The Simple Circuit
Summary of Week 1
Since I have always wanted to learn web design, I focused on learning the basics of html. It took a lot of trial and error for me to get the hang of it. I took the website template and tried to use it as a guide to personalize my own site. I enjoyed using in-line css to change the style and layout of each page. The hardest part was linking all the pages using a navigation feature. For next week, I want to focus on fixing the nav bar I added and making sure that all the links work.
For this week, we were tasked with building a simple circuit. I found this exciting because I have not made a circle since my middle school physics class. I quickly found that I needed a refresher on how circuits work, their components and how to put them together. So, this week, I focused on re-learning these basics and just making sure that I put together all the basic components needed to light up an LED. The Below is a picture of my completed circuit. The main issue I faced was that the LED wasn't lighting up even though I put together all the components in the right way. I realized after playing around a bit that it was a matter of the power source not being plugged in correctly.
This was the first time I had used a multimeter before. It was interesting to see how voltages changed across different components. I decided to open up the breadboard to see what it looked like on the inside. I enjoyed familiarizing myself with the basics of electronics so that I can later build more complex circuits.
The Storytelling Cube
For the past two years, I have been a researcher at MIT's D-Lab. As part of my research, I spent two months with an indigenous Mayan community in Santa Catarina, Guatemala working with a team stationed there. Our team was tasked with trying to engage the community in participatory design. We realized that the community had been subjected to numerous failed developmental efforts that did not engage them at any stage of the design process. Instead, the community was given solutions that outside designers thought they needed.
Prior to our arrival in Guatemala, the community was given a large amount of bicycles by foreign aid organizations. These organizations thought that these bicycles would solve the issues the community members faced (e.g. better transportation to other villages, greater job opportunities outside, access to more resources). However, upon our arrival, we realized that brand new bicycles were left unused in piles around the community. We wanted to engage the community that was left disenchanted by previous development efforts in a new design process to jointly create the solutions they actually needed. However, because all previous efforts were largely deemed a failure, community members were hesitant to engage in a new design process. We had to figure out how to help the community participate in designing for themselves.
Our initial solution to gaining community participation was a cardboard storytelling cube. The cube was designed by Link4 - a local startup working with us on the ground. Each face of the cube was engraved with a small icon; e.g. a smiley or sad face. Each participant received their own cube and had to decorate it. Then, all participants went around and shared their individual stories with the help of the cube.
Although the cardboard cutout was effective at engaging the community in sharing their own stories, it is a largely unsustainable tool for organizations that want to engage in such co-creation on a larger scale. By adding extra features as the following, a new tool can be used as a single, all-inclusive solution to engaging communities in participatory design.
