End Catcalling

What can they tell about your ideas so far from what they can see?

Kate: I can see already there is a project already out there that is inspiring, how public art answers to catcalling. Do you want to go in that direction or some kind of tool that address catcalling?
The Instagram post is an example of public art response, is it something that you are interested in and inspired by? It is something that needs more awareness, something that needs to be taught to men, how do you really teach boys and men to be more respectful, how do you teach a kid not to do that, something that they learn from seeing other people doing it.

Insight: She brought up a really interesting point about how might we educate kids not to do that. I feel men do that because they have seen other men doing it as a regular thing and never got in trouble for it.

Is your blog post too light on images or description?

I don’t think you are too light on images, I get it, you have the example of sidewalk chalk, by reading your article I get what you are going for, you may use more images, art projects about this, related areas addressing that men speaking to women, look if there are other images that show that problem.

What do the images make the other person think of? Do any different ideas pop up?

It makes me think this viral video, it makes me think of a couple of other projects I’ve seen. I don’t have ideas, except one question concerning catcalling idea all of your images are awareness campaigns, it seems like public art awareness type of things, wondering if there is anything about improving behavior too.

Without further explanation, what would they think you are interested in? What would they think you are passionate about?

It is pretty clear you are passionate about this topic of improving the experience of women when they are out in public interacting with men they don’t know that well. In your blog post, you wrote about going out with friends, having a very clear plan, rather than expecting men to change. This has been frustrating; women shouldn’t work so hard to avoid being touched, spoken to when they don’t want to, it is important to you because you have experienced and have seen it happening to other people.

Do they know something about you that they expected or hoped to see more of in this first brainstorm?

You didn’t include a project from Brazil, I’m wondering it can be a culture thing, it happens here, and you could explore what makes it different than us. Where does it end in Brazil or the U.S. what cultural norms would be different in these places, and what would inspire you more?

Insight: When I start thinking about this topic, it has been something that really comes from my personal experience growing up in Brazil, but also has happened to me when I moved to New York. Although I think the behavior of men in Brazil can be worse than here at times, I think this is a global problem. But for now, I would like to focus on New York, to understand how this city, where there is so much of feminist culture and history, women still have to deal with catcalling as an everyday issue.

What would they recommend you look at, research, or do next?

Start talking to women, getting stories about being catcalled, interesting to hear from men too, you witness catcalling in the street, men would be interested talking to you, for a person growing up what that means.

Insight: I was a bit scared on looking for men who catcall women in the street to talk with, but I could talk with men that I know that don’t do that instead. They may have better insights on how other men behave and why they act like that.

What about the space or idea thus far is exciting to them, or problematic?

What do you want this to be in the end? I’m curious what you might find in this direction, it might be not, getting to a smaller problem leading to a catcalling, a solution in more educating boys about it, educating women how to handle situations, looking at why this happens, that’s really interesting to me.

Insight: The why this happens also interests me a lot. Something I will look into if I decide to do this topic.

Small business

What can they tell about your ideas so far from what they can see?

Kate: Having local flavor to a neighborhood is very important to you, you value small and independent businesses, like Cafe Colonial. You care about that, you have done research, it has to do with high rentals, gentrification, do people have small business skills, do they have access to loans?

Is your blog post too light on images or description?

Not too light on images, you have some good examples, Rag and Bone is really great, and took over the spot, the same thing for Starbucks in Bleecker street, really like Cuban restaurant. All the images got the problem you are trying to express.

What do the images make the other person think of? Do any different ideas pop up?

The images made me think of restaurants I know that have closed, makes me think about how it spread out, it is happening more and more, there is street that my husband used to live on everything is closing down, really sad, out of Bedford, there is a lot of the generations of primarily Latinos, Hispanic, Puerto Ricans, and now hipsters are finding their way into the building. Looking at and small business survival act, it would be helpful more description of these two things, are they working, are they happening.

Without further explanation, what would they think you are interested in? What would they think you are passionate about?

You are definitely interested in city living issues, keeping things from being, looking like every other street, keeping from becoming a mall, for somebody who has lived ten years you have a good perspective in the city and what you are passionate about it.

Do they know something about you that they expected or hoped to see more of in this first brainstorm?

You are more interested in service design, system design, this is to me a service design problem you can approach from that perspective.

Insight: I’m still in doubt if I should do my thesis on ending catcalling or helping small businesses. She is right I love service design, and I will consider that when I make my choice.

What would they recommend you look at, research, or do next?

For this brainstorm and blog post about it, I would like more exploration, why this is a problem, you touch a little bit, but it is a pretty complex problem until you understand more what it is, more exploration why is a problem. How these programs work and who gets out.

What about the space or idea thus far is exciting to them, or problematic?

Really exciting, very passionate about it, it really bothers me, am I part of the problem? As a privileged person, if you are moving into a neighborhood where most minorities live, like Williamsburg, become part of the community, shop at their businesses. There is a grocery store, down the block my house, all run by Spanish speaking people go, for a while I didn’t go, they had unusual vegetables and fruits, from Central America that I’ve never seen before, now I make an effort to go there more, to give my money to them. What can we do in these neighborhoods they just taken by big chains, what can people do? What can we do as the people to help?

Insight: How can we get people more involved in their communities to keep these local places in business? How can we help people that are new to a neighborhood become part of the community that has been living there for years?