Week 8 - Building New Models and Tools for Future Practice

Tramaine Berry
Jul 17, 2021
6 min read

Updated: Sep 27, 2023

Objectives:

Research and analyse existing examples of catalysts that think about work in a completely new way;
Imagine how you might utilise collaboration at different stages of the design process i.e. research, development, production;
Imagine a new tool or process to aid the collaboration for future working from your findings in the previous three weeks;
Manage your independent learning effectively.

LECTURE //

Introduction

The lecture made me consider last week's challenge in different forms other than a digital platform. Susan described a range of collaborative formats such as apps, products, an event, artefact, etc. and this reminded me of Weston super mare's new Art Space. The Art Space is a hub for the town's growing creatives to meet up and collaborate with different community groups. From what I can see from these projects, they mostly evolve from memories and experiences, so this allows people to channel their emotions into something creative and improve mental wellbeing. And these projects range from dance to singing, from writing to fine art.

Maybe I could consider making my idea more localised by targeting the Bristol area, and maybe I could collaborate with charities in the area. One interesting thing I did pick up on was a Art Space member with learning difficulties saying that he has been learning new skills through studying and observing others using the equipment - so this would be something to consider when bringing different disciplines together. I think it is important for people with learning difficulties to learn new skills from each other because everyone understands the limitations and are more empathetic; through their own experiences, they can find a way to explain something in a way they would eat someone else to explain a new subject to them.

Kara Ball explains how her learning difficulties allowed her to become a better teacher. New information is either needs to be hands-on or visual, so it is important to have tools for this and show how things like maths are used in the real world (STEM is an excellent solution to this). How would you make remote working more visual or hands-on who learning the system? Maybe I need to collaborate with a special needs teacher to figure out what kind of strategies can be taken, and giving people a choice on how they learn? Interactive notebooks and assistant computers.

What is STEM?

STEM stands for Science, Technology Engineering, and Mathematics. STEM is a unique approach to teaching and learning, one that centers around individual students' learning styles and interests. Unlike traditional education experiences in which subject areas are concentrated on separately, STEM education emphasizes technology and integrates subjects in ways that connect disciplines and relate them to each other.

STEM focuses on developing higher level thinking skills by connecting classroom learning to the real world. STEM emphasizes collaboration, communication, research, problem solving, critical thinking, and creativity, skills that students need to be successful in today's world regardless of specific interests or career goals.

Is STEM becoming popular in education? When was it created? How is it helping learning difficulties? Can this be placed in the workplace?

Building New Models and Tools for Future Practice

Dan Parry is a strategist at Metier Digital. And in this lecture, he talks about how to build models and tools.

You can either think about the problem first, or the audience. Your audience - when we're thinking about them, we have to try and really understand who we are trying to build this thing for, why they need it and their characteristics or behaviour, what problems they are facing.
There's a report that says the majority of people will be remote workers or digital nomads in the future. Where is this report?
When looking for a problem for your audience, is it a problem they have recognised or that you've recognised? Gain perspective from people with learning difficulties, and see if you can valid your own perspective on the subject.
Does my audience want this? How easy is it for them to adapt? Knowing my audience in particular have trouble adapting to new systems, I need to make something that is easier for them to use and familiar to other platforms they use. Where are my audience? What platforms do they use?
The five 'whys' helps get to the core problem
What does the landscape look like- what is currently being done to solve this problem and how could you improve this model?
Understand the competitive landscape and analyse what they are doing correctly or incorrectly. These competitors don't have to be in the direct space Im working in: look at other remote platforms.
Understand where the value may lie. The minimum viable product concept involves building the smallest version of the product that provides value.
Make sure each feature in the product is connected to each other.

What problems does my audience have?

Audience: Learning difficulties

Future setting: Remote working

How does this affect them?

Going outside less - Stress, anxiety, less active - less productivity and
No walking to work- Less sleep? - risk of obesity, heart disease, inability to deal with emotions, stroke, and diabetes - Stress (physically and mentally). People with learning difficulties have been known to have more stress, which is why sleep is very important.
Distractions?
Remote working isn't suitable for every profession - how can we change this?
Healthier lunch?
Save time and money on transportation - better planet
Not much supervision - difficult to stay motivated
No social interaction - depression and loneliness
More responsible for your organisation
Temptation to overwork
More screen-time - eye problems
Difficult to switch off from work due to laptop always being present - in an active state of mind - less sleep. Would it make a difference if people had a personal and work laptop?

RESEARCH //

Based on the resources provided for this week, the main theme is creating something that brings people together to inspire the creation of something specific. The Mozillia brand in particular interests me because I was considering in brief one to create a collaborative process where you create a brand. They don't make the public physically design the brand, however, they do allow the public to make comments as they show each stage of the process. As Dan Parry says in the lecture, when you collect feedback to help with the process, not everyone is going to be happy. Mozillia says some feedback made it to the final stages, and I wonder whether being selective over these pieces of feedback could ruin this idea of a co-designed logo. What would happen if the design process continued? Maybe you could control how long these improvements took place, show the audience a collection of all the logos and have a doing process.

When does the collaborative process stop? Look at hato redesign projects

What spaces/ tools are already available?

Students

Learning support areas

Designers

Made by Dyslexia events - collaboration between designers

Remote workers

Glean - Recording audio. Taking notes enables you to track which points in the audio need reviewing. This is more effective than recording through Skype because this requires listening to an hour meeting again. The reason why this is part of the collaborative process is because it aids workflow and prevents the user from going back and forth for instructions.

This tool definitely reduces anxiety for both employer and employee because the employee doesn't get overwhelmed with too much information and can make notes on which part of the recording are important, and the employer doesn't need to repeat instructions.

notability - record voice as you write. Only available with tablet.

otter.ai - turns speech into text (links with skype meetings)

How to improve Skype

Allow the software to convert text into dyslexia friendly option and reduce their contrast.
Make subtitles in calls more accurate; sometimes it misinterprets words
Recordings in meetings don't have the option to mark the important parts. Allow the option to send recording to your inbox rather than the group.
Doesn't tell you if the person you are trying to reach is busy on a call. This will allow
What if you were able to store video files on meeting platforms? For businesses that have short-term employees, it would be easier to have a collection of videos that show employees how the working system works. When zoom meetings are taking place, the employer/ meeting host can record themselves navigating employees and place them under a file system.

WORKSHOP CHALLENGE //

Develop a digital tool or process to aid the collaboration for future working from your findings in the previous three weeks.

You should ensure this response is to your own emerging ideas on your own working methodology.
Present your idea as a designed visual proposal in the format of your choice

A meeting platform for employees to record meetings as a transcript and allign screenshots with it. This can be used as a step by step guide when going through introduction meetings. This way, people don’t need to look through a 1 hour recording because they have the screenshots as reference for subject matter.

This saves employers time from meetings, especially if there is a continuous loop of short-term employees; employers would need to repeat instructions throughout the year. It also allows gives dyslexics a visual resource when being given instructions.

Another feature would have the option for employers to store it in a file system, ready for future use. This saves employers time from meetings, especially if contracts are short; employers would need to repeat instructions throughout the year. It also allows gives dyslexics a visual resource to refer back to when being given instructions.