Blog Entry 4

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

There are two sides to the project: the prevention side and the side of fixing the side effects. The prevention side includes working with the current companies and government of Almaty, which can be long and extensive. For this reason, we’re choosing to go on the route of cleaning the air as it is. Through our design process, we need to further research the technology behind filter technology. Specifically, after identifying the main pollutants in the air, we will need to conduct further tests on what is the best way to capture them and help clear the air. Possible technology includes a few brands that have created nasal screens that help prevent allergens, pollutants, from entering your lungs. The design is simple, yet sold costly of around $11 per package which includes 7 pairs. Our creation would be to expand on this technology and try to make them reusable since the ones Avalon the market are one time uses for 24 hours. They are expensive and not an accessible product for a population such as Kazakhstan. Through our design process we would need to find effective ways to bring down the cost, yet keep the functionality. To create a product like this we would have to first get our hands on it, and research and test its capabilities. We would need to bring this issue to our engineer peers and professors who can give us feedback and help us. We would need funding to acquire the tools necessary to test the product. 

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

Most important stakeholders

1. 1. The citizens of Almaty
      1. All social classes could be positively impacted 
         1. The effects of air pollution are not limited to one type of class. 
      2. 67.98% are Kazakhs, while the remaining are Russian 
      3. Islamic- 70%, Christian- 30%
      4. 55 percent female, 45% male
      5. They value their city- mountains, environment, culture
   2. The state government
      1. Wealthy→ Top of the social class  
      2. As the government, there is an interest in bettering the health of the residents. 
      3. They have the legal power
         1. One of the issues that are causing such poor air quality is the loose regulations. 
            1. The government needs to reinforce more 
      4. The interest in making money
         1. Stimulating the economy of Kazakhstan. ( This depends on the direction we go with our plan/ project 
      5. Connections
         1. The legal power allows them to be connected to other people in power. 
      6. Intelligence through experience 
   3. The NGOs or nonprofit 
      1. Not just focused on the economy 
         1. More concerned about the impact on the common people  of Almaty 
      2. Funding→ Can help with making sure that the money needed to successfully implement a plan is provided. 
      3. Possible connections 
         1. Like one of the SGDs has listed, the collaboration and connections are crucial. 
      4. Power 
         1. Can pressure the government to make sure there is change and that the air quality issues are being addressed 
      5. Influence 
         1. From personal experience, I noticed that communities tend to “trust” NGOs a lot more than organizations and individuals directly connected with the government. 

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

Validate Project Concept, Technology, Usability, and Business Model

1. 1. The reactions of the people in Almaty about our idea
      1. Making sure our idea aligns with their values and culture
      2. Having the people accept the issue we are trying to fix and understanding that we want to help
      3. Wanting the people to be accepting of our ideas
   2. If the technology/concept produce effective results in preventing air quality health issues
      1. We need to run tests and to ensure that if we create a product that it does what we need it to. 
         1. If we go with our nose strips idea, making sure that they are filtering out the correct pollutants
         2. If we create public service announcements making sure they are effective and reach the people that need to see them
   3. Usability 
      1. Making sure it is easy for everyone that needs to be using it to use so that the product works correctly or if we have public service announcements; making sure that they are clear and easy to understand and noticeable
      2. Assuring that the technology used is durable and long-lasting. If it is an announcement we must assure they will be up and sustain the weather. 
      3. Instructions must be clear

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

One of my friends from high school goes to college in Japan and recently I found out about how silent people in the trains are. Being considerate about others is an important part of their culture. Also, Japanese people are really hard-working: they catch up on their sleep during their time on the train. 

My other friend, who is originally from Brazil, told me about how his middle name comes from his mother’s middle name. It is interesting as in our culture we only use father’s first and last names. 

The last thing I want to mention is the field of bioengineering making huge steps forward. I learned from my friend that a lot of research in the area of rebuilding human organs has been made. The concept is replacing damaged cells in any organ leaving only the extracellular matrix and populating it with healthy cells. These advances may lead to huge changes in medicine soon.