How’d It Go?

On Wednesday morning, Yu-seung and I attended Sean Donahue’s Art of Research class to do a run through of the workshop. We documented most of the workshop with video and took a few photos of the probe boxes.

Each probe box was equipped with:
_ a definition of a “cultural probe” on the exterior
_ directions with a specific requirement. (i.e. the group with the Polaroid camera had to integrate a written component into their probe, the group with the newspaper/paper had to integrate the “map” as a metaphor…)
_ a definition of “bi-racial” was provided
_ a blank probe (i.e. newspaper/plain butcher paper, cell phone, Polaroid camera)

a group of students presenting some of their ideas during critique

How’d It Go?
Overall, we felt the workshop went well for several reasons:
1) The participants were engaged with each other and had productive discussions
2) The workshop was completed in the amount of time we allotted. We even had more time for discussion, which was a good thing.
3) The short time given to create a cultural probe kept people from thinking too much, allowing people to concentrate on the overall goal.
4) People learned something new that they could apply to their own practices.

We talked between ourselves right after the workshop and here are some of our critiques and observations:
1) Have clearer visuals of cultural probes in the introduction
2) Prepare our own introduction. Premise the situation. Sean did a great job of introducing us, but we should be prepared for moments when we have to introduce ourselves.
3) Make more of an effort to integrate ourselves with the participants. Really push them to think harder, but always be positive.
4) It’s good to review and check-in with ourselves. We have to be on our toes when we critique and be able to provide quick feedback, suggestions and constructive criticisms.
5) Perhaps tighten up the question with more specifications to get them to move faster.

I think that a workshop like this would work well with a Part 2 follow-up or longer discussion about how cultural probes can be integrated into people’s practices.

For our final week, we will continue to analyze our work, post some video footage of the workshop run through and probably put together a synopsis of the workshop/ procedures, etc. that we can easily access and edit.

Probes: A Designerly Way of Researching

Next Wednesday, Yuseung and I will be doing a run through of our workshop in Sean Donahue’s Art of Research class. In the past two weeks, we got a lot completed: we submitted our workshop to the conference, worked on putting together a prototype of our “blank probe package,” lined up a workshop run through time with Sean Donahue, and refined the content of the workshop itself. Here is the basic overview of the workshop:

OVERVIEW
The aim of Probes: a Designerly Way of Researching is to give participants hands-on experience creating cultural probes—designed objects and activities used in qualitative research studies. Using our design capabilities and intellect, what can we, as designers, create to understand the people for whom we are designing? How can we gather meaningful feedback through the creation of tangible objects and visual communication tools and games that can lead to greater empathy and understanding?

Participants will be divided into small groups and presented with an issue and a question. Using a “blank probe package” provided to each group, participants will be asked to design several “probes” that can help them in their research endeavors. At the end of the exercise, we will come together to critique and evaluate each groups’ set of probes and sketches to help clarify as well as better understand the use of probes as
beneficial tools for research designers.

DESIRED OUTCOME
The desired educational outcome is to give participants hands-on experience that demonstrates the potential of innovative, non-traditional methods of research through the use of probes. The workshop aspires to encourage designers to contribute and apply their skill sets in the research arena.

WORKSHOP CONTENT
The workshop will be limited to 50 minutes. The workshop will begin with a brief overview defining probes, showing samples of probes that have been used in the Media Design Program at Art Center College of Design. Participants will be divided into small groups where they will develop their own probe prototypes and sketches based on a given research question. This will be followed by a critique and short discussion about the results of the exercise. In conclusion, we will share examples of the feedback gathered through actual probe-based design research projects held in our year-long Super Studio course.

Workshop Timeline (0:50min):
(0:07min) Introduction – Presentation: What are Probes?
(0:20min) Probe-Making Exercise (break-up into small groups)
(0:18min) Critique/ Discussion
(0:05min) Conclusion – Presentation: How probes were used in MDP Super Studio projects

This is a photo of a rough prototype of some of the items that would belong in a blank probe package. We wanted everything to look as generic as possible in order to give the participants the freedom to design and shape them to their needs. We are refining this for our workshop run-through on Wednesday so keep a lookout for our posts about it.