Change & our future: it's not just about technology

Presentation to ALIA NLS5 2011

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BikeTank and service design

As BikeTank approaches its third week I am really impressed with the energy and participation it enjoys as people come together at u.lab to try to encourage the use of bikes, plan better infrastructure and take shared action in ensuring a sustainable future for Sydney city.

Here are some images that hopefully tell some more of the story, i.e. what, where, who, how, when:

So apart from my personal interest in the outcomes from all of this why am I going?

There are several reasons:

• I think it is a great initiative by several academics from across a number of faculties within UTS and I think we in UTS Library should be supportive of such steps. (Yes, that is a big hint for some of you reading this.)
• I'd like to learn more about the whole Design Thinking process by seeing it in action. I reckon that most adults learn more about a process by being immersed in it than attending a seminar or workshop.
• BikeTank is also about Social Innovation and a sustainable future. Those two concepts are critical to our future at UTS Library as we plan a future Library at the heart of our city campus. As well as implementing new technologies including ASRS, RFID and vastly improved online discovery (not just search but true discovery!) and building a grand new modern library that isn't primarily a book storage facility, we need to evolve as an organisation and imagine and develop a new service model. I reckon that we'd be pretty well served by a similarly inclusive and collaborative process. So here is my vision for that:

Even more from PDC 2010: Release early: Release often strategy

Diana Mounter & Dave Gravina, Digital Eskimo (DE)

DE's Tools: human-centred design, PD, agile & ethnographic research.

Amongst other tactics they:

• ask questions & challenge assumptions!
• Break-up problems into small chunks
• encourage risk taking & celebrate mistakes

Immersion Phase

• workshops include co-design for shared understanding, helps bring all perspectives together
• synthesize outcomes to define scope
• desk research (some is usually already done)
• observe research & interviews
• workshop ideas with communications teams
• they gave out packs for people to record diaries in their homes (incl cameras, diaries)
• co-design activities brought people together, so insights were gained & shared (I think this is extremely beneficial and therefore very important for libraries in educational institutions to recognise)

User Experience Strategy

• working with community (not just a Council)
• synthesising findings & keeping users at centre of process
• develop personas (to represent different user perspectives)
• iterative approach to features (tested & feedback built in)
• branding was a challenge - simple terms are important (not jargon) – and this changed brand “personality”
• testing the first release with small group of users also “seeds” the product & they were surveyed
• ambassadors become champions (checking posts, etc.)
• statistics were given about the difference a small change can make
• iterated on design & site architecture also (addition of events & tags stretched design in a final stage)
• agile & participatory approach worked very well with this process delivering transparency
• they released often got feedback & improved services
• the client was happy, good results came, and a new platform was born

Some debate followed about whether “agile” design is good method to use for conservative/cautious clients.

People like to trial and see how things go.

How to engage skeptics or the uninterested? People segment on values, so there is a range and some people are going to be desensitised to the green message. Feeling of being part of a social norm really helps - being part of something, a growing movement. Not just preaching to converted, but giving voice to those who want to get involved. In this project it was not about (do this ) “because” but about “how to” (do something), so when ready, people could consult.

DE are doing some great work around town and in the social innovation and web-design spaces. They were one of the sponsors for Industry Day and are a company to watch in Sydney for sure.