Into the Field, Into the rain (Thursday)

Today, I gathered the initial field data for my class's exercise that we'll carry out next week.  

The premise is that we are doing an early concept assessment for a new "company", "The Speedy Bead."  This "company" will provide high quality beads (something that is hard to find in Panama) quicker than they are available from e-railers in the States like eBay or Firemountain Gems.  In addition, they would come quickly, with low shipping rates - something that is impossible if you buy from outside Panama because there is no reliable post, so things must come in through a freight forwarder in the US, which is extremely costly and takes quite a lot of time.  

The "data" I gathered today is background for this exercise and represents the current purchasing process of beads in Panama City.  My friend, Lydia, went down to Avenida B, the rather rough area where Don Chicho and Casa Lieu are located.  There, she picked out beads, and demonstrated how she puts together sets of beads for projects.  

I wrote up this information for the class to read before Wednesday.

On Wednesday, we are going to go to Lydia's home where I will show them how to do an ethnographic visit - using all of the methods we use.  She will show us where she keeps her beads, how she plans and executes a project and what she does with finished projects.

Then NEXT week, we will do another Affinity Diagram - this time using ALL of the colors of Post-its that we have - of the data we will gather.  Again, it will be in the hallway.  Again, it will stimulate interest (I hope.)  And it will serve as the basis for paper prototypes of the website that the class will create and test.

I'm very excited!