Blog 6

Does your work require IRB approvals?

If Yes, articulate your detailed IRB strategy.

If No, explain why you don’t need IRB approval and identify situations when you might need IRB approval.

We do not believe that we will need IRB approval because we do not have the intent to use human subjects in our research. Our goal is to create a smart innovation for the city of Almaty that will enhance citizen’s lives, that could potentially be used in other cities after that. Our work therefore qualifies as research according to the IRB because we will be collecting data, and hopefully adding to generalizable knowledge by publishing our work and making presentations. However, we do not intend to manipulate people in any way or use people to gather specific data in a type of experiment. Because our plan, as of now, is to focus on something along the lines of the environment, infrastructure, heating, or transportation, the data we will be looking at is mostly on how machines or products or the system works. Not so much on people. 

We will, however, be talking to people in Kazakhstan, and citizens of Almaty. If we changed our project idea, and needed to start collecting private information from the citizens of Almaty, then we would need an IRB approval. In addition, if we decided we needed to see how people in Almaty acted differently with our innovation, and needed to collect data on their new behaviors, then we might need IRB approval because we would be using human subjects.

Develop an outline for your mid-semester presentations. What supporting evidence will you provide for each point? How will you boost your credibility every step of the way?

For our mid-semester presentations, we will start by explaining that Kazakhstan is a very resource rich country and is very developed. Their cities have been growing significantly over the years. In order to make the cities the most efficient they can be, smart city innovations should be developed to help fix infrastructural, environmental, or overcrowding issues. Coming up with a smart innovation that will effectively work in Almaty, will help make the city more efficient and hopefully be able to expand to other cities in Kazakhstan, or even around the world. Our goal is to develop a device that improves life in Almaty but can generally be applied to other cities around the world that are experiencing this surge of growth. The smart innovation will also be able to improve each citizen’s lives too. The magnitude of which will not be able to be determined until we decide on the exact innovation that will work. 

We will then explain all the research we have done on smart, digital, urban, and in use innovations on parking, pollution, short term travelers, and quality of life. We will describe, with specifics, how certain innovations have been successful in other countries, and how we see that something similar might work in Almaty. If we have been able to get our article published on Engineering for Change by this time, then we will make sure to mention that in our presentation at this point. The importance of the Engineering for Change article is to establish a brand for our project. We want to educate people about the significant roles that small but impactful smart innovations can have on developing cities and countries. 

We will continue by explaining that our project is new, so our goal as of now is to work with our partners in KazNU and AlmaU (name drop), the two major universities in Kazakhstan to figure out potential issues in Almaty that can be improved. We will work with them via Skype calls, and email/texts, to build our relationship and understanding of the city. The use of partners currently in Almaty brings credibility that our project is focussing on social and cultural integration as well as acceptance. At the end of the day our product could be great but it needs to be accepted by Almaty residents to ensure success. 

Once we understand the issues, we will begin to brainstorm solutions and potential innovations that could work. Then over the summer, when we travel to Almaty, we will use that time to prototype our products and continue to search for effective solutions. In the end our presentation will show the process in which we took to determine the reason why we want to introduce a product, what potential benefits would this product have, how will this product improve life in Almaty, and how can we use this same approach to apply our success to another developing city not only in Kazakhstan but around the world. 

 

Blog 5

  1. List ten things that make you feel human.
    1. The ability to consciously make decisions
    2. To be aware of my role in society
    3. Learn from making mistakes
    4. Have the power to help others
    5. Feeling emotions
    6. Make someone else happy
    7. Have friends and family
    8. Do what I like to do 
    9. Ability to learn and gain knowledge
    10. Feeling disliked

2. Articulate your philosophy of engagement as it pertains to your work with the GSIF / LVSIF. Specifically discuss 

Using my position, skills, and academic background I am able to provide help to others that may not be able to help themselves. When I say this I mean that I am in a position that allows me to pursue my academic and career goals, while some people in this world may not be able to even get food for dinner. My position in comparison to the scale of the world is one that allows me to engage in research and service to help others. 

In Almaty, Kazakhstan the increasing population calls for change in subtle ways. Instead of taking the bottom up approach in which we would modify city infrastructure and allocate resources into redeveloping the city as it grows, the better way would be to start at the top. Implementing change at its source would produce results that are far better than the trickle up approach. Not only does implementing change at the top produce direct results by tackling the issue directly, it inspires others to do the same through social entrepreneurship. In Almaty, we seek to introduce a device that will increase the quality of life for people, through monitoring water contamination in households, measuring heating system efficiency, or by quantifying the amount of pollution a household is producing. The goal of these introductions is to produce valid change that can be replicable not only in Almaty but also other cities that are growing at rapid rates. Additionally, we want to inspire social entrepreneurs to also take responsibility and tackle these problems, because the odds are if one city in the world faces them another will to. 

Our project focuses on using smart technology to improve the quality of life of Almaty residents. This means we must work directly with those who live there, luckily we will be working with students from Kazakhstan National University and Almaty University. This provides a direct reflection as to whether our product is culturally and socially viable there. The fact that our product can produce viable, long lasting, beneficial results is just as important as being accepting for use. We must work within the constraints of cultural and social bounds in order to produce a result that can bring about change and ultimately improve life in Almaty. Given that the product we want to implement needs to be caters to cultural and social constraints means that the parameters for acceptance can be modified in order to make this a globally used device. 

Aside from cultural and social barriers, the funding needed to produce a device capable of improving life might be hard to come by. It may be difficult to persuade someone to fund our project to produce a device if it is mostly original because the results are yet unknown. However, using a currently implemented device already with results will be much easier to gather funding for. This leads us to find a balance in between creating a whole new device that can be implemented versus using one that is already on the market. Using this mindset we hope to find an equilibrium so that we can be most beneficial to the residents of Almaty. We currently are researching 

Engagement comes from the people being aware of their position of value, the fact that they can bring about change from the position they are in. My epitaph would be something encompassing the idea of using one’s position to bring value to someone else’s life. My analogy for life is a video game. Everyone starts at different levels given the circumstances that were given in life, everyone works towards leveling up, becoming better, and improving themselves, but while doing so they inadvertently improve the world around them. After reaching a certain threshold in this game of life, their life improves marginally or near nothing, so this leads them to use their position to help others. Although I don’t know exactly what my epitaph might read, it would be about improving the world around us by not only helping ourselves but most importantly helping others. 

Blog 4

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

We want our unique design process to integrate with the people living in Almaty.  It has to be a process that is sustainable, and that will promote entrepreneurial growth in Kazakhstan.The process has to be driven by the people’s needs, and our opinion will be complementary.

2. Identify your three most important stakeholders and list five UNIQUE attributes for each one of them.

The students at KazNu that we are partnering with are definitely one of our most important stakeholders. Their unique attributes include their lifestyle. Since they are students in the city of Almaty, they see what is happening there everyday. Their personality is also an important attribute because they are a younger generation so they will see issues differently from some other adults living there. Their opinions are very important because they are the ones living there, so we are trying to improve their lives with our innovation. Where they reside is clearly important because they are in the city of Almaty, but they are also living in dorms which is unique. Their social class is also unique because some of them could be coming from different backgrounds with various family wealth, but now they are all studying to attain their own job and social class.

The citizens of Almaty are other important stakeholders to us. They live in one of the fastest growing cities (urban) in the southern part of the country. They use a lot of energy throughout the year (interests) especially during hot and cold months. Their motives, to move into Almaty, we can assume was to attain a well paying job (possibly in manufacturing). Their social class is also important, because there are sectors of the city that are much more wealthy than others. They also live in an area where they are exposed to a decent amount of air pollution (the climate).

Another stakeholder will be the manufacturer. Depending on if our manufacturer will be in Kazakhstan, or in another country will affect the attributes of this stakeholder. For now let’s say it is a manufacturer in Kazakhstan. Their interests are a unique attribute because they will mostly be interested in making the most money they can. Their motives are also therefore unique because they might not see the same end game we see; they will only see the product or innovation leave their factory. Their personality traits are also important because they may be set on doing things a certain way, and we may have to convince them otherwise (or visa versa). The benefits sought are also important because again they may have a different goal than us. The market density is important because we will be entering an already busy market.

3.Identify three ways in which you will validate your project concept, technology, usability, and business model.

Once we have a concept/technology for our project, we will validate it by getting a paper published about it. Through academic publications, we can establish our concepts in a professional manner and we make sure that we benefit the scientific community through what we will accomplish. To measure our impact, we will collect a lot of data from our product in use in Almaty to have numbers to support its success (or failure). Depending on the product, we can also try to validate it by intelligently translating it to other parts of Kazakhstan (if applicable). To measure that, we can collect data on the effects of that issue before our innovation, and hopefully the improvements on that issue after. When it comes to the final phase (when our product is approved by the public), we will implement a suite of systems and innovations around the product to ensure its long term establishment. 

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

My parents always told me of their stories in Guyana, from living on a farm and raising cattle to wearing the same clothes for days on end. One of the most interesting things they told me about was the food they ate; eating iguanas and pigeons were normal to them. This came as a shock to me as I’ve lived in the United States all my life. I remember going to Florida to visit my Dad’s brother and sister and we fishing near the everglades for a fish they normally called Hassa in Guyana which is known as armored catfish. After catching enough of hassa we decided to walk around the nearby area. My uncle spotted an iguana and used a mango to lure and catch it. After catching the iguana, my uncle later that day proceeded to kill it and cook it. It was the first time eating an animal so different from the food I was used to eating. Another time, my Dad would tell me stories about how he caught pigeons in Guyana. He would use chewing gum and put them in bushes and when the sun heated the gum up it became hot and sticky which was used to catch the pigeons that would rest in the bushes. He would also tell me about how he used slingshots and rocks to shoot the pigeons out of the sky. These concepts were so bizzare to me at the time because of how different life in the United States was. My friend would tell me about the home remedies his parents would use to treat injuries. Among them were treating bee stings by rubbing garlic and using salt water to heal strep throat. These home remedies were so different from the normal use of antibiotics and medical ointments. 

 

Blog 3

1)Top 20 questions team needs to answer to advance the venture forward. Categorize.

Sustainability:

  1. What are the best ways of approaching sustainability goals?
  2. Can this project be implemented in other countries?
  3. Is this a long term solution to the problems we are currently facing?
  4. Will this project inspire similar initiatives/be recreated by other people?
  5. Is developing smart technology environmentally detrimental?
  6. How do we make the project sustainable?
  7. Will this project lead to lasting change?

Impact:

  1. How big is the impact?
  2. Is change even possible without government help?
  3. Are the problems we are addressing a priority?
  4. What issues do they see that need to be solved?
  5. Will our solutions impact their market?
  6. Are we doing just as much harm as good?
  7. Do we have the depth to really make a difference?
  8. Are we inhibiting domestic social entrepreneurship?

People/Culture:

  1. What kinds of partners are we looking for?
  2. Will culture halt our progress?
  3. What social barriers will inhibit our project?
  4. How can we affect different kinds of people?
  5. Is there a technology education and access gap?

2) Develop and Visualize the Theory of Change (Logic Model) for your venture.

Spring:

Outputs:

  • 2-3 Publications 
    • Smart City Innovations
      • Engineering for Change
    • How smart innovations are integrated in cities
      • Discuss the impact of smart technology on cities 
        • The benefits, possible cons, social acceptance, cultural impacts, etc
        • Longevity of the device (how long does it stay relevant and impactful
    • How smart cities grow and adapt
      • Discuss the interaction between people and technology
        • How it affects daily life, city efficiency, etc
  • 3 practical products/solutions that we plan to test and potentially deploy to impact people in Almaty.

Outcomes:

  • Publications allow for expanded outreach
    • More people on board with implementing smart technology in cities brings more awareness to the power and potential these solutions hold
      • Inspires others cities to implement them based on existing statistics that are included in the publications
  • A viable device that will improve human life in Almaty but can be applied generally to other growing cities

Summer:

Outputs:

  • Develop an (2-3) MVPs (minimum viable product) or solutions to address real issues in Almaty.
  • Identify focus groups to test products on.
    • Record how the product was perceived by the people
  • Gather data to predict the projected impact our products would have.
  • Propose future publication titles
    • How our products were designed and perceived
    • Potential ways to avoid future mistakes and further the cause of the project.
  • Establishing what not to do for future teams.

Outcomes:

  • Grow relations with partners in Kazakhstan.
  • Spur entrepreneurial spirit in the market.
  • Establish solutions to address problems. 
  • Improve (established goal)

3) Develop an M&E plan for your venture.

    1. Clearly list all assumptions
      1. We will be able to go and do fieldwork in Kazakhstan 
      2. Our 2-3 publications will be accepted 
      3. Our product will be well-received 
      4. Our partners at KazNU will be able to help us implement the innovation and make it widespread 
      5. Our product will be implemented and used sustainably
    2. Identify short-term and long-term success metrics
      1. Short term:
        1. Number of journals and papers published/in conferences 
        2. Create prototypes 
      2. Long term: 
        1. Focus on one innovation and create a sustainable product that can be used by all residents in Almaty 
    3. (Optional) identify specific methods to measure the metrics
      1. Number of publications
      2. Number of innovations that are generally accepted by the people in Almaty 

Blog 2

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

The possible disbelief in technology or being superstitious about the effects of technology would be a main inhibiting factor in our project. Since we are focusing on the creation and implementation of technological devices to improve sustainability and overall way of life in Almaty, we would need to ensure the product we want to implement is widely accepted. There can also be a distrust that can be created when using devices that monitor and collect data to improve human life. The idea of stealing data is a huge issue with a lot of people, so being aware of the cultural ties to technology is important. Subsequently, if religious or old practices are more dominant than science and medical practices we would have difficulty implementing a device that would improve the quality of life of those in Almaty. We need to be able to see eye to eye with the people of Almaty to ensure the implementation of a device is accepted and trusted. Even more so, the lack of using geographical resources because of cultural ties to the land might dissuade the people of Almaty from possibly taking advantage of their resources. One example would be to use the runoff of glacier water to produce hydroelectric energy, to allow for a cleaner environment. 

Have you experienced or observed any of these social situations at home? Describe at least three such situations. 

I have personally experienced my older relatives not believing in the power of technology and medicine because of the way they were raised. Instead of using medicine such as antibiotics to cure a cold they would revert to herbal remedies. Overall, there is a fair amount of distrust with the American government spying and collecting data on their citizens. This would be analogous to the idea of distrusting devices that collect data to improve the way of life for the people of Almaty because of the threat of their personal information being lost. The Dakota Access Pipeline would be an example of native citizens not wanting to implement any geographical change because of the possibility of harmful effects on the environment. This pipeline also intrudes on sacred land that means a lot to Native Americans. Overall, there are similar issues that persist at home that would most likely also persist in Almaty because of their cultural and social beliefs. 

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

Kazakhs are very proud people who care deeply about their land. We can use this mentality to produce a marketable device that helps improve their environmental conditions. As Almaty grows in size and density, pollution is becoming a huge environmental issue that not only degrades the natural land and wildlife, but also affects the general health of the people. In fact, 40% of households use coal for heating. The consequence of this is the rising number of people getting carbon monoxide poisoning. We can use the idea of cultural preservation to implement smart devices to help better monitor and regulate the effects of human life on the environment. This ranges from learning the effects of increasing population and the new demands that need to be met. The increase in energy consumption, waste production, and water usage are just some of the issues that would need to be monitored to learn more about the solutions that can be created from these problems. Kazakhs strictly prohibits the creation of roads on their mountains with glaciers to preserve the history and nature of their land. Given that they care a lot about the preservation of glaciers we can use this to manufacture a device that helps monitor and track carbon emissions being released and the rate at which these glaciers are melting. By doing so we can show the people of Almaty that their direct actions and daily lives are affecting the land they care so much about. This might incentivise them to be more environmentally conscious and would want to turn to green energy and more renewable sources. Seeing the actual effects of their lifestyles in some sort of quantified data might be a large enough influence to make them want to change their current lifestyles.