Digital Equity and Excellence
In my Human-Centered Design and Engaged Media course, I collaborated on a media consulting project with Digital Equity and Excellence (DE2), an organization based out of Newfield, NY. DE2 aims to promote digital social justice and nationwide broadband access, particularly for rural students. Throughout Fall 2022 and Spring 2023, my team engaged with DE2's founder to understand their needs. In the first semester, we explored Newfield, designed a website, and crafted promotional materials. In the second semester, we launched the website, boosted advertising, and conducted research on marginalized groups' internet access experiences. Check out the "Final Website" link for our completed project.
Project Type
Media Consulting Project
Timeline
2022-2023 Academic Year
Course
INFO 4940 Human-Centered Design and Engaged Media
Final Website
DE2 Mission Statement:
DE2 wants to generate digital content to advocate for digital social justice and national access to broadband Internet connection, specifically for students in rural areas.
Deliverable Outlines
Our group was tasked with producing three main deliverables:
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First, a website to explain and compile the facets of DE2’s mission, which should ideally have components that cater to students, parents, and other concerned citizens or community members.
Secondly, we developed two types of kits: a media kit and research kit. The media kit enables students and parents to articulate their internet access challenges by providing templates for letters to senators, principals, or local government. The research kit guides middle and high school students through a step-by-step process for conducting ethical online research, focusing on critical questioning and presenting findings. It comprises printable flashcards for classroom distribution.
Finally, we created promotional materials that DE2 could use to advertise their campaign, including fliers, t-shirt designs, and a new logo.
"Bumper Sticker" logo designed by our team for DE2
My Role: Product Manager
I was the designated "Product Manager" for the entirety of this project. I dabbled in UX Writing, lead our User Research, and assisted with Product Design, but primarily was the PM.
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I wrote...
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All text for the three deliverables submitted and presented throughout the semester
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All copy for media kits and flashcards for research kits
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Interview questions for user research and "Tabletop Kits"
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Copy where relevant for our designed website
I organized...
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All communication with our client partner at DE2
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The preparation and execution of our user research and testing before and during our design iteration process
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User Research
Arguably the most meaningful and critical part of our work involved traveling to Newfield to interview students at their combined Middle School and High School about their personal experiences with inaccessible Internet. We interviewed roughly twenty students in total in our two visits to Newfield, and we followed the same interview protocol for all interviews. Interviews were kept anonymous for student privacy. After our interviews, we compiled our session data and pulled significant quotes or experiences to include in the "Student Stories" portion of our website.
Photos of our team interviewing students at Newfield - examples of interview questions are attached
Finalized Deliverables
Original Website Design
Home Page
Research Kit
Promotional Materials
