Team Walnuts

Introduction

Team Members: Andreas, Myles, Tippi

Client: Allie Williams 

Meeting Date: Oct 29th, 2024

Interview Objective: Our team, The Walnuts, is working on a project to build a personalized assistive device for Allie, a client from the CLASS community, that is useful in her daily life. It can be useful in any way (physically, emotionally, etc.) as long as it improves some aspect of her life. Prior to the interview, we knew that Allie had a disability of some sort, but we weren't aware of its nature or how it impacts her life. Therefore, our purpose with this interview was to meet Allie and ask her about her challenges and her successes in her daily life in order to understand how we could aim to help improve some aspect of it.

Meeting Agenda

Introduction/Ice Breaker - (5 min)

1. Introduce the the team( Name, Background, etc)

2. Can you tell us about yourself?

   1. How long have you been in Pittsburgh?

   2. What are your interests/hobbies?

Explanation and clarification about project goals - (5 min)

• 8 week intro class project 

• We are:

  • Trying to build prototype useful devices

  • Engaging in an iterative design process, including gathering formative feedback around the midpoint of the process

  • Taking about seven weeks to go from this meeting to a reasonably high-fidelity final product

  • Documenting our process

• We are not:

  • Professional technologists who are experienced in making polished products

  • Planning to build something that will be sold commercially

  • Constrained by any practicality outside of usefulness to the person we’re designing for

  • Likely to invent a totally novel piece of electronics (we combine many existing available components in new ways, but don’t make components)

Understanding Needs and Technological Interventions (20 min +)

1. Is there something in the past that you have enjoyed doing that is now difficult or challenging to do?

2. Do you have any activities in their daily life that are difficult, frustrating, or otherwise seem like they could use an intervention?

3. What is the most difficult part of your day?

4. What is the most pleasant part of your day? Why?

5. Can you draw a map or cartoon of their daily life, or have them narrate the action and do the drawing yourself in a way that’s visible to the group?

Conclude - ( < 5 min)

• Ask for contact information

• Reiterate the overall project schedule if you feel it would be necessary to clarify before leaving.

Notes from the Interview

• Daily routine: Main thing is care! Typical day involves get up, getting dressed and cleaned, and using the computer. Enjoys reading and going outside when it is nice

• Hobbies: video games, reading, creative writing, painting, singing(Has a youtube channel where she sings covers) and watching movies.

• Eating is difficult. Possible assistive device includes an assistive eating device. Has difficulty turning her wrist when using a spoon, and cannot really use a spoon because of it. 

• Positive Affirmation machine! Stated he has low self esteem, 

• Would love to be able to skateboard.

• Has a tray

• Needs a phone attachment to her to chair that doesn't mess up her case for when she travels. Needs something sturdy as well. Prefers to have her case flat on her tray in front of her

• Possible door opener so she can go outside, but that might be a bit advanced

• Can only use one hand and has difficulty grabbing things off of high shelves in the grocery store. Grabber for shelving.

• Decorative 

• Stickers

• Glitter

• Favorite Color is Pink

• Favorite Animals: Dolphin, Cats, Dog, and Lion

Meeting Summary and Takeaways

From the interview, we learned about Allie's hobbies, daily routines as well as things she would love us to help with. She was very enthusiastic to talk to us and very helpful throughout the whole process. She offered up several ideas, most of which we took into consideration with our ideation. First, we discussed her physical struggles within her routine. She only has mobility in one of her hand, which means that she needs assistance with many aspects of her daily life including changing clothes, taking care of personal hygene, and moving around the house. Unfortunately, many of these larger issues are highly mechanical and probably well out of scope for this project. However, one physical challenge that we thought had potential for our intervention was that she has trouble using a spoon due to mobility issues in her wrist. Although this is a very complex issue to solve, it might be possible within our timeframe so we looked into it in our ideation. Another issue that had promise for us to tackle is that she struggles to keep her phone on her tray when she drives her wheelchair outside or anywhere where the ground isn't flat as it tends to fall off. She had tried to solve this previously with velcro, but it covered the back of her phone case which has a decorative design on it that she wants to keep exposed. This led us to believe that a computing solution could be viable. She also mentioned self esteem issues and how she would love a machine that reminds her to be happy, so we thought this would be a great idea for futher consideration. After this, we felt like we had a fairly clear direction forward so we began to get to know Allie more personally. We learned about a lot of her favorite things like animals, colors, and even about her singing youtube channel! We hope to include some of these aspects of her personal tastes into our final design.

Reflection on the Interview

The interview with Allie went as planned and was both insightful and enjoyable. We took turns leading the conversation, ensuring we stayed on track with the agenda while providing each team member the opportunity to connect with her. Although there were a few moments of silence, typical for a first meeting, someone always stepped in to continue the conversation, keeping things flowing without any long, awkward pauses. Allie actively participated and shared some valuable insights, drawing from her past experiences with this projects in previous years. Her familiarity made her comfortable sharing ideas, which allowed us to understand her challenges and preferences better. We learned not only about her daily obstacles but also about her hobbies, which gave us additional perspectives on how to make this device truly beneficial to her life. We wish we have more time to get to know her more and we are looking forward to the prototype meeting with Allie in person. Overall, it was a joyful experience and an encouraging start.