How Service Design can contribute in the Lifecycle of Online Communities: the Development of the Chinese Service Design Community

Abstract

Due to technological advances and epidemics, online communities are rapidly growing. Online community development is concerned with the diversity of members, the complexity of networks, and their participation in activities. Many scholars have discussed this topic from the perspective of management, information science, sociology, and psychology; however, little attention has been paid to service design and how co-design can be employed. This study examines the Chinese Service Design Community (CSDC), a community that exists online in China, and employs participatory action research as a methodology. This paper describes how service design and co-design activities contribute to community development by combining the online communities' lifecycle presented by Iriberri and Leroy with the development of CSDC. In addition, it discusses the different tools used in co-design and the important role that co-design activities perform in the ‘Maturity’ stage to avoid entering the ‘Death’ stage (Iriberri & Leroy, 2009).