Week 4: Gathering Inspiration

Observing the world around you

Last week you framed your design challenge. This week you are going to be observing the world around you to gather inspiration for your topic. You will also have the chance to think about your topic in more detail via a phone or email conversation with Bill.

I. What do you want to know

The first step in gathering inspiration is figuring out what you would like to know more about your topic. For example, Will might want to learn more about why littering is a problem, what other people think about it, and how schools in other places deal with litter. Yogeeta might want to find out more about how schools could make tuition more affordable or what scholarship options may be available to students that she could tell others about. Rebecca may want to find out what students think about the emotional support at school or look for programs that are already doing a good job of this for inspiration. In this step you want to brainstorm all of the questions that you have about your topic.

II. Seeking Inspiration

By being curious, observing the world around you, and talking with people you can gain a new perspective on your topic. In step two you want to start preparing your research by thinking about three different areas.

First, you want to make a list of the people who you will need to talk to in order to answer the questions that you brainstormed in step one. For example, Will might talk with students and ask them why they litter, or talk with cleaning staff or teachers to see how they think the problem could be solved.

Second, you will need to make a list of websites to visit in order to do online research to answer the questions you brainstormed in step one. For example, Yogeeta might look at websites that discuss how private school could be made more affordable.

Finally, you will need to make a list of places to visit that will help you answer the questions or gain perspective on the questions from step one. For example, Rebecca may want to visit places that she feels provide good emotional support to students and see how she could create something similar at her school.

Assignment:

For this weeks assignment you are going to use that format above to define your How Might We.

By Sunday, October 8:

1. Go to this Google Doc, make a copy of it so that you can edit it and fill in your responses.
2. When you have completed the Google Doc email me the link to it so that I can read it and give you feedback.