Designing for Trust
Testing the app
We've been back in the field testing the app we're developing for farmers in Myanmar. I designed a brief usability test so we can gauge how easy it will be to use and determine how to improve it. Again, as with every time we've met with farmers, they mentioned how much they rely on meteorologist, U Tun Lwin. He's the former Director-General of the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology for Myanmar. Notably in 2008 he warned local authorities about Hurricane Nargis although unfortunately they did not act. In the aftermath he focused on raising awareness about preparing for such events and climate change. Although retired, he's regularly on the radio and runs a popular facebook page focused on weather and agriculture. When we discussed weather with farmers they immediately mentioned his name and described how they rely on him for advice, so we noted the trust farmers place in him very early in our research.
L to R: U Tun Lwin; Shalini Bahuguna, UNICEF's Deputy Representative in Myanmar; me; and Linn Linn, managing director of Mango Media.
I had the privilege of serving with Dr. Lwin as a judge for the youth Social Innovation on Climate Change competition that UNICEF held this past weekend along with Shalini Bahuguna, UNICEF's Deputy Representative in Myanmar and Linn Linn, managing director of Mango Media. Each team proposed a solution for improved communication about climate change for young people across Myanmar. After each team made their pitch, our job was to determine which strategies were relevant, adaptable, and have the potential for scale. As we gave the teams feedback on their projects he took them seriously, gently challenged and kindly encouraged them. It was difficult to determine the most innovative, feasible and impactful idea as clearly each team had put a lot of work into considering the criteria and had come up with great solutions. I really enjoyed the event and meeting everyone who made it possible.
L to R: Linn Linn, managing director of Mango Media; Shalini Bahuguna, UNICEF's Deputy Representative in Myanmar; me; U Tun Lwin; surrounded by the youth competitors
in Process: Designing, Topic: User Experience
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