Creating Human Centered Digital Media solutions for Sustainable Societal Development
The programme started with a total of three virtual lectures covering a range of topics related to media and societal development, as well as methodological inputs and team building. The virtual sessions were held on MS Teams on 30 October, 7 November, and 21 November from 17:00 to 18:30 CET.
During the physical week from 27 November to 1 December, participants worked in international and interdisciplinary teams to develop user-centred digital media solutions. The path to the solution was guided by design thinking processes.
- In the first phase, which began already during the virtual part, participants gained insights into potential users and their needs and observed media solutions to get an overview of existing offerings in their country and worldwide. They could also consult experts to learn more about the area in question. The goal was to set aside subjective assumptions about the world and gain real insight into users and their needs.
- The next step was to organise all the collected information. This involved diving deep to identify the core problems. When defining the problem, participants kept a human-centred focus, that is, the perspective of their users’ needs.
- In the following phase, they started looking for and developing innovative solutions to the identified problem. They aimed to come up with as many ideas as possible, rather than settling on one solution everyone agreed on. Based on this diversity, the best possible solution was found.
- In the prototype phase, participants created low-cost, low-fi versions of their products to share ideas and test them.
They used feedback to improve their prototypes and tested them with other users. This iterative process brought a deep understanding of the product and its users.
A varied social programme (excursion, field trip, student party) rounded off the experience and gave participants plenty of opportunity to have fun and meet their peers.