Activities such as stakeholders engagement and user requirements analysis are considered fundamental, in funded national and international research projects, in order to enhance outcomes and impact of researches. Scientists are strongly recommended to consider needs and expectations of stakeholders and potential users and to involve them, as research co-actors, since the first steps of the project design to the dissemination of results. Such innovative activities often ask for the presence, in the research team, of experts in social research methodologies. This paper intends to illustrate a case study where the analysis of users needs and requirements was intentionally included in the project workflow. The analysis was conducted within a project focused on the development of innovative products and services aimed at supporting the (Italian) agricultural management and providing technological and business opportunities. The methodology for collecting user needs and requirements was recursive. Once identified target users, their "external needs" were investigated through qualitative tools such as semi-structured interviews. Thanks to the information provided by respondents, subsequent deeper interviews were conducted and other beneficiaries were derived. Starting from these elements, each domain of the project reconstructed its state of the art in order to collect methods or results and plan a workflow encountering as more as possible to the needs of the different stakeholders. During the research process, a second category of needs, called "internal", emerged and was collected. These requirements derived from the mutual interactions between the 3 scientific domains, namely the remote observations from satellite, aircraft technologies for UAVs and Internet technologies 2.0 for smart exchange of data, revealed interesting issues concerning the communication within and outside the scientific community and the perception of project co-design by all partners. The overall approach finally combined external and internal needs highlighting critical issues and operational difficulties but also providing interesting ideas for possible applications and future developments in the Science and Technology Studies.
Beyond the dissemination of projects' results: stakeholders and users involvement and project co-design
L'Astorina A;Carrara P;Basoni A;Tomasoni I
2015
Abstract
Activities such as stakeholders engagement and user requirements analysis are considered fundamental, in funded national and international research projects, in order to enhance outcomes and impact of researches. Scientists are strongly recommended to consider needs and expectations of stakeholders and potential users and to involve them, as research co-actors, since the first steps of the project design to the dissemination of results. Such innovative activities often ask for the presence, in the research team, of experts in social research methodologies. This paper intends to illustrate a case study where the analysis of users needs and requirements was intentionally included in the project workflow. The analysis was conducted within a project focused on the development of innovative products and services aimed at supporting the (Italian) agricultural management and providing technological and business opportunities. The methodology for collecting user needs and requirements was recursive. Once identified target users, their "external needs" were investigated through qualitative tools such as semi-structured interviews. Thanks to the information provided by respondents, subsequent deeper interviews were conducted and other beneficiaries were derived. Starting from these elements, each domain of the project reconstructed its state of the art in order to collect methods or results and plan a workflow encountering as more as possible to the needs of the different stakeholders. During the research process, a second category of needs, called "internal", emerged and was collected. These requirements derived from the mutual interactions between the 3 scientific domains, namely the remote observations from satellite, aircraft technologies for UAVs and Internet technologies 2.0 for smart exchange of data, revealed interesting issues concerning the communication within and outside the scientific community and the perception of project co-design by all partners. The overall approach finally combined external and internal needs highlighting critical issues and operational difficulties but also providing interesting ideas for possible applications and future developments in the Science and Technology Studies.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
