EVOKEDB: A KANSEI DATABASE SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATED SURVEYS

Abstract

Kansei Engineering methods are difficult to implement into the design process due to a lack of specialized tools in the public domain. Surveys are costly to conduct, and the use and analysis of data through simplified models may not explore the deeper meaning of how Kansei relates to complex artifacts. EvokeDB, a Kansei database system for automated surveys, was created to address these issues. It implements a new model of Kansei, where realms and senses are considered important entities, into a flexible and usable web-application based on the Ruby on Rails framework. A database structure is presented, along with a description of how tables are mapped to programming objects in order to create a rich set of relationships that can be used to explore Kansei. The systems' opensource components, and the data flow between them, are explained A simulated project exemplifies the steps needed to set-up and launch an un-supervised, on-line survey to multiple, remote users.