Based on your life experience, skills, and interests, what would a design process that is both uniquely yours and effective look like?

This is going to sound weird, but I do my most creative thinking while sailing. There is something about slicing through the water, in a fast-paced environment where every mistake lands you in the cold water. I think I do my best thinking while sailing for three reasons. The first is that while your sailing you have to learn to take in everything in the world around. You have to read the water while correcting for the wind, all while trying to not fall off a constantly shifting boat. Once these skills become second nature, you have all of this extra concentration to devote to other things. Trust me you want to devote this concentration to something other than sailing because sailing is really boring, so I tend to daydream creatively.  Sailing also teaches you how to think in a different mindset. When you reach a certain level in sailing, the sport becomes less about speed and more about strategery. You learn to play what is referred to as a game of “3D chess”. You learn to evaluate many different strategies all in a matter of 3 seconds. The third and final is that in sailing you can plan all day, but until you actually change course you see it through you have no idea what will happen.

Right about now your probably wondering two things: how do I plan to sail in the middle of the Lehigh Valley or what the heck this has to do with a creative design process. You see while I sail I act creatively, am able to evaluate situations quickly, and understand that I will only see the impact once I put it into place. If I could find a way to model the attributes of sailing then I could create a design process.

Any chance I could build a lake and put a boat in building c during the summer?

 

How will you validate your project concept, technology, usability, operational / business model?

We will validate your project concept through the use of the data that we collect.  The honest answer is, I don’t really know how we validate it till we start recovering data. Without this data, we are sort of just shooting into the abyss. The issue with our project is that we are trying to collect data, that no ones has done before, so we will also have no idea if it is right or make sense. Even if we collect this data, we still have absolutely no clue if it is accurate. There is entirely the possibility that we got wrong, our data is wrong, or we created something that is unbelievably flawed. I guess my point is we need to figure out a better answer than what I can give you right now. The one thing we can, sort of, validate is our operational model. If we can actually collect data we could sort of say we had a valid operational model.

 

Articulate your philosophy of engagement with communities, partners, and markets.

I don’t remember the name of the woman who spoke on Tuesday but she said something that really made me think about this. She talked about how we shouldn’t just show up and asked to help, we should show and make their problems our problems. Now as to how to that with Ebola in the United States I have no idea, but the point is what matters here. We aren’t going over to Sierra Leone to help get rid of Ebola. We are going over to Sierra Leone to figure out our problem. A problem we both have equal weight in We might be five thousand miles away, but it is our problem. Our problem. One that we have to figure out together, so I guess my new philosophy on community engagement is that we are sitting in the trenches together. We should feel the pain of we fail and Ebola resurfaces. They are just as embedded as us, so they should have the same pull and say in what we do.

Until last class, I didn’t realize the way my mind was framed when it came to charity work or anything like this. I always looked at as we were there just to help and come back to our regular lives. I think this was a really important class with really valuable information being shared.

 

 

Give three examples of how you can use nature as a model/mentor/measure for your own designs (and life).

• The first example of how to use nature as a mentor is quite simple. Our project is to literally to understand why people are getting Ebola from nature. More specifically how they are getting it from bats and nature. If the start of humans getting the disease is from nature, then we have to look at the model in which it spreads. If we can understand how this model works, we can then begin to adopt the protocols, so that people don’t get Ebola. Understanding nature as a model is literally how we will build our project.
• The second way we can use nature in our designs for our project is to learn how nature gathers information, to use to make decisions. Now I understand that trees don’t make a decision about where they will end up being planted, but lions have to decide which way to walk to receive food. They have to gather information about where they are, what they are doing, the conditions, and what not. Then they have to find food. If we can better understand how they make decisions we can model this and learn from it. Too me, life is about the decisions you make, and I think the project, as well as myself, will take as much help as we can get in decision making
• The third way is that I can use life as a mentor is more of a measure. Nature tells you very clearly if you are hurting it or helping. When your grass goes brown you know you did something bad. If I could somehow figure out how to do that with life, I would be better able to understand what is helping and what is hurting. Now I know you’re going to say, “talking is the solution”, but that doesn’t always work.

 

Pick one of Life’s Principles. Explain how you might apply it to your work and life (could be unrelated to your GSIF projects)

Resilience: In 2nd grade, I was diagnosed with dyslexia. Can you imagine barely being able to sound out a single word while the rest of your class is reading 20 pages of a book in a class period? Can you imagine the power a bully has over this type of person? Especially when you start popcorn reading. I had to work an hour a day with a tutor just to learn how to read, but it taught me that the battle is the fun part. The struggle is real and should be what you look for. Had I just given up, trust me there were many of time where I did for a little, I wouldn’t be able to sit here and type this. Talking the punches is valuable because it allows you to laugh your way through what seems like unsolvable tasks.

 

How do you envision integrating the Cradle to Cradle Design concept into your project (and life)? Give one compelling example.
I envision using the cradle to cradle design concept in the project by finding a way to not create a massive impact in collecting our data. Now the reality of our project is that our project is that collecting data requires a lot of energy, with this energy comes waste. If we can find a way to sort of use our energy more efficient or redesign the way in which collecting and analyzing the data happens we can better address this problem.

 

Give three examples of something very interesting you learned from a friend that was a completely alien concept to you.

• This is going to sound ridiculous: the chocolate egg cream. I basically spent my summers as a child in Wisconsin, America’s Dairyland, yet I would have never thought that putting sparkling water and chocolate milk together would taste good until my friend ordered one. It’s a great combination and shows that you never know what will go well together.
• The rubber band in a stripped screw. My boss at work taught me this one. My bet is you know what I am talking about, but if you don’t; if you have a stripped screw that you can’t get out, put a rubber band between the screw head and screw. The screw will come right out.
• The final one is regarding how a sail works on a sailboat. I was a competitive sailor for all of high school, but the reason I began racing as a 13-year-old was that I had a science teacher explain that sails only push boats for only about 150 degrees of the 270 degrees you can actually sail. Sails are actually pulling the boats upwind in certain points of sail, their effectively wings on an airplane. That’s why if you have ever seen a photo of the boat below you would be confused why they would have a sail that could change angles because conventional wisdom would tell you that there would be less surface perpendicular to the wind.
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Describe the five major stakeholders for your project and their motivations.

The first major stakeholder of our project is the communities we plan to help in Sierra Leone. These villages and people are motivated by the fact that if our project succeeds we will be able to prevent unnecessary bloodshed. The issue you at the moment is that this group is more passively motivated than actively. Ebola is not a problem right now, so they have no real reason to help us because they have greater active problems. The second stakeholder in our project is the government of Sierra Leone. The government motivation is to prevent its citizens from dying, but also from a monetary point to use what little cash they have in the most efficient way possible. Ebola is a disease that can easily take over governments medical expenditure. The government by helping us complete our project helps it, citizens, while at the same takes out a sort of insurance policy that will hopefully lower the likely hood that this terrible disease does not crop up on their shores again. With what they don’t spend on Ebola they can spend elsewhere. The next stakeholder in our project is basically any NGO, like UNICEF or MSF. They basically have the same incentives as the government with the way this impact people, money, or resources.  WIth these stakeholders, though they have an added incentive that if they don’t spend their money on Ebola, these groups can spend it elsewhere in the world, with greater problems. Now the issue with this is that like the community and the government they are more passively motivated to solve this problem because there are greater problems in the world. The fourth stakeholder in our project is the United States National Insitute of Health.  The NIH is motivated to help us discover more about Ebola for two reasons. The first being the NIH is in it for science and the discovery of data that can help them better understand the disease, as well as how diseases like it behave. The second reason they are motivated is that they are funding some of the projects. They gave us this money, so they are motivated to see that money as well used as possible. Now, are they technically sort of a passive partner since they have already given us the money, yeah. But, that is not really relevant since we are spending their money, so they should be motivated to make sure we spend it the best way possible. You don’t give your money to a startup and walk away.  If you do there is no guarantee you will get it back. You stay and give your advice to make sure you got the most amount of money back. The final stakeholder, for this list at least, is the group. By group, I mine professor and students. Now the motivation of the professors might be a little different than the students. They are getting paid to publish papers, do research, and do something like this for a living. The students are doing the same thing except instead of a nice paycheck, we get to pay 76k a year to participate. Technically we are getting paid during the summer, but to be honest 10 weeks of 400 bucks makes only a dent, so to say we are motivated by money Is not necessarily true. Though we differ in forms of economic motivation, professors and students are both motivated by the prestige of publishing work, doing the right thing, and Lehigh prestige. It’s not a zero-sum game, we all win in the end. Lehigh gets to say they collected data for the NIH, the professor publish work with students, all of which benefits Lehigh Reputation and status.

 

Describe three ways in which you will validate your project and enhance your credibility over the course of the semester.

One of the ways we plan to establish credibility to our project is to mention as much as we can that we are funded in part by the United States National Institute of Health. Mentioning that we are funded by the NIH should help with our credibility for sure. We can also validate our project by getting people from the CDC as well as the UNICEF to do a little consulting. If we can get these groups to say they worked with us, we will be able to mention them as defacto partners which will help with our credibility. The final way we can really validate our project is to have an actual product to show and that we can use. From a time point of view this is sort of unrealistic since the actual application/collection method will be built over the summer, but if we can get a demo product then we have something to show not an idea to show. This would hopefully help us with credibility.

Give three compelling examples of how cultural issues affect your project?

Culture and our project are bounded at the hip. In order to collect the data necessary for the project, the culture of Sierra Leone must allow for people to talk about Ebola. If people aren’t willing to talk or share information regarding Ebola, then the project will cease to exist. We are reliant on the culture regarding Ebola to be open. The second-way culture affects our project is the actual data that we are collecting. The data we hope to collect and analyze is literally what cultural norms impact the spread of Ebola. The data we hope to collect literally is affected by the culture because we don’t really know the culture, so we don’t really know what to analyze. Finally, the biggest issue regarding culture is the language barrier. Though they speak English our data is more targeted out those who don’t. Creating a survey that can be understood, and that collects the right data is a culture issue.

 

Have you experienced any of these issues at home? Describe at least three issues.

I have experienced all of these issues at home before with just different context. I have to have hard conversations about things that are normally taboo things to talk about. It can be difficult to get answers in these situations, and a lot of the time you have to persistent but respectful to get what you need. In regards to discovering culture norms, I have trouble understanding what an egg cream was for the longest time. This is sort of a weird thing to say as a cultural norm, but until I saw some drinking it. If we to ask me what dairy products people drink around here I wouldn’t know to include this. This goes to show that we don’t really know the small things about the culture around New York, so Sierra Leone will be a challenge. From a language point of view, I have a great example. The first day I got here I wanted to fill up my water bottle, so I asked where the “bubbler” was. We both spoke English and are from the same country yet my Gryphon had no idea what the heck I was talking about. For reference, a “bubbler” is the water fountain, one of those weird midwest terms.

 

Give three examples of cultural practices that can be leveraged to address community/market problems.

One of the hopes / one of the things we have been told is that people in Sierra Leone are quite open when it comes to talking about Ebola. This will allow us to have spent less time getting people to talk about the information that we need and more on collecting information that helps us prevent an outbreak. From a Lehigh point of view, one of the problems that I face on campus is the fact that the dining halls shut breakfast down at 10. I like to think that most college students like to sleep in, whereas the adults get up a little earlier. If they left these halls open another hour they would get more customers. I think closing at 10 is due to the time necessary to flip the halls for the next meal. If they staggered the switching of meals they could keep one place open long enough for the late resizers. The final cultural practice that could be leveraged to address a market problem could be the fact there is an abundance of plastic cups on college campuses. They all get thrown away, but if you could find a way to recycle them for the same price you could prevent waste and help kids get drunk without contracting a disease.

 

In regard to your ventures, how does the African context present different challenges than the American context . Give at least three examples.

Africa presents a lot of different issues than America does. The abundance of technology is different, technology is abundant just its not as high quality.  People don’t have iPhones they have flip phones, which are quite different to build an app for. Another challenge with Africa is the difference of languages across a mear 10 miles, communicating can be quite difficult when you have to speak multiple languages, that you have never learned. Another challenge you can face in Africa is the transportation and logistics train. In the USA you can overnight a package from NYC to LA. That’s not possible, for the same distance in Africa (for the same price), due to the roads, airlines, cultural practices, and two big issues: Tanzanian traffic cops (with their white hats as well as customs and immigration.

 

In regard to your ventures, how does the African context offer different resources than the American context . Give at least three examples.

Well from an economic point of view the cost of labor, as well as certain prodcuts, is significantly cheaper, which (theoretically) could allow you to get things done cheaper and at a faster pace. Africa also offers technological advancements that the US does not. I know that in the Serengeti, you can snapchat your friend due to their being wifi in some of the vehicles. I had a Cell signal and called my parents at the top of Kilimanjaro. Technology grows and is affected differently their, which can be an upside if you can shape it right. The final big upside about Africa is that is that people have a different perspective than we do, and their solutions to problems can be concepts we couldn’t have ever imagined. They have don’t see the world like we do which can allow us to operate in ways we wouldn’t have too.