Introduction
The ITM-HITIHE project's "User Design Process" was facilitated by Kawsang during a two-day workshop held on March 1st-2nd, 2023, at UNS Tower in Surakarta, Indonesia. The workshop aimed to gather insights and ideas directly from the target user base for the upcoming Wikitropica platform. Sixteen participants, including academics, clinicians, and researchers in tropical medicine, represented a cross-section of Wikitropica's intended audience. The workshop focused on three specific contexts: academic, patient-facing, and rural settings.
Day 1:
The first day began with participants arriving on time and engaging in an introductory circle activity to foster connection. The facilitators provided context for the workshop, introducing the HITHE project and the Wikitropica platform. The three phases of the Human-Centered Design (HCD) process were explained, with an emphasis on empathy and prototyping. Participants worked in pairs to understand each other's stories, analyze challenges, create personas, and develop user journey maps. Teams formulated "How Might We...?" questions and shared their progress before concluding the day.
Day 2:
The second day began with participants sharing their observations and engaging in a circle drawing activity to demonstrate creativity and collaboration. Akira, the lead facilitator, introduced techniques for creativity, such as the idea grid and brainwriting. Teams continued working on their ideas, delving deeper into them and considering the value they could provide. User stories and prototypes were created, followed by a discussion on observations and reflections. Participants emphasized the relevance of the material, highlighted the importance of focus and empathy, and appreciated the generosity in sharing ideas. The day concluded with participants sharing their personal growth and lessons learned in collaboration, self-care, and creativity.
Results from each team from the 2-day co-design workshop
Team "Academic - Putri":
The "Academic - Putri" team focused on the challenges faced by academicians in accessing health information and conducting research on tropical diseases. They developed a journey map for a clinical student named Putri, who struggled with finding valid information and experts for her case study. The team formulated a "How Might We" question and generated ideas such as a Learning Management System (LMS), AI, online consultations, and expert-guided discussion forums. Their proposed solution, "Tropicana," aimed to provide academics with reliable information sources, expert chats, discussion forums, and curated learning resources in a social media-like interface.
Team "Patient facing setting - Dr. Ro":
The "Dr. Ro" team addressed challenges related to false diagnosis in patient-facing settings. They focused on the journey of Dr. Ro, a primary care doctor, when treating patients with suspected rare diseases. The team formulated a problem statement regarding the quick diagnosis of rare diseases for timely treatment. They generated solutions such as knowledge resources, standard operating procedures (SOPs), reporting databases, and an online platform called "Tropline." Tropline aimed to provide doctors with diagnosis information and connect them to trusted forums and medical experts.
Team "Rural setting - Ruri":
In the rural setting, the "Ruri" team identified obstacles faced by health service providers, including connectivity and access issues, limited human resources, and social and educational backgrounds. They focused on the challenges related to delayed children's health and nutrition data updates in rural areas, impacting additional feeding programs for stunting alleviation efforts. The team created a persona named Ruri, a young physician working in mountainous areas, responsible for gathering relevant data. Their goal was to obtain necessary health and nutrition data for implementing additional feeding programs.
Participants' Feedback
Participants expressed their valuable feedback, highlighting the importance of focus and mindfulness, the practice of empathy, and the realization that generating ideas is a time-consuming process. They also expressed happiness and a sense of acceptance, feeling heard and appreciated. Participants noticed the generosity in the room with regards to sharing ideas, expertise, and personal experiences.
Conclusion
The ITM 2-day User-Design Workshop was successful in gathering insights, generating ideas, and developing tangible outcomes for the HITIHE project's Wikitropica platform. The workshop facilitated collaboration among diverse participants, resulting in innovative solutions for challenges in academic, patient-facing, and rural settings. The valuable feedback from participants emphasized the significance of focus, empathy, and idea sharing in the design process, contributing to a successful and enriching workshop experience.