Slide 1 Good morning, thesis team. My name is Tiffany Henschel, and my thesis is currently title, “Local Feedback Loops: Designing hybrid spaces to promote community, self-sufficiency, and knowledge.
Slide 2 I will start off by briefly summarizing my thesis projects so far and what have come out of them.
Slide 3 First, an ongoing piece I titled the taxonomy of micro-moments. It currently has about 75 items. I periodically add to it, and would like to continue it as a living piece, perhaps online, that people can add to. To categorize and define these connections further I categorized them into either physical or virtual, formal or informal, voluntary or involuntary. i also graphed them out according to the duration of the moment and its level of intensity.
Slide 4 Then, I began to use next door as a research tool. I used a Next Door API that a programmer friend had built, and joined three Los Angeles neighborhoods in order to write a python script that scraped the next door threads for keywords that related to either people reaching out for help, services, etc., or people offering skilled labor, workshops, etc. anything that told me people were putting something out there, asking for something.
Slide 5 Through some initial research last fall I learned that across the board, regardless of location, there were common complaints/concerns. One was drivers speeding down small residential streets. In an attempt to match a desire/need, I used technology and the information I’d gained through research to build a speed radar detector that took a photo of each car going over 25mph. My thought was that this could turn into open-source code/a workshop that other neighborhoods could implement in the future if they so desired.
Slide 6 After all this, what were the outcomes, overlapping themes and takeaways from these projects?
Slide 7 Next Door is the means to an end. A tool for research and investigation. But it’s not the final medium or product. It does a good job of dumping, outputting needs and desires but not picking them up. It’s asynchronous and it’s passive. Because it’s a social media platform, it still lacks that intersection with the physical, 3-dimensional world. There’s lots of potential for communication and exchange but it misses the mark.
Slide 8 Who is my audience? How do I put all of this into context?
Slide 9 Interacting at a community level, utilizing a combination of technology/data/field research to create connections and exchange. My practice is asset-based rather than focusing on deficits or what separates us. With the hybrid of physical and virtual, we get the best of both worlds. The small, local scales allow these ideas to scale out, rather than scale up. These connections can promote self-sufficiency, knowledge, and altruism. This distributed model is active and can sync up, making it more helpful. And essentially it’s a push/pull model, a complete feedback loop that connects neighbors in proximity to one another in new ways. Simply put, it connects the dots between identifying and meeting wants/needs/desires/services, etc.
Slide 10 What are my specific plans moving forward through the rest of the term?
Slide 11 Essentially what I have come up with is comprised of several mediums, that adds up to somewhat of a system / methodology / ecology. So the input is from next door and design research/fieldwork. It creates this grouping of information that can be analyzed and things can be matched up. The output is a combination of analytics, workshops, autoreplys, and finally, ultimately, a website/local network/app type interface. … I have some sketches/concepts to detail for each of those things, as well.
Slide 12 I am continuing to get more analysis and visualizations, complicating the code / algorithm in order to make more matches.
Slide 13 Through next door I’m working on getting a couple workshops/real life interactions planned. Right now there’s a possibility for a monthly trash pickup, creative writing workshop, and cannabis tincture making workshop.
Slide 14 Through Next Door data I hope to eventually create some sort of auto-reply if the numbers reach some sort of critical mass, for example so many requests for something equals a workshop, or if a couple people are looking for a tutor, someone gets an email, etc.
Slide 15 Eventually I see this as some kind of integrated, interactive interface or app where people can trade, barter.
Slide 16 This is a rough timeline of when I’m going to start the different pieces
Slide 17 I want to touch upon the possible future/scalability of this project
Slide 18 Eventually I envision more integration with other neighborhoods. I started with 3, but I think for thesis’ sake I am going to start with one neighborhood and really hone in on it, instead of speeding myself too thin. There could be more integration with other social media apps such as Twitter and Facebook. I see the possibility for an app that incorporates AR and GPS, live time. Allow other people to add/edit, open-source. Last but not least I think it’s finally time to fill out an IRB because I now am specific on my audience and possible complications.
Slide 19 Thanks! The end.
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