Last week, we presented our first digital artifacts for marginalized and underprivileged populations. I was impressed to see such a wide variety of topics, and so many ways to discuss them: videos, Powerpoints, websites, posters...I enjoyed seeing the circumstances and populations people are passionate about. The presentations came from all over the place, from rural America to the far reaches of Africa and India. Seeing so many situations in which getting a good education can be difficult or impossible, I realized that our own niche in the system is the exception, not the norm. Only a few people have the chance to grow up in upper-middle-class America and attend fancy universities. It's nice to see that despite our mostly privileged backgrounds (and certainly privileged in terms of education), we still have the desire to reach out to those who don't share these opportunities. I'm curious to see how all this information will be translated into a second digital artifact.
I chose to explore childhood depression in schools, and I used a mind map as a presentation tool. It seemed to go pretty well, and I think people got most of the points I wanted to express. To find out everything I could about childhood depression, I looked through lots of different resources and articles. I was surprised at how little we still know about depression in general, and especially how it affects children. Given the devastating effect it can have on a child's education, it's certainly an area that could use more research.
Drawings / Process
I want to share a little bit about how I put together my artifact. I had a good time constructing the diagram and the website, since I enjoy visual thinking, and my past few blog entries have been focused on how people lay out information. I started with some drawings, and built them into a map and webpage framework:
Lots of icons to go into the map:
What the full map looks like:
Website screenshots:
A lot of little details go into the actual implementation, like the Flash plugin for the images and little Javascript goodies for the mouseover effects. These are always some of my favorite parts, because they offer a tricky set of little challenges, but they really give that something extra to a webpage.
Ideas for Digital Artifact #2
So now what? Now that I've gotten a decent overview of childhood depression, naturally I want to keep finding more resources, but ultimately turn this information into something that can help people. There are lots of organizations out there designed to spread awareness about mental health, but I wonder if there's something more active I can do? In the spirit of the presentations I heard last week, I'm optimistic that technology can be used to make a real difference to people who are suffering.
I had a few ideas of what I could do about the problem of depression in schools. It seems impractical to tackle the whole thing at once, so perhaps I could focus on a few elements that seem manageable. For example, I found that depression is often ameliorated by healthy food and exercise, especially for children who are prone to obesity. I'd like to develop a game that would encourage kids to play outside and eat healthy food. My current idea is based on what my siblings and I used to play when we were little: set up outdoor "restaurants" with snacks, and ride our bicycles between each one. If I could place this kind of game in some sort of framework where lots of kids could use it (such as a website or application), it might help kids go outside and eat healthy snacks...two for one.
Still shuffling through some ideas, but I hope that in the next few weeks I come up with something exciting and concrete.
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