Keywords

1 Introduction

The aim of the development of the Transport Innovation Gender Observatory is to prepare internationally scattered knowledge for the consideration of both gender and diversity issues in a user-centered way for stakeholders in the field of mobility.

The term gender is more than just the mere allocation of biological sex, it is rather “[…] a matter of the socially and culturally shaped gender roles of women and men, which (in contrast to biological sex) are learned and thus changeable” [1]. The term diversity, on the other hand, refers to social diversity and different life situations. In order to be able to anchor the entire scope of the concepts of gender and diversity in the field of mobility, the specific concerns of women, for example with regard to their safety, but also of persons with special contexts of use, such as age, religion, ethnic origin and restrictions due to special needs, must be taken into account.

In some countries the turning away from thinking in exclusively traditional gender roles progresses faster than in others. Nevertheless, it is still mainly the women, who are responsible for looking after the children or caring for relatives. However, it is not only important that these particular contexts of use are taken into account, but also that women are employed in the companies themselves. This applies both at the operational level and at the decision-maker level. Only then it can be ensured in the long term that the special contexts of use can also be anchored in the mindset of the company.

So they might have particular needs as mobility users, for example when travelling with a pram, but also when they are dependent on flexible working hours as (future) employees in the mobility sector.

Consequently, “the implementation of gender mainstreaming in transport means that every decision (on the planning, dimensioning and design of transport systems and facilities, on transport infrastructure, etc.) is examined to see whether it hinders or promotes equal opportunities for women and men” [1]. In order to advance the implementation, the international knowledge on gender and diversity in the field of mobility is to be collected, processed and made available in the knowledge repository.

This knowledge management takes place within “[…] a knowledge repository which handles the organization’s meta-knowledge describing knowledge elements that come from a variety of sources with the help of meta-data for a number of dimensions, e.g., person, time, topic, location, process, type. A taxonomy, a knowledge structure or an ontology help to meaningfully organize and link the knowledge elements and are used to analyse the semantics of the organizational knowledge base” [2]. Typical functions are inherent in this knowledge management:

  • knowledge search

  • knowledge presentation

  • knowledge publication, structuring and linking

  • knowledge acquisition

  • knowledge communication and cooperation

  • […] training and […] learning [2]

Typical stakeholders, as shown in Fig. 1, who can influence the improvement within the mobility sector in this respect are:

Fig. 1.
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Architecture of the knowledge repository with national hubs and an observatory for international stakeholder.

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  • National Authority/Government who are responsible for the strategic planning of infrastructure at a national level.

  • Local Authority – City and Mobility Planners who are responsible for the strategic planning of local infrastructure.

  • Local Decision Makers who represent the interests of the citizens and mould the planning process regarding e.g. public transport.

  • Mobility Consultants who organize calls for tenders and consult other stakeholders on how to exploit the potential of new forms of mobility.

  • Public Transport Operators and Mobility Service Providers who develop and improve their services to satisfy the user’s needs.

  • Academics who teach and conduct research in the field of mobility.

  • Educational Institutions that train and further educate staff, actors and interested parties.

  • Citizens/Citizen’ Initiatives who make use of their democratic rights and address specific issues.

Each stakeholder pursues a specific task, such as planning a smart station or designing mobility services, which must incorporate the knowledge required to take gender and diversity into account. Therefor the required knowledge needs to be collected, prepared and distributed through the repository.

As it is shown in Fig. 1 this process is being promoted by the stakeholders already mentioned. They collect knowledge in the tension field of gender and mobility from their countries, which would otherwise remain invisible to other stakeholders from different countries. This knowledge forms the basis for the work of the national Hubs and TInnGIdLabs (Transport Innovation Gender Idea Labs). The Hubs analyse the state of the art as well as the accumulated knowledge. They apply qualitative, quantitative and design research methods, combining hands-on knowledge, concrete actions and best practices. Based on this information the associated TInnGIdLabs will engage in training, dissemination and citizen engagement activities (such as smart labs, ideas factories and living labs) using multimedia resources and participatory design techniques to develop gender and diversity sensitive smart mobility and solutions.

The presented knowledge is maintained in the observatory at everyone’s disposal. This is also the great challenge for human-technology interaction. The Observatory must be designed with a view to the various stakeholders and their associated tasks. Regarding professional and general interest, the knowledge must be explorable through different access points. However, in order to guarantee the sustainability of the platform, the process does not end with the provision of knowledge. Rather, it is a cycle, in which the stakeholders maintain and update the collected knowledge and disseminate the platform beyond the project time and boundaries, so that new knowledge always finds its way into the platform.

The research question therefore is:

How can existing internationally scattered knowledge be prepared for the different profiles of stakeholders and their individual tasks and information interests?

The knowledge structuring and presentation on the user interface should be conducted user-centered from the beginning. “A human-centered design process is one that involves human feedback at all stages of the design process starting from the identification of the need for a DSS and the gathering of user requirements, all the way though testing and evaluation of the final products. Human-centered design processes take into account human skills, needs and limitations” [3].

In the context of this user-centered development process, methods from various disciplines must be used and supplemented by aspects of knowledge management.

  1. 1.

    For the definition of user profiles and tasks, the established methods of the HCI can be used.

  2. 2.

    For the knowledge structuring an appropriate model for knowledge structuring must be found. Different access points and links between the knowledge elements as well as a balance between overview and details must be determined, so that the stakeholder-specific gender action goals can be served.

  3. 3.

    For the visualization and interaction with this knowledge structure the access points in connection with the stakeholder-specific gender action goals must be prepared within the framework of the platform, so that the highest possible utility, usability and a good user experience (UX) can be guaranteed.

  4. 4.

    For the sustainability the UX is particularly important so that individual users remain motivated to use the platform and provide knowledge, throughout the already mentioned desired knowledge cycle, in which not only new knowledge is generated, but also information is constantly updated, networked, shared and used.

Within the scope of this empirical study, HCI methods and knowledge management methods were combined to prepare knowledge. This enabled a definition of user profiles and tasks as well as a determination of a basic knowledge structure, as stated in the results.

2 Background

User-centric development processes exist, e.g. the model of the interdependence of human-centered design activities as it is shown in DIN EN ISO 9241-210 [4], but they do not address the specific challenges of access points to the knowledge repository.

Knowledge repositories, on the other hand, are primarily discussed in the context of knowledge management. Figure 2 shows typical modules of knowledge management, but here the access points must be defined in a user- and task-oriented way in interaction with the user-centered development process.

Fig. 2.
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Modules of knowledge management (translated in accordance with Probst 2012) [5]

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Fig. 3.
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[based on 4]

The modules of knowledge management and their assignment in the user-centric development process for the repository

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The definition of the modules can be integrated into the user-centered development process in the following way:

  • Knowledge Goals can be derived from the specific taskflows of the stakeholders. With which information interest do they access the platform?

  • Knowledge identification is closely related to transparency. The knowledge environment regarding gender and diversity in the field of mobility research must be analysed. This creates the references to the content preparation and design of the user interface.

  • Knowledge acquisition comprises the user-centred preparation of the required knowledge, which can only be acquired through international and/or cross-target group exchange.

  • Knowledge Development implies the conception of new knowledge as well as the handling of new knowledge.

  • Knowledge Distribution deals with the interest-driven transfer of knowledge within and across stakeholder groups. “Not everything has to be known by everyone” [5].

  • Knowledge Preservation ensures the sustainability of the platform. How can knowledge be stored, updated and maintained?

  • Knowledge Use describes the productive use of the knowledge gained within stakeholder task flows.

  • Knowledge Evaluation is closely related to the typical cycles of action in the field of HCI, in which the result is always evaluated with regard to the goal.

A holistic strategy must be found to integrate the elements of knowledge management into the user-centered development process. At the same time, the boundaries of the individual companies and institutions must be broken down and the needs of all stakeholders involved must be taken into account when developing the knowledge repository.

3 Research Design

The context of use must be understood and specified as part of the user-centered development process for the repository. This means that the user profiles of the stakeholders and their task flows need to be analyzed in regard to their responsibilities and competences. Furthermore their Knowledge Goals and Knowledge Acquisition needs to be determined. To do so a workshop with experts consisting of representatives of municipal authorities, research institutions and manufacturers from the field of mobility, among others was held. 30 experts from 13 countries discussed for two days which responsibilities, tasks and information interests should be served by the repository. As a result user and organizational requirements, i.e. the desired Knowledge Development, could be specified. In addition, during the conduct of the Knowledge Identification, access points to knowledge could be identified which will flow into the design solution process (see Tables 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9). For the Knowledge Evaluation, the Knowledge Use or rather the fulfilment of the user Knowledge Goals is the decisive criterion (Table 1).

Table 1. The modules of knowledge management and their assignment to the phases of the user-centric development process for the repository
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Table 2. Context of use of the stakeholder National Authority/Government
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Table 3. Context of use of the stakeholder Local Authority (City & Mobility Planners)
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Table 4. Context of use of the stakeholder Local Decision Makers (City Council)
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Table 5. Context of use of the stakeholder Mobility Consultants
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Table 6. Context of use of the stakeholder Public Transport Operators & Mobility Service Providers
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Table 7. Context of use of the stakeholder Academics
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Table 8. Context of use of the stakeholder Educational Institutions
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Table 9. Context of use of the stakeholder Citizens/Citizen’s Initiatives
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Within the framework of the analysis of the context of use, the knowledge goals and access points of the international users for knowledge identification could be localised from the task flows.

The access points can be classified into the following categories:

figure a

As Table 10 shows, there is an interest in theoretical knowledge across almost all stakeholder groups. This includes above all information material, guidelines, surveys or similar sources, which are intended to contribute to a better understanding of the underlying gender and diversity concept. Furthermore, this knowledge offers the possibility to derive the public perception and to identify implementation potentials. There is also a demand for experience knowledge, which primarily includes good practice examples. An exchange of experience across target groups and national borders should open up new perspectives and have a groundbreaking effect. For both categories, the restriction that this knowledge is mostly held within one’s own ranks and therefore remains invisible to other mobility actors and/or countries has applied so far. Country-specific regulatory conditions e.g. legal frameworks are interesting to the extent that they reveal limitations, but also adaptation points, which would hinder or facilitate the implementation of gender mainstreaming in the field of mobility. In addition, some countries can learn from the progressiveness of other countries. Communication information includes above all contact data which, if made available in a lively manner, is representative of a well-functioning exchange of knowledge. The question of who can make a certain knowledge available within which research or work area is essential. In the course of this, the demand for up-to-date information naturally also plays an important role. This involves the communication of dates such as planned events, conferences, but also project-related start and end times or milestones.

Table 10. Information interest of stakeholder groups
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Even if a stakeholder has not explicitly stated a need for information in all extracted areas, it can nevertheless be assumed that there is also a fundamental interest in these areas, but by no means the same weighting. Rather, it can be assumed that there is a hierarchy of interests, which is mostly based on their task flows.

Thanks to these evaluated knowledge goals, access points could be extracted that can serve as the basis for organizing access to the repository.

4 Results

The main objective of the investigation was to ensure the utility of the repository by defining knowledge goals and access points for knowledge identification.

For the development of the repository, the method of user-centered design was extended in such a way that modules of knowledge management were assigned to the individual phases.

In the analysis of the usage context, particular emphasis was placed on the target-group-specific collection of the task flow with regard to knowledge goals and access points to the knowledge for gender-specific questions.

This made it possible to extract the essential categories of theoretical knowledge, empirical knowledge, regulatory conditions, communication information and current information for the preparation of content.

In further steps, it must be determined how knowledge can be acquired, developed, distributed and preserved in the context of the repository.

For the concrete use of knowledge, the access points must be refined in content, networked and visually prepared depending on the workflow.