Setting up for my design experimenting

Today I set up an email account, a website domain name and an address for my research feedback. 

I am in the process of designing a card and setting up a basic website page for people to contact me with feedback. 

I added the website link to the top of my blog, "Did you drop this?", which it is not set up yet. 

What is next!?

The only way I am going to find out if this will work as a means of connecting people is to go out there and experiment! 

1. I will create a simple website with my contact info and details about the project and why I am doing it . This will allow people to contact me with their thoughts on the idea and if they feel it is affective. I may even ask them on the spot if this would be beneficial to them or not, depending on the situation of course

2. Design the sample cards and get them printed out

3. Start meeting people and passing out the cards

How will I communicate this?

My first thoughts were to create a website in which people can find out about this project. I have not totally written the idea off, but feel it would not be the best means of communicating about a more socially connected lifestyle. It defeats the purpose a bit and I feel the site would end up being more like a blog then getting people together in a physical environment. 

After going through all of my research in the past few weeks I am working more in a card/game format, like trading cards or, top trumps. Something more interactive that will actually need a bit of connecting with people in order to collect the cards and even trade to make a matching set. The entire idea of my project is to inform people of the importance of social connecting and to bring people together in a physical environment, so I have to really focus on this aspect of my design.

I started with a business card type of idea and starting thinking about trading cards. There are many people that collect cards of all types, from sport cards to the Simpsons, Lord of the Rings, to even adult cards. They will be more than just collection cards as they will have facts and means of meeting new people along with characters and stories to follow and collect as you go. 

I like the idea of mixing facts about people and connecting, characters and their stories as well as contact information like a business card all in this one collection so it is fun and informative as well as being useful in meeting people.

 

Three types of cards: 

-There can be a series of character cards that tell a story about people and the situations they go through meeting people or the lack of meeting people (there can be different outcomes on separate cards, like the negative outcome of not connecting and another card would have a positive outcome) and what affects it had on their lives. 

-The facts cards can have statistics about people connecting and what physical affects it has on their minds and bodies

-The "Greeting" or "meeting" cards can have little messages and place for the person's contact information. I even thought about having a little sticker page with ready-made quotes like, "want to have coffee some time?" or "I am new in town and looking to meet people" 

Why/how people tend to meet and connect in their lives

Celebrations/parties; birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, reunions, graduations.

Single people will often go to weddings to meet other single people that might be attending.

Hardships/ disasters/ losses; funerals, natural disasters, fires, floods, hurricanes

Examples: 911. Hurricane Katrina and the bombings on the London train systems. People pulled together and connected more through these events.

Be it through hard times or celebrations these are events in which people come together and connect.

People connect through similarities in lifestyles; hobbies, careers, through joining organizations and groups, volunteering, sports, pet owners, also support groups, like AA (Alcohol Anonymous) and counseling groups.

So disaster don't just occur every day (thank goodness!) and we can't just have a party every day of the week. So, what are we supposed to do it order to meet others and connect? 

How am I going to get people to connect more in an every day basis? 

Creating a system-means that will allow people to set up gatherings on a daily and weekly basis, even to have a cup of coffee or a meal, connecting with others in a physical setting.

Did you drop this?...and other brainstorming ideas about my project

How often have you met someone in a coffee shop, on the train, in the park, etc. and shared a smile or even a small hello or chat and then ended up simply walking away never to see this person again? I am not just speaking of a love connection, but any type of relationship, friendships, getting to know people in a community. This has happened to me many times and I always wish I could have done more to keep in contact with some of the people, but it simply ends right then and there.I think even that small bit of contact is good, but what if you want to get to know people better and have a longer term relationship?  I do have business cards and have handed them out from time to time. What about people who don't have or just not sure how to keep in contact? What if people are just shy and don't even know how to start up a conversation, but really want to connect?

Last week I was designing a business card for myself. One of my roommates was talking to me about meeting new people. She is 29 years old and a student at the university as well. We have both been here since last September. She is from China and having a great deal of trouble finding people she can confide and connect with here in London. She often talks to me when she is sad and talks about her friends back home. I suggested she get a business card and if anything she could hand one to someone she is interested in getting to know them better. She said she had a problem with just walking up to someone on the street and giving him or her a card. I started thinking of ways in which people could hand a card without being too forward. I then thought about pretending that that person dropped a card, which would actually be your card. I told her if she could go up to the person and ask them, "Did you drop this?...” I think the key is to smile and give the person eye contact. If they are not interested they could simply say no and none is lost. With this comment, or question the person has an exit or an opening opportunity to take the card or simply say no. The card could have a message like, I am new to the city and looking to meet new friends, I am interested, want to have coffee some time, etc. 

The metro newspaper came to mind. All those people that write into the Metro paper in the personal adds. There is a free space there for people actually write in with hopes that they can connect with someone they previously encountered on travels on the train.

For example;

"To the blond woman with the blue dress at St. Pancras station on Monday morning. I was the man in the dark blue suite, dark hair carrying a tan briefcase. You picked up my newspaper for me and smiled. Fancy a cup of coffee some time?" 

This is a great example in which people of a younger age group are trying to meet people and desire to get the word out, but not sure about the best means to go about it. 

Why not have a quicker means as to do this instead of having to rely on a paper and hoping that that person actually reads it! I thought about my card idea for communicating. The actual process of giving someone a card, it is tricky because people most likely don't just walk up to someone on the street or in the train and hand a card over. 

I have thought about it and it has been brought to my attention that most people may not want to be approached or that this means of connecting with people may be a bad approach to the problem. On the other hand, if people are willing to write into a newspaper with a remote chance that they will get a response I feel they may be more reassured using the card method they will actually be able to get a result straight away, or at least that person knows that you exist and they have a means to contact you.

This can be designed for all types of meetings; friendships, love connections, I am new in town and looking to meet new people, networking, etc. There is an “exit” to this method as asking a person if they dropped this gives them the option to say no and simply walk away or to question more about the situation.

I want to start with the worst case scenario. 

Worst-case scenario: Some people don't want to be bothered and are happily connected in their lives and relationships. They have no desire to meet anyone and would be greatly upset if someone were to approach them. I could hand someone a card and they could laugh in my face or tell me to bugger off. 

Summary of my research and findings

“Humans beings are evolved to be social.” Empathy in patient care by Mohammadreza Hojat

With technology today we are able to connect with people from all over the world, but are we really connected?  When we think about loneliness and isolation we often think about the elderly population in our society. Today the age for isolation is expanding into a much younger age group. People thirty and even into twenty years of age are more disconnected from society and have concerns of loneliness and depression. They are using their computers and phones as an alternative means of communication leaving the physical world behind. In 2008 a study done by UNESCO Institute for Statistics show that people in the US and UK spend over 28 hours a week on the computer.

After surveying 21 people ages 20 through 35 years old I found that this population spent an average of 16 hours a week watching television and spent an average of 21 hours a week calling and text messaging people on their cell phones. Only 10 hours a week were spent with friends/or family in a physical setting. When asked the same group of people if they were happy 35% strongly disagreed, 25% neither agreed nor disagreed.

Our technological lifestyles are causing us real emotional and physical health problems. There is considerable proof that the extent to which social relationships is strong and supportive is related to the health of the individuals who live in the social setting. Even the results from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) show that people with the highest social connections had the lowest rate of memory loss from 1998 to 2004. Recent studies even show that social support is linked to survival of healing after an illness and health emergency for example post myocardial infarction, or heart attack. Someone who has the support of their family and community is more likely to heal and gain wellness verses someone who does not have a social network.

Psychoneuroimmunology or Behavioral Medicine is the link between the nervous systems and the relationship between mental and health processes. This shows that our immune systems are connected with our brain in some way and is influenced by external factors such as mental, emotional processes (moods and feelings). This proves that what we think and feel can have real affects on our physical responses, specifically our immune systems. Robert Ader of Rochester University and researcher of PNI states," we are not talking about causation of disease, but the interaction between psychosocial events, coping and pre-existing biologic conditions." Mind Body Medicine gives us the understanding of how states of mind can affect our health. Stressors that occur over a long period of time, more than one or two years, can break down the immune system leading to an increase risk in physical illness and the likelihood of becoming depressed (Rashmi Nemade, Ph.D., Natalie Staats Reiss, Ph.D., and Mark Dombeck, Ph.D.)

So in the study of Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) it is not that new car, the big house with a pool or the new trainers purchased last week, but how we are connected and our close connection with our family, friends and communities that has everything to do with our health and wellness. So if we are disconnecting ourselves from our physical social world, what we need most to keep us healthy where are we heading as a society? Depressed, suicidal, emotionally and physically sick?