Reflection - Visualization

Challenge  The Challenge I have is to initiate a digitalization project in a public library. The  question that needs to be answered is: “What kind of programs, like workshops,  tours, talks, etc. can the library run to create a valuable benefit for the public?”. In  the “What is?”-Phase we are analyzing the current status of the institution, including  the setting and the stakeholders. The goal is to make digital elements accessible to  the visitors of the library and also to educate the staff in supplying those. To achieve  this you have to take into the account the mindset of both stakeholders. Visitors are  primarily interested in analog media like books and newspaper. Employees are  administrative staff that have, putting it in a very simplified way, a mindset  accustomed to linear problem solving, due to the fact that a vast amount of their  work is sorting and filing books using excel sheets.   To launch a transformation in this field with sustainable results I will need to  incorporate the employees in the process. In order to activate the other side of their  brain visualization tools seem a probate and effective tool. A big part of the  challenge is to bring the team together to create a project that reaches out to the  public. The team and the public both need to learn to use new digital devices and  media.    Selection and Application  Since visualization connects to the emotional side of the brain, I chose this  approach, because the learning process is deeply connected to emotions and works  best in a playful and fearless environment. We went through the phases “What- Is”(1), “What-If”(2), “What-Wows”(3) and “what-Works”(4) using different  visualization tools.   In phase one the team joined to draw match-stick drawings of typical library  situations, in phase two we took photographs of those situations and enhanced  them with digital tools and media icons, in phase three we went out to people in the  library to ask them what they found most interesting and “cool” in phase four we  created a poster displaying the process and displaying our survey-results. With this  poster we can display our goals and the possible realization process to future  stakeholders and investors.   The team was not accustomed to design thinking methods, before. We used the  sketching method, explained by Angela Mayer in Module 1, in order to activate the  part of the brain and stimulate the affective perspective. One example we worked on  was a person looking for a specific travel-guide. She is standing in the aisle between  a long row of bookshelves and does not know where to go. In phase two we then  added an icon of a globe above the specific shelve. This led to the idea of an  Augmented Reality (AR) program to support finding books more easily using AR- glasses or your phone. If you will look in a specific direction an icon will pop up over  the shelves, displaying the content.     Insight and Approach  In sessions one and two we did not include all stakeholders, especially but  unintentionally excluded the public, the have been included in phases three and

four. Focussing on the “What Wows-Phase” and the “What-Works-Phase” we did  surveys on how the public liked the idea, but they were not really academically  prepared, so it is questionable if the results therein are valid. We could not really test  the AR idea. We will need to approach an agency for this step and realize some  more Design Thinking workshops.   What really worked well was nourishing the creative side of the team.  What I really  like is that with applying a specific set of methods you a can easily dip into the world  of design thinking, promoting agility and transformation processes in small steps. I  will keep on this track and gradually implement more methods.

