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Casually Cursed: Vocalizing experiences around casual discrimination amongst teenagers
Get PDFSystemic design is a delicate balance of pull forces from multiple directions, just enough to stretch it to its full potential. This dynamic balance is in itself a form of play, rich with permeable constraints of societal functioning. Complexes of superiority and inferiority incite hierarchical perceptions. Prejudice and Stereotypes build and break identities. The tension between societal conditioning and a free-thinking human mind defines an individual’s privileges or handicaps.
Our key focus is on teenage students who face discrimination in the form of name-calling, jokes and bullying. Casual discrimination almost always ends with the statement, “It was just a joke.”
These jokes rise from normalized stereotypes that become synonymous with a tool of communication. Subsequently, their social well-being gets affected and can potentially turn them into delinquents or victims of suicide in extreme cases. Frequent use of disparagement humour can affect a person psychologically and bring about a drastic change in their self-image and confidence. The roles of stakeholders are often intertwined such that turning into a perpetrator becomes a survival strategy for the victims. Teenagers are often unaware and only become reflective of their actions when they grow up into adults.
Reading casual discrimination amongst teenagers
The visual metaphor of the circus is used to convey the data and insights in order to appeal to our primary stakeholders, who are young teenage students.
The map is divided into three major sections: The central part talks about the interrelation of various stakeholders and shifting power dynamics. The left section is populated with primary and secondary research that supported our systems’ mapping. The right section talks about our Insights and Design Directions.
Flow of each section is from left to right.
Each heading denotes a separate module that can be read independently
O’ahu and the Effects of Climate Change
Get PDFClimate change, known as the shift in a region’s average weather conditions over a long period has created an impact on human lives that extends well beyond rising temperatures. While the Earth’s climate has naturally fluctuated throughout its existence, modern climate change is unprecedented, with the Earth’s average temperature in 2020 being the hottest year on record. To understand the depth and complexity of this issue, our team created the following map to draw out the causes and implications of climate change on the island of Oahu, Hawaii.
In the current Anthropocene, the collective release of greenhouse gases results from the overconsumption of natural resources driven by industrialization. Being economically dependent on the travel business but also geographically sensitive to rising sea levels. Hawaii’s climate is trapped in a vicious cycle that desires interventions with higher leverage points, such as changes to the island’s infrastructure and fundamental shifts in core values. Even though most environmental campaigns have a call to action aimed towards individual habits and consumer choices, our research concludes that the main responsibility lies in the hands of major corporations and federal level governments.
Reading the climate change on O’ahu HI systems map
The five-petal flower motif represents the delicate climate situation O’ahu’s flora and fauna faces, and divides the map into five large categories, each containing the causes and effects across social, environmental, economic, infrastructure, and transportation aspects. The connections between elements overall indicate a mitigating or worsening effect on GHG emissions, while the gradient shows the local-to-global scope surrounding the issue. With the political bubble being the highest stakeholder, this map demonstrates how the ecology of interventions relies on government power and action
A Reckoning: Exploring the History and Evolution of Diversity & Inclusion
Get PDFThis major research project explores the history and evolution of diversity management strategies, like Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) and its current evolution, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). Born out of the American civil rights movement, the first phase of D&I emerged as a response to regulatory requirements for fair and equal opportunity in hiring practices. Since then, it has been widely embraced as a competitive advantage and the key ingredient to innovation. For half a century, organizations have been investing multi- billion dollars in D&I initiatives but still struggle to make meaningful and measurable progress towards racial equity.
This paper seeks to investigate how effective D&I strategies are and lessons learned from a half century of effort to diversify workforces and build inclusive workplaces. To answer this question, a literature review and jurisdiction scan on Canadian and American D&I efforts was completed to identify key trends and gaps, with a focus on the hiring and career advancement of Black employees. It also provides an overview of the legal, academic and corporate definition of D&I, in order to map out the initial and evolving goals of diversity, along with how it is implemented and evaluated to make the argument that D&I, when done right, is about culture change and organizational redesign
Pivot 2021: Dismantling/Reassembling
Get PDFPivot is a series of virtual conferences organized by the Pluriversal Design Special Interest Group (SIG) of the Design Research Society (DRS). Pivot’s first edition, PIVOT 2020: Designing a world of many centers, was hosted by the Phyllis M. Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking at Tulane University. The 2021 edition was hosted by OCAD University (Toronto, Canada)
Creative processes in co-designing a co-design hub: towards system change in health and social services in collaboration with structurally vulnerable populations.
Get PDFBackground: Co-design is an approach to engaging stakeholders in health and social system
change that is rapidly gaining traction, yet there are also questions about the extent to which there
is meaningful engagement of structurally vulnerable communities and whether co-design leads
to lasting system change. The McMaster University Co-Design Hub with Vulnerable Populations
Hub (‘the Hub’) is a three-year interdisciplinary project with the goal of facilitating partnerships,
advancing methods of co-design with vulnerable populations, and mobilising knowledge.
Aims and objectives: A developmental evaluation approach inspired by experience-based co-design
was used to co-produce a theory of change to understand how the co-design process could be used
to creatively co-design a co-design hub with structurally vulnerable populations.
Methods: Twelve community stakeholders with experience participating in a co-design project
were invited to participate in two online visioning events to co-develop the goals, priorities, and
objectives of the Hub. Qualitative data were analysed using a thematic content analysis approach.
Findings: A theory of change framework was co-developed that outlines a future vision for the Hub
and strategies to achieve this, and a visual graphic is presented.
Discussion and conclusions: Through critical reflection on the work of the Hub, we focus on the
co-creative methods that were applied when co-designing the Hub’s theory of change. Moreover,
we illustrate how co-creative processes can be applied to embrace the complexity and vulnerability
of all stakeholders and plan for system change with structurally vulnerable populations
From Uncritical Design to Critical Examinations of its Systemic Consequences
Get PDFGregory Bateson Professor for Cybernetics, Language, and Culture at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication
Historically, designers cherished their aesthetic competencies. However, offering them to manufacturers improved the lives of consumers only when serving industrial interests. In our information society, technologies have changed radically, but not their designers’ concerns. Human-centred design, for example, develops interfaces with complex computer networks in their user’s terms, bypassing the need to understanding these technologies.
The enthusiastic embrace of cybernetics was instrumental in automating manufacturing, commerce, communication, and everyday life. However, behind the façade of providing valuable access to users of vast databases, services, and numbers of people, contemporary design unintentionally supported the systematic algorithmisation of large segments of society. We are becoming cyborgs of ultimately oppressive socio-technological regimes.
To regain social relevance, Dr Krippendorff suggests that designers become critical of what their work supports, cognizant of and accountable for the systemic consequences of their designs and move from uncritically embracing innovations to an emancipatory perspective on the systems they enable. He encourages the community of designers to combine large systems conceptions with critical and liberating efforts
H(Om)ecoming to Cosmic 'I'
Get PDFH(Om)ecoming to Cosmic ‘I’ is an ontological, metaphysical investigation of what it means to be authentic in our time. It addresses the intertwined relationship between making, healing, knowing and our being i.e., not the physical existence but rather the essence of a person. Since spiritual practice and art practice inform each other in my research, Here x Now = How is a key function in the methodology for my making. This methodology sustains my experience of ‘what is’ without limited thought or knowledge which, according to Indian thinker Jiddu Krishnamurti, has its source in the past as a product of time and thus finite. In addition to this, I explore Zen with an inquiry with open mind to discover ‘what am I?’ The research advances into analysis of our fundamental being by looking into Heidegger’s Dasein as ‘the way,’ along with Earth-based spirituality, and combines the opposites of West and East thinking on Nature, or the moments of the Divine. Inspired by Rudolf Steiner’s Calendar of the Soul (1925), and informed by practice-led research, my studio practice is divided into four parts and reflects four seasons. The research ultimately suggests reclamation of spiritual ways of knowing for restoration of wholeness and an evolving process of our consciousness
The influence of health information sources & health literacy on COVID vaccine hesitancy
Get PDFHealth literacy is the ability to identify, read, process & understand basic health information in order to make decisions & take appropriate actions to manage health. Information seeking & an affinity towards particular sources of information is influenced by an individual’s health literacy. Health literacy, in turn, is influenced by an individual’s social determinants of health & personal perspectives on health. Information is sought to make informed decisions & take appropriate actions to manage an individual’s health. These decisions are influenced by the sources of information - whether they are mainstream
or alternative sources of health information, & how closely they align with the perspectives & beliefs of the individuals reviewing this information. Within the context of the COVID pandemic, one of the primary concerns is how & through which avenues health information is disseminated in order to gain the trust of the public in order to make the biggest impact in promoting healthy behaviours & protect against the continuous transmission of COVID. Additionally, what can be done to reduce the impact of the spread of false information & direct the public to more credible sources of information
The Future of Work-Life Balance in the Tech Sector
Get PDFIn this synthesis map, titled “The Future of Work-Life Balance in the Tech Sector” we look at the future of work focusing specifically on work-life balance in technology-related fields. Since the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, there has been a sudden shift to work from home for technology workers and with this, a blurring of boundaries between two historically separate realms of life: work and personal. The intended audience for the map are employers and decision-makers of companies as they navigate creating a new normal of the future of work that works for their organizations and employees. The map shows leverage points where services could be added to help support employee work-life balance and outlines why moving towards supporting work-life balance in employees matters to the company.
The left of the map situates the problem, explains the context and key actors involved in the problem space. In the middle section, how the problem of work-life balance unfolds for two employees with varying needs and support systems has been explored. Then, the future of work-life balance is explored from an organizational perspective, using the three horizons framework. In the right section of the map, the focus is on the intervention space where a range of possible interventions for companies to consider has been explained. Three interventions are explored in detail and it is recommended to refer back to the journey map, to see how these interventions, when implemented, can improve the everyday experience and journeys of both the presented personas
Bridging Communication Gaps Across Generational & Cultural Divides Among Chinese-Canadian Families & Communities
Get PDFIntergenerational relationships are becoming increasingly important, as people are living longer and thus spending more time with people from different generations. Despite the growth in the area of research on intergenerational relationships and communication, it is largely lacking in historical and cultural context. Few have explored cultural differences in values, behaviour, and identity in intergenerational conflict and cross-cultural communication. Furthermore, little is known about intergenerational communication, conflict, and coping within the context of Eastern cultures.
The purpose of this study is to better understand the nature of intergenerational communication and conflict among Chinese-Canadian families, the existing strategies used to manage conflict, and the impacts of effective intergenerational communication on the lives of older and younger Chinese-Canadians. Through listening and learning from Chinese-Canadians across four generations and a community of experts, areas of support and needs were identified and incorporated into the design process. The analysis shows a strong correlation between age, history, migration, social environments, and communication behaviours. Overall, the results highlight the complex roles of culture, history, and trauma in communication among multi-generational Chinese-Canadian families.
A game-based approach is proposed to promote understanding between Chinese-Canadians across generations through empathic communication and storytelling. The artifact aims to connect game enjoyment and intergenerational perceptions and communication and serves as an inspiration piece to foster positive intergenerational bonds.
The efforts of this research are an expression of commitment by the individuals and organizations dedicated to supporting Chinese-Canadian communities to foster social spaces that celebrate diversity and inclusion