Casey: Day 1

On the first day with the Casey students we dealt with an interesting variety of students. My first group involved three very talkative and interested girls; they seemed to truly want to give us a tour around their school, and they had actual opinions as to what they would like to take with them to the Platt site. On the other hand, my second group seemed to lack any real enthusiasm. One student lagged behind and seemed to have no desire to add anything to the process, while the other two participated, but not with an exceptional amount of interest. We certainly had a productive day, receiving valuable input about the giant climbing rock, basketball courts, bench areas, and more; however, I think it is important to point out how one of the big issues involved in our process was perhaps a lack of understanding: the students seemed somewhat confused as to why we were there and what we were doing. The students enjoyed showing us parts of the school interior they enjoyed the most that they wanted to take with them, which was not meant to be the purpose of our visit. Additionally, I feel that we certainly included some students in this process essentially against their will, which affected our final results due to some lack of enthusiasm and interest. It is important to note, though, that it did bring out some opinions of students who would probably had no part in the process had it not been during a required class period. This unfortunately goes against the participatory design criteria of it being voluntary, while the issue of miscommunication caused a rift in our overall attempt at transparency.

Overall, I think our process was effective in soliciting the opinions of students concerning the design of the new Platt site. While there were certainly some flaws and issues involved in the process, they will likely be alleviated during the second day once much of the confusion and anxiety of the first time are gone. Hopefully we can take the successes and failures of Monday’s work and finish the week’s project on a high note, with a final, successful product. If the enthusiasm and interest of a select few is any evidence of things to come, it is clear that we can look forward to a successful program beginning soon with a hopefully dedicated and excited group of students.

~Austin Rice~