Week 9 — (team moving online!)
This week is Spring Break at Carnegie Mellon. We wrapped up the generative research workshop last Thursday and each went our ways to take a break from the semester, expecting to return later this week and moving on with generative research synthesis and the 2nd half of the semester.
However, due to the escalating situation of COVID-19, on Mar 11 (Wed.), CMU announced “all CMU graduate and undergraduate programs on the Pittsburgh campus will move to remote, virtual or alternative teaching and assessment.” which means we’re going to take all the classes and collaborate all virtually! 😳
Given the nature of our work, it often requires lots of collaboration, physicality, and proximity. A lot of uncertainty arises, and everyone is trying hard to orient ourselves and figure things out.
Our team met online on Thursday to catch up and did a more casual 1st round of discussing what we saw and learned from the workshop. (So glad that we hosted the workshop right before spring break!)
As of now and the foreseeable near future, Michelle will be located in San Francisco (but not right in front of the Golden Gate Bridge), Anna in outside of Pittsburgh, Nandini in outside of Chicago, and Eustina and her lovely 🐱are in Pittsburgh. It’s a weird and difficult time but we hope to stay strong and support each other! 💛💪
Our discussion started with the relevancy of our topic — It becomes even more so relevant and urgent for our society during this time. We talked about should we pivot to be emergency/COVID-19 specific? since it would be weird to ignore it completely, but at the same time too real. OR, should we still focus on the longer-term future and could we bring hope and positivity this way? We haven’t really decided yet but probably would be still focusing on the general future + adding some elements for considering emergencies.
We then shared about what we saw, heard, noted from the workshop records and outcome, how we interpreted the behaviors and information, and the emerging themes.
As the next step, we’re going to each review the intervention idea from part 3 of the workshop — A magical interaction that would aid in reaching your preferred future. wherein the needs and wishes you have outlined for yourself and others are met. We’re going to meet (online) again next Monday to synthesize this part.
At the same time, we’re also keeping an eye on the emerging related topics during this special time. For example, when we’re all practicing social distancing, there’re unprecedented challenges for families managing the need for funerals during the public health emergency.
Everyone, stays safe! 🙏
