaking forum group discussion, workshop and seminar. Secondary data are necessary to support the primary data analysis.

The results showed that there is an abundance of marine resources, but the economic condition of fishermen is far from expected. The income from fishing is not enough to feed their family's daily needs due to low catching productivity and raw fish selling price. The regency government and province do not have clear and concrete policies to resolve firmly and thoroughly the economic problems of fishermen living in the coastal areas.

This study succeeds in providing two breakthrough strategic policies to improve the economic conditions of fishermen, i.e. institutional and entrepreneurial innovations.

Both strategic policies have a mutual relationship. Therefore, the implementations have to integrate with one another and be executed simultaneously in a single coastal area management system.

Bupati as a top policymaker in this region must take full responsibility for the successful implementation of these two strategic policies.

Providing new ideas to solve the main problem of fishermen living in the coastal area in Indonesia.

This article describes the development and initial experiences of Design Your Life, a new design approach implementing user-initiated design of technological environments that support autistic young adults to live independently.

This article makes use of a phenomenological Research-through-Design approach. Investigation of possible ways in which a set of four guiding principles could be applied into a design toolkit for autistic young adults and their caregivers by means of three design case studies was conducted. Promising methods from the design practice and literature were applied and contrasted with the lived experiences and practical contexts of autistic young adults and their caregivers.

This exploratory research yielded several important insights for the design direction of Design Your Life. Reflecting on how the guiding principles played out in practice it was noted that: the case studies showed that stakeholders appreciate the approach. The design principles applied cannot be used without the help of a sparring partner. This suggests that caregivers may be trained in design-thinking to fulfil this role. The Design Your Life method will be iteratively developed, refined and validated in practice.

The presented approach puts design tools in the hands of the people who will use the technology. Furthermore, the approach sees technologies as empowering interventions by which a person can strengthen their own living environment. According to this article, this approach is new for this application. It provides valuable perspectives and considerations for autistic people, caregivers, researchers and policy makers.