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Short Abstract

The AMUSENS project uses a formal User-Centred Design framework to build its gas sensors. Our co-design workshops with end-users revealed that trust, intuitive data visualization, and privacy are key for adoption, directly shaping our technical development for inclusive science.

Abstract

The success of technology-intensive citizen science projects hinges on their usability and acceptance by non-expert participants. To address this, the AMUSENS project has adopted a formal User-Centred Design (UCD) methodology, structured around the Double Diamond framework, to ensure our next-generation gas sensor platform is driven by end-user needs, not just technical specifications.

Through participatory co-design workshops, our findings revealed that user priorities transcend mere accuracy. Key requirements emerged, such as the need for intuitive data interpretation (preferring simple alerts over complex graphs), robust privacy controls, and building user trust through transparency. These insights have been translated into actionable design principles that now guide our technical development.

As our contribution to the workshop, we propose to share these concrete, user-derived principles as a case study to spark a broader discussion on bridging the gap between advanced R&D and community needs. Following this, we would be excited to facilitate a "challenge sharing" session, allowing participants to collectively troubleshoot their own project's inclusivity and usability hurdles. We believe our experience offers actionable insights on how structured participatory methods can create technology that is not only powerful but genuinely inclusive and trusted.