Last GSIF Blog

Who is Tommy Persaud?

  • Tommy Persaud is someone who aspires to serve his community, add value to the world around him, and use technological innovations to improve human quality of life.

How will you change the world?

  • Being so young it’s very difficult to really see how I might change the world. I don’t want to be naive and blindly optimistic about the things I want to do, rather I want to be realistic but ambitious. I see myself running for city council in Jersey City at some point in my life. I definitely want to contribute to making a city of people with immigrants, diverse backgrounds, and varying economic statuses, a place that is based on equity and equality. I want to push for a world where people of all economic and ethnic backgrounds can have the same opportunities to succeed. Pushing for a better Jersey City is one way I want to inspire others and contribute meaningfully change to the world around me. Whether I succeed or not, I want to stir up the conversations and discussions that are important to have. I want to bring light to the issues in my local community that are often overlooked or just dismissed. I hope that my actions of making Jersey City a more equitable community will inspire cities of similar backgrounds with high immigrant populations to work towards making their communities more equitable as well. 

What will your epitaph say?

  • “To push for a better world isn’t being blindly optimistic, it’s being hopeful and faithful that one day the world can be a place that is truly inclusive, equitable, diverse, and harmonious”

Living an Impact-Focused Life

I believe I was put on this earth to:

  • Make the world around me a better place. For me this entails making the lives of my friends, family, and peers better in some way. Either through being a supportive person or by making the surrounding society better. 

My purpose is to:

  • Create societal change to some degree. Whether this be small and based in my local community of Jersey City, or back in my home country of Guyana, or anywhere for that matter, I intend to make a positive contribution to society where the quality of life of people are improved.  

I believe (my core values):

The one thing I must do before I die is:

  • Run for office either on the municipal level in Jersey City or as a district representative

My advocates and supporters all believe I:

  • I am a driven person who is passionate about what they believe in. 

The evil I want to eradicate in this world is: 

  • People who abuse their power, leadership, and influence to take advantage of people who are unknown to the fact that they are being manipulated
  • People who are greedy and only seek to profit and help themselves
  • Selfishness that is rooted deep in our society that ends up creating inequality on all levels. 

I want to work in order to:

  • Contribute in a meaningful way that influences first generation students, immigrants, and minorities to realize their full potential that they can be successful despite the odds being against them.
  • I want to help people alike to achieve success and reduce their burden of financial insecurity which may be a cause of their poverty, lack of education, lack of resources, and overall quality of life.
  • Make money to gain financial security and freedom. And use the money to help my family. 

 

Walk the Talk – Your How

If you are truly committed to your Why, you show it in your everyday behavior. It is all air until you do it. Working from your Why, How do you prove that you are true to your Why in all you do?

 

I always:

  • Seek to learn the truth that is not obvious through critical and analytical thinking. 
  • Try to be unbiased in making decisions that may affect others 

I never:

  • Immediately jump to conclusions that may seem true, but rather break things down and critically analyze them to ensure that the decision I am making is sound and rational.

My work style is:

  • Focused and becoming more routined 
  • Sometimes sporadic burst of motivation 

I try to treat people:

  • Completely equal despite any bias, stereotypes, and stigmas I might have in my head
    • I try to be completely neutral and see everyone as my equal despite any differences that arise

I approach problems by:

  • First learning about the issue
    • What is the micro effect of the problem i am solving
      • This entails who are the people or smaller factors being affected
      • Understanding each person or factors needs and desires and how these can be appropriately met 
    • What is the macro picture
      • What the economic implications of the issue, what are the social issues
        • Learning to find a balance between the different parts of the issue and finding a middle ground solution that all parties involved can mutually benefit to some degree. 

Victories are time to:

  • Reflect on the things that have worked and be grateful for those who have helped you achieve that victory
  • Become even more motivated and driven to succeed again and hopefully make a positive impact on the world around me 

If another attacks my point of view I:

  • Try to explain my perspective from the different angles I am seeing something at
  • Try to let them fully understand my thoughts and motivations to ensure they can see my perspective better
  • Find a middle ground where we can agree and build up to my perspective from there 
  • If I realize through the conversation my point of view is flawed, I would thank them for allowing me to broaden my perspective.

If I fundamentally do not agree with what an organization or person is doing, I will:

  • Help others see my view as well. I intend to have conversations to learn more about the different perspectives to widen my point of view and ensure I am seeing things the right way (in a more unbiased way).
  • I will advocate for what I think is right by first truly understanding both parties perspectives and a middle ground that can be drawn so that some connection between the two parties is made. From there I would try to break down the reason why their actions are wrong and why I disagree with them. 

Your Credibility – Your Whats 

You have just spent some considerable time at Lehigh, and specifically in the Global Social Impact Fellowship, on many whats. Your whats include lab research, formal presentations, writing research papers, engaging with people in other cultural contexts, building prototypes, designing and building systems, raising funds, hiring employees, etc. The whats you have collected along the way are critical to your credibility when you are entering the workforce or applying to the best graduate and professional schools. They signify a credible currency to which organizations can assign value. Create a list of your Whats that are truly reflective of your Why & How.  You did these things because you believe (Why) and you acquired them in the following (How) manner. These are examples you can use in interviews.

What Have I Done List of Experiences, Accomplishments, and Lessons Learned
Degrees, Minors, Certificates, Fellowships
  • Computer Engineering, Bachelors of Science
  • Global Citizenship Certificate
  • Global Social Impact Fellowship
  • Your education should not just be focused on your major but should complement your major. I learned that investing time and energy into skills that are complementing your major is far more marketable and makes you stand out because you not only have knowledge about your specific major but also can apply the skills learned in a broader context. This shows adaptability, flexibility, and the mindset of someone who is willing to always learn and grow.
Research Experiences
  • Smart Cities
  • Smart City Innovations
  • Humanitarian Technologies
  • Gamification
  • Issues facing Kazakhstan and countries of similar  economic development 
Inventions and Innovations
  • Save Tuba MVP mobile app
  • Mask Detection System for senior design project
(Social) Entrepreneurial Ventures
  • Understanding the importance of using social entrepreneurship or leveraging entrepreneurship to create an impact on the world
    • I feel that when I think of entrepreneurship it’s mainly about making a business or idea that created profit.
  • Solving societal issues in a systematic approach
Publications

(Formal and Informal)

  • How to write publications
  • How to present publications 
  • Why research is necessary
  • How to leverage existing research and contribute to the field in a meaningful way
    • How to create a mutually beneficial relationship between the ventures need for credibility through research and contributing to the research field meaningfully. 
Formal Presentations

(at Lehigh and Beyond)

  • How to vocalize and articulate yourself in a presentation
  • How to structure a presentation to get the audience to ask questions you are prepared for
  • How to answer questions concisely and effectively
  • How to be confident that the material you are presenting is important and needs to understood 
Awards and 

External Recognition

  • N/A

 

Articulating and learning from GSIF-related Experiences. For each of these prompts, we want you to identify one and only one specific and compelling event/incident/experience/moment and identify exactly how you grew personally and professionally through that moment.

Teamwork Experience

(and Lessons Learned)

  • After our first presentation we realized how under prepared we were and there were lots of things we needed to work out. We ended up not doing very well so we worked really hard as a team to put together a much better final presentation. We ended up working much better as a time, where we all worked on refining the different segments of our venture in order to present them in a way where we can get critical feedback to improve our concept and approach. We learned that it is important to see the macro perspective of the project at all times in order to understand what our venture would look like at steady state.
Conflict Resolution Experience

(and Lessons Learned)

  • Over the summer I was working on developing the Save Tuba version 1 mobile app. One of the mountaintop fellows we picked up was responsible for researching and leading the app development. They ended up ghosting the team and just leaving us in a bad spot to finish the MVP before the end of the summer. I ended up working through it and finishing it myself. The takeaway is that it is important to have strong communication with team members and ensure all team members are not only dedicated but also held accountable. 
Leadership Experience

(and Lessons Learned) 

  • One of the key leadership experiences I gained was over the summer during the mountaintop program. Having to do press conferences, leading the questions and answers, and facilitating conversations with people to move our venture forward was definitely one of the moments that were scary but also influenced me to want to get out of my comfort and be challenged. This experience definitely helped me grow as a person that is now more confident when presenting and is not as afraid of leading conversations and discussions.
Dealing with Chaos, Ambiguity, and Uncertainty (and Lessons Learned)
  • In the very beginning of our project, we didn’t know exactly what direction we wanted to go with so it was definitely hard to envision the end result of our research and brainstorming. It seemed almost hopeless because there were so many potential pathways to explore. We eventually narrowed our direction over time into what it is today. This came by first finding one issue and diving deeper to finding a solution that can be implemented on a level that creates foundational change. Dealing with all of the chaos, ambiguity, and uncertainty for me has been taking things one step at a time until the direction is clear. 
Personally Challenging Experience (and Lessons Learned)
  • I remember preparing for the final presentation of the spring semester and it was extremely difficult for me to remember all of the speaking points I wanted to mention, stay within the time limit, articulate the importance and significance of our venture, and handling the criticism from it. I personally suffer from social anxiety so this experience was extremely difficult for me. It definitely made me grow as a person who learned to become more confident and accepting of criticism without feeling personally attacked. Through GSIF as a whole, I definitely felt that the presentations, innovators in residence talks, and press conferences have helped me cope with my social anxiety more. 
Cross-cultural Experience (and Lessons Learned)
  • Communicating with our partners in Kazakhstan for the first time was definitely new to me. I never worked with a team that spoke a different language from myself and was in a completely different geographical hemisphere. It was definitely important for me to learn the importance of understanding social and cultural barriers between people to best communicate and work together.
An experience that helped you connect your GSIF work to your discipline / major.
  • Developing the Save Tuba mobile app version 1 was definitely the moment I realized I didn’t have to use my computer engineering skills to just work for a company. I could instead use them to create value added products that add value and innovate our world. 
A moment that boosted your sense of agency and self-efficacy – you felt like you can speak for yourself, get stuff done, take on the world and make it better.
  • After our final presentation of the spring semester I definitely felt more confident in myself and the direction of our project. I think that stems from a better acceptance of our project and the feedback we got was definitely more encouraging. This was definitely a moment that kick started my confidence and passion to keep working hard on an ambitious goal that really has no guarantee of success. I learned that having some positive reinforcement is extremely helpful and encouraging in order to keep your motivations and ambitions going. 
A moment where you felt like you truly have a strong sense of purpose and belonging in this dynamic, globalized interdependent world.
  • Getting our first paper accepted into the IEEE GHTC was a moment where I felt that I can really contribute to society in a meaningful way. By helping contribute to the awareness of the impact smart city technologies have on improving the quality of life of people in urban settings, I felt that I was playing a role in making the world more conscious of using technology for good. I felt that I can play a bigger role in influencing people to create innovations with the focus on improving quality of life rather than sole profit.

 

Traditional Classroom vs GSIF

GSIF Classroom System:

  • Actors and what are they gaining
    • Students
      • Hands on venture development
      • Academic research and publication
      • Mentorship from experienced faculty
      • Iterative learning
      • Motivated through self interest
    • Faculty
      • Credibility from mentorship of successful ventures
      • Names on publications
      • Create connections with students
    • External organizations / Partners
      • Opportunities for development with motivated students
      • Different perspectives and approaches to most prominent issues
    • Lehigh
      • Credibility from venture success and impact
      • Credibility from publications. 
      • Credibility from academic success
    • Customers
      • Communities receive education, services, employment opportunities and/or opportunities for community development to help to solve issues they have been struggling with.
  • Trying to accomplish: impact based approach to global solutions
    • The goal of every venture in GSIF is impact. Based on this premise, student approach the issues with a mindset of getting things done, rather than building of 
  • How are they trying to accomplish
    • Real world experience
    • Trial and error
    • See venture/work in action
  • Why they are doing it
    • To give work a purpose
    • Applying knowledge with the goal of making the world better 
  • What actors gain
    • Real world understanding
    • Real impact/difference made
    • Professional skills
      • Leadership
      • Initiative
      • Communication
      • Presentations
    • Learning to fail, make mistakes, and gain from them without the harshness of failing an exam/quiz/project

Traditional Classroom System:

  • Actors and what are they gaining
    • Students
      • Phased learning
      • Graded based motivation
    • Faculty
      • Assignment based teacher
      • Top down teaching approach
    • Partners
      • Peer to peer collaboration
    • Lehigh
      • Credibility from research and patents/publications
      • Credibility from academic success
    • Customers
  • Trying to accomplish: Academic success and industry/career preparation
    • Academic success
    • Career and industry preparation
  • How are they trying to accomplish
    • Practicing knowledge with homework
    • Doing projects
    • Taking exams and quizzes to verify knowledge
  • Why they are doing it
    • To succeed in either furthering academia or preparing for a career. There is the possibility of using academic knowledge and applying it in an entrepreneurial way.

Blog Week 9

 

  1. If you are the Chief of Police for Afghanistan, what solution would you develop to pay the cops that are actually working, reduce corruption, and boost their morale.

Our proposed solution would start by erasing the existing payroll database and start anew. To create the new database, we would require a check in at least three times a day. Employees will  check in with a designated staff member at each police base/region for verification. They will report their activities and location throughout the day. Based on these check-ins, a person would be added to the database. This in turn should establish a database composed only of the active policemen. The money that was previously being paid to these ghost people can thus be redirected to paying the aforementioned designated staff member, who will continue overseeing the check-ins (reduce corruption) and who will serve as a role which others can seek to work up to (boost morale). It can also be allocated toward yearly bonuses that are directly measured by progress and achievements. It might also be possible to have more community outreach to build the relationship between the policemen and the community they are protecting. This results in less fear and more trust, and thus, more cooperativity during times of duress or high stakes crime.  

This approach embodies the tenet of regulation: a process of ensuring intrinsic feedback to bring about desired operation of the system so as to meet the desired goals. Having someone be a supervisor that all must respond to allows for a system with checkpoints and feedback at every level of supervision. With that being said, the tenet of leverage points is also utilized in that these small changes (check-ins) would result in a much more stable and productive police system as people are now individually held accountable for the work they do and must actively strive for progress. In a sense, equifinality is also in play when considering the trust built between policemen and community members. Through more community outreach, such relationships should grow and that newfound trust would allow for a more cooperative, larger communal system of protector and protectee. Thus, working at a greater goal of harmony and cooperation through different means. In the essence of this, multifinality also comes hand in hand as the community should ideally feel safer when they know their policemen are striving for better, are trustworthy, and are not corroborating a corrupt system. Policemen are then putting in more effort and more care in the work that they do so that they may both protect those whom they swore they would protect as well as climb the ladder for higher bonuses or ranking. 

  1. If you are the entrepreneur, what multi-final solution will you develop so that you succeed, your venture succeeds (takes water hyacinth off the lake), and the people living along the lakeshore also walk away happy. Please be specific on how your solution might function and precisely whom you would work with. For example, refrain from including vague stakeholders like entire communities.

The first thing the entrepreneur should do is hold a series of community meetings, or, town halls, to gage the concerns and desires of the community members since they are (or should be) major stakeholders in the business of composting their hyacinth. She should propose a number of possible solutions. She can begin with hiring more of the community members as employees to harvest and process the hyacinth. With more hands on deck, more compost and briquettes could be produced, and thus more money can be made. Since briquettes can be used as low cost heat source for cooking or home heating, and thus mass production is already a bonus in and of itself. If not enough of an incentive, community members could get a small discount for allowing access to their hyacinth. Since compost has many uses, ie. farming, she could also team up with farmers in the area to do a similar thing (use as incentive, introduce discount). In all of this, the fishermen benefit by having the lake cleaned and thus, multiple goals are met (multifinality) for the progress of one greater goal (equifinality): profit for all stakeholders and harmony while doing so. Because all would be working together (community provides employees, employees provide hyacinth profit, profit provides for the entrepreneur as well as the farmers, and families using briquettes, in addition to cleaning the lake for fishermen), the tenet of interdependence surrounding the production and distribution of hyacinth now exists as well. The community is also free from health consequences of hyacinth pollution in the lake, further satisfying the tenet of holism

 

 

 

 

Blog Week 7

Describe at least 5 partnerships that were formed (before or) during the GSIF fieldwork experience that impacted the success or failure of your venture. Please identify partnerships at the individual, team, and Lehigh / GSIF level.

  1. KazNU, AlmaU, SDU
    1. What constituted the partnership?
      1. Coordinators, faculty and students.
    2. How did the partner help you? How did you help them?
      1. By talking to faculty, coordinators, and students at these universities, we were able to better understand what the education system looks like in Kazakhstan. We were also able to get feedback on several aspects of our Save Tuba app. We also helped them by giving feedback on their project ideas as well.
    3. Was this a symbiotic relationship? Why or why not?
      1. It was a symbiotic relationship because they were able to give feedback on our project ideas, and we were able to give feedback on theirs.
    4. What would help strengthen this partnership and make it more equitable?
      1. If we could have someone on our team directly working with them on their project, like they do with us, it would make this a more equitable relationship.
  2. Nazarbayev Schools
    1. What constituted the partnership?
      1. Teachers, students, and school administrators.
    2. How did the partner help you? How did you help them?
      1. The teachers will help us with implementing our app into their curriculum and introducing it to their students. School administrators will help with logistical aspects of implementation and connection between schools. By using the app in schools, we will be able to reach more youth in Kazakhstan. We can provide teachers and schools with a useful educational tool that will (hopefully) engage their students in a fun way.
    3. Was this a symbiotic relationship? Why or why not?
      1. It is a symbiotic relationship because we both have a goal of making Almaty and Kazakhstan a more sustainable place, and we both have a goal of educating the youth. Our partnership will accomplish this for both of us.
    4. What would help strengthen this partnership and make it more equitable?
      1. We could strengthen this partnership by talking with higher ups at the school to make our app a part of the curriculum for more schools. Also if we were able to talk face to face, it would strengthen it more.
  3. Other schools (similar to Nazarbayev Schools)
    1. What constituted the partnership?
      1. Teachers, students, and school administrators.
    2. How did the partner help you? How did you help them?
      1. The teachers will help us with implementing our app into their curriculum and introducing it to their students. School administrators will help with logistical aspects of implementation and connection between schools. By using the app in schools, we will be able to reach more youth in Kazakhstan. We can provide teachers and schools with a useful educational tool that will (hopefully) engage their students in a fun way.
    3. Was this a symbiotic relationship? Why or why not?
      1. It is a symbiotic relationship because we both have a goal of making Almaty and Kazakhstan a more sustainable place, and we both have a goal of educating the youth. Our partnership will accomplish this for both of us.
    4. What would help strengthen this partnership and make it more equitable?
      1. We could strengthen this partnership by talking with higher ups at the school to make our app a part of the curriculum for more schools. Also if we were able to talk face to face, it would strengthen it more.
  4. Local businesses
    1. What constituted the partnership?
      1. Store/shop owners.
    2. How did the partner help you? How did you help them?
      1. Local business owners can help us incentivize our users more. By providing real world rewards, such as a voucher to a local store, players will become more connected with their community and more immersed into the app storyline. It will help us make the users more engaged, and help the business owners expand their customer base.
    3. Was this a symbiotic relationship? Why or why not?
      1. It is symbiotic because it will help us make the users more engaged, and help the business owners expand their customer base. We will both gain from it.
    4. What would help strengthen this partnership and make it more equitable?
      1. We could strengthen this partnership by getting the local businesses to be more environmentally sustainable as well. We can introduce ways they can become more sustainable to further promote our goal.
  5. The city of Almaty
    1. What constituted the partnership?
      1. Officials and people of Almaty.
    2. How did the partner help you? How did you help them?
      1. The city of Almaty can help us in our research of levels of recycling (to help us determine if we are achieving our goal). If they help us with our app by making more things in the city environmentally friendly (e.g., making recycling more accessible, having set days for collection, etc.) our app will help make their city cleaner.
    3. Was this a symbiotic relationship? Why or why not?
      1. It is a symbiotic relationship because our app will eventually make Almaty a cleaner and more sustainable city. So by the city working with us to make our app accessible, we will be helping them improve the city.
    4. What would help strengthen this partnership and make it more equitable?
      1. If we could talk with officials to implement utilities of functions that would make it easier for citizens to be environmentally conscious and sustainable, that would strengthen our partnership, and our ultimate goal.

Blog Week 6

Collaborative Plan (Updated): Bishoy, Tommy, Ugochi, Allison

Goals

  • Project Goal: To create our app, Save Tuba, that will help the citizens in Kazakhstan become more sustainable and environmentally aware.
    • To measure the success of our project, we need to collect data on how many people use the app, on the rate of recycling in Kazakhstan, and possibly do interviews to see how people think it has changed their lives. There will also be quizzes in the app to track environmental education of the users. 
  • Personal Goal (Alli): To broaden my knowledge on the school systems in Kazakhstan, and learn how to integrate a gamified, educational app into their curriculum. Also to gain a better understanding of the culture in Almaty.
  • Personal Goal (Ugochi): To understand the in-depth process behind successful and impactful smart innovations, and leave the project with an ability to implement similar innovations in other cities.
  • Person Goal: (Tommy): Learn the process of implementing a gamified learning tool into schools. Better understand how partnerships work to complete a task. 
  • Personal Goal: (Bishoy): Improve writing and research skills to better understand how impactful papers are written and how to get published in the research role. To set realistic expectations for our app to synthesize a distribution process where it reaches the most people.

Roles

  • All of us have been working on publications. Each of us have an E4C article published, we have a paper accepted for GHTC, and an IEEE paper in the works. 
  • Now, as our project is beginning to have more concrete tasks and has a more detailed plan, we have focused on various subgroups. Tommy and Bishoy are working on the app development and testing, Ugochi is working on the wireframe and the visuals, and Alli is working on the sustainability tasks. However, there is overlap; we are each helping each other with all the tasks if we need help.
  • We don’t have one project manager, but we each sort of head various tasks. So some of us are the “project managers” of a certain publication, or of creating the MVP, etc. Ugochi and Tommy worked on the venture over the summer, so they are most knowledgeable on the project right now.

Procedures

  • For decision making, I think we should strive for consensus, but if we hit a specifically difficult topic, then it might have to be majority rules.
  • Right now we have been doing a lot of communication online, and it seems like it is going to have to continue to be that way. However, as many zoom meetings, or “face-to-face” simulations we can have, the better. Texts (GroupMe) and emails are good substitutes when we cannot zoom right away.
  • For meeting roles, it depends on the meeting, as our roles will shift. However, usually we all do a good job of each taking notes, and all keeping time in mind, and facilitating together.
  • We are meeting at an additional time (aside from the one with Khanjan). We have been having a zoom call every Thursday evening to debrief on the work we have done, and plan out what we still have to do.

Relationships

  • Everyone on our team has different strengths that play well into making us work effectively. We have various majors and disciplines across our team, including computer science, engineering, and international relations. This allows us to use each other’s strengths to solve any issues we may come across. We also all have different cultural backgrounds which helps us look at everything with different perspectives.
  • Our team name is Save Tuba.

[Individual] List ten specific ways in which your teaming approach has changed/evolved since you started, teamwork skills you have developed, and lessons you have learned:

  1. We are now more organized and keep each other accountable. We have a weekly report document where we summarize meeting tasks and our weekly contribution.
  2. We have roles that are more clearly defined. We all cover a portion of the venture specifically.
  3. I am more confident now that if I can do my part or a task for week one of my teammates can pick it up.
  4. I learned that sometimes it takes all of us to work through a solution for a problem. For example, working on our GHTC paper took so much time but it was only doable with the input and criticism of all of my teammates.
  5. Keeping a detailed timeline for the semester is an approach we started this semester. I think this will really help us streamline and keep track of all the work we have to do.
  6. I definitely learned to be more patient. From the very beginning I wanted to choose a smart innovation and run with it because they all seem very much possible to implement, and they so seemingly have a profound impact. However, it takes much more time to methodically think about the way one would go about leveraging existing systems and partnerships to implement a lasting solution, not just one that is easy.
  7. Developing a strong time management is absolutely essential. This is something that I’ve become better at and still continuing to improve on. GSIF is a class where its very hard to quantify the time needed to complete some tasks, especially reading and analyzing literature and finding a potential direction to go.
  8. Researching is essential in understanding the field we are entering. We are suppose to leverage the existing work to make a different, but we did not initially understand the market we were entering at all. We had to take more time to read through to understand it more. After writing our first paper, this really helped me developed the skills needed to become a better researcher.
  9. I learned that a venture is very much dependent on the surrounding partners and environment. It is impossible to deploy a solution in a foreign country without help from domestic insight.
  10. Being critical of the team is also important. Making sure we are going down a direction that is the best takes a lot of time and thinking. Also question the actions of the ventures PI is important because it helps me understand the mindset I should have when approaching social issues and developing a social venture.

Blog Week 5

20 FAQ’s:

  1. Where the app will be available (platform)
    1. Right now we have an elementary version of the app for android phones. Android is used more commonly among this age group in Kazakhstan, based on questioning our partners.
  2. Where do you get stats for your environmental goals?
    1. We have researched that the recycling rate is 11% in Kazakhstan right now, and projecting an increase to 40% by 2024 is reasonable because the infrastructure is already there, citizens just have to be taught how to be more sustainable; which our venture/app does.
  3. Roles of small businesses?
    1. Small businesses are a core part of our reward system. In our 4 categories, (in game customization, in game power ups, classroom rewards, and gift cards) small businesses would contribute gift cards for users to earn by actively using the app. It makes a win-win situation for both parties because small businesses can advertise our app to people in Almaty, and we can advertise their businesses in our app.
  4. Why did you choose this age group?
    1. Our app is for three age groups; 6-9, 10-12, and 13-16. We chose these ages because that is when children are the most impressionable and formulate lifelong good or bad habits. It is also the age range to most likely find an app/game engaging to play.
  5. Are there current gamification apps that have been successful?
    1. Grendel Games is a company in the Netherlands that has created many successful gamified apps. One of them is called Water Battle. It takes the users (primary school children) through a story of a character in the water network in a city in the Netherlands, and the user learns to use water and energy wisely. This is a very similar concept to ours, and they have found successful, measurable outcomes.
    2. An IEEE publication: “Using Gamification to Incentivize Sustainable Urban Mobility” discussed a case study on a green game called Viagga Rovereto which enhanced Rovereto, Italy’s sustainability in mobility.
    3. IEEE : “A mobile gamification learning system for improving learning the learning motivation and achievements”
    4. IEEE : “HomeSchool: an Interactive Educational tool for child education”
  6. How are kids going to influence their families on their habits?
    1. Children involve their families into their school lives, for example mothers tend to help children with homework, so the family will definitely be involved with a new and innovative idea.
  7. Verification and validation of concept
    1. We have been arranging for the app to be distributed among our partners, but we are still waiting for a final MVP to test it. But we have already heard from a few school teachers (including Xeniya Volkova) that our concept could work.
    2. We have surveys created to send out to students and teachers in Kazakh schools as soon as we hear back from our contacts.
  8. How will the reward system work?
    1. Each sustainable act will earn the user a certain number of points. To get to the next level they need a required amount. In our 4 categories of rewards, (in game customization, in game power ups, classroom rewards, and gift cards), users will be able to choose where they want to spend their points. Outside rewards such as classroom rewards or gift cards will require more points, therefore incentivizing users to complete more sustainable actions. 
  9. Inner workings of the app?
    1. There will be a storyline to engage the user, and tasks and quizzes for them to complete to progress forward in the app’s levels.
    2. Will be answered more effectively with a 20 second video. We can send the link to you afterwards if you would like further information.
  10. How is your app an example of a smart city innovation?
    1. Smart City innovations can range in scope. Ultimately it is some sort of technology that improves citizen’s quality of life. We have written a paper for IEEE’s GHTC conference that was accepted titled “A Taxonomy of Smart City Innovations.” We can send you the link afterwards if you would like to read it.
  11. How can you quantify the impact of the venture and is this impact even a significant role in the potential increase in the recycling rate in Almaty?
    1. We quantify impact using the number of active users compared to the number of schools and students in Almaty. For example our goal is to implement our solution at 4/8 international schools in Almaty. We also plan to quantify by calculating the recycling rate, and also by our quizzes in the app to determine if the students gain knowledge as they play.
  12. What market share might this app have in Almaty?
    1. So there are not a lot of gamified recycling apps in Kazakhstan currently, so we aim for a decent market share of 20%?
  13. How have you tested the app among students, teachers, etc.?
    1. Unfortunately due to many covid restrictions, we haven’t been able to test the app among students or teachers, but as soon as it is possible/safe, that is our next step.
  14. What role do your partners play in the venture?
    1. Our partners in Kazakhstan play a big role in validating our app. Throughout our creation and development process, we shared our progress with our partners to get feedback, criticism, and any advice or recommendations that we could use to improve our process/designs.
  15. What social / cultural barriers are expected?
    1. Their methods of teaching, project management, and achieving goals are different. We use a more active and persistent approach, which sometimes clashes with their work ethic. 
    2. Kazakhstan is being affected by covid as well, so communication is more difficult now. 
    3. It’s a new form of teaching, so it will be met with skepticism.
    4. Environmental literacy and sustainability is a few field of study being implemented into school as far as we know from a few of our partners
  16. How are you planning on funding the development of the app?
    1. We are currently working on a proposal for IEEE SIGHT funding.
  17. What is the significance of using the Saiga antelope?
    1. The saiga is an endangered animal native to the Kazakh steppe, so we wanted to integrate the idea of increased sustainability and recycling with improving the environment for endangered saigas.
  18. How are you incorporating Almaty or Kazakhstan into the design of the app?
    1. All of the sustainability acts will be mindful of the user’s location and what is available and accessible to them in Almaty.
  19. What about students who don’t have access to a mobile device? Will there be a web-version available?
    1. Once we have our app worked out, we can then work on a web-version. However, phones have become progressively less expensive, so most households in Kazakhstan have at least one mobile device.
  20. Why do you think your approach of using gamification and education will be successful?
    1. Literature: In reading many publications about gamification successes, if it includes some form of “persuasion” it is able to change habits. The paper “Gamification of Persuasive Systems for Sustainability” emphasizes this. Also more IEEE papers back this up with successes in children with dyslexia, and ADHD learning to manage better.
    2. Strategy: We will have a storyline to engage users, and rewards to incentivize and persuade effectively.

Week 4 Blog

Contributors: Alyssa Blasko, Weilin Pan, Skyler Martinez, Tommy Persaud

Part 1:

The ethical problem: 

  • Prolonged breastfeeding with a high prevalence of HIV/AIDS
  • Content of gruel can link to pesticide use of cash crops, further risking health of children 
  • The mothers are skeptical because they have fed the children with gruel before, they are not familiar with the new recipe
  • Current gruel being used is not nutritious enough, according to scientific research

Step 1: Facts of the Situation

  • A research team received a grant to establish a women’s cooperative in this region.
  • In certain area of East Africa, growth of ~35% of children is stunted due to poor nutrition
  • HIV/AIDS is very prevalent in this region
  • The gruel used to wean children off breastfeeding is not nutritionally beneficial to infant (banana and maize)
  • Cash crops are grown in the three regions that expressed interest in participating
  • Pesticides are currently used in cash crops and can be very harmful for infants and children
  • 500 women are interested in joining the cooperative 
  • Current crops grown in the area: maize, sorghum, cassava, several varieties of legumes (dried beans), French beans, coffee, pineapple, bananas, pumpkins, tomatoes, carrots, kale, white (Irish) potatoes, and sweet potatoes.

Step 2 + 3:  Stakeholders and their motivations

  • African children
    • Personal:
      • Have safer food
      • Lowers risk of exposure to HIV/AIDS, improves growth and resilience 
  • African mothers
    • Personal:
      • Give their child nutritious food 
      • Ensure the food their child is eating is safe for consumption
      • Excitement to learn and socialize – but their vulnerability may result in wanting you to hear what you want to hear – they do not want to come off as ignorant – they may reinforce your ideas because they think you’re smart and want to agree. On the other hand, some may be weary to trust an outsider so make sure you talk to the right people 
  • Farmers
    • Personal: 
      • Make money
    • Professional: 
      • Produce safer foods 
      • Grow business as their crops become essential in porridge (sell more crops)
      • Find an alternative 
  • The research team
    • Personal: 
      • Make money, reduce the HIV/AIDS rate, further their career
      • Earn more money to continue doing research and get continuous funding
    • Professional: 
      • Recognition in the research community if collective is successful
      • Building up their own credibility in their research community 
  • Local hospital
    • Professional: 
      • Bettering of health of patients and locals
      • Provide safe sex instruments to reduce transmission of HIV/AIDS
      • Make sure hospital isn’t always at capacity – prevent future cases
      • Can devote their resources to something else 
  • Doctors & Nurses
    • Personal:
      • Help ensure mother/infants are healthy 
    • Professional:
      • Help reduce transmission of HIV/AIDS by educating locals 
  • University/lab/government (Funding agency)
    • Professional: 
      • Treat spread of disease
      • Reputation of gaining academic knowledge
      • Funding agency will have their name attached to the possible solution
      • More advertising – want to be a world leader in the field – want to build up their brand
      • More partners
  • African government – Secondary stakeholders
    • Professional:
      • Decrease the countries’ HIV rate
      • Decrease the infant mortality
      • Create a safer living environment for the citizens
      • Make profit

Step 4: Three Alternate Solutions (Solution, Ethical Principle, Pros / Cons for each)

 

  • Potential Solution 1: Educate people on the recipe

 

      • How does it solve the problem? 
        • Pros: There will be less pesticide
        • Cons: hard to find alternative crops with minimal to no use of pesticides in the local area
      • How does it save face of those involved? 
        • Pros: 
          • Can market itself as a more ethical and safe option for families
        • Cons: 
          • Concerns with accessibility and efficiency 
      • Implications on relationships 
        • Short-term: 
          • Strain on relationships with local farmers
        • Long-term: 
          • More solidified trust and assurance among mothers and families as a safer option
      • Implications on the venture 
        • Short-term: 
        • Long-term: 

 

  • Potential Solution 2: Pesticide removal treatment 

 

      • How does it solve the problem? 
        • Pros:
          • Cleans the foods
          • Increases trust with the community which will lead to more women in the cooperative using the porridge 
          • Improves growth and nutrition of the children 
        • Cons: 
          • May not take all the pesticides off
          • May be costly 
          • May not increase trust with the community 
      • How does it save face of those involved? 
        • Many families do not want to use the food with the pesticide and that the porridge is unknown. This option is a better nutritional option compared to the current situation and allows them to keep with cleaner foods 
      • Implications on relationships 
        • Short-term:  
          • May increase trust with trying the new porridge 
        • Long-term: 
          • Could increase reputation in the community as the collective aims to use cleaner ingredients
      • Implications on the venture 
        • Short-term: 
          • Could be a financial burden to purchase all materials as a start up cost
        • Long-term: 
          • Could improve results which may lead to more grant funding 

 

  • Potential Solution 3: Using safer pesticides

 

    • How does it solve the problem? 
      • Cash crops can still be grown at the same rate. Adverse health implications might be minimal. 
      • Pros: 
        • Cash crops can still be used
        • Infants can have nutritious food 
        • Mothers have lower risk of HIV/AIDS transmission
      • Cons: 
        • Still using pesticides 
        • Economic barriers with affording better pesticides 
        • May still keep mothers from wanting to use the porridge 
        • Farmers might not want to adopt the use of new pesticide  
        • Farmers cannot afford new pesticides
        • Might not be any safer pesticides for infant consumption
    • How does it save face of those involved? 
      • Keeps the pesticides in the project which eliminates insect issues and continues the growth of crops at a cheaper price while lowering the risk of pesticide exposure. 
    • Implications on relationships 
      • Short-term:
          • Trust issues with using new porridge
          • Farmers might be offended because they are producing harmful goods 
        • Long-term: 
          • Hopefully an increased use of the porridge
          • Adoption of safer pesticides 
    • Implications on the venture 
      • Short-term: 
        • Pushing forward in a quick manner to keep the venture going
        • Possible issues with grant funding if funders want a pesticide free crop yield 
      • Long-term: 
        • Larger crop yield by using the safer pesticides which adds a higher reputation to the grant and results of the venture 

Step 5: Additional Assistance

  • Convincing someone to change their ways can be very difficult, especially when they have been doing something for a long time. This case is reflective of my everyday life with my parents who have habits of using household remedies as solutions for injuries or for medical purposes. They tend to use household remedies instead of actual medication. So when I tried convincing them to use the medicine instead of their remedies it was very difficult to. I ended up showing them some videos from a few pharmacists/doctors  talking about how effective modern day medication is and eventually they came around. I plan to reflect on using such tactics when it comes to tackling this dilemma. 

Step 6: Best Course of Action

  • The best course of action would be to invest into finding a pesticide removal treatment. This would be the easiest to implement without disrupting the current cash crops farmers are growing. Since people are already consuming the cash crops, finding a pesticide treatment would be optimal because the farmers can continue growing as needed. The reason why I said this would be the best solution as opposed to solution 3 is because it might be very much possible that there aren’t any safer pesticides so investing in a removal treatment would ensure safe consumption of the cash crops.

Step 7: Implications of Solution

  • Economics
    • Farmers can continue growing cash crops 
    • Might cost more to use removal treatment
    • Farmers might have to produce a smaller yield because they can only afford some amount of the removal treatment
  • Social
    • More people can have access to safer foods 
    • Mothers can feel assured their kids are getting the proper nutrients
  • Environmental
    • Pesticides can still be used as a method of ensuring crops grow safely 
    • Pesticide removal can be harmful to environment 
    • Continues use of pesticides can be environmentally harmful

Part 2:

The ethical problem: 

  • Men in families where the women earn money from the cooperatives are taking all of the money for selfish reasons (alcohol and frivolous things)
  • Women are not having enough money to spend on their family 
  • The livelihoods of these rural households are not improving 

Step 1: Facts of the Situation

  • The business with local women is thriving
  • The women work for about nine hours every day and earn KES 300 (about $3)
  • They have the opportunity to sell the produce grown on their small farms to the cooperative
  • The women enjoy working with each other and are happy with the cooperative; they have a strong sense of community and identity
  • Women cannot use the money earned for their families (money goes to the men)

Step 2,3: Stakeholders and their motivations 

  • Stakeholders remind the same as part 1, except with the additional of the men in the families
  • Men
    • Personal
      • Take and use money for themselves
    • Professional:
      • Potentially gambling of the money to earn more to support their families 

Step 4,5,6: The Optimal Solution

  • Optimal Solution: Establish an equity bank at the cooperative that the workers can only take out a third at a time, or send the money at the store created at the cooperative 
    • How does it solve the problem?
      • Women won’t be bringing home physical capital that the men can take.
      • Women can still have some capital to support their families.
      • Pros:
        • Women still have capital for their families
        • Men won’t be taking all of the income the women make immediately
      • Cons:
        • Since only a third can be taken out at a time, the men might still take this for themselves
    • How does it save face of those involved?
      • The cooperative can still function without being seen as a party who allowed the women to work hard for seemingly nothing
      • The women can still give the men some money but not all of the money they earned
    • Implications on relationships
      • Short-Term
        • The men might be against this equity bank
        • The women will like it because they can support their family 
      • Long-Term
        • The men will come around to the equity bank
        • The women will continue to support their families
    • Implications on the venture
      • Short-Term
        • Cooperative will be disliked by the men initially
        • Cooperative might lose some trust in the community 
      • Long-Term
        • The cooperative’s presence will stabilize and continue to be an integral part of the community

Step 7: Step by Step implementation of optimal solutions 

  • Establish cooperative 
  • Establish equity bank
  • Allow women to work
  • Allow workers to take out a third at a time
  • Allow workers to send the money at the store created at the cooperative

Week 3 Blog

Step 1: Determine the facts in the situation – obtain all of the unbiased facts possible

  • Kids (3-16) live at the center
  • Jack lives at the center (for 5 months)
  • Staff lives at the center
  • One kid without toys directly blamed Jack. Kids with toys love Jack.
  • Staff members are not concerned about the children’s feelings towards materialistic objects
  • The way the ceremony was staged convinced the kids that Jack gave them the toys
  • Staff were convinced Jack was making a big deal out of the situation and might become a “children’s right activist” and create unnecessary problems 
  • Potentially bigger underlying reason for why the staff members didn’t give gifts out to the 4 kids
  • Staff felt blamed by Jack’s concern
  • Jack wants to make a good impression on the kids at the center to establish good relationships

Step 2 and 3: Define the problem and the stakeholders – those with a vested interest in the outcome and Determine and distinguish between the personal and professional motivations of the stakeholders. 

Dilemma: Jack wants to do the right thing without putting blame on anyone or apologizing too much. Also, this action will create expectations for future actions. Jack doesn’t want to jeopardize current relationships.

Stakeholders:

  • Children without toys: 
    • Personal interest: 
      • want toys
      •  want the ceremony too (a matter of respect)
    • Professional: 
      • can use this in the future to take advantage of Jack
  • Children with toys:
    • Personal
      • New toys! They like jack because he gave them the toys
      • Feeling special and valued
      • Might tease kids who did not get gifts
  • Staff members: 
    • Professionally: 
      • They don’t want Jack to question how good they are at their job (rude)
      • Jack’s action will change the work dynamic between them and the kids
      • Cannot control how many gifts are sent 
      • Smooth operations
    • Personal: 
      • Feel defensive of Jack’s concerns (he just got here, how should he know better)
      • Didn’t want to set the precedent of gifts being a reward
  • Jack:
    • Personal: 
      • Wants to be liked and welcomed, make everyone happy
      • Feels personally blamed by the kids and at the same time the kids gave him all the credit for the gifts
    • Professional:
      • Good relationship with all the kids will be better in the long run
      • Wants to have a good rep because he is living there for five months
  • Donor Org (secondary): 
    • Professional: 
      • Good press, maybe a tax write off
    • Personal: 
      • Feeling of gratitude and giving back to another community

Step 4: Formulate (at least three) alternative solutions – based on information available, to have a win-win situation for your relationship and your venture. Approaches [1/2/3: repeat for every action] • Potential Solution • How does it solve the problem? o Pros o Cons • How does it save face of those involved? • Implications on relationships o Short-term o Long-term • Implications on the venture o Short-term o Long-term 

 

  • If economically feasible, buy the children gifts and make a special occasion of it

 

      1. How does it solve the problem?
        1. It allows the kids that were forgotten to feel included and that they are just as special as all the other kids
      2. Pros: 
        1. The children will be happy.
        2. Kids will gain a sense of inclusion and importance 
        3. All of the children will have received gifts of equal value.
      3. Cons: 
        1. The staff might not agree with the decision. This might create some division between Jack and the staff.
        2. Creates a financial burden that Jack hadn’t planned for.
        3. May create a situation where children start approaching Jack asking him to buy them other things.
      4. How does it save face of those involved?
        1. Jack: Feels less bad after a look of shame from a kid with a hat.
        2. Staff members: makes them look like they didn’t forget anyone
        3. Children without toys: it makes them not look left out and appear included versus being excluded with just a black hat
      5. Implications on relationships
        1. Short-term
          1. Makes the kids feel included and the 4 kids trust Jack again
        2. Long-term
          1. The kids might take advantage of Jack because he was nice to them and got them special gifts
          2. It might hurt his relationship with other children because they think he is favoring the 4 kids that didn’t get gifts
          3. The staff might start to dislike Jack because he could be causing more problems and going against what they said. They could blame him for any issues related to this in the future. Also, they could see it as using money to win the children over.
      6. Implications on the venture (venture is the working relationship between youth center and americans)
        1. Short-term
          1. Will improve immediate relationships with kids 
          2. sour relationship with coworkers
          3. Will fix this dilemma and keep the relationship between center and Jack (the american)
        2. Long-term
          1. Youth center members might see American workers as a charity 
          2. Might hurt other American’s opportunities to work at that center

 

  • Add more value to the hats (make the hat a special role to those select children)

 

      1. How does it solve the problem?
        1. It gives the kids a sense of importance and value, which they didn’t get with not getting as special of a gift
        2. Makes them feel more included in the group, like they’re as important as all the other kids
      2. Pros: 
        1. The kids would feel honored despite not partaking in the gift ceremony
        2. The kids would not blame Jack for being left out
        3. The workers won’t feel that Jack is upstaging their own job performance
      3. Cons: 
        1. Unsure of how this would affect the social dynamic of kids (might give them a power trip over the kids with toys)
        2. Unsure if the kids will be accepting of this “added value” and could still be upset
        3. Workers might see this as Jack interfering with the current way of things and think he is meddling too much
      4. How does it save face of those involved?
        1. Jack: It gives Jack a way to still be on good terms with the kids and without stepping on the staff members toes
        2. Staff members: It makes them look like they didn’t forget any of the kids and that they still value everyone in the center equally
        3. Kids without toys: It makes them feel special even though they didn’t get the same gifts as everyone else and can feel included with the other kids that got gits, not embarrassed
        4. Kids with toys: They might feel threatened by the new role children were given
      5. Implications on relationships
        1. Short-term
          1. Staff can trust that Jack has the best intent for the children
          2. Children might think Jack plays favorites (can create distrust with Jack)
        2. Long-term
          1. Jack and the staff would continue to be strong and stable 
          2. Jack can develop a strong relationship with all the children
      6. Implications on the venture
        1. Short-term
          1. Venture partnership will grow tighter as staff realizes the american worker is quick to improvise and satisfy the needs of the children without upstaging current workers 
        2. Long-term
          1. Venture continues stable partnership and keep open ties with American involvement at the youth center 

 

  • Do nothing to ensure the relationship between Jack and the staff remains stable and healthy 

 

    1. How does it solve the problem?
      1. The children all got a gift technically…
      2. It allows Jack to stay on good terms with the staff members and shifts his level of importance for relationships to the staff over the kids
    2. Pros: 
      1. The relationship will continue to be strong and stable (assuming it was already stable)
      2. Children are pretty resilient and will likely bounce back from not receiving the gift. Jack should be able to build his relationship with the 4 kids back up pretty quickly.
      3. Staff members will see that Jack is respecting their advice and not a “children’s rights activist” 
    3. Cons: 
      1. Relationship between Jack and the children will suffer. Kids could be mean.
      2. The kids could have an influence on the staff members and make them have a negative outlook on Jack because he can’t get along with the kids
      3. Staff members might see Jack as complaining and not an action taker
    4. How does it save face of those involved? 
      1. Staff: Don’t feel like Jack is taking over and going over their heads to fix a problem. 
      2. Jack: Absorbs the blame but preserves relationship with staff
      3. Kids with no toys: They are still bitter (hopefully resilient)
      4. Kids with toys: Might feel more important than kids with no toys
    1. Implications on relationships
      1. Short-term
        1. Children will have a tainted view on Jack 
        2. Staff will see Jack as an obedient worker 
      2. Long-term
        1. Neutrality between children will remain the same (staff or jack isn’t playing favorites)
    2. Implications on the venture
      1. Short-term
        1. Relations between children and american worker might struggle 
      2. Long-term
        1. Establish could relationships between the staff members and American workers so there will continue to be opportunities for new volunteers to come visit

Step 5: Seek additional assistance, as appropriate – previous cases, peers, reliance on personal experience, inner reflection 

  • Around second grade I remember the class getting a pizza party for having perfect attendance for the month. One issue was that there wasn’t enough pizza for everyone, so some kids wouldn’t get any. To solve this my teacher decided to order another pizza using her own money. This situation is similar to that of Jack’s. I would say this was probably the best course of action because she allows the kids in her class to be happy and she doesn’t make the administration who probably ordered the pizza, out to be neglectful.

Step 6: Select the best course of action – that solves the problem, saves face and has the best short term and long-term implications for your relationship and venture. Explain reasoning and discuss your solution vis-a-vis other approaches discussed in class. 

  • The best course of action is making the hats special and giving more value to them
  • Solves the problem by making everyone happy
    • All kids have some gift they are happy with
    • Staff doesn’t have to worry about Jack being a “child activist”
    • Jack doesn’t ruin the relationship with the staff
    • The venture continues the established relationship and american involvement in the youth center 
  • Saves face by not making the youth center out to be the bad guys by not caring about the children with no gifts
  • This solution works best because it doesn’t involve buying the gifts or making the youth center staff seem uncaring. 
    • Everyone is seemingly happy with this solutions
  • This solution was brought up in class and it seems like everyone thought this was the best course of action as well.
  • The negative implications of this could be the children with the hats will be disliked because of their new social status of having the hat.
    • This can create some resentment between the children
    • The staff can look to Jack as an intruder trying to make them look bad 

Step 7: List the sequence of actions you will take to implement your solution. Derived from an abridged version (6-step) of the 9-Step Process from “Applied Ethics Case of the Month Club”; adapted from methodology developed by Andy Lau @ Penn State. 

  • First Jack would put a black hat 
  • He would give the kids without gift a black hat 
  • Announce that these kids are recognized for good behavior or academic excellence, or something that is rewarding to the context of the youth center
  • After this announcement Jack would approach the kids without the gifts and make sure they are feeling more included and better
  • Jack makes the black hat icon as a status of good merit