“Started from the bottom now we’re here”
Since our first sprint, we have accomplished some big milestones (previous post). Initially, this sprint started similarly to our first one - with necessary research into what we need to accomplish. Yet this time the HTP team got the chance to use some heavy machinery!
Our goal for this sprint’s prototype was to create an interactive piece that would allow for audience’s input and hopefully spark conversation on the subject of future of safety and security.
The plan was simple:
- Decide on the content of the questions we want to ask.
- Build the prototype.
- Test the prototype and collect data.
- Visualize data into a comprehensive form.
And suddenly the plan was not so simple anymore. Deciding on the questions themselves has proven to be a tough task. What do you ask when there is so much we want to know?! Eventually thanks to the feedback of our colleagues we were able to narrow down from 1001 to about 1000 questions.
Because at the DSS we are encouraged to built physical prototypes we have decided that this time we will try to use as many new tools as possible. A decision was made that our prototype will be an interactive modular board that we can perhaps reuse depending on the questions we want to ask. The goal of the board was to encourage the audience to make difficult choices and by doing so create visible patterns of thought. We had a lot of fun designing the board, picking out the right materials and eventually laser cutting it to the right dimensions and patterns. We are proud to say that all team members have their fingers intact.
Meanwhile in the city of The Hague…
During this sprint, we were invited to the Ministry of Justice to participate in the talk given by Carlijn Naber the author of publications that we were inspired by. In her work Carlijn discusses the perception of safety and many concepts surrounding the future of society as well as potential issues with the introduction of new technologies.
We were happy to have some time after the lecture to ask some questions to the author herself.
After that insightful meeting, we were able to further reject some unnecessary questions and assemble the final version of the board.
Time for testing!
As much as we love discussion and theory it was time to stop hiding behind the monitor and take our research into the field. At first, getting willing respondents was hard. Everyone seemed to “have a meeting”. Fortunately a sugary inceptive in the form of M&Ms have proven to be successful. Once we got more people to approach the board, interesting comments and great insights started flowing.
After a while, it became clear to us that depending on one’s generation there is a difference in understanding of safety as well as how it can be affected by technology. When it comes to the question about the Dutch police, people appeared to believe that the organization itself is pretty advanced in technologies they use. However, there seems to be a big gap between that acknowledgment of police’s technology and knowing how it is being used. A lot of people that we approached were convinced that the Dutch police has more access to their data than they actually do. One could speculate that perhaps recently popular stories in the media about leaked data and organizations abusing their rights have affected people’s trust in bigger organizations including police.
HTP at the Next Web!
We are happy to announce that we will have a chance to test our next prototype at police’s stand on the upcoming Next Web Conference!
We are now in the process of preparing an interactive experience which allows for better immersion in the world of questions we want to ask. We are looking forward to this experience!
If you are curious about HTP’s upcoming prototypes and the direction of our research please stay tuned or contact us for further questions.
contact
olabonati@gmail.com | saschavonk@icloud.com|
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