Navigating Networked Co-design Context: What is data when collaborative design process happens in group chat?, in Remote Data Collection Methods?

This methodological paper articulates how data can be collected and analyzed when conducting a co-design process in a networked group chat setting. Co-design involves multiple participants and their disparate understandings, thus negotiation and group decision-making. Carrying on a co-design process online is not only remotely generating shared knowledge but engaging in technologically mediated group communication. As progressively more online means of participation and communication are utilized, this paper aims to highlight the imperative need for co-design practitioners to understand the mechanism of computer-mediated communication. Online platforms are widely accessible but not necessarily equitable. By unpacking the nuances underlining the interactions mediated by social media affordances, the paper explains how information exchange occurs and group decision-making emerges in a group chat setting. Data for networked co-design, in this regard, is not only the co-created content but also the interpersonal dynamics among the stakeholders engaging in a group decision-making facilitated by the group chat setting.