Abstract
The ever-rising role of products and technologies in humans’ lives is increasing the call for ways to understand and investigate their influences, in the form of prospective analytical methods. This paper proposes one such method, based upon the Product Impact Tool. This Tool was developed to combine both philosophy of technology and design for usability perspectives. Its effects offer potential for prospective and reflective purposes, and can be used to investigate and structure ideas about the impacts of both current and future technologies. The proposed method offers an addition to existing tools within the field of prospective analysis. This added value is demonstrated through a case study of a concept for future personal transport. Through this case study, it is shown that the proposed method can help uncover information that remained hidden by conventional approaches, by inducing a critical investigation of the subject from multiple perspectives. Such information will aid analysts and strategists in their work, leading to more effective, desirable, and responsible technologies being developed and implemented.
Keywords
product impact tool; prospective thinking; future planning; strategy development
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2018.262
Citation
Raub, T., Dorrestijn, S., and Eggink, W. (2018) Using the Product Impact Tool for Prospective Thinking, in Storni, C., Leahy, K., McMahon, M., Lloyd, P. and Bohemia, E. (eds.), Design as a catalyst for change - DRS International Conference 2018, 25-28 June, Limerick, Ireland. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2018.262
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Using the Product Impact Tool for Prospective Thinking
The ever-rising role of products and technologies in humans’ lives is increasing the call for ways to understand and investigate their influences, in the form of prospective analytical methods. This paper proposes one such method, based upon the Product Impact Tool. This Tool was developed to combine both philosophy of technology and design for usability perspectives. Its effects offer potential for prospective and reflective purposes, and can be used to investigate and structure ideas about the impacts of both current and future technologies. The proposed method offers an addition to existing tools within the field of prospective analysis. This added value is demonstrated through a case study of a concept for future personal transport. Through this case study, it is shown that the proposed method can help uncover information that remained hidden by conventional approaches, by inducing a critical investigation of the subject from multiple perspectives. Such information will aid analysts and strategists in their work, leading to more effective, desirable, and responsible technologies being developed and implemented.