Doors of Diversity
Picture of our team for this project.
Affinity diagram for early concept development.
Early Sketch Concept: Community Kaleidescope
Sketchwork: Brendon Attebury
Sketchwork: Brendon Attebury
Early Ideation: I drew a community board to represent what would be termed a Community Kaleidescope. I thought in the future people who are waiting at bus stops or picking up their mail could have their own digital mailboxes that would serve both to advertise but also to send and receive messages that were related to the neighborhood. For example the picture above denotes a situation where someone has lost their dog. The person who found the dog interacts with the advertisement that a dog has gone missing. Upon touching the screen the inquirer will be provided with a drop-down information box. Private messages can also be used however you must request permission from the owner first.
Image Source: Brendon Attebury
Image Source: Brendon Attebury
Early Ideation 2: This interface is based on a concept about following someone from another country through there own day. At the beginning of the day the person/teacher would be on one end of the camera taking you through a day in their own life. This way of the man pictured is talking about the collapse of the Berlin Wall. Since in this concept things are happening in real time and pictures from the past can be used to show past events essentially providing little clips into the past as the person is talking about the experience in the present. As he advances in his day he is telling you about the things he sees and provides you with local flavor by taking you to markets or his job and you are there with him.
How this concept works is that the person who is watching the video can ask questions at any moment. The difference between this concept and simply video recording someone is that the person watching the video can interact with the person on the other end virtually anytime utilizing an interface that allows for two-way communication allowing the viewer to click on targets in the real world and ask the teacher who is accompanying you questions at any moment; and he can also see those questions in real-time and respond by talking about the questions. On the user end they have a translator that translates the words to them in their native language. The user also has 4 tabs that he or she can scroll through allowing the user user to communicate social norms by verbalizing gestures. Their also are notes, pictures and a recordings tab that allows the user to utilize multi-media to contribute to the conversation. The user also has the capability to look in a 360 degree arc much like a Google Street View.
Image source: Turbine Inc. All rights reserved
How this concept works is that the person who is watching the video can ask questions at any moment. The difference between this concept and simply video recording someone is that the person watching the video can interact with the person on the other end virtually anytime utilizing an interface that allows for two-way communication allowing the viewer to click on targets in the real world and ask the teacher who is accompanying you questions at any moment; and he can also see those questions in real-time and respond by talking about the questions. On the user end they have a translator that translates the words to them in their native language. The user also has 4 tabs that he or she can scroll through allowing the user user to communicate social norms by verbalizing gestures. Their also are notes, pictures and a recordings tab that allows the user to utilize multi-media to contribute to the conversation. The user also has the capability to look in a 360 degree arc much like a Google Street View.
Image source: Turbine Inc. All rights reserved
Example clip provided in the video for effect: A video of past history of the events of the Berlin Wall's collapse.
Early Ideation3: Simple two minute concept to illustrate what it would it could conceptually look like in real life. The doors in the picture are used to illustrate the different individuals doors that you can interact with initiating a video conference with the individual. Each door is decorated in the individuals unique style and decorated in accordance.
Image Source: Google Images
Image Source: www.artechnica.com
Image Source: Google Images
Image Source: www.artechnica.com
Mind map created to generate ideas for for developing our problem space.
Our group began the design process by examining what diversity meant to our team. A mind map was created of the problem space that emerged (Appendix C). By examining the mind map, our group became more focused on narrowing our problem space. We ultimately arrived at the problem space of distance collaboration in a corporate environment. Access to this population was a key contributor for our decision to target this group. As we began to explore this problem space we used sketching to communicate our ideas and transitioned between many different phases of expansion and contraction. Expansion and contraction helped to develop our target user population that consisted of small groups (10 or less) working at a distance (non- collocated) on a collaborative project lasting three to six months.
We conducted a literature review to examine the current research in this area. We found extensive research in the CSCW (computer supported cooperative work) field. By examining this research we found that context plays a large role in the overall success of the work (Paulus & Nijstad). We also found a particular area of the meeting space that was not well studied; events that take place before or after the scheduled meeting (Olson & Olson). As a group we decided to focus our attention on the meeting of the collaborators before the event. The decision to work in this space was again the result of the process of expansion and contraction. We felt that the entry to a meeting space was an important component to the success of the event and that it was a relatively unexplored area.
By exploring this specific space further we were able to look at how people could learn things about their co-workers before entering into the meeting. This could be a great place for the co-workers to share their personal lives and cultures. Larry Samovar and Richard Porter define culture as: “The deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial relations, concepts of the universe, and material objects and possessions acquired by a group of people in the course of generations through individual and group striving.” Culture encompasses many things and can be expressed in diverse ways. With this understanding we came upon the concept of a “door”. The concept of a door is universal; everyone knows that doors are gateways from one space to another. We felt that it was a great metaphor to use for entering the personal space of the meeting.
We conducted a literature review to examine the current research in this area. We found extensive research in the CSCW (computer supported cooperative work) field. By examining this research we found that context plays a large role in the overall success of the work (Paulus & Nijstad). We also found a particular area of the meeting space that was not well studied; events that take place before or after the scheduled meeting (Olson & Olson). As a group we decided to focus our attention on the meeting of the collaborators before the event. The decision to work in this space was again the result of the process of expansion and contraction. We felt that the entry to a meeting space was an important component to the success of the event and that it was a relatively unexplored area.
By exploring this specific space further we were able to look at how people could learn things about their co-workers before entering into the meeting. This could be a great place for the co-workers to share their personal lives and cultures. Larry Samovar and Richard Porter define culture as: “The deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial relations, concepts of the universe, and material objects and possessions acquired by a group of people in the course of generations through individual and group striving.” Culture encompasses many things and can be expressed in diverse ways. With this understanding we came upon the concept of a “door”. The concept of a door is universal; everyone knows that doors are gateways from one space to another. We felt that it was a great metaphor to use for entering the personal space of the meeting.
