The effect of participatory design on the co-creation of a 3D environment.
The Solution:
We established a development roadmap involving software programmers, researchers and neurodiverse participants which used real-time testing and user feedback to iteratively alter a virtual world.
The user feedback and changes aimed to make the virtual world both more appealing to the participants and more efficient as an interactive training simulation.
Who we helped:
Dr. Yurgos Politis | University College Dublin
International Society for Autism Research (INSAR)
https://www.autism-insar.org/
Project objective:
To research and measure outcomes relating to the optimal balance between the involvement of end-users, researchers and software developers in the participatory design of educational material in VR.
Benefits Delivered:
- Improvements to the VR environment using Participatory Design methodologies.
- Co-creating with neurodiverse individuals, we were able to improve their engagement with the educational materials.
- Early proof that the interactive materials and the methods for accessing them were scalable.
- Provided the participants with work experience related to software testing and working with software developers and researchers.
- Provided the developers with experience of Participatory Design.
Outcomes:
Research Paper:
‘Empowering people with Autism through their involvement in the development of a Virtual World’
Advances in Autism, (Politis, Olivia & Olivia, 2019)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/AIA-01-2019-0001/full/html
