Carleton Now newsletter

Article posted in the Carleton newsletter!
"Designing on the ground for Ugandans with disabilities" By Susan Hickman
read it at: http://carletonnow.carleton.ca/?p=10709

CAAS Conference

My team and I are participating in the CAAS (Canadian Association of African Studies) conference hosted by Carleton University this week with our project. The topic is: Communicating Social Innovation; Co-developing New Products for the Disabled. Two of our friends from Uganda will be arriving tomorrow, so it will be nice to see their faces again.

For the roundtable discussion, we hope to cover:
1. How to improve communication in the co-development process?
2. How PWD’s (people with disabilities) in Uganda are not only looking for mobility aids, but also a way to gain more economic independence through the use of better mobility aids.
3. Communicating through physical prototyping and the branding of ideas. How to sustain innovative ideas and commercialization of such ideas.

I need to go do some prepping, but I hope I'll be able to share the good insights with you in a few days time!

Dean's award

My team and I won this year's Dean's award for Innovation through Collaboration!

Takeaway cards

I convinced my team to make takeaway cards for the exhibition, but most people saw the pile of cards and were too scared to take them, even though I put a sign that said, take one! I'm still convinced, however, that this is a good idea..

Final presentation, slides

The final presentation is a ten minute run with a small panel and classmates behind them. We presented as a group and then branched off into our individual projects. First starting with the tricycle, then my tool adaptation for livelihood, the solar panel charger, and lastly the rollator. With the limited time, I needed to be succinct so I chose to focus mainly on the final design decisions made and the reasons for those choices and concluded with it being open to the future, just as I had intended its design to be.

presentation plans

The final presentation is in less than a week. I've been thinking about it for a few days now, and it's strange how much it baffles me on how to present everything I've learned in only ten minutes. Not only that, but I have no idea where to start. It's been such a long eight months! I made a linear 'speech structure' but I can't figure out if one should start their presentation with the final result and work backwards, or start from the beginning and then show the final result. The work is not linear, A did not lead to B, necessarily, so I re-did my plans and made a bubble instead. I wonder if I can present in a non-linear way and people will still understand me...

Figuring things out

I'm getting into a good routine now, waking up super early and getting to work when it's all quiet and the residue of the day doesn't weigh you down. Still lots of work to do though, but it's getting done. I'm in the process of building a new connector that works similarly to a universal joint, because the one I prototyped for Uganda had alignment issues that could not be resolved by Kio, our welder. Hopefully this one will work better! (In theory, it does)

Anyway, proof that I'm actually working:

People with disabilities

I visited a village today, after a successful user testing with individuals with disabilities. And then, we met a whole other cohort of individuals with disabilities that we could not address the needs of. Saving the world isn't easy.

Leg sacrifice

I sleep under a mosquito net to keep mosquitoes (and malaria) out. Except, when the mosquito is on the INSIDE of the net, breathing the same air you do, I get really paranoid...especially when it buzzes you, or you think it's going to bite you all night long. So I have to distract it away from my face and ears by feeding it my leg. I mean, if you are going to take a bite, take it from there.

Things on backs on bikes

In Uganda, everyone rides a bicycle or motorbike. And then, they all come up with inventive/dangerous ways to carry more things than they should on their vehicles. Here's just a few, but believe me, nothing is too large or heavy to carry on the back of a bicycle.

and then the Cactus said

The landscape of Uganda is full of green islands in yellow savanna with immense cactus trees, and all I can think of is how it would like a hug.

Colours of the wind

The windows are open. We are cruising through the African savanna. The wind running through your hair is such a great feeling.

KADUPEDI board meeting

Attended a board meeting out of formality. The meeting was held sitting in a circle under a tree, talk about being corporate!

The goat king

My friend spotted this event when we were driving across the city from Kampala to Kasese, I wish I had my eyes open!

distraction

I was sitting in a meeting and distracted by the goat

At a bar in Amsterdam

With a series of unplanned events, we stopped in Amsterdam for a night and went to the coziest "brown bar" I know.

En route to Amsterdam/Uganda (by air)

Flying to Uganda I first have to stop in Amsterdam (no complaints here). I requested a window seat, but then proceeded to sleep through most of the flight. I woke up near the Netherlands and from up above, there are so many little streams and rivers in this little country, they all run silvery smooth like mirrors. I was half-expecting to see the airplane itself reflected in one of them. The sky is in the ground!

fix

It's allmostttttttt working!

update

I've practically been camping out in the metal shop for a week and a half now. There are a lot of small alterations to the maize mill that need to be done in order for it to work and we've been attacking each little problems as we approach them. The simplest way is to weld steel to the cast iron mill but nobody knows if it's a safe idea, that the iron will not turn so brittle that it will crack under the torque produced by the system I'm building.  I'm pretty sure when I bring this to Uganda they can do everything I've done, but in two days time with some extra African ingenuity. However, on an exciting note, with a few more cuts on the lathe and some welding and this baby will be ready to grind!

Informal mid-crit review

This was an informal midcrit review, but because I felt like my project was on fire (not in a motivational way) I decided to prepare slides in order to clearly show:
1. Concept validation, and 2. My plan, and 3. My goal

Since we are leaving together to Uganda quite soon, I really wanted to make sure everybody (ie. profs and advisors) was on board with the idea, and my choices.