Sourcemap is a collective tool for transparency and sustainability

While researching today for my dissertation presentation, I came across this really nice website and although not relevant to my project, I found it had an interesting concept and wanted to share the resource. Sourcemap.org was created to increase awareness of the carbon footprint of the everyday products that we consume, their key components of the item and their origins of these materials. The open source platform shares the supply chain behind a number of everyday products, showing the materials, the origin of it each part, the CO2 produced from each part, the distance each part travels to be assembled and the assembly location. It also shows a map with the geographic location of the origin of each part to give a more visual representation of the distance that is travelled in order to highlight the great distances some of the parts have travelled during manufacturing. The one major disadvantage of this site is that most of the products that have been added to the site are products predominately available in the America, which means that the search is quite limited, particularly for those in Europe. But all considered, it is a very interesting and insightful website that makes you more aware of the origins of everyday products, the contributions of many countries to each product and the impact of each product on natural resources. Now more than ever designer need to be more aware of this phenomena and what steps we can do to change this ever growing concern of our impact on natural resources and our carbon footprint.

Dissertation - STARTED

Last night, as I was returning a book to the library for a friend of mine, I went searching to find something relevant for my dissertation and found lots written on the topic of sport and psychology, which hopefully will be of use to me. I checked out as many as my hands would allow me to carry, which ended up being 5 books. So for the most of the rest of the week it will be me, on the couch, pen and paper, getting some reading in!

The role of technology in Health Care

On the 29th of March, a seminar entitled “The role of technology in Health Care” was given by classmates Lette and Collette. It had some overlaps with Cristiano's talk that took place the previous week. It was a very interesting talk and something that I related to from personal experiences. Although they focused greatly on health care and medical design, there was some similarities between my dissertation and some of the topics raised in the presentation and in the literature.

Collette and Lette addressed the idea that giving access to ones healthcare information can help motivate the patient. As I thought about my own dissertation, incorporating a function that could would allow the user to get information about how healthy they are, progress report on what they have achieved and need to achieve could be useful in focusing and encouraging the users to continue using the device. But what must also be taken into consideration is if the user isn’t progressing at a normal or desired level, that their start weight and their current weight is only marginally different. In this case a user may become discouraged and deflated if they could view a progress report, showing start and current weight. How do I find the balance? I think I need to research more into the area of motivation and reward for my dissertation as I think understanding what motivates people it is imperative to the success of the device

An important point raised was the difference between the goals of the patients and the goals of the healthcare professional (which I addressed in my seminar on 1st of March). The goals are different because the motivations underlying the action are different. Motivations are key sustaining the use of the device. The only way that I will understand the goals and motivations of the potential users is by going out into the field, spending time with the potential users, observing. Even at this early stage in the project, Ive fallen into the mistake of have a predetermined idea of what the product should do, therefore I have decided what the goals of the users are without speaking to them. It is a trap that I have fallen into in the past and must ensure that it doesn’t happen again.

Another important factor outlined in the seminar is that need to consider, in all design sectors, that we are entering into a aging population society, where there is a shift in countries population towards older ages. This means that a greater understanding of older people needs to sought and we must integrate this age group into design in a greater way than ever before. For my project, I must factor in for users with reduced dexterity, visual impairment and social and emotional factors of using such a device.

After this seminar I have become more focused on what I need to do next in my dissertation. So lets get reading!