Over the course of the semester, I feel that I’ve learned about design thinking tools, observation techniques, writing project proposals, and working with organizations. Perhaps through the application of these practical tools in upcoming workshops and design project will help me meet the relatively abstract, theory-driven learning goal I’ve set out for myself.

Planning for the event began no earlier than September of last year. As a fairly meta “using the design process to design a design process”, we thought about how to create an environment of inspiration, a microcosm community around community improvement. Who would be the people involved? For how long? Which kinds of perspectives would be the most diverse?

Without realizing it, we had already incorporated many design justice network principles into our thinking. Namely:

2. We center the voices of those who are directly impacted by the outcomes of the design process.”

We, as students, are directly impacted by decisions by the administration. We believed that students, of all people, have critical insights and feedback to offer to improve student life and the MIT community.

“8. We work towards sustainable, community-led and -controlled outcomes.”

In fact, a few students have already stepped up to the challenge of improving the community. Services, platforms, and student groups have been formed with this intention – Firehose, a course planning app, LeanOnMe, an anonymous support network, Random Acts of Kindness week, to name a few. The we wanted our makeathon to serve as a springboard for future projects.

“6. We believe that everyone is an expert based on their own lived experience, and that we all have unique and brilliant contributions to bring to a design process.”

It can be tough as a student to envision life as an MIT administrator. Admins participating in the process were able to share their woes about project maintenance, lifecycles, and other unique viewpoints.

In retrospect, it would have been beneficial to document and share the design work during the makeathon for future events, as per “7. We share design knowledge and tools with our communities.” Even posting snippets and quotes during the event to the web, for example, may be useful to future designers.

Hello! I’m Willy.

I’m a third-year MIT student studying Digital Media. I work with all kinds of software, hardware, media, and people. I build multiplayer games, music controllers, and interactive visualizations. I study the creative process and how it evolves with computers and computation.

I’m going into this class without an established community partner or project, with the expectation that I’ll join an existing group and offer my support. As a jack of many trades, I often find myself as a mediator or translator, for example, explaining design concepts to engineers or technical terms to designers. In past teams, I’ve also found myself moving around to fill in missing roles as needed.

Through taking this class, I hope to learn more about what it means to cultivate, sustain, and modify a community. Community, to me, is more than a group formed out of similarity; be it geographical region, heritage, interest, etc. For me, a potent community draws out the best in humanity – collaboration, creativity, support, and selflessness, to name a few. I hope that as we examine, break down, and build back up the elements of a community, we can uncover more of what pull us together… and makes us human.

Well, of course, all while working with awesome folks and making an impact in a real-world initiative; who would have thought that classes were for learning only?