CoDesign Special Issue (Oct 2013)

Theme: CoDesign with people living with cognitive and sensory impairments
Website: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/cfp/ncdncfp3.pdf
Deadline for submission of intent: 18 October 2013

The main focus of this special issue is on methods and techniques for codesign with people living with cognitive or sensory impairments. The issue will collect a number of high-quality papers describing how existing methods/techniques were adjusted for people living with impairments, or how dedicated methods/techniques were developed.

Focus & topics
The special issue aims to go beyond collecting case studies. Moreover, it will identify commonalities in current practices to determine main principles behind adjustments made to codesign techniques (or behind developing new techniques) for users with cognitive or sensory impairments. The focus of the individual papers should therefore be methodological, answering the main question of how the research approach has been different from an approach for codesign with users without impairments.

Specific topics to be dealt with may include:
●      Specific methods/techniques for codesign that were adapted or developed for use with people living with cognitive or sensory impairments
●      Sensory stimuli/tools/etc. that were used in codesign sessions with people living with cognitive or sensory impairments
●      Ethical issues when doing codesign with people living with cognitive or sensory impairments
●      The role in the codesign process of both people living with cognitive or sensory impairments as well as caregivers
●      The process of translation and interpretation of data and insights towards concepts and designs
●      Personal interaction with people living with cognitive or sensory impairments (including issues such as vocabulary, instruction material, use of language, interpreters, etc.)
●      Dealing with the fact that you as a researcher/designer are not an expert in the area of the specific impairment of your target group
●      Flexibility with respect to the codesign approach
●      Collaboration with people with whom it is difficult to relate and whose world of experience is very different from that of the researcher/designer

Important deadlines
Submission of intentions to contribute should be submitted by October 18, 2013. Notifications of relevance (and thus invitations to write a full paper) will be sent by November 29. 2013. Full papers are due by March 28, 2014. The special issue will be published in the spring of 2015.

Further information
For the full call for papers, go to: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/cfp/ncdncfp3.pdf
Potential authors should contact Karin Slegers (karin.slegers@soc.kuleuven.be) with any questions about the Special Issue.