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peer-reviewed, Software development requires complex context specific knowledge regarding the particularities of different technologies, the potential of existing software and the needs and expectations of the users. Hence, efficient knowledge management counts amongst the most important challenges for software teams. In international teams, one of the most important issues regarding knowledge sharing is the impact of culture under different aspects: national, organizational and professional. There seem to be very few studies dealing with the issue of culture in regard to knowledge management practices in GSE. We want to contribute to the discussion by presenting case studies of small size software teams dealing with international software development in the context of offshoring. In doing so, we illustrate how cultural and social issues influence the way knowledge exchange is performed by analyzing several practices of knowledge management, considering the role of artifacts and tools, of meetings, knowledge brokers and mutual visits between sites., peer-reviewed

peer-reviewed, Re-Tracing the Past: exploring objects, stories, mysteries, was an exhibition held at the Hunt Museum, in Limerick, Ireland from 9th--19th June 2003. We attempted to create an exhibition that would be an engaging experience for visitors, that would open avenues for exploration, allow for the collection of visitor opinions,and that would add to the understanding of material already in the Museum,rather than focus on "gee-whiz" technology. Thus our augmented environment completely hid the technology from view. A key objective was to be faithful to the ethos of the Museum, and to produce an exhibition that would stand up to scrutiny by Museum professionals. This design study paper gives a flavour of the exhibition by taking the reader on a tour of the whole design and development cycle-through site pictures, drawings, scenarios, pictures of the exhibition spaces, the interactive components, and visitor comments., peer-reviewed

peer-reviewed, This paper documents the design process for an augmented children's play environment centred on that most ubiquitous and simple of objects, the cardboard box. The purpose of the exercise is to show how computer technology can be used in innovative ways to stimulate discovery, play and adventure among children. Our starting point was a dissatisfaction with current computer technology as it is presented to children, which, all to often in our view, focuses inappropriately on the computer per se as a fetishized object. Shifting the focus of attention from the Graphical User Interface (GUI) to familiar objects, and children's interactions around and through these augmented objects, results in the computer becoming a facilitator of exploration and learning. The paper documents the journey from initial design concept, through a number of prototype implementations, to the final implementation. Each design iteration was triggered by observation of use of the prototypes, and reflection on that use, and on new design possibilities. By augmenting an everyday artefact, namely the standard cardboard box, we have created a simple yet powerful interactive environment that, judging from the experience of our "users", has achieved its goal of stirring children's imagination., non-peer-reviewed

peer-reviewed, Interactive exhibits are now commonplace in museum settings, providing ‘edutainment’ for visitors. However, many technologies co-exist uneasily with more traditional methods of display. In this paper we describe a design strategy for mixing realities in museum spaces. An approach is adopted for designing interactives which complement rather than replace conventional methods. Our approach is explored through an exhibition which provides visitors with the opportunity to hear and leave opinions on unclassified historical artefacts. An analysis of visitor interaction reveals that avoiding simulation of established methods can allow visitors to weave novel and traditional practices. These results indicate designs for mixing realities in broader settings., peer-reviewed

peer-reviewed, In this paper, we describe the current work being conducted at the Interaction Design Centre on the design and development of a novel interactive museum exhibition. The particular context and cultural setting of the museum calls for a careful approach to the introduction of technology in such a context. We present some of the findings from our early field studies, and discuss how we are attempting to take these findings into account in our ongoing design processes., peer-reviewed

peer-reviewed, The Cardboard Box Garden (CBG) originated from a shared dissatisfaction with current computer technology as it is presented to children. This paper shall briefly review the process involved in the creation of this installation, from motivation through to design and subsequent implementation and user experiences of the CBG. Through the augmenting of an everyday artefact, namely the standard cardboard box, a simple yet powerful interactive environment that, judging from the experience of our ‘users’, has achieved its goal of stirring children’s imagination, peer-reviewed

peer-reviewed, This paper describes an observational study of visitors interacting with artefacts in a museum, and attempts to draw from these studies a number of design considerations. Gaining a thorough understanding of the context, and the way visitors move through the exhibitions and interact around the objects on display, is crucial in designing effective museum installations. In our research, we are designing novel installations that will engage visitors in a natural and unobtrusive way. Our designs which are ongoing at the moment are informed by our field study work at the museum site. Our purpose here is to show how our observations can indeed be made relevant to design concerns, a topic that is fundamental to the development of successful pervasive technology., peer-reviewed