Research 2.0

Leveraging the architecture of participation to inform consumer experts by engaging with a new breed of collaborative consumer.

Jason Nicholas Hill, Art Center College of Design

This paper outlines some of the preliminary research conducted on a senior project in which an
investigative approach was taken to understanding how social media might inform design
strategy. The result was a project outlining one potential next generation research tool that can
efficiently compile and organized authentic user insight. The fundamental questions of what
makes good user insight remains. Is it a spectrum of samplings that display a trend? Is it a small
group of trendsetters sharing their vision of what’s next? Does it just reveal itself after time spent
investigating a topic from the right vantage point? One thing is certain, which is that insight
cannot happen without understanding the values of the intended user and that is precisely this
tool is designed to achieve. The digital tool described does not attempt to direct ones approach to
research but rather provide a glimpse into how technology and social trends can enable greater
collaboration between the researcher and the research participants.

File attachments: 

Hill.pdf