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Introduction
Introduction
Team members: Yiming, Kira, Emma
Client: Russia
Meeting Date: October 31st, 2023
Meeting Location: CLASS
Firstly, a brief overview of the team members and assigned project. The team, known as the Maples, consists of Emma, Yiming, and Kira and their assigned client Russia, who is a member of Pittsburgh’s disabled community. The project the Maples are working on is the final project of the Physical Computing course, which has students create a personalized assistive device for a member of the disabled community in Pittsburgh. Each team is paired up with an attendee of CLASS, which is an organization that provides aid to disabled adults, to create this device for. The device is developed using the student’s knowledge of mechanical and electrical systems and the experiences they have gained over the last two projects from the course. Additionally, laser cutting or 3D printing fabrication is done by the students using the machinery available in the IdeATe labs.
Meeting Agenda
Meeting Agenda
The Maples conducted their interview on October 31th, 2023 at the CLASS facility. The interviewers were Emma, Yiming, and Kira and the interviewee was Russia, the client. The interview was conducted as an initial meeting for the final project, though some of the team members had met Russia the previous week. The interview lasted approximately an hour as the interviewers went through the following questions:
Introduction
How did you hear about the physical computing project? Did you ask to sign up or was the position offered?
Are there any daily tasks you struggle with that, in the scope of our project, we would be able to help you with?
Are there any tasks you find yourself occasionally needing to do that you struggle with that we could help you out with?
What are your hobbies? Tell us something you like to do or don’t like to do?
What are some things you enjoy doing alone? How about with other people?
These questions led to more questions and answers as well as general conversation with Russia and occasionally Bill, our point of contact to CLASS. Some of the questions that came up during the interview process were as follows:
Do you enjoy singing as well as listening to music? Is there anything you find difficult about singing along to music or would you perhaps like a way to record yourself singing?
Where do you typically keep your headphones? Are you consistent about where you put them or do you leave them wherever occasionally?
Do you ever find yourself being indecisive when it comes to deciding what to eat for lunch, or what to do to entertain yourself, etc?
What other board games do you like to play? Do you mainly play these games on your phone or in person?
Do you ever have difficulties when playing a game in person and needing to move the pieces?
Meeting Process
Meeting Process
Throughout the interview process many of these questions were answered giving us a better idea of a project that Russia would both enjoy and find useful. Firstly, we found that Russia has a deep passion for music. However, in the past, she frequently encountered issues with her headphones breaking almost every two weeks. With the rising cost of headphones, this has become a significant concern for her. We brainstormed a solution to create a protective case for her headphones to prevent them from breaking. Next, we observed that while Russia enjoys the food her mom prepares, she often struggles to make a definitive decision when asked what she wants to eat. This indecision leads to prolonged contemplation without a conclusive choice. To address this, we devised a solution—a generalized roulette decision-maker—to assist her in making quicker and easier food or other choices. Finally, we find that due to her parents' work schedules, Russia often arrives at CLASS much earlier than others, leaving her with a sense of boredom. Knowing her interest in playing chess, we recognized an opportunity to alleviate this idle time. To address this, we proposed the idea of a practice chess board with the capability to rotate, enabling Russia to engage in games against herself, thus making her early arrival more enjoyable and productive. Thus, the three ideas we came up with during the interview include a case for her headphones, a generalized roulette decision maker, and a practice chess board that Russia could use to play against herself if she so desired. After discussing each of our ideas with Russia and everyone being happy with our designs we decided to end the interview, but not before taking a photo including all of us, shown below.
Meeting Summary
Meeting Summary
Overall, our group had a good interview experience with only the occasional hiccup in conversation, which was always quickly resolved. The interview followed our plan quite nicely for the fact that our plan seemed very minimal when we first started. We were able to address most points in our agenda and also additional points that came up through the topic of conversation. Conversation flowed pleasantly and on-topic for the duration of the interview, with Bill picking up some of the conversation if it did ever halter. In the future the things we would change about the interview would be minimal. However, we agree it is important to come prepared with extra questions prepared and possibly more examples of previous projects. Additionally, bringing material to draw on all together to let the client have some hand-on interaction with our ideas would be nice. Collectively, there were few surprises during the interview as many of us went into the interview not entirely knowing what to expect. Hence, coming in with an open mind led to better understanding and a smoothly flowing interview. In general the interview went fluidly and we all very much appreciated Russia being so open with us and meeting us for the interview.
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