In this blog, I will be showing the development of my ideas through weekly post going through my thought processes, any research I may have undertaken to help develop my understanding of a problem and how a solution can be reached. This is in response to the brief outlined in the Digital Media Module Guide.

Human-Centered Design

Human-Centered Design (HCD) is a way to develop products that are tailored to the user themselves by considering the target audience themselves, placing them in the center of development by using primary research on them to ensure that the product is effective in their daily lives. This method is based on empathy towards the users and thus their care is held in high regard throughout the development phase of the product. For this project, I will undertake an HCD approach to my work.

Orginal Ideas

To generate some starting ideas, we were set a task to generate 9 questions in response to the European Youth Award categories and research into it further to validate the issue. The European Youth Award categories (EYA) writes on their website

“The European Youth Award (EYA) is a pan-European contest to motivate young people, social entrepreneurs, and start-ups to produce digital projects that  will have an impact on society. It demonstrates their potential to create innovative solutions with Internet and Mobile technology addressing the goals defined by the Council of Europe and Europe 2020 as well as the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).” – https://eu-youthaward.org/european-youth-award/

Considering the EYA’s mission statement they are a good place to start for how my ideas can take form and shape leading them to benefit society and who I am developing for. This will require further research which I will update in next week’s post.

After reading through the different categories I came up with the following list of questions.

1. How can we build up young people’s confidence when searching for jobs and attending interviews. – https://www.anxiety.org/adults-anxiety-job-interviews
2. How can local councils promote public funding innovative and engage the community? – https://youthoffthestreets.com.au/what-we-do/safety/do-you-need-help/disconnected-from-culture-and-community/
3. How to teach money management skills to young adults such as University students. – https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/business/business-news/millennials-pensions-savings-advice-crisis-13331716
4. How we provide effective mental health services to university students? – http://metro.co.uk/2017/10/27/maths-student-becomes-seventh-to-die-in-suspected-suicide-at-university-in-bristol-7033460/
5. How to not only make politics more interesting to younger voters but to help them vote based on belief and policy not for parties. – https://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/apr/19/why-young-people-dont-vote-apathy-or-antipathy-election-2015
6. Is there a way for people to learn to cope and overcome anxiety in the university or in work? –
   • 80% of college students say they sometimes or often feel stressed [Source: ADAA.]
   • About half of surveyed college students felt overwhelmed with anxiety at least once within the last 12 months. [Source: APA.]
7. How can we improve socialization of people who live with social anxiety? – http://socialphobia.org/social-anxiety-disorder-definition-symptoms-treatment-therapy-medications-insight-prognosis
8. How can users find fundraisers for NPOs, social projects, and humanitarian organization? A digital community board of sorts.
9. Can we make school less boring for younger students? – https://www.livescience.com/1308-students-bored-school.html

I present the ideas numbers 4, 6 and 7 in my first workshop to my peers for review and while I have to make a definitive decision at this point I believe that idea 4 seems to be the one in greater need. After discussing with my group and our tutor Clive, we all agreed that the current system for personal counseling in place currently at Lincoln University is not working as well as the students need it to be and with the news story of the suicides at Bristol University has lead me to suspect that this problem may not be isolated to Lincoln. This will require further research which I will report back on next week along with a finalized proposal. After reading the peer review sheet carefully a potential issue with this idea that could be problematic is the treatment of potentially vulnerable people. This will require careful consideration when working on this concept to ensure the users are not discouraged from seeking help and are comfortable finding the help that suits them which will be the main goal of this project.