The New School: Community Outreach
This project was brought into existence as a part of a larger initiative by research labs at The New School. I assisted a team with conducting stakeholder research and ideating design solutions to assist the larger goals of the teams involved.
Focus
Research, Web Development
Skills
Research
UX Design
Tools Used
Figma
Slack
My Role
User Research, Journey Mapping, Data Synthesis
The Challenge
The ongoing initiative by The New School & partner organizations aimed to support the community of Gee’s Bend by preserving their history and creating new growth opportunities for artisans facing geographic and technological barriers. The challenge was to map stakeholder relationships and uncover strengths, misalignments, and opportunities for more authentic community representation.
Framing the Solution
How might we promote opportunities to appreciate historical stories, while still placing focus on what's being done today?
What role can online platforms play in cultivating community representation?
Research Methods
I supported a research team in identifying challenges and design opportunities within stakeholder relationships. We conducted interviews and mapped out user journeys that helped align stakeholder objectives.
Method 1
Archival Research
Researching the history of Gee’s Bend and its residents to better understand the contexts behind the town and its historic struggles.
Method 2
Interviews
Conducting individual and group interviews in order to gather quantitative and qualitative data and uncover insights into potential solutions.
Method 3
Contextual inquiry
Gathering information regarding the communities needs, goals, behaviors, and challenges up until now.
Ecosystem Map
Empathy Map
Prototype Planning
Research Synthesis
The outcome of our work identified points of miscommunication and misaligned goals between the stakeholders. The biggest concern being misrepresentation and a lack of clarity in the long-term direction of the ongoing initiatives between the parties.
Identified Problems
Misrepresentation by outside stakeholders diminishes the artists work and how they're viewed on a global scale. Often their representation falls outside of their control.
Lack of community investment and long-term initiatives by external stakeholders. Projects should enhance the community and its foundation as well.
Historical, geographical, and technological barriers isolate the community and make outreach initiatives more difficult.
Lacking outreach methods such as platforms, frameworks, social channels, and foundational guidelines for business projects. Each new contact initiative faces the most difficulty in the early stages.
Digital Strategy for Community-Led Storytelling
I chose to explore opportunities for self-representation through digital platforms such as a website and social media. My focus was on helping the community maintain control over how they are represented, share their stories in their own voice, and establish pathways for building direct connections with new stakeholders.
Next Steps
The introduction and development of platforms such as a community website and social channels will allow the community to take the next steps in self-representation, and have a foundation to build off of with each partner initiative.
Being able to have a strong set of guidelines for current and future projects, as well as a method to share their voice directly from the source, will allow the community to promote themselves without having to rely on the trust of external stakeholders.
Next steps include debriefing data findings with teams, coordinating tasks, and meeting with all stakeholders to align goals.
