Today, we began the day by heading back down to the University of Panama to meet with Elana, the Ngobe woman we met last night, and Fannie, a young organizational psychologist who we took home last night. We had a fabulous brainstorming session, but Elana was pretty silent. Finally, I told her that, regardless of what *we* think, the thing that matters most is what *she* thinks and what the *community* needs. After all, this is supposed to be HUMAN-centered design, right? And that means it's based on what PEOPLE need to solve problems. (Sometimes I forget this in the heat of the excitement of spinning ideas and linkages and what if's!) I said that I thought the first step would be for us to come and live in the community for a while as we understand what life is like for the Ngobe (at least that group of them), and identify collaboratively what the needs of the community really area.
She smiled. A huge big brilliant smile.
Yup, human-centered design. It works. And it bridges across peoples.
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