2. Selection from Original Project Proposal:
This research team was formed with the intent of providing all of the participants the
opportunity to develop and gain experience in an area of professional research outside of
their normal experience. Specifically, experience in the areas including design-led research
and participant co-creators are of particular interest. In order to facilitate this desire, a
project was devised that bridges the interests of the group members and provides both a
personally and professionally stimulating point of interest for each contributor.
The project’s direct objective is to gather two small groups of individuals, likely students at
The Ohio State University, that are similar in almost all ways except that half of the group
will have a condition that deems them medically “Disabled” and the other half will be
considered, for the sake of clarity, Normal, or Able. The concept is to then provide a
comparative look at the two groups and see if there is a significant difference in the way
each group derives satisfaction out of everyday life. Utilizing research tools that depend
heavily on the output of participants is key to our understanding of the subjects.
3. Stakeholders
•“Abled” vs. Disabled
Original Plan
•Comparative study
•ODS Email – “Report Spam”
•Flyers – Untouched
Issues •Social Media – Low traffic
•What is life satisfaction?
Final/Revised •5 co-creators
Plan
4. Processes & Methods
Social Media
Tell us what you are doing that makes you satisfied?
Twitter - @life_satisfied and #life_satisfied
Facebook
Email
5. Processes & Methods
Survey – Warm up period, “Breaking the ice”
15 responses
People asked to choose among 8 dictionary definitions
of satisfaction
Workbook – More detailed introspection
Instances of satisfaction in the past, present & future
Answered by all our final set of co-creators
6. Survey - Definitions
Ecclesiastical - an act of doing penance or making reparation for
venial sin.
Payment or discharge, as of a debt or obligation.
The opportunity to redress or right a wrong, as by a duel.
Reparation or compensation, as for a wrong or injury.
The cause or means of being satisfied.
An act of satisfying; fulfillment; gratification.
Confident acceptance of something as satisfactory, dependable,
true, etc.
The state of being satisfied; contentment.
0 3 6 9 12 15
8. Bullseye & Make Tools
5 co-creators, 2 of which were colleagues
Plan
Introductions and Warm up – brain Teasers
Bullseye exercise (Words/Pictures)
Explanation and discussion
Paper airplane contest (2D to 3D)
Velcro session (Freedom to interpret)
Explanation and discussion
9. Bullseye
2 teams, 2 sheets of images, 1 sheet of words and
other miscellaneous supplies
Highest level of satisfaction in the centre
Team building exercise
Participants did not know each other beforehand
They discussed minimally about choosing particular
images or words
Built up to the next team exercise
11. Bullseye
Sleeping & Coffee – in the absolute center. Twice.
Common themes
Freedom, Friends, Food, Music and Productivity
Conflicts
Religion vs. Art
Healthy vs. Unhealthy
Awake vs. Asleep
13. Velcro Session
“Think about the Bulls Eye that you made with
your team mates and think about what could/would make
your life more satisfying?
It could be an object, a gadget, something
abstract like a sculpture or even a genie’s lamp.”
14. • The group
members
immediately began
to envision an all-
purpose mobile
satisfaction remote
control.
• This group was all
female.
15. • Having finished
with time to
spare this group
was asked to
consider another
object.
• In this instance
they chose to
create a remote
control from
some possible
future.
16. communication device
• The other group (all
male) developed a set
of more tangible super
gadgets.
• These included a
laptop for successfully
communicating ideas,
animation and music as
well as a “true”
universal remote and
finally a customizable
digital wall at home.
19. Gathering co-creators
Emails
Bulk or list-serv – Few to No responses
Personalised – Response plus action
Flyers with tear-away info
Untouched
Some tabs removed ahead of time by team to simulate
interest
Craigslist
Questionable responses (with pics!)
20. Gathering co-creators
Contacting Experts
Proved to be dead-ends as they were too busy
Social Media
Twitter – slow to begin , but progressively useful
Facebook – colleagues and acquaintances mostly but
other parties made a showing
Email – Chiefly due to privacy concerns sharing over
social media
Colleagues simultaneously needed participants for
their studies
21. Activities – Social Media
Twitter/Facebook/Email
Daily life, Present
“Receiving a new movie from Netflix”
Simple pleasures
“Running down High street w/ my iPod in warm weather”
Specific to General
“Freshly baked home made whole grain wheat bread
sandwiches” – we call it adjective bread.
“Defining goals and being able to achieve them”
23. Activities – Bullseye
Allowed for more abstraction & open interpretation
Addresses various needs
Art, Religion, Food, Sex
Team effort, hence some ideas get magnified
Even with only 2 teams, many similarities emerged
Coffee, Sleeping, Freedom, Productivity, Food
24. Activities – Velcro
Highest abstraction
Concerns focused on future
Touched themes of creativity, emotional healing,
conveying ones ideas, pleasure
Nevertheless, did not ignore/forget the more basic
themes of food, “coffee” and security
