\r\n\tThe biological activities of the bioactive compounds are based on the lead or the privileged scaffold present in the structure. The different scaffolds present in natural bioactive compounds are indole, purine, chromone, coumarin, benzothiphene, lactone, etc. These privileged scaffolds modify into multiple molecules for having different bioactivity. Some of the bioactive compounds in large quantity have an adverse effect on health. Recently, bioactive compounds are widely used in green chemistry, nanotechnology, and metal chelation.
\r\n\tThe book provides a reference for a wide range including chemistry, analytical techniques, medicinal chemistry, pharmacology, nanotechnology, etc.
Archaea represent the third domain of life, in addition to Prokaryota, which they more or less physically resemble, and Eukaryota, with which they have more genetic similarities. Many archaea are classified as extremophiles, but those which live in the digestive tract of animals are known as methanogens. Archaeal diversity in the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) is far less than that of bacteria, and more specifically monogastrics have a much lower diversity as compared to herbivorous ruminant animals. In both host types, species belonging to the genus Methanobrevibacter have been cited as the dominant methanogens in the GIT. In fact, Mbr. smithii is the dominant species found in the human GIT, followed by Methanosphaera stadtmanae [1–5]. This lack of relative diversity is largely a function of diet, the presence or absence of other microorganisms, or digestive tract physiology, but it may play a role in human intestinal dysbiosis. A general increase in microbial diversity has been correlated with a healthy gut microbiome that is resistant to physical or biotic disruptions, as there is redundancy in metabolic pathways and the increased competition precludes dominance by one particular taxon. Higher methanogen diversity was correlated with lower breath methane production in humans [1].
\nMethanogens use hydrogen, in the form of free protons, H2 gas, NADH and NADPH cofactors, acetate, or formate, to reduce carbon dioxide and produce methane gas. Thus, methanogens rely on the by-products of bacterial fermentation of carbohydrates (i.e., carbon, hydrogen, acetate, formate, or methanol) as precursor materials required for methanogenesis and their own energy production. Dietary carbohydrates which are not broken down or absorbed by the host are available to bacteria for fermentation [6], and a large amount of unused carbohydrates may consequently increase bacterial fermentation and archaeal methanogenesis. A diet high in fiber and structural carbohydrates, which are largely indigestible to animal and human enzymes (i.e., cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin), is associated with populations of Methanobrevibacter ruminantium [7], while a diet high in starch and other easily digestible carbohydrates is associated with Mbr. smithii [8, 9]. Mbr. smithii has been shown to improve polysaccharide digestion by GIT bacteria and fungi, and even influence the production of acetate or formate for its own use [10, 11]. Msp. stadtmanae requires methanol, a compound that is the by-product of pectin fermentation, for its methanogenesis pathway, which accounts for its presence in omnivores [1, 2, 5, 12].
\nMethanogens also have a slower growth rate than bacteria, which is sensitive to concentrations of hydrogen required as an electron donor during methanogenesis, as well as other nutrients. Few methanogenic taxa are motile, and these are limited to the order Methanococcales, and the genera Methanospirillum, Methanolobus, Methanogenium, and Methanomicrobium (order: Methanomicrobiales) [13, 14]. This difficulty of remaining situated in the intestines is a limiting factor in methanogen density. In humans, methanogens tend to be denser in the left colon, where fecal matter becomes more solid and transit time slows down [15], but they have also been found in the small intestine [16]. In addition, passing through the gastric stomach is challenging, which may explain why oral and intestinal populations of archaea and bacteria do not share an overlapping diversity [17, 18]. To overcome challenges to intestinal retention, some species of methanogens have adapted to the human colon and are able to thrive. Mbr. smithii produces surface glycans and adhesion-like proteins which improves their interaction with host epithelia and allows for persistence in the gut, as well as wider range of fermentation by-products, which can be used for methanogenesis, allowing for the flexibility of the human diet [3].
\nColonic gases are among the most tangible features of digestion, yet physicians are typically unable to offer long-term relief from clinical complaints related to excessive gas and associated discomfort. Studies characterizing colonic gases have linked changes in volume or composition to individuals with gastrointestinal disorders (see below). These studies have suggested that hydrogen gas, methane, hydrogen sulfide, and carbon dioxide are by-products related to the interplay between hydrogen-producing fermentative bacteria and hydrogen consumers (reductive acetogenic bacteria, sulfate-reducing bacteria, and methanogenic archaea). The primary benefit of methanogenesis in the GIT is to decrease hydrogen (hydrogen gas, NADH, NADPH) resulting from carbohydrate fermentation by bacteria, protozoa, and fungi [19]. Hydrogen gas in the intestines can shorten intestinal transit times of feces by 10–47% [20]. Moreover, hydrogen has been shown to have antioxidant properties as an oxygen scavenger [21, 22]. It is possible that in the healthy colon, physiological hydrogen concentrations might protect the mucosa from oxidative insults, whereas an impaired hydrogen economy might facilitate inflammation or carcinogenesis.
\nHowever, excessive hydrogen in the GIT can be detrimental to commensal microorganisms. The decrease in hydrogen through the generation of inert methane gas helps to prevent hydrogen damage to host or symbiotic microbial cells [23]. In ruminant animals, which have a four-chambered stomach, methanogens associated with ciliate protozoa act as a hydrogen sink [24], especially in the first two stomach chambers, the rumen and reticulum. There are a few commensal protozoan species that can be found in the human intestinal tract [25], but it is not yet known if they symbiotically interact with methanogens. Generally, this interaction only occurs with protozoa that have a hydrogenosome organelle, which metabolizes pyruvate and uses hydrogen ions as electron acceptors. In humans, the only protozoa that have a hydrogenosome are trichomonads, such as Trichomonas hominis and Trichomonas tenax, both of which are nonpathogenic [25, 26].
\nAlternative hydrogen sinks in humans include sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB), which produce hydrogen sulfide gas that is absorbed and detoxified by the liver, or acetogenic bacteria, which produce the short-chain fatty acid acetate that can be metabolized by the host or other microorganisms. Some of these pathways are mutually exclusive in humans, and either SRB or methanogens will be present in large numbers [27]. Although higher hydrogen sulfide and SRB levels have been detected in patients with irritable bowel disease (IBD), and to a lesser extent in colorectal cancer (CRC), this colonic gas might have beneficial effects as a gaso-transmitter [28]. Acetogens, on the other hand, have up to a 100 times higher hydrogen concentration threshold, and thus cannot out-compete methanogens for precursors [29, 30]. Consequently, acetogenesis is rare in the human GIT, and if present is usually restricted to the right colon [31].
\nUnlike hydrogen, there are as yet no known biological sinks for methane in the intestines [32], although methanotrophic bacteria exist in a variety of water and soil environments. Instead, some methane is excreted from the colon, and most is absorbed into the blood stream and expelled from the lungs via exhalation. This allows methane production to be indirectly and noninvasively measured, since breath methane concentration is correlated with methanogen cell density in the intestines [1]. An undetectable concentration of breath methane does not equate to the absence of archaea, and therefore false-negative interpretations of breath gas analysis may result when breath methane is at undetectably low levels [33, 34]. Reported estimations suggest that between 30 and 62% of healthy humans produce detectable methane [31, 35]. The presence of methane gas in the intestines may influence or reduce intestinal transit time, and the correlation between breath methane production and transit time has been observed even in healthy individuals [19]. This was further examined using animal models, in which the overabundance of methane gas caused a reduction in transit time while increasing intestinal contractions [20, 36], thus increasing pressure inside the intestine by an average of 137% [20]. Alteration of intestinal motility may benefit slow-growing methanogen populations, which are limited by their ability to attach to host mucosal epithelia and maintain themselves in the intestines.
\nThis increased gas production and resulting pressure cause bloating, discomfort, flatulence, or belching. In addition to detrimental physical effects, it has been speculated that methane potentially causes chemical and biological effects as a “gaso-transmitter” [37], in the same way that hydrogen sulfide affects smooth muscle activity [37] or nitrous oxide (N2O) is used in biological systems to control vascular tone [38]. Studies using isolated gastrointestinal tissue suggest that this interaction is between methane and enteric nervous tissue, rather than the central nervous system [20]. Clinically, hydrogen and methane measured in breath can indicate lactose and glucose intolerance, small-intestine bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), or other gastrointestinal diseases [35, 36, 39–42]. Therefore, standardized breath gas measurements combined with ever-improving molecular methodologies could provide novel strategies to prevent, diagnose, or manage numerous colonic disorders as defined by the Rome III diagnostic criteria [43].
\nObesity in adults is most commonly defined using body mass index (BMI) (kg body weight/height in meters squared), and for Caucasian adults, is defined as a BMI of ≥30 kg/m2. For over a decade, shifts in intestinal bacteria diversity have been associated with weight gain or obesity in humans, generally following an increase in the proportion of Firmicutes [44], a decrease in Bacteroidetes, which has shown some anti-obesity influences [44–46], and with a shift in more minor phyla. Generally, this shift in intestinal bacteria leads to an increase in host energy harvest by improving polysaccharide digestion and host epithelial absorption which, in turn, causes weight gain [47–49]. Alternatively, a change in host genetics or immune system function can also cause a shift in bacterial diversity. The lack of host immune-modulating factors, such as Toll-like receptor 5 (TLR5) and fasting-induced adipocyte factor (Fiaf), produced insulin resistance, increased adiposity (especially visceral), and shifted GIT bacterial diversity and functionality in mice [49, 50]. Additionally, endotoxinemia, or the presence of microbial endotoxins (e.g., lipopolysaccharide-A (LPS)) in intestines or blood, has been shown to induce obesity, glucose intolerance, weight gain, and adiposity in response to a high-fat diet [51–53].
\nIt would seem that bacterial diversity and density may have a specific role in metabolic dysbiosis, as treatment with oral antibiotics has been shown effective at improving fasting and oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) levels in obese or insulin-resistant mice [54], or mitigating endotoxinemia and reducing cecal LPS concentrations in mice on a high-fat diet [51, 55]. Both obesity and diabetes are also correlated with low-grade chronic intestinal inflammation, likely caused by bacterial LPS. The presence of LPS, among other systemic immune responses, causes host macrophages to express pro-inflammatory cytokines, and in adipose-associated macrophages this only increases local insulin resistance and lipid storage [51, 53].
\nMore recent studies have focused on the shifts in archaea associated with high-fat/high-calorie diets or weight gain, especially as Mbr. smithii has been shown to increase polysaccharide digestion by bacteria and fungi [10, 11] and may play a specific role in increasing energy harvest. Mbr. smithii has been shown to increase in density in rats when switching to a high-fat diet, and was associated with higher weight gain when given as a supplement regardless of the diet [16]. In humans, BMI was higher in breath methane-positive subjects (45.2 ± 2.3 kg/m2) than in breath methane-negative subjects (38.5 ± 0.8 kg/m2, P = 0.001) [56]. In a separate study, methane- and hydrogen-positive subjects again had higher BMI than other groups (M+/H+ 26.5 ± 7.1 kg/m2, P < 0.02), and also had significantly higher percent body fat (M+/H+ 34.1 ± 10.9%, P < 0.001) [41]. Interestingly, Mbr. smithii density was found to be highly elevated in anorexic patients (5.26 × 108 rRNA copies/g feces), even more so than in obese patients (1.68 × 108 rRNA copies/g feces), as compared to healthy body-weight subjects (9.78 × 107 rRNA copies/g feces) [57].
\nObesity is strongly associated with an increased risk for diabetes mellitus, or type-2 diabetes, which is an inducible metabolic disease characterized by a lack of pancreatic production of insulin, or a resistance to insulin at the cellular level. Type-1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease characterized by the destruction of pancreatic beta cells which normally produce insulin. Diabetes can lead to a host of other health problems, most especially cardiovascular disease, renal failure, increased glaucoma and potential blindness, and reduced circulation, which increases the risk for ulcers and infection in the peripheral limbs. Few studies investigate the potential link between methanogens and diabetes. Type-1 diabetic patients with no complications showed a significant increase in intestinal transit time, although it was not associated with other gastric symptoms [58]. Type-1 diabetes with an autonomic diabetic neuropathy complication affects heart rate, blood pressure, perspiration, or digestion. Some patients with this neuropathy have also been positive for SIBO [59, 60], which was associated with an increased daily insulin requirement [60], or detectable methane production, which was associated with a worse glycemic index [59]. Breath methane producers, which had comparable BMI and baseline insulin resistance to non-methane producers, had higher serum glucose levels and a longer return to normal resting glucose after OGTT [61]. The mechanistic relationship between methanogens, methane, and diabetes has yet to be explained.
\nColorectal cancer is the most commonly diagnosed malignancy in the Western World, being the fourth most common cancer diagnosis in the United States but the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths [62]. In nonsmokers, it is the leading cause of cancer-related death in men and the second leading cause of cancer-related death in women (after breast cancer). The 5-year survival rate varies by stage and type, ranging from 53 to 92% [62]. All colorectal cancers originate from adenomas or flat dysplasia, and are often asymptomatic, though occult bleeding may result and ultimately may be associated with an unexplained iron deficiency anemia. Large tumors in the distal or left colon may result in a compromised bowel lumen and potentially lead to symptoms including constipation, diarrhea, or bowel obstruction. The histopathology of CRC is complicated and involves a number of differently defined molecular pathways. There is evidence of microbial dysbiosis in CRC patients, as well as higher levels of breath methane in patients with CRC and premalignant polyps, as presented below.
\nViral causative agents have been identified in a variety of cancers, but it is only recently that prokaryotic- or eukaryotic-causative or protective agents have been investigated. Cancer has been associated with a reduced bacterial diversity in the digestive tract [63], as well as in the mammary glands [64]. Specific agents have been identified, which cause localized cancers through their molecular interactions with host cells [65], such as Helicobacter pylori in stomach cancers or a link between the diplomonad protozoan Giardia in pancreatic and gallbladder cancer, but no archaea have yet been cited as a possible agent [66]. A recent review by Gill and Brinkman [67] discusses the role of bacterial phages (viruses that exclusively infect bacteria) in bringing mobility and virulence factors to bacteria, while archaea are infected by archaeon-specific phages which are unlikely to have independently evolved similar virulence factors to bacterial phages. Additionally, while archaea and bacteria are both prokaryotic, though in different phylogenetic domains, there is little evidence of horizontal gene transfer between them [67].
\nThere is some discussion about the change in the density of methanogens in individuals with colorectal cancer [33, 68, 69]. Methanogen density was shown to be inversely related to the fecal concentration of butyrate, a short-chain fatty acid produced by bacterial fermentation [70]. Butyrate has been shown to provide energy for digestive tract epithelia cells, upregulate host immune system and mucin production, alter toxic or mutagenic compounds, and reduce the size and number of crypt foci, which are abnormal glands in intestinal epithelia that lead to colorectal polyps [71–73]. An altered gut microbiome in colorectal patients could shift bacterial fermentation away from butyrate production to something more favorable to methanogenesis.
\nMethane production was increased in patients with precancerous symptoms and colorectal cancer [39, 74], and was directly proportional to constipation but inversely proportional to diarrhea in chemotherapy patients [75]. In the same study, pH was also directly proportional to constipation but inversely proportional to diarrhea in chemotherapy patients [75]. Methane itself has not been shown to be carcinogenic. However, the oxidation of methane forms formaldehyde, which is carcinogenic [76]. On the other hand, hydrogen sulfide gas produced by SRB has shown to promote angiogenesis (which tumors rely on), and has been shown to be genotoxic when DNA repair is inhibited [77]. Colon cancer biopsies have shown an increase in the enzyme cystathionine-β-synthase (CBS), which allows host cancer cells to produce their own hydrogen sulfide, and a silencing of this gene was able to reduce tumor cell growth, proliferation, and migration [78].
\nThe symptoms of IBS vary between patients, and may include diarrhea, constipation, excess flatus secondary to hydrogen or methane production, bloating, abdominal pain, and visceral hypersensitivity [79]. Hydrogen sulfide gas from SRB was shown to increase luminal hypersensitivity [80]. In addition, IBS is associated with changes in the diversity and density of intestinal bacteria [42, 81–83], as well as with an increase in hydrogen production [84]. In some patients with IBS, the change in bacterial populations is amplified, leading to SIBO. SIBO is also seen in non-IBS patients, but it is much more prevalent in IBS patients, especially those with constipation as opposed to diarrhea [85, 86]. A common technique for the management of symptoms includes switching patients to a diet low in fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols (FODMAPs) [87]. Two-thirds of patients report symptoms linked to diet [88], especially gas production and bloating following ingestion of lactose [89], other carbohydrates, or fats [40, 88].
\nWhile the specific cause of IBS still remains unclear, the altered bacterial diversity causes a shift in carbohydrate fermentation and altered gas production. If this shift favors methanogenesis, the result is a decrease in transit time and an increase in constipation. The presence of methanogens in the digestive tract, and the production of methane, has been associated with patients with IBS, and especially with chronic constipation and reduced passage rate in the intestines (slow transit) [42, 85, 90]. Methanogen density was found to be lower in IBS patients as compared to controls [69, 91], although density and methane production were increased in IBS patients with constipation as compared to IBS patients without constipation [90]. Methanobrevibacter spp. are increased with diets high in easily digestible carbohydrates, but decreased in diets high in amino acids/proteins and fatty acids [8], specifically Mbr. smithii [9]. More specifically, Mbr. smithii was higher in IBS patients with constipation and higher methane production [90], and they have previously been shown as the dominant species in healthy individuals who have high methane production [1].
\nContrary to recent findings in patients with IBS, low methane production [35, 42] and lower methanogen density [69] were seen in patients with IBD, which includes the specific entities Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis. In contrast to IBS, IBD patients demonstrate chronic inflammatory changes in the colon (UC) or in the small bowel, or a combination of small bowel and colon involvement (CD).
\nRecently, it was demonstrated that two archaeal species normally found in the digestive system, Mbr. smithii and Msp. stadtmanae, can have differential immunogenic properties in the lungs of mice when aerosolized and inhaled [92]. Furthermore, Msp. stadtmanae was found to be a strong inducer of the inflammatory response [92], and it is likely that this may occur even in the GIT where it is normally found. Blais Lecours et al. [93] investigated the immunogenic potential of archaea in humans relating to patients with IBD. Mononuclear cells stimulated with Msp. stadtmanae produced higher concentrations of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) (39.5 ng/ml) compared to Mbr. smithii stimulation (9.1 ng/ml) [93]. Bacterial concentrations and frequency of Mbr. smithii-containing stools were similar in both healthy controls and patients with IBD; however, the number of stool samples positive for the inflammatory archaea Msp. stadtmanae was higher in patients than in controls (47 vs 20%) [93]. Importantly, only IBD patients developed a significant anti-Msp. stadtmanae immunoglobulin G (IgG) response [93], indicating that the composition of the microbiome appears to be an important determinate of the presence or absence of autoimmunity. Recent advances in mucosal immunology and culture-independent sequencing of the microbiome support the hypothesis that alterations in the microbiota can alter the host immune response as is observed in IBD [94]. A specific role for archaeal species has yet to be clearly defined.
\nThere are many rare gastrointestinal diseases and general conditions of dysbiosis which are not well understood, but which may have a link to methane production in the intestines. Pneumatosis cystoides intestinalis (PCI) is a condition in which gas-filled cysts occur in the smooth muscle wall of the intestines, where it cannot be relieved by flatulence. It is believed to be caused by bacteria in the intestinal wall. Interestingly, patients with PCI have lower prevalence of breath methane production than patients with IBS, CD, UC, and even healthy control subjects [35].
\nNon-IBS constipated patients with slow transit were more likely to have detectable levels of breath methane (75 vs 44%) than constipated patients with normal transit, and both were more likely to have detectable breath methane than nonconstipated controls (28%) [95]. This trend was also reported in other studies [56, 85].
\nDiverticulitis, a condition involving the herniation of the intestinal mucosal and submucosal layers back through the intestinal smooth muscle and creates pockets that harbor infections, has only been noted since the early 1800s [96]. Interestingly, it is most common in the left colon in subjects from Western countries and the right colon in subjects from Asian countries [96], which is likely a function of the “Western diet.” Diverticulitis was associated with a high prevalence of methanogens in stool and high methane output [33], as well as fiber intake, age-associated changes in the colon wall, low colonic motility, and high intraluminal pressure; however, methane output was not associated with right colon diverticulitis [97]. As methanogen density is higher in the left colon [15], an increase in methane production that reduced transit time and increased intraluminal pressure would seem to be a contributing factor to the development of left colon diverticulitis.
\nIBS is the most common functional gastrointestinal disorder and affects up to 12–15% of adults in the United States. Roughly 1.6 million Americans currently suffer with CD or UC, collectively known as IBD. IBS adversely impacts quality of life and medical expenditures, with significant costs arising from health-care visits and reduced workplace productivity, while IBD is a chronic, relapsing, debilitating disease associated with both environmental and genetic factors. IBD affects one in 200 Americans (80,000 children) at an estimated direct cost of $1.84 billion dollars. Conventional therapy attempts to modulate the immune response in the gut as it relates to IBD, yet many individuals continue to require surgery to control their disease or address its complications. There is a longstanding belief that dysbiosis (altered microbial environment) in the GIT plays an important etiologic role in the pathogenesis of IBS and IBD. There is significant scientific and public interest in compositional understanding of the intestinal microbiome (the specific constellation of microorganisms populating the gut) to better understand the role of the microbiome in health and disease. The contribution of individual organisms, including archaea, in the pathogenesis of GI disease is complex because of the rudimentary understanding of the compositional components of the microbiome.
\nThe control of methanogen populations has long been a strategy in livestock to improve animal dietary efficiency, as methane production is an energy sink, as well as to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In ruminant livestock, as discussed in a review by Hook et al. [24], this is largely done by manipulating the diet to improve the digestibility of feed and increase passage rate through the digestive tract to both deprive methanogens of potential precursors and to manually flush them out of the system. A change in diet is a potential avenue for reducing methanogen populations in humans, as methanogenesis is associated with sugar-/starch-based diets in monogastrics [27]. Environmental effects may also play a role, as children living near landfills, which had higher atmospheric methane than areas away from landfills, had a higher breath methane output and higher Mbr. smithii cell density than control children, regardless of their socioeconomic level [34]. Previous to that study, it was shown that the bacterial and fungal counts dispersed from landfills into air were up to 20 times higher than microbial counts from other areas [98].
\nAntibiotics have commonly been used to treat gastrointestinal disease or symptoms such as fasting and OGTT (glucose) levels [54], endotoxinemia and cecal LPS concentrations [51, 55], or global IBS symptoms [99]. Archaea are largely resistant to antimicrobial agents, which target bacteria, as they have different cell wall components and structure, and the few antimicrobials which they are susceptible to have been summarized in a recent review [100]. Notably, Methanobrevibacter species have only been shown to be susceptible to mevastatin and levastatin, both hydroxymethylglutaryl (HMG)-SCoA reductase inhibitors [101].
\nOur increasing knowledge of the potential long-term effects on gut microbial diversity has led to a trend of alternative treatments or mitigating methods over antibiotics. A recent review of probiotics showed them to be effective in relieving digestive dysbiosis symptoms or treating gastrointestinal conditions [79, 81, 102, 103]. The use of prebiotics directly infused into the colon, such as short-chain fatty acids, however, did not increase colonic motility [104]. While probiotics and other dietary additives have been used to reduce methanogenesis in ruminant livestock [24], the effect of probiotics on methanogen populations in humans has not yet been investigated. While current research suggests that methanogens and methane production may exacerbate symptoms, causative relations have only been shown in bacteria, and thus it is bacteria which should be the ultimate target for mitigation strategies in unhealthy populations.
\nDirect microbial remediation and mitigation have only been recently considered in human medicine with the advent of fecal transfer treatments from healthy donors. While this has mainly been aimed at remediating pathogenic bacterial populations, the implications for this technology to reduce methanogenesis and improve gastrointestinal conditions are clear. It may be possible to use fecal transfer treatments to increase the diversity of GIT archaea and thus promote competition to reduce methane production, to colonize with less-efficient methanogens, or to potentially increase competition by increasing SRB populations, which may have its own health implications for detoxifying hydrogen sulfate gas. Most interestingly, the transfer of fecal microbiota or cultures of specific methanogens has shown to also induce metabolic states in the recipients; fecal transfers, or colonization from parent to child, from overweight or pregnant individuals has been shown to increase weight gain in recipients [10, 16, 48, 105, 106]. While the possibility of this transfer to improve weight gain in severely malnourished individuals remains possible but not yet clinically applied, the more commercially appealing treatment of obesity using fecal transfers from lean individuals has yet to be explored.
\nMethane has been implicated in a number of gastrointestinal diseases, but methanogens have not yet been identified as causative agents. More work is needed in order to understand the interactions between archaea and host epithelia, as well as whether the root dysbiosis is caused by bacteria, archaea, or host epithelia. In addition, more sensitive, quick, and minimally invasive assessment techniques are needed to assess methane production, methanogen diversity, and methanogen density. In cases where methanogens are potentially pathogenic, more data are required to develop therapeutic antimicrobials or other mitigation strategies.
\nDesign is an extremely versatile discipline characterized by different interpretations in philosophy and practice which involve considerable efforts to understand its nature. Defining design uniquely is controversial, both because the designers themselves are unable to give a distinctive definition capable of gathering all the themes related to it, and because, over the decades, the term has had different meanings, evolving.
\nThe history of design is not simply a history of objects but of changing points of view on what is the object of the design itself [1]. A starting point on the study is represented by the thought of Herbert Simon [2] who defines design as the elaboration of artifacts to achieve goals. His reflection leads to the relationship between the natural world and the artificial one. “A forest may be a phenomenon of nature; a farm certainly is not. The very species upon which we depend for our food our corn and our cattle are artifacts of our ingenuity” [2]. The artificial object synthesized by men with the desired properties which can or may not imitate nature can be defined as an artifact, created by using the same basic natural materials or different ones. The artifact is also considered as an interface between the internal environment, i.e. the organization and the design of the artifact itself, and the external one, i.e. the environment in which it is located. “If the inner environment is appropriate to the outer environment, or vice versa, the artifact will serve its intended purpose” [2].
\nThe most obvious and popular definition regarding design is that it represents the shape of products and therefore refers to style and esthetics. In fact, design is often associated with the shape of the product and not with its function [3]. However, despite numerous criticisms, the term has always remained closely linked to the esthetic aspects, reducing it to the exaltation of beauty since, as Raymond Loewy claimed, “ugliness doesn’t sell”.
\nReducing design to simple esthetics distances the concept from innovation. It is a recent trend to extend the meaning of design, following broader meanings that concern various areas of knowledge [4].
\nDesign is described as a problem-solving activity [5], a process that becomes a prescriptive sequence of activities related to the cognitive process of exploration [6]. Over time, the practical applications of design have extended to anything capable of producing artifacts deriving from the usage of creativity to generate a product, a service, or a process innovation [4]. Companies like IDEO, Apple and Decathlon think about the product no longer and not only as an object for which to design a shape, but as an experience and bearer of meanings [7]. Kotler and Rath [8] suggest that product design is a strategic tool for optimizing consumer satisfaction and corporate profitability through the combination of performance, shape, durability, and value in relation to environments, information, and identities. Consumers buy products for several often not obvious reasons which include both functional utility and psychological satisfaction.
\nThe interpretation of design linked to the function can be found in Maldonado [9]. Designing the shape means coordinating, integrating, and articulating all those factors which in one way or another participate in the constitutive process of the shape of the product. More precisely, it alludes to factors relating to the use, function and individual or social consumption of the product, as well as to production. In this sense, design is interpreted as an activity capable of combining all the factors involved in the realization of the shape of the product, referring both to the technical, functional, economic and productive aspects, as well as to the symbolic, cultural and social ones.
\nThe dimension linked to meaning is revealed with Krippendorff [10]. He involves design with the meaning of the products attributed by users and by the relationship with the surrounding environment. Therefore, the meanings depend on the context and the culture. The same artifact can invoke different meanings at different times, in various contexts of use and for different people. Since the meaning is not univocal, it is the responsibility of the designer to observe the actions that imply it, understand them, and establish a dialog with the interested parties.
\nMore holistic is the design definition of the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design: “design is the creative activity whose goal is to establish the various qualities of objects, processes and services and their systems in the life cycle. In addition, design is the central factor in the humanization of technology innovation and cultural and economic changes.” This definition expands the concept of design and connects it to management, to the ability to understand consumer needs, to strategy.
\nDesign is increasingly becoming a frequent the answer to the multiple challenges that managers face: growing competitive pressure, managing complexity in organizations, customer orientation and social responsibility.
\nTalking about design today means recognizing the widespread presence of activities, skills, actions, products related to design within the economic system. This constitutes an essential point for defining an economic and social improvement strategy based on an advanced development concept that has its strength in the ability to add value to the system of products, services, and businesses.
\nWithin the company context, design can take on different facets based on how it is integrated and conceived within the organization [11]. The value that a company gives to design depends on its history and its evolution. For this reason, a company that has recently approached design will probably integrate it into strategy only after using it as an operating tool.
\nThe design can be considered as an operational tool and therefore linked to the initial phase of the design practice concerning the styling of the product. In this case, the design has an esthetic significance for the product and does not give it any other added value to the organization.
\nIn another case, design can be an important resource for the company but simply linked to the realization of the product. In this circumstance, design is given its autonomy, its time, its space, and the possibility of developing a product starting from a project specification. In this case, the company prepares a project group which, however, is not involved in the organizational and decision-making dynamics of the company, dealing only with the project specification.
\nDesign can also be perfectly integrated into process management and contribute to a company’s vision of the future. The ability of design to anticipate the needs of consumers, imagine possible future scenarios and put them into a solution, made it fundamental within companies and allowed it to play a role in all phases of the creation of a product, from the initial idea to its commercialization. This has helped to create designers with diversified training, able to dialog with all the actors in the design process but has also prompted companies to seek outside their borders different skills to reorganize the entire value chain (Figure 1).
\nDesign value in the business context. Source: Personal adaption from Celaschi et al., 2011.
The long-term value for the company is created through three key changes: the transition from function to purpose, in which the product becomes important for its social utility and not only for its performance; the increasing importance not only of the final outcome but also of the processes involved used to conquer the motivations of the consumer; in the third instance, the relevance of co-design, where the user is not a passive entity but actively participates in the design of the product.
\nThe creation of a business model in which design and management shorten their distance and work together for a joint vision of the organization, not only creates value for the company by increasing the performance achieved, but directs the company towards innovation and its exploitation with respect for social responsibility.
\nAlthough the concept of design thinking is quite current and today it is considered a useful approach for companies, the roots of its meaning are to be found elsewhere, shifting attention to the literature of the last century, which in addition to influencing the concept of design thinking, represents a model for contemporary exponents of the approach.
\nHerbert Simon is one of the first to offer idea for the development of some concepts related to design thinking. For Simon, the natural sciences deal with how things are, while the design deals with how they should be through the creation of artifacts that respond to specific objectives. Therefore, it could be said that design is the transformation of existing conditions into preferred ones. However, this transformation does not follow a linear path but rather it tends to adapt to the surrounding environment. The adaptation is explained by Simon with the example of the ant that, in the path to take to return home, adapts to the obstacles it encounters along the way not being able to have an overall and complete vision of the surrounding environment [2]. To carry out the non-linear path that leads him to the solution, the designer uses problem solving: the individual defines alternatives with respect to a goal to be achieved and chooses among the alternatives the best compared to that given goal, but not the best in absolute. This is because man has a limited rationality and therefore when he seeks a solution or wants to achieve a goal, he does not do so in full awareness of all possible opportunities, but only with respect to what he is able to know.
\nAnother point of reference is represented by the thought of Bauchanan [1], who takes up Rittel [12] and his idea of wicked problems. Wicked problems are a class of indeterminate and tiring problems of the social system. They are difficult to define and for which there is no single solution. Each wicked problem is unique, and the designer’s effort is to try to minimize the error since each solution is a one-shot operation, an attempt that matters significantly and has consequences. This class of problems concerns issues such as sustainability, climate change or public policy, i.e. the location of a highway, the regulation of taxes or the change in the school system.
\nThe wicked problems approach brings out the uncertainty in which the designer operates having to conceive and design something that does not yet exist. If in a linear approach a designer has a specific problem to solve based on defined conditions, a wicked problems approach, based on indeterminacy, gives the designer a universal scope.
\nThe wicked problems approach contains peculiarities typical of the themes of design thinking. Indeed, the object of design can be applied to any area of human experience. Design thinking is considered a bridge to connect the knowledge of liberal arts and sciences, adapting them to current problems and purposes. Bauchanan [1] underlines the absence of the impossible, considered as a limitation of the imagination that can be overcome through a better use of design thinking, an instrument characterized by the integration of signs, things, actions and environments that respond to the concrete needs and values of human beings under various circumstances.
\nDesign thinking was also analyzed from a managerial point of view. By discussing the mutual interactions and influences of management and design, managers became curious about the way designers think and operate within the company. Design thinking has become a tool for the entire planning area to contribute to innovation and replace strategic management to face a complex reality [13]. In this sense, design thinking becomes a broader approach, capable of involving the organizational systems of companies, influencing the behavior of managers, and solving complex problems. Not surprisingly, it is increasingly common that managers are asked to be a little more designer by adopting a “design attitude” [14].
\nMartin [15] and Brown [16], fathers of two different interpretations and applications of design thinking, do not turn to research on design studies and on the management of organizations, but formulate an approach that derives rather from experience gained during practical activity. Despite this, both theories are gaining recognition from designers, companies, and governmental agencies.
\nMartin sees design thinking as a useful and necessary tool for training managers. For him there are two forms of business thinking: analytical and intuitive. Analytical thinking is based on quantitative data and standardized processes, while intuitive thinking is about how to use instinct to guide creativity and innovation. Analytical thinking is the most common in management schools being easier to measure and more coherent. Martin uses the labels of reliable for analytical thinking and valid for the intuitive one. Companies prefer to privilege reliability, and this implies that they cannot create valid solutions that exploit the three inductive, abductive, and deductive logics.
\nBusiness schools generally tend to focus on inductive thinking, based on empirical evidence, and on the deductive one, based on already accepted premises that guide future actions. The design schools emphasize the abductive logic of the way of thinking, based on “what it could be”. An abductive approach sees in the project constraint a creative opportunity and a challenge; managers instead perceives it as an obstacle.
\nThe use of design thinking to deal with indeterminate organizational problems favors reasoning and the continuous generation of idea through abductive, deductive and inductive combinations, an activity particularly important for companies that deal with both the exploitation of the existing and the exploration of the new [17]. Organizations that live in routine and that have developed the ability to always produce the same goods, keeping the cost and quality level constant, are unable to innovate. The search for a balance between abductive, deductive, and inductive reasoning that takes the form of generating an idea, predicting the consequences, testing, and dissemination (Figure 2) is the best way to innovate, using design thinking.
\nThe design thinking process. Source: Personal adaption from Martin, 2009.
Another approach is the one proposed by Tim Brown and Tom and David Kelley. They provide a model for innovation that arises from the practice of consulting IDEO, a company that has started to market itself as an innovation organization and not as a design one, thus emphasizing the dependence between the two concepts. The design thinking of Tim Brown and the Kelley brothers is therefore a response to the innovation challenges of organizations that deal with complex issues. The approach starts from the assumption of bringing together what is desirable from a human point of view with what is technologically feasible and economically sustainable [16]. The model adopts a human-centered orientation and therefore to the market and the analysis of consumer needs and their relative satisfaction, representing one of the most important peculiarities of design thinking. One of the most interesting aspects is that design thinking considers all potential innovators, using the skills that everyone has, in particular problem-solving. Another important topic contained in the approach is that of social innovation and the contribution that can be made through design thinking by creating products, services and organizations to support them for less developed communities in order to improve their quality of life.
\nToday, to deal with changes in society and the environment, an approach to innovation that manages to integrate with companies and society is necessary to create breakthrough ideas, capable of being implemented and successful. The design thinking approach is proposed as a solution to this need by suggesting a model that through the tools possessed by designers is able to create an innovation capable of integrating people’s needs and therefore giving them meaning with what is technologically feasible and functionally possible in the near future and which responds to the economic success of companies and can become part of a sustainable business model (Figure 3).
\nInnovation in the design thinking model. Source. Personal adaption from Brown, 2009.
If the classic designer tries to solve each of these constraints, the design thinker will place himself in a position of harmonious balance. In this model, the design has moved from a tactical role to a strategic one, starting to move in different areas and setting aside the idea of building on what already exists and looking for mere improvement features. The approach is based on the belief that the design belongs to everyone and for everyone, that the ideas and skills that everyone has can be expressed through alternative brainstorming methods in which sharing, the importance of team work and exaltation of diversity is enrichment for all and allows important results to be achieved [18].
\nDesign thinking may be able to solve complex problems, which are not limited to products but can concern processes, services, interactions, forms of collaboration, communication, and strategies [19]. However, everything is guided by a human-centered vision, in which the market is put at the center, in which needs are the engine of all innovative ideas, giving people what they want and thus transforming the latent need into demand.
\nFor a company that has understood the value of innovation and considers it a competitive lever, it is essential to use design thinking and its tools to guide growth, improve the quality of activities, decisions, and results.
\nIn the wake of the design methodologies, the design process was divided into various steps to facilitate the planning of the project activities and their scheduling. The first references to a multiphase structure of the creative process come from Poincaré [20], who, through his reflections on the creative thinking process to solve mathematical problems, gave impetus to Wallas [21] who divided the creative process into four phases: preparation, incubation, lighting and verification. This classification was the starting point of the search for movements in the field of creativity in design that sought new models to better describe the stages of a process. As demonstrated by some design researchers, the classification and the respective visualization of the different phases of the design process depends above all on the methodological paradigm in which the creative process in the design is analyzed and described [22, 23, 24]. In the design methodology there was a paradigm shift in the 1980s, from the analytical and rational logic, to the holistic one of progressive affirmation of design solutions. The problem-solving paradigm moved towards the interpretation of the design process as a reflective practice [25] and as a co-evolution of problem-solution spaces [26]. In the new design thinking movement, the problem-solving approach is still dominant, but it is holistic and non-linear [17, 19, 27]. Instead of a sequence of stages, most of these models describe the design thinking process as a space overlap system [28] and as an iterative process [29], and therefore can be assigned to new design paradigms of progressive affirmation.
\nIn the domain of design thinking applied to business and innovation, some process models have been published and defined as the most appropriate. These are the “3 I” model [28] developed by the consulting firm IDEO and The Stanford d_School model developed in 2008 from the collaboration between the Hasso Plattner Institute and the d_School of Stanford University, two of the most prestigious institutes in the field of design.
\nThis model was developed by IDEO, one of the leading companies in design-driven innovation consulting and takes its name from the three phases into which it is divided: inspiration, ideation, and implementation.
\nInspiration represents the initial phase in which it is necessary to identify the problem or challenge that must be face. The goal is to observe people and their lives, to understand how they think, feel and act. The inspiration stage can in turn be divided into three sub-phases:
understand the reason, the opportunity or the problem that pushes people to face a challenge; in other words, begin to understand what are the right questions that need to be asked to solve the problem;
observe people in their own context of life with the aim of collecting as much information and data available on their way of acting, feeling and thinking to determine the real needs, desires, dreams and problems to be solved or satisfied;
point of view that indicates the reformulation of a design challenge, transforming it into a statement of the problem to be faced in the following phase of ideation.
The three sub-phases must be covered repeatedly, considering the feedback collected and the possible opportunities for improvement at each iteration, trying to empathize with the people observed to understand them in depth. During the inspiration phase, the design team should be able to build a brief containing a series of constraints that help the team itself identify a framework from which to start, objectives to be achieved and parameters to measure obtained progresses and results and potential ones. It must be generic enough to allow the team freedom of action, develop creative ideas and think outside the box, but it must not be too general either, risking to make the team wander with no grips to cling to during moments of uncertainty and doubt about which direction to take. Once the initial framework has been defined, the inspiration involves understanding what people really want and what they need; it is necessary to use ad hoc tools since traditional methods, based mostly on simple interviews, are limited to asking people for these concepts: unfortunately people are often unable to provide this information since they do not even know what they really need.
\nIdeation is the phase in which a meaning is giving to everything that has been observed and heard in the previous phase, generating as many ideas as possible and identifying opportunities to be seized, developing and refining, iteration after iteration, the ideas identified, up to choose the best one to implement. Even the ideation stage can be broken down into three sub-phases, which, like the previous ones, must however be a cycle to be covered and retraced continuously: design, prototypes, and tests. The goal is to devise as many solutions as possible, create fast and inexpensive prototypes to build and test them from the initial stages, in order to immediately collect feedback and sensations to understand if the team is heading in the right direction, reducing time and resources on ineffective solutions. Among the good practices in support of the phase are optimism, abstaining from judgments and criticisms, visual representations of the paths and concepts addressed, and the multidisciplinary skills and knowledge of the people involved in the design process. Also, in this case, the key word is to iterate, pursuing perfection, but in small steps until the identification of the solution deemed best and in which to invest in the third and last phase of implementation.
\nImplementation is the final phase of the design thinking process according to the “3 I” model and consists in giving life to the best solution among those identified in the previous phases. The goal is to present the proposal to the market, choosing the most suitable way to share and promote it and evaluating the impact it will have, both in economic and social terms. This last step can also be broken down into three sub-phases which are:
storytelling: it helps to communicate the chosen solution to all stakeholders, internal and external to the organization, through the use of a language suitable for each of them, which can be made up of meanings, images and references to past experiences. The goal is to correctly convey to the market the meaning, the value, and the type of impact the solution will have for the people who will adopt it;
pilot: intended as a pilot prototype, completer and more defined than those created in the design phase. In this case the costs and production times will be greater because the pilot prototype must be tested by potential users as if it were the real product/service that is going to be launched into the market. Like all the phases described above, this one is subject to more and more iterations, at the end of which feedback and impressions are collected to continuously improve the pilot until the final optimal characteristics are identified;
business model: to correctly launch the asset on the market and implement its commercialization, a reliable business model should be developed. In the business model, strategic decisions will have to be made relating to financing, marketing, production, related auxiliary services, in short, everything needed to transform the idea into a complete product/service/experience to be offered to the market.
All these phases of the process are strictly interconnected and must not be carried out in a linear way but as a circular sequence, with an approach of continuous revisions and second thoughts that consider feedback and impressions to arrive at the optimal solution (Figure 4).
\nThe “3 I” model. Source. Personal elaboration from Brown and Wyatt, 2010.
The model has been developed in 2008, from the collaboration between the Hasso Plattner Institute and the d_School of Stanford University. The approach remains, as in the previous case, of a scientific-engineering and iterative type and the phases to be implemented cyclically are five:
Empathy: since this is a human-centered approach, empathizing with the subjects involved is the basis of the model, to understand their needs by taking their point of view and to be able to produce solutions suitable and innovative for them. Once again, therefore, the starting point is to understand how the people who are addressed think, feel and behave, with the aim of deducing their needs and their desires, but also the beliefs, convictions and values they possess, without asking them explicitly. For example, to collect data and information about the customers, organizations might observe if differences or ambiguities exist between what a subject says and what he does instead. To empathize with people, it is necessary to:
Observe, viewing users and their respective behaviors in their life context, i.e. social, work, family;
Involve stakeholders in the challenge through meetings and interviews;
Identify with the users themselves by living the same experiences.
2. Definition: the objective is to define the problems to be faced and the opportunities to be seized, structuring the information collected in the previous stage to produce a point of view from which generate innovative solutions, aimed at satisfying the latent needs of users. The output of the phase is represented by a specific challenge to be faced, which represents the vision of the project; the more the vision will be clear and well defined, the more likely it will be to find a successful solution. Indeed, the better the problem is known, the easier it will be to find the best solution. Vice versa, the less clear a problem is, the more difficult it will be to find a solution of considerable impact. The definition phase also serves to collect and view all the insights gained in the empathy phase, always with the aim of defining the right challenge to start and begin to glimpse possible solutions to the problem. A good vision, in addition to capturing the hearts and minds of the people involved, must:
Frame the problem and focus the team’s attention on it;
Inspire the team;
Allow members to make decisions independently and simultaneously;
Avoid defining universal concepts that are good for each user, which is not only impossible given the great diversity of people, but also counterproductive since generalization makes the team moving away from the peculiarities of the challenge.
The vision is based on the point of view identified and assumed during the phases of empathy and of definition, that is a sort of micro-theory relating to the challenge, the reference environment, and potential users. Defining the point of view in the right way means defining the vision and consequently an innovative solution suitable for overcoming the described challenge. A useful methodology for this purpose is to continually ask the question “how can we….?”, thus offering a good starting point for brainstorming, the main activity of the next phase of ideation. Since the process is dynamic and iterative, brainstorming can also be used upstream of the ideation phase, as a transition activity aimed at generating a point of view and a vision.
3. Ideation: it represents the phase in which, developing the divergent and creative thinking of the team, many ideas are produced, to then choose those or the one to be explored and prototype in the next phase. The solutions generated, in addition to responding effectively to the problem to be overcome, could also open new perspectives, thus making it necessary to revise from the earliest stages. To develop this research and this type of thinking, as anticipated, powerful discussion tools can be used such as brainstorming, related to themes or concepts identified in the early stages which must be deepened to find insights and ideas on which the solutions to come will be based. The design process must allow the team to abandon obvious and banal ideas or to go beyond these using them only as a starting point. Additionally, the design process must allow the team to look for opportunities, even potential ones to be seized, and for new areas to explore, and give fluidity and flexibility to the range of possible solutions with high innovative content. Once again, the goal of the ideation is not to identify the best result, but a range of possible solutions that reconcile the characteristics of the challenge and the reference environment with the needs and requirements of the users. The selection of the best idea will be made later, based on the feedback received and the feasibility and desirability characteristics of the solutions. Once again there is an overlap between the design phase and the subsequent prototype and test phases, which is however necessary to identify the optimal solution. The output of the design phase is given by a small group of ideas to be submitted to the next prototyping phase; the number of ideas to be prototyped must be the right tradeoff between product innovation potential and feasibility understood both in economic and temporal terms. Prototyping each idea produced, as well as just one, would in fact be ineffective, first for economic reasons and, secondly, to not lose most of the innovative content produced during the ideation stage.
4. Prototyping: the conversion of the idea into reality, making the conceived solution tangible. The prototype has the task of conveying the concept or idea behind a solution, therefore it does not necessarily have to be complete or finished. The simpler it is, the more possibilities exist to try different combinations and alternatives before identifying the final optimal solution. In addition, the more people involved can try it, test it, and interact with it, the more successful the prototype will be, because in this way empathy between user and the solution is increased. Like the previous ones, this phase is also based on research and iterations: initially the challenge, the problem and the solutions are less defined and consequently the prototypes generated will be not clear as well, but, as the solution takes a determined shape, even the prototypes will become clearer and more detailed. There are many different forms of prototypes, from tangible products to bulletin boards containing post-its, from role-playing games to story boards; in other words, prototype is anything that can be used to submit a concept or even an idea for a solution to possible users or stakeholders involved in the process. The prototypes, in addition to sharing and communicating a solution to some selected subjects, can be used to seek insights and ideas in the ideation phase and are also useful for testing possible solutions and verifying their potential impact on the market. In general, when building a prototype, the team must avoid excessive attachment to it. Moreover, it is necessary to be extremely practical by ensuring that it responds effectively to a question and, finally, it is always necessary to design taking the point of view of the user, continually making questions like “what do we want to test?” and “what behaviors do we expect to observe?”.
5. Testing: the verification phase is generally performed in parallel with the presentation of a prototype, so much so that it is often difficult to separate the two activities. However, it should be noted that to test a solution or a prototype it is not enough to show it to possible users, but an evaluation system must be designed. In general, the testing phase is aimed at obtaining:
Feedback to finalize prototypes and solutions;
Information to increase the knowledge of potential users;
Understand the point of view: the test can also reveal that not only the optimal solution has not been identified, but that the wrong challenge has also been defined and therefore the whole process must be restarted.
Obviously, if the test is positive, the solution will continue in the implementation phase until it is proposed to the market. The type of test to perform will depend on the type of prototype or solution. However, a generally valid rule of thumb is to always defend and protect the prototype as if the team knows they are right but question it and try it as if they know to be wrong (Figure 5).
\nThe d_ School of Stanford University Model. Source: Personal elaboration.
In recent years, a particular trend is spreading among the various companies: just as the industrial sector is transforming the offer, based mainly on the product, towards an experience-oriented economy, in the same way museums are forced to innovate its offer, in terms of visitor experience and educational opportunities. At the same time, they must also modernize their internal organization to support this transformation. The reason is that the advent of the experience economy has changed the dynamics of the various institutes, cultural and otherwise: they must face a radical change in order not to sink into an increasingly competitive environment, in which the consumer is looking for more engaging and customized experiences.
\nSince in this context the needs and expectations of consumers become the main objective, design thinking seems to be the perfect methodology to adapt the museum offer to the wishes of visitors, thanks to its human-centered approach and its nature of problem-solving.
\nBut how can museums use the design thinking process to engage and delight visitors? There are several steps to integrate the design thinking mindsets into museum practice:
Museum professionals must get out from their desks and face-to-face with customers. This can help organizations discover, test, and validate ideas for solving real-world customer needs. In museums, this process is simplified since staff can walk into the galleries during the opening hours and observe and talk to visitors. They have access to them right outside their office doors. By getting away from their desks and into the galleries, they can learn about their visitors’ needs and shift their perspective from institution-centered to user-centered. Additionally, museum staff can also talk with a broader range of people like the parents who regularly drop their sons off at the museum for education programs or the millennials who have checked the website several times but have never come to any of the museum events they read about online. By speaking with this audience, the staff gather rich, individual stories, develop insights around how to meet the needs of current and potential visitors, and test their insights with prototypes;
Before investing time and money on developing new digital or analog products, services or experiences, museums should identify assumptions and test them before starting implementation. For example, a museum might want to redesign the exhibition web pages by starting from the assumptions that some visitors check the website before a visit and some of them arrive at the museum with a very clear agenda in their mind. But then, after conducting some initial interviews, the museum might discover that most visitors do not even consult the website in advance, they are overwhelmed when they arrive and they need guidance and recommendations around where to start and what to see and do. This might lead to new opportunity that consists of providing onsite in-gallery recommendations of what not to miss. Thus, rather than redesign the website, the museum staff can focus on reviewing their daily printed guide and prototyping new in-gallery digital signage as well;
Many museum projects start with the solution. By jumping to the solution, museum do not ask why they are building something but rather what to build. This often means that they set out to solve the wrong problem and miss potential opportunities. In the example reported above, the museum staff can demonstrate that by recognizing the opportunities around the onsite visitor experience before diving into the details of implementation, they were able to holistically consider the needs of their visitors, from online users to onsite guests;
Some museums, especially those about science and natural history, are keen to prototype almost everything, from exhibition installations to digital offerings. However, these represent the exceptions since the concept of prototyping is still very limited with regards to cultural institutions. Museum staff are so invested in the details of the solution that meaningful changes are nearly impossible to be provided. And when prototype happens it is done late in the development process. Prototyping is an essential step of the design thinking process and requires to be done by museums if they want to create innovative cultural experiences for their customers.
The Museo Egizio or Egyptian Museum of Turin is one of the oldest Egyptian museums in the world. Founded in 1824, it ranks second only to Cairo. It represents one of the most visited museums in Italy where it competes with the renowned ones of Rome, Florence and Naples. In 2016, TripAdvisor recognized the Museum Egizio as the most appreciated Italian museum by the visitors.
\nThe audio guide, which provides recorded information while touring the museum, represents the most relevant device used to help the visitor to interpret what the museum has to offer. Given that relevance, the museum management decided to ask a consulting company to implement a training process able to aid the museum staff at developing ideas to redesign the audio guide and, in the meantime, bring the staff together while experimenting innovative working procedures.
\nAfter accepted the challenge, the consulting company developed a program focused on two main principles:
Visitor-centered: the visitor is at the center of the whole process and the museum staff needs to get in contact with him. This is the only way to develop innovative services and involve museum staff in their everyday routines with satisfaction;
Team based: all the members of the museum staff must be involved in the process of redesigning the audio guide. Everyone can provide an impact and a unique point of view on how things should be done. The creative process can be developed while continuing the museum daily activities just by adopting a flexible modus operandi and creating small interdisciplinary teams. Working with smaller teams has two main benefits: the members can provide unique perspectives to the problem to be solved and the main activities are not interrupted. Few plenaries have been organized by the consulting company to present the results of the research and to bring all the people together.
The consulting company decided to adopt the design thinking approach to help the Museo Egizio redesign the audio guide and they focus on the two phases of the design thinking model described by the d_School of Stanford University since they better fit the museum context: empathy and prototyping.
\nIn the past, the museum has been considered a place where objects are collected and preserved. Putting the visitor at the center of the museum experience requires the development of innovative approaches based on empathy. Museum staff needs to understand what visitor wants and design thinking methods can help the organizations at achieving these results.
\nOne of the main methods to understand what visitors want is to observe them by seeing what they do and how they behave. Taking notes can help comprehending what are the emotions visitors feel and what are their unfulfilled needs.
\nMuseum staff can make observations directly while walking in the corridors or standing in the halls. Direct observation allows to understand visitors’ needs and desires. The consulting company asked the museum staff to plan between 30- and 60-minutes session of visitor observation. This amount of time represents the optimal choice to get important information about the visitor without neglecting the daily activities to be done.
\nAt the end of the observations, the museum staff conducted interviews with the observed visitors to confirm the information collected. Then, they shared this information in quick meetings.
\nVisitor research should be conducted by museum staff since they can develop a meaningful conversation with the visitors which can provide useful information about their desires. These conversations can take place in the halls and they can be shorter or longer. Usually, longer conversations happen with selected visitors. The objective is to add more insights to the information collected during the observations.
\nPutting the visitor in the center means understanding how he acts when he lives the museum experience. This means that is necessary that the museum staff re-walks the same path of the visitors. For example, curators are usually in charge of listening to the audio guides before they are provided to the visitors. However, the curators represent just few members of the museum staff and they cannot provide a fully comprehensive perspective on how audio guides should be modified. For this reason, it is necessary that all the museum staff goes over the visitor journey in the museum. It could be useful to put himself in a specific visitor’s shoes such as a parent with children or a business traveler with no time at his disposal.
\nThe results can be surprising since the museum staff, usually involved in everyday routine, does not really know what visitors feel when they enter in the museum. Having time to re-trace their paths allows the museum staff to get to know them in terms of their needs or problems.
\nEven if the visitor is put at the center of the entire process, it is extremely important to confirm the information collected by interviewing the internal experts of the museum who are in direct contact with the public such as the front-end staff, the social media managers, the security guards. These people can provide useful information to complete the puzzle. Additionally, internal experts can help to bring all the museum staff together since their expertise can represent an important force to building teams and strengthening relationships.
\nThe work conducted during the first stage allows the museum staff to put together both the pros and the cons of a visitor’s museum experience. Starting from this map, the staff can identify what are the problems that is necessary to tackle and the needs to be satisfied with the redesigned audio guided.
\nOnce problems have been identified, the museum staff can start thinking about how to solve them. In this stage, techniques like brainstorming are used. As explained above, brainstorming allows people to show their creativity even if the time available to discuss a specific problem seems limited.
\nThe last two stages of the training process are prototyping and testing. They represent important tools to foster innovation and avoid mistakes in a museum environment. Prototyping means creating examples of the final products to see if the idea has been developed in the right way, if it can be appreciated by visitors and, if it solves the identified problems. In the museum environment, usually paper prototypes are created to test a new signposting or the position of an information desk. Paper prototypes are frequently used since they are cheap and easy to create.
\nOnce prototypes are created, they are tested among the visitors in the museum environment. In the Museo Egizio, for example, visitors identified the main problems and opportunities of the ideas presented by the museum staff. This gave an important feedback on how to improve the following version of the audio guide. Additionally, visitors felt to be at the center of the creative process, and this reinforced the idea that the museum appreciated their contribution.
\nThe design thinking steps need to be repeated more than once until a satisfactory prototype is obtained. Only in this way, museum staff can be assured about the developed ideas and can be satisfied for the effort made during the entire process.
\nAt the end of the training, the Museo Egizio staff was able to collect relevant information, develop ideas and gain knowledge about the audio guide and the visitors’ needs. Additionally, they were pushed to experiment a new way to work together where creativity, collaboration and interdisciplinarity were the main driving forces. This brought some members of the staff to realize how much they are important for contributing to the creative process.
\nThe Queensland Museum in Brisbane, Australia, aims at connecting visitors to Queensland by being the repository of the state’s natural and cultural heritage. It has several campuses and more than 1 million people visit them every year.
\nIn 2011, because of an organizational renovation, the Queensland Museum decided to establish an internal creative agency with the objective of fostering innovation, increasing audience engagement, and implementing design thinking processes in the organization. The agency had the goal to develop a 5-year strategic plan by reasoning about new exhibitions and experiences to offer to visitors.
\nOne of the main exhibitions the agency thought during that period is Lost Creatures: Stories from Ancient Queensland. Launched in 2013, this exhibition has been used as a test to implement a design thinking process which involved not only the museum staff but also external stakeholders such as volunteers and people from the closest communities.
\nDuring the discovery stage, the agency decided to ask the museum staff to interview different audiences within the museum environment. This allowed to create an “empathy map” that, in turn, provided useful information about what visitors expected about exhibition topics.
\nSpecifically, for Lost Creatures, the agency asked visitors to select the most appropriate words to describe what they expected from their experiences in the museum. The most chosen words became the experience criteria which provided the agency and the museum staff with some specific goals to be developed.
\nIn addition to the interviews, the museum staff had to undertake a space analysis to identify the main strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats; synthesize the work developed in the past and review what has been proposed by the curators; take inspiration from different case studies and settings to inspire more creativity.
\nBuilding on the experience criteria discovered in the first stage, the museum staff brainstormed some ideas to respond to the visitors’ needs. Starting from more than 50 idea, the team selected few of them to take into the prototype and test stage. Among the others, the museum staff focused on the development of geological timeline, iconic specimens, immersive atmosphere using color, lightning and building connections to key fossil sites.
\nAs in the Museo Egizio case study, the prototype and test stages allow the team to create essential examples of the product/service to be offered to visitors by using basic materials, especially cardboard models, notes, collages, drawings. Then, the prototypes are showed to the visitors in the museum with the objective to collect useful insights on what works and how improvements can be made.
\nQueensland Museum staff presented three prototypes for Lost Creatures: a “timeline tunnel” of iconic objects, a large-scale reconstruction with the objective of creating a sense of “wow”, one of the feeling arose in the previous stage, and modules with the overall theme of extinction.
\nThe prototype and test stages have been repeated several times as the project Lost Creatures evolved in time and, three months after starting the design thinking process, the team decided to approach the visitors with the prototypes. Since prototype tests usually work better at a real scale, the agency decided to show them in the gallery. This helped the museum staff and visitors as well to better comprehend the issues related to spatial design.
\nIn the end, even if the Queensland Museum staff encountered practical issues in delivery the outcomes of the design thinking process, some ideas remained in the final project and the exhibition started in December 2013 with great appreciation of the visitors. Moreover, ideas that have not been implemented Lost Creatures have been developed as separate funded projects such as a digital tourism app for regional paleontology sites.
\nThe industrial design world has been using design thinking to move away from just making products to designing services and systems. Similarly, to innovate, museums are moving away from just traditional exhibitions to more collaborative and multifaceted experiences and services.
\nDesign thinking gives museums a simple process to encourage innovation and new approaches. Most people and organizations are inherently creative problem solvers, but the clear processes of design thinking further help instill a creative culture and help build a common language. The process strongly supports innovation through collaboration internally with staff and externally with visitors. Projects become especially energized by the involvement of many diverse people, including those who might typically feel isolated from design processes.
\nDesign thinking can be used in almost any stage and at any scale in a museum project. The process gives a clear pathway to involve audiences, drive investments and build better staff collaborations. For museum staff and project delivery, advantages to applying design thinking include breaking down the silos of organizational projects which might be isolated in curatorial or exhibition areas; involving staff, audience and people from many fields and backgrounds that helps to energize and widen the innovation process, giving museum staff “fresh eyes” to a project; defining clearer challenges and project scopes that helps avoid designing for too many groups which can result in weak ideas; testing of fast and rapid prototypes that helps avoid wasting investment, i.e. capital, time or emotional attachment in a project, going in a wrong direction; finally, valuing time constraints and forcing faster and stronger choices that helps avoid too much overthinking or stalling of projects.
\nThe visitor centered museum requires to rethink all working methods and curatorial practices. With its focus on both empathy with visitors and interdepartmental teamwork, design thinking is a powerful tool to help the reinventing processes and practices in a way which is both effective and easy to follow.
\nIntechOpen Compacts provide a mid-length publishing format which bridges the gap between journal articles, book chapters and monographs, and cover content across all scientific disciplines. Compacts are the preferred publishing option for brief research reports on new topics, in-depth case studies, dissertations, or essays exploring new ideas, issues or broader topics on the research subject.
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