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systems, which deliberately aim to meet them. Designers therefore need
tools which help people to imagine or 'surface' their requirements. The
techniques described above under 'Envisioning' e.g. prototypes and simu-
lations, can be used not only to give participants a vision of a different way
of being or doing, but also to help elicit aspirations, wishes and require-
ments.
9.9.1 Challenging Stereotypes
One way of bringing unconscious requirements to the surface is to chal-
lenge them - i.e. to create prototypes or simulations of technologies or
products which are very different from the norm, and encourage stake-
holders to express their views and opinions about them (see section 9.6).
Conversely, as we have already noted in section 9.6.1, presenting stake-
holders with options which are very similar to previous technologies will
not challenge underlying assumptions and therefore may not bring these to
the surface to be tested and, if appropriate, changed. The most important
features of successful techniques for supporting imagination and surfacing
requirements is that they should enable people (not just stakeholders, but
also designers) to break away from the constraints which tend to arise from
the existing situation or current ways of doing things ('out of the box
thinking'). Brainstorming is another possible technique (see section 9.7.1).
9.9.2 Surfacing Assumptions and Attitudes
Techniques which can help to reveal our unconscious assumptions and at-
titudes that may give rise to requirements can be drawn from diverse
fields. For example techniques that help to expose the thinking which
might underlie a particular expression or thought could be drawn from
family therapy approaches (e.g. Satir et al. 1991), or neuro-linguistic pro-
gramming (e.g. O'Connor & Seymour 2003). Other approaches include
theatre, dramatization and storytelling.
9.10 Developing Outputs to Inform Design
The outputs of these multi-faceted analyses generate invaluable data to in-
form the requirements specifications for the proposed systems. To ensure
that the citizen engagement process feeds into the shaping of digital tech-
nologies, it will be important to capture the outputs of different activities
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