vanue world usability day 2009

VanUE World Usability Day 2009

Agenda✴ About World Usability Day

✴ What is Sustainability?

✴ The Design Challenge: Pine St Garden

✴ Our Goals

✴ The Team

✴ Timeline / Process

✴ ObservaAons

✴ Problem Areas

✴ Design ImplicaAons

✴ Possible Strategies

✴ Conclusion

How do usability people tackle this?

Designing for a Sustainable World

Sustainability“Use and development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future genera9ons to meet their own needs.”

Brundtland Commission 1987

Don’t do things today that make tomorrow worse.

! Nathan ShedroffDesign is the Problem: The Future of Design Must be Sustainable (2009)

Design ChallengeHow can we use our professional exper=se as usability and user experience prac==oners to improve the Pine St Community Garden? *

And do it in 12 hours on Nov 12/09 for World Usability Day?

Pine Street Community Garden

Team Members (pictures)Katja

Gord

Theresa

Gagan Barb

Ben

Chris

*not shown: Cat, Selma

Roles✴ Liaison

✴ Project Manager

✴ Observer / Ethnographer

✴ Photographer / Videographer / Scribe

✴ Interviewer

✴ Online Surveyor

✴ Online Researcher

✴ InformaEon Designer

✴ Visual Designer

✴ Prototyper

✴ PresentaEon Producer

✴ Curator

8AM 12PM 7PM

Timeline

VanUE GoalsApply our professional exper=se as usability and user experience pracAAoners to improve the quality of human life (the fundamental goal of usability), while living within the capacity and constraints of our environmental, social, and economic systems (sustainability defined).

Why Pine St?✴ Support urban agriculture

✴ Foster community

✴ EducaEonal opportunity about how we interact with the environment.

Educate

Advocate

Volunteer

Deliver

VanUE Outcomes

Research Methods

Observational Research

Comparative Research

Online Survey to Members

Phone & In-person member interviews

Online Research: City Guidelines & Policies

Inspiration, Ideation, Implementation

Observations

Problem Areas✴ DemarcaEon of space

✴ CommunicaEon

✴ Managing waiEng expectaEons

✴ Funding

✴ Volunteer Time Constraints

✴ EducaEon

✴ AestheEcs

Focus → Community

What is Community?Where do we start?

Our Answer:We start with one person

Foster the conditions to createThe “Engaged” Member

Our Goal:

Meet PatriciaThe “Engaged” Member

✴ 66 year old woman. ReEred city worker

✴ Lives in an apartment. Downsized when her husband died

✴ Wants community garden to flourish

✴ Trades stuff. Shares tools and seeds with community

✴ Gardens 3 Emes/week during good weather

✴ Likes teaching. Knows gardening neighbours.

✴ Takes pride and aUends social acEviEes

The Engaged Member

If everyone was like Patricia they would...✴ Love their garden and have pride in it

✴ Care for the community garden as a whole

✴ Care for their neighbour. Teach them, help them, not encroach in their area

✴ Clean up and do addiEonal duEes as needed

The Engagement Model(Not everyone is Patricia)

✴ 23 year old UBC Grad in Resource Management

✴ Lives in an apartment with a small balcony

✴ New to gardening

✴ Excited to be “in” with the garden

✴ Didn’t realize how much work a garden needs

✴ RomanEc, wants to impress his girlfriend

The New Member

✴ Mid 30’s. Has 2 small children

✴ Lives in a townhouse but eventually wants a house

✴ Garden once or twice per week. Kind of know their gardening neighbours.

✴ Busy life. Wants to teach children how to garden

✴ Like to relax and gardening is a good way to do that.

✴ Takes pride and aUends social acEviEes

The Active Member

Pine St. Community Garden Engagement Model

Engaged MemberEnthusiast and an acEve member, values the garden, helps regularly on the board, thinks about improvements, communicates with other members regularly, aUends all garden related events

Active MemberEnthusiast, acEvely contributes to common areas, openly interacts with other gardeners at events. AUenEve to board emails and google group, considers volunteering, aUends garden events

Participating Member (majority today)Uses and acEvely tends to plot, generally is aware of google group and email but does not parEcipate/respond. AUends at least one member event per year

Member in Good StandingMinimally uses/maintains plot, o_en new and novice members, minimally parEcipates with other members, does not make an effort to aUend member events

Inactive MemberDoes not acEvely tend plot and has/will receive a noEce

How do we “design” an engaged member?

Better Signage, Wayfindingpromote ownership, pride and public awareness

1

show website, email etc anything we have

Signage

Demarcation of Space

Plot Owner Info

Better Communicationpolite, consistent, timely

2

Website IA

Education & Trainingif I know better, I will do better

3

Bulletin Board

Signage

Summary✴ Foster the condiEons for community to happen, engagement to emerge

✴ Start with the user and the “real world”

✴ Small things can make a big difference

✴ Think about the system: online and offline

✴ Leave things beUer than you found them