<aside> 💡 Design a digital tool that can address one aspect of these huge and important topics. Don’t get stuck in the enormity of it. Narrow it down through user research and do not build a scheduling or event planning app. Have FUN with the prompts.
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It is hard to stay connected with family and friends who are far away, of different generations, speak a different language, or have a different set of beliefs? It is even harder to create new bonds with people who are different from us. Creating and/or maintaining connections across generations or between different cultures or beliefs can be especially hard when we live in echo chambers or get more siloed. Why is it so hard to interact with someone who is different and how might we make that more enjoyable? How might digital technology connect us across generations, cultures, languages or belief systems?
Most educational models use an “expert model” where faculty (the experts) lecture and students (the learners) try to retain that information. This pedagogy is based on very old principles and may not be as effective as they once were. Project-based learning in classes is a very different model, as are programs like the DALI Lab, where students learn through extra-curricular work on real-world projects. What sorts of digital tools might help students learn in this new world? Can story and narrative help people learn? What does it mean to be learning in a world where ai is part of the picture? How might we create more opportunities and methods for new kinds of learning? Would skill-swapping help? Do we need better evaluation systems or skill-tracking systems? How might a digital tool make learning more effective, meaningful, and engaging?
Environmental issues stem from a wide variety of sources such as nonrenewable energy, consumerist consumption, poor recycling, and minimal feedback for behavior change. Addressing this might mean tracking our behaviors, fostering sustainable fashion, encouraging shifts in diet (insects anyone?), or creating new systems for resilience in a shifting climate. People aren’t responding to many of the current ways of communicating on this topic. How can we improve on that? How might digital technology help people make better choices when it comes to sustainability and climate resilience?
Let’s face it. We all want to have more fun and find more delight in our lives. Research shows that since 2010 there has been a sharp increase in depression and anxiety among adolescents (a time that coincides with the rise of mobile technologies and social media). Delight is about paying attention so we can be surprised and engaged in when something wonderful happens. May Sarton, a poet who lived for a time in New Hampshire, wrote that “the quality of life is in direct proportion to the capacity for delight. And the capacity for delight is the gift of paying attention.” While it may seem odd to create a digital tool to help with a problem created by digital tools, we can still ask the question: How might a digital tool help people experience more joy and delight in their lives?