Information
The laboratory offers Psychology students the opportunity to carry out academic or postgraduate practical-theoretical internships.
Who we are
The Joint Labs are interdisciplinary laboratories that develop research and experimentation activities to support businesses, act as a point of connection between basic research and the production context, fuel technological transfer and contribute to the birth and evolution of spin-off companies. IDEaCT is an interdisciplinary laboratory which includes Sapienza professors, researchers, post-docs, doctoral students and graduates who are experts in the various areas of application of Interaction Design. The User Experience Unit (UX Unit) operates in the Department of Psychology of Development and Socialization Processes.
What do we do
The IDaCT Joint Lab:
deals with technological innovation starting from real users and their practices;
brings together the conception phase of an ICT product with that of its introduction in specific contexts of use;
strategically connects academic and applied research.
The Joint Lab provides companies with skills in the field of Interaction Design through specific collaborative projects aimed at analyzing the contexts of use of ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) and the consequent design/redesign of products and services . This analysis is essential to guarantee the effectiveness and efficiency of products in responding to user needs in the specific contexts of use for which they are designed.
Two main research directions converge within the Joint Lab, respectively oriented towards:
to study emerging technologies and ir potential;
to understand the nature of the interaction between humans and technologies in specific contexts, to identify users’physical, cognitive and cultural aspects are critical foroptimal design.
Equipment
The laboratory hosts 3 workstations with software for graphics, multimedia and web, plus a workstation for analog and digital audio video processing. Network points for laptops are also available.
Research lines and services
IDEaCT offers companies Interaction Design Services in the following sectors of intervention: accessibility; E-service and E-learning; digital media; mobility info; social networks; ICT and Ageing; E-Health; Serious games; cultural heritage.
Services
It offers companies strategic analyzes of the practices and cultural interpretations of real users with respect to the artefacts used in daily life, to identify technology design requirements in the name of usability and user experience. User activity analysis services include:
Ethnography: it consists of participant observation of users' daily activities and ways of interacting with artefacts within life contexts. The presence of the researcher in the field of investigation triggers reactions, catalyzes communication and facilitates the expression of users' needs and expectations. It involves the use of diversified tools including: video recordings of usage practices; field diaries; thematic interviews; photographic archives.
Focus group: discussion groups moderated by an expert, in order to receive feedback from users on proposed themes, design concepts or on specific artifacts.
User's stories: collection of "use stories", narratives from users during the use of specific artefacts.
Modeling of users and work processes: starting from the observation of the activity contexts, descriptive scenarios of the work processes are developed and the hierarchy of the tasks implemented is established, to bring out the requirements required for the system to be usable. This modeling forms the basis for the elaboration of the system functions.
Design
To support the planning and design of new technologies, IDEaCT offers its expertise in the development of:
Collaborative Sessions: involving users in the design phase is a complex process for which, as demonstrated by the experience of several companies, good intentions are often not enough. The definition of their requirements passes through cultural constructs that translate into a language that is difficult to interpret. Through the use of an adequate methodology, our Joint Lab makes its professionalism available to users and designers through the use of collaborative design sessions.
Innovative concepts: conceptualizing the interaction between user and technological artefact means understanding the space that the product wants to occupy, clarifying its usability and user experience objectives. Involving the user in this process implies a deep knowledge of her activities to: identify the interaction model that would best support them; formulate effective metaphors for the conceptual model; choose the interaction paradigm that the model will adopt.
Prototypes: creating prototypes, i.e., simple and incomplete models of the technological product, allows the collection of user feedback, the verification of usability, functioning and the interest aroused, allowing the collection of new indications for the subsequent design cycle. Since it embodies some of the aspects of the system to be developed, the prototype shows the design team, users and clients in which direction it is intended to proceed, without having to proceed with the creation of the entire system.
Evaluation
IDEaCT organizes and manages evaluation processes of prototypes and technological products, in order to obtain useful indications for redesigning the artefact in the name of greater usability. The evaluation can be of two different types:
Heuristic or “expert”: this is the evaluation conducted solely by usability experts and without any direct involvement of users. It mainly addresses aspects of technical usability.
With users: It is the evaluation conducted with users. The objective is to identify the usability problems most connected to usage practices, knowledge of users (domain suitability) and the ability to satisfy the needs of the structure of which it is a part and of users (user acceptability). This form of evaluation allows us to go beyond the expectations of the designers and the organization on how the user should interact with the system, to bring this normative representation into concrete reality.
Research groups
Alessandra Talamo is Associate Professor at the Department of Psychology of Developmental and Socialization Processes, Sapienza University of Rome, where she teaches Social Psychology and Interview and Questionnaire Techniques. She obtained a Doctorate in Experimental Pedagogy working on educational cooperation in schools.
Barbara Mellini is a psychologist, doctoral candidate in Psychology of Interaction, Communication and Socialization at the Sapienza University of Rome. She has been working in IDEaCT since its foundation with the role of researcher and project manager. Her research activity focuses on the introduction of technologies in everyday life contexts, on their impact on culture and activities in terms of user experience, and on how to rethink design starting from people's needs.
Stefano Ventura is a psychologist and computer engineer. In his PhD he intends to deal with creativity in working and design practices, with a particular interest in participatory design and codesign. He was involved in training, e-leanring, software design and development. In 1997 he published the collection of interviews "Terzo Cielo" for Sensibili alle Foglie.
Annamaria Recupero has a degree in Psychological Sciences and Techniques andis currently enrolled in the master's degree course in Clinical Psychology at the University of Rome La Sapienza. She has collaborated in the laboratory's activities as a researcher for the past three years.
Research projects
Some of the Ux Unit's research projects:
PROACTIVE;
Cooperation in computer-mediated communication environments (CUN);
Practices of mediated collaboration in virtual communities (MURST);
Opera;
Euroland;
ITCOLE;
HYPETCCO;
European Schools Project;
Sypredem;
CL-Net Computer;
ECOLE - European COLLABORATIVE LEARNING;
Synapsis.