Giving Them Something to Hate Using Prototypes as a Vehicle for Early Engagement in Virtual Organizations
There are recognized problems in the course of requirements analysis and design for heterogeneous, distributed, and dynamic systems. These are particularly evident where the context of future use is not yet clear to users, and where the implementation of these systems will reconfigure the costs, risks, and benefits for stakeholding groups. The article provides examples of the value of collaborative early prototyping with users in two such cases-the design of a HealthGrid portal and a telehealth portal. We provide further examples of the value of the prototype as a vehicle for engagement, a sandbox for exploring emerging opportunities, a landscape for negotiating the reconfiguration of roles and resources, and as an early warning system for early identification of emerging problems likely to impact on usability.
healthgrids portal telehealth situated collaboration e-health collaborative design sociotechnical systems