Auraria Campus Responsible Recycling Initiative · question, my group used these select exercises...

Semester Process Journal

CDES-3222 Design Research Methods Stephanie Vecchiarelli

Auraria Campus Responsible Recycling Initiative

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DEFINING THE PROBLEM

ETHNOGRAPHIC STRATEGIES

CLASSROOM MENTORED RESEARCH

INTERACTIVE DESIGN STRATEGIES

FINAL PRESENTATION

TABLE OF CONTENTS

SEMESTER PROCESS JOURNAL - RECYCLING INITIATIVE

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DEFINING THE PROBLEM ASSIGNMENT: EARLY DEFINITIONS

PART 1 - DEFINING THE PROBLEM

Humanity1. noun - the quality or state of being human - the quality or state of being kind to other people or animals - all people2. Affordability; giving humans easy access to a quality life begins with affordability. This includes being able to work for a wage that allows each human enough money for basic needs requirements including food, water, and shelter.3. Affordability is an issue that mainly touches upon most Americans underneath the poverty line including many immigrants, different ethnicity’s, students, the elderly, and the blue collar or working class. Without affordability in a rising economy like Denver where a plethora of high end living is being built, most of the lower class are left fighting rising rent prices and a lack of low income housing (most of which have a 2+ year waiting list) are often left to live in small places packed with others creating poor living conditions and sanitation or as homeless. Without affordability those struggling to earn a living wage and paying mostly for shelter will without a doubt be struggling for food or accessibility to food that is healthy. For a young household with two children, not being able to afford public transportation or the loss of service in their area can lead to an unhealthy diet of cheap fast food that lacks the important nutrients needed. Clean water can become an issue as well if a family or single low income earner is struggling to pay for increasing water costs within the city or rural areas. And, overall affordability can increase happiness and mental wellness by decreasing the amount of hours or jobs one person must maintain to take care of their family or self regarding all of these issues which leads to more time for education or community value.

Wellness1. noun - the quality or state of being in good health especially as an actively sought goal2. Education of nutrition; wellness begins with the knowledge of how our bodies work and how to maintain a healthy diet.3. The ability to stay confident, happy, and in overall terms well can be as easy as eating right and exercising. There is however a lack of education surrounding nutrition starting early in elementary schools with children being taught the essentials of a healthy diet but not being shown (school cafeteria lunches from k-12). There are bad habits being formed in schools and even worse habits created in the home setting because of the lack of education. Most info on nutrition is often outdated (the food pyramid) or fueled by awful trend dieting (gluten-free) that can then lead to misinformation and eating dis orders especially in high school and college students. Older people who have had a lack of nutrition training can be more susceptible to long term-illness’s because of their higher nutrient needs later in life.

Part 1: Defining the Problem includes exercises meant to explore a wide variety of complex issues that arise in common themes such as humani-ty, wellness, education, environment, community, politics, and business. Once the class had discussed thoroughly the different issues regarding each theme, we were able to separate into groups of common interest within our chosen theme, mine being under the topic of recycling. With the develop-ment of secondary research, observations, and the finalization of a research question, my group used these select exercises to help define the problem of their researched topic before moving on to part 2.

Assignments Include

- Early Definitions

- Obervations

- Secondary Research

- Problem Snapshot

- Individual Design Brief - Design Problem Presentation


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DEFINING THE PROBLEM ASSIGNMENT: EARLY DEFINITIONS


3. A lot of local communities that are in need of fresh fruits and vegetables would benefit from a weekly farmers market that allow for not only an easier transportation to and from home but also a great way to meet members of the community and volunteer. Local festivals such as a fall Harvest festival or Christmas fairs also allow for communities to showcase artists and food vendors that too bring money and new relationships into play that will benefit a community in the long run.

Politics1. noun - activities that relate to influencing the actions and policies of a government or getting and keeping power in a government - the work or job of people (such as elected officials) who are part of a government - the opinions that someone has about what should be done by governments; a persons political thoughts and opinions2. Readability and legibility of voting ballots is a wide issue that affects a large amount of citizens of the United States.3. There’s a large margin of citizens who are registered to vote in America that may find the task too daunting to do so mainly because of how voting ballots are set up. For a lot of people the first issue is English not being their first language leading to confusion if not offered a ballot in their native language. Even then if the citizen has a basic understanding of English as a second language, most of the time ballots contain such a dense more political-based English that it’s even hard to comprehend as a life-long speaker. The ballots themselves are hard to decipher as there is a lot of text fit into a small amount of space and without the proper directions one of the most important rights as citizens can be easily lost and uncounted.

Business1. noun - activity of making, buying, or selling goods or providing services in exchange for money - the work that is part of a job - the amount of activity that is done by a store, company, factory, etc.2. Giving back, business’s that act on a more local level can increase their credentials as well as increase the economy in the local community.3. Business’s should always see themselves as not only connected to the community they were raised in but also a way to give back and support local towns, cities, or states. When this happens especially in a tight community where a lot of the town or city may be employed by this business there can be a plethora of relationships that form a healthy economy. By putting on events or donating to local projects or groups, business’s can then use giving back in their favor in order to get advertising and create a support based off of good efforts instead of bad.

Education1. noun - the action or process of teaching someone especially in a school, college or university - the knowledge, skill, and understanding that you get from attending a school, college or university - a field of study that deals with the methods and problems of teaching2. Standardization; the idea that all schools should be held at the same high standard of education no matter the level or institution.3. Standardization is a rather large term that can benefit many parts of a school district including lessons, meals, accessibility for disabilities, and teaching requirements. There may be different districts that house schools, however I don’t think that any should be given any higher preference as the other and the government should allow for equal funding to help all schools reach a higher standard no matter the demographic. If all schools in a large region have the same healthy standards for food, a higher class of teachers who can inspire, and the same accessibility no matter the disability or social class, education would become a goal for students to succeed and benefit from.

Environment1. noun - the conditions that surround someone or something - the conditions and influences that affect the growth, health, progress, etc. of someone or something - the natural world2. Sustainability; education and lack of awareness are often the top issues I feel are in accordance to the overuse of the worlds resources.3. A lack of education regarding our environment and sustainability can be as small of an issue as many not knowing what can and cannot be recycled. Many young children (including myself) are taught about the recycling fundamentals very early on in school but the learning stops when children aren’t reinforced to recycle at their own schools or even at home. Even in high school there wasn’t an easy way to recycle or even any more education on the subject of recycling or sustainability. Also, few apartment complexes and even fewer homes can afford the extra fees that included in recycling pick up for basic household items that don’t include the large hassle it is to recycle toxic chemicals such as printer cartridges or even nail polish.

Community1. noun - a group of people who live in the same area (such as a city, town, or neighborhood) - group of people who have the same interests, religion, race, etc. - a group of nations2. Support and buy local; most local economies can benefit and grow faster by keeping the money within the community if there is enough support and available locations.


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ASSIGNMENT: OBSERVATIONS


First Observation:Inmate Health/Spirituality

Instead of observing inmates for this assignment I did online research on Colorado’s health and spirituality of prisoners. It was a tricky search. I didn’t find much on the spiritual side of the spectrum other than few county jails holding Bible study programs. Researching the health of inmates proved to be a bit more fruitful though it was on a much more depressing scale. Here are some interesting articles/webpages I found.

- “After Jail, signing up for Healthcare,” by Terri Hurst http://www.denverpost.com/News/ci_27269376/After-jail-signing-up-for-health-care This article explained the necessity of signing up for health care post-release from jail is important because justice-involved individuals have “higher rates of chronic disease, mental health, and addiction.” It places a positive light on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and its benefits in helping “break the cycle of re-offending and being re-incarcerated.”

- Take Care Health Matters website http://takecarehealthmatters.org/ This is an informative website that was created in order to help CO justice-involved understand the ACA and what kind of health benefits are right for them. It has a facts pages that states “70-90% of justice-involved doesn’t have private or public health insurance.” It also notes that under the CO ACA a medicaid expansion will provide a wider substance abuse and mental health benefit offered with flexible cost savings in the criminal-justice system. The last quote that I took away reiterates the previous article saying that “connecting individuals to healthcare and treatment within the first two weeks post-release are critical as they are vulnerable.”

- “Denver’s Downtown Jail is at Center of Sheriff ’s Major Problems,” by Noelle Phillips http://www.denverpost.com/News/Local/ci_27179835/ This article address’s the burdens of opening the modern designed Van Cise-Simonet Detention Center on Colfax. After 4 years of being open the article describes the poor health conditions of the jail being constantly at max capacity. The women’s facility being the most full with minimum 3 women to a cell with many stuck with sleeping on floor mats. Because of the modern design, its small space only allows for a certain amount of employees, leaving deputies and supervisors working thousands of hours of overtime a month. Because of the max capacity and harsh employee working conditions, the inmates who deal with addiction issues and those with mental illness’s don’t get the necessary help and medication they need to stay healthy.

- “CO Gives $3 Million in Case of Inmate who Died as Guards Laughed,” by Tom McGhee http://www.denverpost.com/News/ci_27162848/ This article was sad and mainly holds a really depressing video component that shows footage of the death of a mentally ill inmate by hyponatremia (too low of sodium levels) that induced grand mal seizures. The lawsuit quotes that “almost all instances of hypona tremia are treatable if a person receives prompt and adequate medical attention.” Instead, 6 hours of video footage was recorded of the corrections staff members, guards, and nurses heard “talking, joking, and laughing.” Even Cheryl Neumeister, a mental health tech was heard calling out “I can see you breathing,” as Lopez lie shackled, naked, and dead.

Second Observation: Recycling Accessability

Since this is a much easier topic to observe, I spent an hour getting out of the apartment and searching/documenting local means of recycling. I first walked around my neighbor-hood that is heavily populated with lots of apartment complexes in search for buildings that include recycling as well as basic waste management. Sadly I only found two that offered recycling to their renters. Next I grabbed my boyfriend and we went on a drive down a wide section of south Colorado boulevard looking for retailers that would include recycling options within its store which was offered by stores such as King Soopers, Safe-way, Whole Foods, Staples, and Best Buy. I also stumbled upon quite a few locations that offered drop-off boxes where the general public could recycle shoes, clothing, and books, which were often already full.


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ASSIGNMENT: SECONDARY RESEARCH


2. How can we actively engage children in the education and execution of proper recycling techniques?

3. How can we inform and regulate the proper disposal/recycling of hazardous household materials?

1. How can we initiate and educate better recycling resources in public parks and neighborhoods?

Cabaniss, Amy D. Handbook on Household Hazardous Waste. Maryland: Government Institutes Lanham, 2008.

Amy Cabaniss has worked as an environmental educator since 1990 with emphasis on household hazardous waste. She’s a perfect contributor to this book as she’s a board member of the North American hazardous materials management association as well as the environmental coordinator for Connecticut College. This book is great because it covers hazardous household materials in extreme depth that starts with a basic overview of the different kinds of toxic waste in the home. There are also chapters describing the many health risks and environ-mental risks when storing and disposing of hazardous household wastes. Also though slightly dated, there is good numeric information regarding statewide collection programs by year.

McKay, Kim. True Green Kids: 100 Things You Can Do to Save the Planet. True Green (Global) Pty Ltd, 2008.

Kim McKay is an Australian born environmentalist, author, and international marketing consultant who co-founded the Clean Up Australia organization as well as the Clean Up the World campaign. She’s wrote 5 books for True Green with this children’s book winning the AAAS/Subaru Book prize for Best Hands-on Science Book in February of 2009. This book is great because it doesn’t feel like the standard children’s book with a more mature approach to writing an design. It’s meant to raise individual awareness and action of recycling through applying the teachings at home, school, outdoors, or with a team. This book is also great for encouraging involvement in its learning from parents, teachers, and other community members.

Weinberg, Adam S. Urban Recycling and the Search for Sustainable Community Development. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000.

Although this book is 15 years old, I believe it gives quality information regarding the process and achievement of a community based recycling approach. Author Adam S. Weinberg is a native of Texas who studied at Cambridge University before receiving a masters and doctoral in sociology from Northwestern University. He takes high responsibility in being the current president of Denison University as well as pride from being the former CEO of World Learning, and international education exchange program. This book is separated by several stages and real-life stories and examples of community based recycling. The first section describes recycling as a case study and how to develop it within the community. It also highlights specific challenges to achieve sustainable goals seen in communities around the U.S. Many different approaches to different origins or outcomes of a recycling program are discussed such as a corporate-centered choice. Lastly, to sum up the book there’s section that includes “creating alternative recycling models” for zones and parks.

Secondary Research

Each member of the team was responsible for coming up with three secondary research questions that are worthy of a design solution. Finding multiple scholarly resources with research information will help narrow our search for a specific design research question/problem within the realm of recycling.


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ASSIGNMENT: PROBLEM SNAPSHOT


How can we actively engage Auraria Campus students in the education and proper use of campus recycling resources?

What is recyclable on campus?

How do we promote the self-responsibility to recycle?

How do we better understand how students feel about their recycling access on campus?

What motivates students to recycle/not recycle?

Newspaper Plastics #1-7

Foil

O�ce Paper

Glass Bottles + Jars

Brown Paper Bags

Aluminum

Bulk + Junk Mail NO Plastic Bags

NO Plastic Knives, Forks + Spoons

Pizza BoxesCell Phones + Electronics

Access in multiple buildingsAccess in popular outdoor spacesNot aware of di�erence

between recycle and compost

Not willing to take the timeNot knowing what’s recycleable or not

Recycling everything when only one thing is recycleable

Informational posters

Helpful notices on trash/recycling pins

Make observations by closely watching

Look inside trash cans and recycling bins

Student interviews

Interview professors

Interview waste management o�cials

Create a Survey

Find locations of popular recycling areas

Join Sustainable Campus Program (SCP)

Interview SCP

Board 1: Visualize

Board 3: Articulate

POSITIVES-Location suitable for all team members (all work on campus/have reliable transportation).

-Access to recycling information for Auraria online .

-Easy access to our target audience.

-Lots of locations for possible comparative observations.

NEGATIVES-Possibly receiving dishonest feedback from students.

-Di�cult to �nd numerical statistics in terms of on-campus recycling.

Problem Snapshot

This exercise involves taking all observations, notes, and research and putting them together in a small presentation. Each of the three boards helps the unified team respond to the need for a design solution with visual and verbal insights attached to our design problem.

Board 1: Visualize This board is a visualization of our research problem through only photos which include many pictures of recycling facilities on campus. The problem is mainly highlighted by the outer images showing items being recycled improperly.

Board 2: Define The second board is all about using just words to define our research problem. In the middle we state our initial research question regarding our research and then fill the canvas in with more questions that came to mind.

Board 3: Articulate Lastly, the third board created highlights the initial positive and negative outcomes of our research question and beginning observations.


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ASSIGNMENT: INDIVIDUAL DESIGN BRIEF


Individual Design Brief

This assignment is a written summary of the facts known about our design problem up to this time during the Part 1 exercises. The individual brief allows each team member to compare and contrast each answer in order to create a solid objective in order to reach an effective design solution.

1. Title Auraria Responsible Recycling Initiative, Motivating students to recycle on campus.

2. Stakeholders Members: Stephanie Vecchiarelli Kristen Morrison Instructor: Lisa Abendroth Others: Sustainable Campus Program (SCP)

3. Context Overly large quantities of food, paper, and plastic waste are filling up landfills, polluting the earth’s waters as well as using up many of the earth’s natural resources. Recycling or composting most of our daily used and thrown away items can help to reduce human environmental impact.

4. Problem IdentificationHow can we actively engage Auraria Campus students in the education and proper use of recycling resources?

5. Objectives The purpose is to educate and stimulate the use of Auraria campus’s recycling resourc-es. We would like to accomplish a better understanding of what recycling resources are available to students on campus and their specific guidelines. Success will be measured in a confident, enhanced viewpoint regarding the ease and cooperation of campus recycling.

6. Audience The main audience includes students from a tri-institutional campus that range in a non-specific age, gender, or ethnicity. This audience also includes multiple language, disability, and mobility factors. Student’s psychographics include multiple and non-specific behavior models such as difference in religion, or indifference to recycling. Specifically our audience will be local to Auraria campus students.

7. Positioning and Communication StrategyBeing able to recycle on campus brings a positive and encouraging message to students that there are resources to better enrich student life as well as ecological life. Students should feel happy and engaged in their responsibility to the planet by easily recycling in a place they feel confident and frequent often.

8. Pragmatic IssuesIssues include possible negative or lack of correct feedback from students. There could also be issue with finding the necessary statistics behind campus recycling programs. There has been unsuccessful attempts to make the recycling requirements known to students, however there is an overwhelming amount of informational posters that add confusion. Lastly a lack of easily available online resources to campus recycling can cause issue.


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ASSIGNMENT: DESIGN PROBLEM PRESENTATION


Design Problem Presentation In order to sum up Part 1: Defining the Problem, my group put together a design presentation that highlights the history, our research question, a summary of our design brief, as well as examples of universities that excel in campus-wide recycling programs. This assignment highlights the growth of our design problem as we head into Part 2: Ethnographic Strategies.


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ASSIGNMENT: WORK PLAN

PART 2 - ETHNOGRAPHIC STRATEGIES

S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S

We e k 1Feb . 2 2 –2 8

We e k 2Mar. 1 –7

We e k 3Mar. 8 –14

We e k 4Mar. 1 5 –2 1

We e k 5Mar. 2 2 –2 8

We e k 6Mar. 2 9–Apr. 4

We e k 7Apr. 5 –1 1

We e k 8Apr. 1 2 –1 8

We e k 9A pr. 1 9–25

We e k 1 0A pr. 26–May 2

We e k 1 1May 3–9

We e k 1 2May 1 0 –1 6

Te a m R e cyc l i n g : Wo rk P l an

Too lk i t Deve lopment

Too lk i t Imp lementat ion

Consent Form Deve lopment

Survey Deve lopment

Survey Imp lementat ion1 5 C a n d id ates

I n te rv iew Quest ion Deve lopment and R ec ru i tment

In te rv iew Appo in tment T imef rame

In te rv iew Transc r ip t ion

F ina l P resentat ion and Journa l

F ina l s Week

Observat ion # 1T ivo l i Food Cour tS ketc h , l i s t , j o u rn a l , p h oto s , d i a g ra m .

Observat ion #2Sc ience B u i ld ingS ketc h , l i s t , j o u rn a l , p h oto s , d i a g ra m .

Observat ion #3Tivol i Food TrucksS ketc h , l i s t , j o u rn a l , p h oto s , d i a g ra m .

STEPHANIE (970)2 13 -39 17 svecch i3@msudenve r.edu KR ISTEN (7 19 )238-9060 kmor r i 36@msudenve r.edu

Part 2: Ethnographic Strategies is all about taking our finalized design problem into the field of ethnography; the systematic study of people and cultures. We engaged in strategies individually and as a group that places our design problem into human context including more obser-vations, interviews, and a survey. These exercises allowed each group to engage their problem with an audience in order to research more in-depth before moving on to part 3.

Work Plan

Now that we’ve discussed the various observations and research within our design problem, the next step is the work plan. Within our plan we’ve included various observation times and places, interview recruitment, toolkit development, survey implementation and various other ethnographic practices plotted on a timeline that will help us with our research.

Assignments Include

- Work Plan

- Observational Documentation

- Identify Human Research Subjects

(More to Come)


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ASSIGNMENT: OBSERVATIONAL DOCUMENTATION


Observational Documentation

In part 2, our observational documentation includes taking our finalized design problem and observing carefully selected areas in order to analyze the questions brought up in researching our problem. Below are images that show our different methods of observation including pictures, sketches, and diagrams.

Why? For environment Where? Everywhere on campus

Above includes observa-tions done in the Tivoli food court that documented which disposal bins were used by age and gender. More men were confirmed to use campus receptacles.

Above is a map of the most widely used floors of the Tivoli Student Union (floors 1-3) and the location of every recycling, compost, and landfill receptacles marked in yellow highlighter.

Who? Students or janitors(?)

Includes new images and images taken from our Problem Snapshot


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ASSIGNMENT: RESEARCH SUBJECTS


Identify Human Research Subjects

This exercise involves using our work plan and thinking ahead of our re-search goals in order to find human subjects acceptable for the interview or survey process. Each member of the team was responsible for researching possible experts and one-on-one interview subjects as well as interview questions that would help us reach closer to solving our design problem.

1. Describe the participants and methodology

How many people will you interview? We hope to interview at least 3 to 5 experts, as well as holding a campus-wide survey of 50 to 100 participants.

Some ideas include interviewing.... 1. SCP members 2. AHEC Officials 3. Waste Management 4. Janitorial staff 5. Nearby campus sustainability coordinators

Will they be over 18? Yes, the average age range of a college student attending one of the three schools on Auraria Campus is 18 or over.

Where will the interview take place? Auraria Campus is our focus location for all observations and research, however if we find an expert that is off-campus we would most likely find a location that best suits the subject. We will have the utmost respect for privacy and anonymity of each subject.

How long will the interview take place? We expect each interview to take between 30 and 45 minutes maximum. It will be a series of questions asked in private between my teammate and I and the subject.

What kind of questions will be asked? 1. How do you track the waste at Auraria Campus that’s being recycled versus being thrown into a landfill? 2. What is the average amount of waste being recycled each year at Auraria Campus? 3. What steps have been taken to raise recycling awareness at Auraria Campus? 4. What issues do you often come in contact with regarding recycling at Auraria Campus? 5. How many students would you estimate use the recycling options available to them each year at Auraria Campus?

Will you be audio recording? Yes, mainly for accuracy in that we do not want to miss out on any important information or data given to us by the interviewed subject. Notes will also be taken, but we do not foresee needing to use video camera equipment or photography.

2. Identify potential expert interview subjects. 1. Jon Bortles, former SCP director 2. Jerry Mason, AHEC Advisor

3. Identify potential one-one-one interview subjects. 1. Athena Damiamos, CU Student SCP Representative 2. Hannah Goulding, MSUD Student SCP Representative 3. Loki Jones, Sustainability Outreach Intern 4. Joseph Sawaged, CCD Student SCP Representative 5. Jeff Stamper, AHEC President of Operations & Services

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