By: Zsofia Walter
The evaluation and testing phase has been difficult. The thought of creating low-fidelity prototypes to test different aspects of the platform, and thinking of phases for that testing made me excited because I could finally see a pathway to where we could actually reach our goal. The difficulty came in consolidating these plans with the short time we have left. We had to accept this time limitation and decide upon the best way to exhibit our idea. With my engineering background, I find it difficult to think big without thinking about the achievable “baby steps” to get there.
My biggest “aha” moment of this entire program came this week. A big aspect of our platform that we love is recreating the “purposeful wandering” we would normally be able to do. This week we were able to speak to Michael Faber, a senior manager from OIT, and not only was he able to give us insight into the technological feasibility of our platform but also forced me to take a step back from our vision of this interactive map. One thing that he said really stuck with me. He asked if it was the act of physically wandering around Duke that we were trying to recreate, or the feeling students get when they stumble onto something they didn’t know about and find connection. This redefining of the problem made it easier for me to envision low-fidelity testing for our platform.
