A focus group involves bringing together a group of people to share their opinions, concerns and perceptions toward ideas, concepts, services, plans, goals etc.
As part of the co-design process, we needed to reflect upon the co-design activities we had held. Our goal was to identify the opinions of a broad range of participants (designers, technologists, cultural heritage professionals) on the co-design methods in order to better support the cultural heritage professionals, designers and technologists in working together.
In preparation for the focus group, we analysed the reflection interviews we had done with the cultural heritage professionals and designers in the project relating to the co-design activities. Through analysis, we identified key themes to discuss at the focus group, including bringing museum needs into design and design collaboration. Within each of the themes, we identified key questions to ask to the group. In doing so, we tried to formulate questions that would generate discussion amongst the group. We ensured to invite those we had interviewed, but also other participants so they could share their opinions. The focus group began with a presentation by the facilitators. It outlined the co-design activities held so far (as a reminder for the participants) and the key themes arising from the interviews. Following this, an open discussion was initiated to allow for the input of the participants. The focus group was video and audio recorded.
Following the focus group, the opinions of the participants were analysed. The output of the focus group has been used as input to the planning of subsequent meSch co-design activities.
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