Praxis II Stakeholders and Research
Overview: Contacting stakeholders and performing research was interspersed in the Topic Precis and RFP phases of the design project.
Team: Fadime Bekmambetova, Rong Guan, and Jingyao (Jason) Li, Toluwanimi Odemuyiwa
Process in Action: While trying to identify the community in need, and to establish the need and define the problem, I discovered how important it is to contact stakeholders – those who have an interest in the proposed design and those who will be affected by the proposed design. Stakeholders bring perspective into the problem, they help guide the transition from a general, overarching need to a specific problem definition statement. As mentioned earlier, we went to the Deaf Culture Centre to speak with representatives of the Deaf community to determine some general needs. Our main problem at this stage was determining whether or not road safety for Deaf cyclists and pedestrians was a legitimate need. To verify the need, we found research on current issues with road safety, and found forums online where Deaf cyclists gave advice to each other on how to improve their road safety. In addition, we conducted an online survey for Deaf cyclists and pedestrians to get direct stakeholder-input on the topic. Over a course of two weeks, we received twenty-three responses that indicated several people had experienced unpleasant situations while cycling more than as a pedestrian. This stakeholder input directed us to narrow the need down to improving road safety for Deaf cyclists.
A link to the survey we took can be found here.
Team: Fadime Bekmambetova, Rong Guan, and Jingyao (Jason) Li, Toluwanimi Odemuyiwa
Process in Action: While trying to identify the community in need, and to establish the need and define the problem, I discovered how important it is to contact stakeholders – those who have an interest in the proposed design and those who will be affected by the proposed design. Stakeholders bring perspective into the problem, they help guide the transition from a general, overarching need to a specific problem definition statement. As mentioned earlier, we went to the Deaf Culture Centre to speak with representatives of the Deaf community to determine some general needs. Our main problem at this stage was determining whether or not road safety for Deaf cyclists and pedestrians was a legitimate need. To verify the need, we found research on current issues with road safety, and found forums online where Deaf cyclists gave advice to each other on how to improve their road safety. In addition, we conducted an online survey for Deaf cyclists and pedestrians to get direct stakeholder-input on the topic. Over a course of two weeks, we received twenty-three responses that indicated several people had experienced unpleasant situations while cycling more than as a pedestrian. This stakeholder input directed us to narrow the need down to improving road safety for Deaf cyclists.
A link to the survey we took can be found here.
