My On-Site Research Experience as a Design Intern at Mark43
This past summer was my first official internship experience at a rapidly growing start-up as Mark43’s summer design intern. In addition to my product work, I had the amazing opportunity to tag along on a research trip towards the end of my internship! Although I did participate in research calls virtually, this was my first time observing our products being used in person and developing a better understanding of the contexts in which we design for.
In early August, I joined another team during their on-site research trip to shadow some of our users at the police and fire departments in Orange County. I was the only design intern, but fortunately for me, I was from around the area so I was able to tag along! I spent two days with the team observing law enforcement patrol officers, patrol supervisors, and dispatchers. Some of us even visited fire departments to see how firefighters interacted with our computer aided dispatch (CAD) products.
It was truly an eye-opening and rewarding experience to see real officers and dispatchers interact with products that I had spent the whole summer learning about and designing for. At the time, I was working on the mobility team on an unreleased project and had become very familiar with the first responder (FR) web application which is used on mobile data terminals (MDT), the rugged laptops in a patrol officer’s vehicle. It was surreal to see it in use at the department rather than in the demonstration mode I’ve become so accustomed to at home.
During my first day, I went on a ride-along with a patrol officer at Placentia Police Department! We began our day at the department’s jail where the officer was wrapping up an arrest report. Report writing is a big part of their job in order to document and collect information needed for decision-making at the department. After wrapping up the report, we hopped into the police car to patrol around the area looking for possible events. This includes anything seemingly suspicious such as dangerous driving, unusual behavior in the streets, illegal actions, and other things of that nature. During the ride-along, I was able to observe how the officer interacted with the MDT.
He told me all about the ins and outs of how he uses the product, which was mainly to keep updated on the events occurring as well as looking up information. When it comes to actually creating or assigning himself to an event, he would radio in to dispatch to have the dispatchers do it for him. We also discussed any pain points he had with the product, such as the map function lagging behind sometimes. He also talked about his typical day-to-day job and what to look out for when on patrol, what to take note of when pulling people or cars over, and how he communicates with dispatchers over radio.
Participating in this ride along made me realized how unobservant I was in everyday life. Small details such as how many people walked down a street, what color shirt a certain person was wearing, and whether the front license plate of a car matched the back one are all minor details we usually don’t pay much attention to but are extremely important for patrol officers to take note of. When officers are on shift, they’re constantly on the lookout and cautious of their surroundings, in case any incidents might occur that would threaten public safety.
During the ride along, the officer pulled over two cars with expired license plates and busted tail lights (which I didn’t even notice until he pointed them out), but in the end, sent them away with a warning. We also went to a scene where a man’s car got broken into, then witnessed a mental breakdown at the local hospital. He also talked about what actually happens once arriving on scene — taking notes and documenting evidence — and what occurs after (spoiler: a LOT of report writing). It was an eventful day, to say the least, but this is what they do every day in their work!
The whole time, I was asking questions as they came to mind about our product and why he did specific things the way he did. For my own curiosity, I asked many questions about the day-to-day life of being a police officer which provided more insight into the mindset needed to do this job. The officer assigned to me was super patient and was willing to answer all my questions the best way he knew how which was super nice! I was able to better visualize the typical day-to-day life of a cop as well as understand how our product was used in its intended context and environment. Overall, the ride along was a really interesting experience that I’m super grateful to have had the opportunity to witness!
The next and final day, I arrived at Tustin Police Department and decided to sit in at the dispatch center this time to listen in on 911 calls. It was a pretty stark contrast to my ride along at Placentia the day before. Instead of driving around the area during the day and responding to events, we were enclosed in a dark room with the only source of light coming from TV screens and computer monitors. It was much calmer in the sense that we were away from all the action and in our own space. However, actually tuning into the calls will leave you feeling very hectic as many people call to report emergencies. Although I mainly focused on FR web and mobility projects this summer, it was still very interesting to see how dispatchers interacted with our CAD system.
As exciting as the ride along was, it was also intriguing to be on the other side of things and seeing these events being created and assigned to different units. Although it may not be as action-packed, the dark room and the big monitors made me feel like I was in a scene straight out of a crime show. Instead of responding to events, dispatchers create the events, assign officers to them, and keep track of all that’s happening.
It’s amazing how dispatchers are able to constantly stay calm and alert even when people’s lives and so many other things are at stake. Seeing them do their jobs made me realize that they are the underdogs of the public safety world and no crime-fighting or saving lives would be possible without them. And while they get to hear the start of every event, sometimes they will never get to hear the ending and get closure on what happened. First responders and patrol officers get to be directly involved in events and resolve them, yet their jobs are also difficult and dangerous since they sacrifice their safety in order to protect others. I felt glad to be in a role that allowed me to design products that will make their day-to-day tasks pass by smoother and hopefully playing a role in making a difference in the public safety space.
Going on-site taught me so much about their world and the daily struggles patrol officers and dispatchers have while using our products. Being able to observe and ask questions in person allowed for smoother and more comprehensive explanations of the issues at hand. Smaller details that might not have come up over video calls stood out during onsite observations. These small details such as users making the same mistake multiple times, looking for a feature that isn’t there, or not knowing how to use the product to its full potential are all really important observations to make note of. When I noticed the officer switching between tabs while looking for events, I asked him whether or not he uses the sort feature to filter down events. He responded by saying he didn’t even know that was an option and claimed he never used it before. Although it may not seem like a big deal, this was very surprising for me! It reminded me that even though he uses this product every day, he’s still not an expert and can make mistakes. The main objective of the research trip was to see what’s working well, what’s not working well, how our users are using the product, and how we can improve their experience by either explaining things or making notes of things to fix.
This trip ended up being everything I thought it would be and more! I was honestly really worried before since this was my first on-site research trip and wasn’t sure what to expect. However, after those two days, I think this trip has definitely helped with re-framing my design perspective. I’ve become so accustomed to getting feedback from other coworkers at Mark43 that it was refreshing to view the product from a different perspective and get feedback from someone who interacts with it every day who doesn’t have a design, product, or engineering background.
Truthfully, tagging along on an important research trip is probably the COOLEST thing that one could possibly do as an INTERN. This research trip has genuinely instilled newfound respect within me for those who work in public safety. I’m super thankful to be working in the public safety space through a company like Mark43 that cares about making a difference!
