Mini Challenge 3 — Magic Machine

Problem Statement

A student from a rural community is researching for a major school assignment and isn’t able to use the schools computers because of the lack of facilities. Finding it hard to get information about a topic they researching they go to the community library. Using Pathways they are hoping they will be able to collaborate with other to get the most recent information.

Description

Pathways is a shared space where people from various locations can research similar topics and share their research. This system allows the researchers to have access to the research that the other people are doing, presenting them with new ideas and related topics.

When a person adds their research, it is sent to a central hub (that could be situated in a major library) and sends out the new information to the different platforms where the researchers are working and builds a shared space of information for all to use.

Information and associated data for each topic being researched is visually presented on a public wall in the space where the people are working. When people find a topic of interest they enter that research community by tapping in the related section on the wall. The information can be shared, worked on collaboratively and transferred to their own devices for them to take home and manipulate for their own needs. The walls can be located in city and rural public spaces, bringing together a wider community based on the interests of the researchers and as well as showing the traffic for each of any specific topic.

Things we liked

The concept allows:

• For the sharing of information and working collaboratively to discover new information
• People of different ability to access information and breaking down the digital divide
• For a browsing experience where a person could be focused on a specific topic but may be directed to new ideas by seeing what other peoples thought and range of resources they may be using.

Things we didn’t like

The concept:

• Opens up a possible problem of privacy and people posting inappropriate information.
• Could pose a problem of plagiarism where a person is working on a topic and determining how much would be considered their own work.

What we have learned

Sharing of information is an important way to gain knowledge. Working collaborative allows the collection of a lot of information very quickly and it can be accessed by almost anyone. This sharing platform creates a positive social culture that can be nurtured in the library communities. For many the visual representation of the information provides interest as well essential data that could be used for future development.