Project achievements & accomplishments

Ok! Now we are going to the final part of today’s class. I’m going to introduce you the student achievements with the supports from tribal members. Their design made significant contributions to the development and the deployment of the healthcare devices. To cultural preservation efforts. And to the establishment of a user innovation platform.

The first was collaboration between the research team and the tribal association to develop a user innovation platform that would connect social/cultural activities with health promotion. The second was incorporating the interdisciplinary service learning activities of students into the provision of medical devices and services for elderly in need. So… In that sense, the professors and the students all come from different universities, even different disciplines. But they form as a team to propose a teamwork. And at the same time, build a partnership with the tribal members. Then, they can make such a significant contribution by applying service learning to faster user in the server-group interact.

So… I will show you six major group projects accomplished by the students and the tribal member partnership. The first group designed a health promotion platform that would connect the individual and community health center through interfamily networking. So… In that sense, an ICT design will help the different family members can support each other rather than just individual mutual health. And the second group provided smarter medication box that not only fit into different daily life activities, but that also integrated information for collective health maintenance. So the main idea is that people-in-need can remind each other and can help each other. And maintain good health promotion activities even regular medication activity in their daily life.

And the third group incorporated the device users wish to formulate a proposal for building a tribal smart classroom with a goal of preserving traditional weaving culture. So… Now a days, in the tribal area, those people familiar with the weaving technique is very very rare. The students got the idea and tried to design their home as a smart classroom that can preserve all weaving activities by the skillful workers or tribal senior. And at the same time, server as a teaching tool for seminating this kind of technology for cultural preservation.

And the forth group devised a smart poke walker with features including a built-in urgent communication device, a falling monitor and collective walking activities information sharing function with their supporting network members. So… These kinds of devices not only help people walk, and can get urgent support while they are in need. The more important is to facilitate mutual communication between people with the similar hobbies or societies. And they can develope sustainable health promotion activities. Through the simple devices. And the 5th group created interactive composition platform for preserving songs and dances in tribal areas.

And the final group constructed a smart plotting IT platform to incorporate raw material from oral histories, photos, home videos, audios and so on, into various product forms, including films for uploading on youtube. Along the line, the culture preservation efforts are easily to keep and be encouraged.

With the participation of the medical device users in the community, the students clearly enriched the user innovation platform and its usefulness for health promotion and cultural preservation. Their contributions are not limited to either the cultural domain or health issues, but created bridges between both arenas. Students’ feedback showed they were fully aware of the cultural barriers and information disparity in this tribal area, and attuned to their consequences in terms of social justice. In the workshop, students working with device users design ICT products through a mutually supportive participatory approach. The interdisciplinary teams of student designers learned to consider the social consequences of smart technologies and became aware that empowering local residents as co-designers can contribute to humanistic social change.

The living lab concept, with its appreciation of user innovation, can also serve as a tool for mediating between interest group and stakeholder in the quest for broader social justice in Taiwan. So… This is the end of the class. Hope you have the time to practice and innovate new way for your own social justice. Thank you for your attention!!