Abstract
Most assessments of technology impact occur only after its deployment, limiting the ability to address unintended social, cultural, and organizational effects. This paper introduces TechWork, a prospective and reflective tool for evaluating emerging technologies within existing work systems. Grounded in reflective practice tradition, socio-technical systems theory, and contemporary work design research, TechWork guides interdisciplinary teams through structured prompts and impact mappings to examine how their own design choices influence autonomy, skills, collaboration, and job demands. The tool was tested through design-education workshops in an architectural studio, applied to vernacular construction practices where embodied expertise and cultural knowledge are central to the work. Findings show that TechWork helps participants anticipate socio-technical trade-offs and revise technology or workflow decisions toward more impact-aware outcomes. The study demonstrates TechWork’s value as both a pedagogical instrument for prospective design thinking and a methodological framework for socio-technical innovation.
Keywords
technology design, work design, impact assessment, reflective practice
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.1406
Citation
Wu, S., Kladeftira, M., Helmersen, K., and Grote, G. (2026) TechWork: Developing and validating a reflective tool for impact-aware design, in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.1406
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
TechWork: Developing and validating a reflective tool for impact-aware design
Most assessments of technology impact occur only after its deployment, limiting the ability to address unintended social, cultural, and organizational effects. This paper introduces TechWork, a prospective and reflective tool for evaluating emerging technologies within existing work systems. Grounded in reflective practice tradition, socio-technical systems theory, and contemporary work design research, TechWork guides interdisciplinary teams through structured prompts and impact mappings to examine how their own design choices influence autonomy, skills, collaboration, and job demands. The tool was tested through design-education workshops in an architectural studio, applied to vernacular construction practices where embodied expertise and cultural knowledge are central to the work. Findings show that TechWork helps participants anticipate socio-technical trade-offs and revise technology or workflow decisions toward more impact-aware outcomes. The study demonstrates TechWork’s value as both a pedagogical instrument for prospective design thinking and a methodological framework for socio-technical innovation.