Documenting (re)design of self-management tools for type 1 diabetes. Towards a continuity of knowledge sharing?

Abstract

This paper describes a continuous process of making, sharing and using ‘thick’ documentation in a project wherein we co-designed three self-management tools with three participants with type I diabetes. Making, sharing and using thick documentation of these processes increased the individual cases’ impact beyond the three participants and the design team involved. Thick documentation represents the material and immaterial aspects of a design process - the latter referring to the dynamic range of participants’ perspectives- in a readable way and motivates use and documentation by others. We discuss the development of two different kinds of thick documentation for two processes and evaluate how they enabled knowledge building among existing and new participants and how all actors valued this.