a situation where two or more people or things communicate with each other or react to each another - Cambridge Dictionary 

Inter- Action …. Interactivity

“the practice of designing interactive digital products, environments, systems, and services.” Interaction Design

Whatsapp

I have a family WhatsApp group chat where all my cousins, uncles, and aunts are part of. my dad’s generation people have a habit of sending stories, traditional poems, alerts, news, emergency messages, etc. but as English is not their first language they type and communicate in Gujarati. While my generation knows how to speak Gujarati fluently but it’s a little hard to read it. It doesn’t come so easy to us as English does. What happens most of the time is that I and my cousins usually don’t read these messages typed in Gujarati. This sometimes hurts the sentiments of my uncles and aunts as they think we are ignoring them or not interested in what they have to say.

Wouldn’t it be great if we had a WhatsApp translate feature? It would make the chat so much inclusive. see an example below

Our cohort has a WhatsApp group. Sometimes it gets very active and there are multiple conversations going on between 22 people, I wake up in the morning with 200+ messages from this group chat. Most of its causal banter, mixed with some important topic, eg. ‘how many of you are going to the seminar next week?’ there is no train of chat to this some reply after fee hours or even after a day or 2. It becomes hard to keep a track of these things.

What if this Poll feature was added to WhatsApp chats like “ask a question” and one could find all the replies to that question there. I won’t have to scroll over 200 messages and analysis the data… I have done rough ideation of it below.

poll, question and rate pic

Ownership of data? How can we tax digital data? are there any regulations how much data Corporates can store? Who’s data is it? can the user directly sell the data? How crazy are the terms and conditions? lo have we ever read it?

Democratising electricity? What if everyone could generate their own clean electricity? and share it?

Investigating product life cycle? the hidden idea that everything you trash magically disappears.

Role of a designer in a pandemic? What can I do? What should I do?

Different modes of interaction?

Investigation practise of death? is there a better way? study different practices. the sentiments behind it the religion behind it. how can we steer it to a different mode. This practise is thousand of years old … can we really change it. are there agencies that provide end to end service in India? what about abroad? how does an Indian Hindu follow its practise in foreign land

Explore materials…. probably cement sheets to design furniture.

Health

Dictionary ‘health’ is defined as ‘the state of being free from illness and injury’. It is obviously a negative definition. Such a definition reflects the current use of the words in the spoken language, but not necessarily its development over time.

The English ‘health’ derives from Old English ‘hælth’, which is related to ‘whole’ ‘a thing that is complete in itself’ (Oxford Dictionary) derived from Old English ‘hal’ of Germanic origin. In Middle English ‘hal’ also became ‘hail’ with the meaning of health in greetings and toasts. ‘hal’ is related to the Dutch ‘heel’ and the German ‘heil’. In German the connections between health, wholeness and salvation becomes even clearer than in English. ‘Heil-kunde’ and ‘Heil-kunst’ are still common German words for medicine, ‘Heiler’ is a traditional or alternative health provider; ‘heilfroh’ means wholly happy, and refers to a relationship between health and happiness

This quasi-religious context the constitution of the WHO adopted in 1948 becomes understandable when stating ‘the following principles are basic to the happiness, harmonious relations and security of all peoples: Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity’

Microb Biotechnol. 2013 Jul; 6(4): 341–348.Published online 2013 May 6. DOI: 10.1111/1751-7915.12063

Health Care

Care: Concern, worry, precaution, to give attention, maintain, – Merriam-Webster.

Health is a state of physical, mental and social well-being….  – Oxford.

Health care in India

India has a universal health care system. Mostly administered by the state rather than federal level. It is escessaintly free for all of India except for some small symbolic co-payments for services. In practice, however, the private healthcare sector is responsible for the majority of healthcare in India, and most healthcare expenses are paid directly out of pocket by patients and their families, rather than through health insurance.^[7]

Public Health Care – Private Healthcare

Several reasons are cited for relying on the private rather than public sector; the main reason at the national level is poor quality of care in the public sector, with more than 57% of households pointing to this as the reason for a preference for private health care.^[17] .Much of the public healthcare sector caters to the rural areas, and the poor quality arises from the reluctance of experienced healthcare providers to visit the rural areas. Private healthcare providers in India typically offer high quality treatment at unreasonable costs as there is no regulatory authority or statutory neutral body to check for medical malpractices.

Why such disparity in access to healthcare?

The health care system of India is lacking in three factors related to access to healthcare: provision, utilization, and attainment. However, there currently exists a huge gap between these factors, leading to a collapsed system with insufficient access to healthcare. Furthermore, inequalities in financing healthcare and distance from healthcare facilities are barriers to access.

Initiatives to tackle these problems: The Twelfth Plan, National Rural Health Mission, National Urban Health Mission, Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY), Public-private partnership. I need more time to investigate these initiatives to understand them.

Source of healthcare for urban and rural area

I generated this data chart based on: nternational Institute for Population Sciences and Macro International (September 2007). “National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3), 2005 –06” (PDF). Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. pp. 436–440. Retrieved 5 October 2012.

Medication (pharma industry): Investigation pending.

Finance: Investigation pending

My state Healthcare Infrastructure

Policy making?

Covid19

How will India end covid? or how will covid end in India? how will one survive covid in India

When and who will get the vaccine?

Phase1 : Health Care and Frontline Workers (should be complete by April)

Phase2: General Public (April or July)

Health Care Workers: 7 million (in the public and private sector). This includes 1.1 million MBBS doctors and 0.8 million Ayush practitioners; 1,5 million nurses, 0.7 million ANMs, and 1 million ASHA workers. The list includes 0.7-0.8 million allied healthcare professionals and others, like sanitation workers, ambulance workers, and hospital security,

Frontline Workers: 200 million frontline workers, including 4.5 million police and related forces and 1.5 million people from the armed forces. Municipal workers, public transport drivers, cleaners, and teachers.

How will the vaccine be given?

Pfizer and moderna: through injections. In 2 doses.

How many doses will India need?

First phase: about 500 million doses for 250 million people.

Manufacturing?

Vaccine Vials: 2.6 billion ; Syringes: 2.6 billion. for 1.3 billion Indian

Storage?

-70’c for Pfizer to -20’c cold storage . And for oxford vaccine 2’c to 8’c

 India has 80,000 cold storage units that are used for vaccination supplies today. To vaccinate 250 million people, the country would need 10 times more this number.

Transport logistics?

Logistics company DHL recently mapped the vaccine delivery landscape. In a white paper titled ‘Delivering Pandemic Resilience’, the company stated that to ensure global coverage for the next two years, about 200,000 movements by pallet shippers on 15,000 flights may be needed; 15 million deliveries in cooling boxes would have to be shipped. Source

What are the cold chain requirements?

Delivery?: Vaccine + Syringe + Practitioner

Will there be adequate trained medical health professional to administer the vaccine?

How will India deliver to the rural areas?

Price? 1000rs for 2 doses (10-12$) for the public, If the govt. is paying it needs 10.2 Billion$ (80,000cr)

The big question is, How are we going to dispose this medical waste?

Syringe:

Vials:

Vials: Glass usually Type 1 is used (recyclable? type?)

Guidelines on safe disposal of Used Needles and Syringes by National AIDS Control Organisation Department of AIDS Control Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Government of India

In reality, this is not how it’s practiced in India. It has a much grimmer and darker truth; various studies showed that syringes are reused, needles are not destroyed. They are disposed of with general municipal waste. A large part of this waste ends up in landfills or collected by the illegal recycling industry. Even cotton and gloves are reused by repurposing them into a different product. Source1, Source 2

How we strategize to dispose of this waste in India and globally? How will developing and poor countries deal with this?

While investigating syringes I stumbled on this article by MIT Lab where it is Re-thinking the syringe.

I feel like opened a pandora’s box by investigating this topic. It is too big a task that merits more time and collaboration with experts.

What could be also an interesting investigation into ‘social wellbeing in health care’ will lead too? will it include tech industry? Ai? What are traditional systems of social well-being in communities? What are the modern system?

I will investigate the boundaries of my land through the action/s of cross-referencing, validating, reflecting

While chatting with Maleeka, usually something interesting and inspiring always stems out. Given our country’s bitter separation during Independence, and since decade’s of conditioning through multiple layers (education, politics, media etc) we look at our neighbours as enemy. This institution has provided a safe environment to start a dialogue and foster friendship.

During one such conversation, where we were talking about the beautiful Jammu and Kashmir “Heaven on Earth” as told by Emperor Jehangir of the Mughal Empire. Lead us to google maps.

While looking at the maps and talking we were not able to orient ourselves.

Us marking out the boundaries that we believed was true

Trying to orient myself to an alternate reality

Us referring to UN maps, trying to make sense of this new information

This lead me to seek validation from 3rd party. friends, family in different countries.

Below is the screenshot of google maps provided by Shankar (current location Oman, 23.11.’20) Satelite view 100-200kms

Below is the screenshot of google maps provided by Megha Mitra (current location Saudi Arabia, 23.11.’20) Satelite view 100-200kms

I check Apple maps which showed the new states that came into inception on 5th Aug,19 i.e. 1. Ladakh and 2. Jammu & Kashmir. But it’s international borders are not defined.

I checked the official map of Indian by Indian Govt. and the official map of Pakistan by Pakistani Govt

On 5th August,2019 India revoked Article 360, that granted special status to Jammu & Kashmir to a Union Territory of India into 2 states 1.Ladahak  and 2.Jammu & Kashmir.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/05/world/asia/india-pakistan-kashmir-jammu.html 

There is a lot of things I need to understand: Who validates this? How is this new information be incorporate into things like, individual countries maps, tech application,curriences... what are other places this needs to be updated? 

What data does google take to make these map? Why is it showing 2 different versions on the same platform.? what are its policies? How will the map change once I move to Vancouver?

How does this "visual depection of boundries" condition us.

How is data managed between 2 countires? the world? Who has the privilige/access to data? Who are marginalized? 

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia could decide to ‘correct’ the ‘distorted’ map on its 20 Riyal banknote at the requests of the Indian government, reports indicated. Adding that Saudi Arabia is also likely to withdraw the banknote soon, reports said the two sides had reached a consensus on India’s position in Jammu & Kashmir.

Visual depection of boundries on print could have hughe political impact... it is also very costly to maintain it. Imagine reprinting the currency!!

I would like to take this action forward and do the following:

Provide a little more information about both me and Maleeka: where are we both writing from, how do we know each other

Provide a bit more background on the history and border issues: link to websites with basic historical explanations; discuss how the border issues are manifest at this time (is this urgent for me & Maleeka’s cohort, for example)

I could provide a final statement/conclusion that includes mine (and maybe Maleeka’s too?) reflections on the value of the casual data exchange between colleagues/friends (?) Do our final questions different? What are the issues (ethical, political, personal) raised in these data exchanges? Can I refer to some of the presentations in the series (data+knowledge sharing) in my analysis? Besides Dr. Namman’s talk, maybe Jessie Loyer’s talk about the trauma surrounding data sets might be worth exploring?

I will investigate Ambiguity and how to navigate it? through the action/s of observing/exploring/reflection of my thought process, feelings, and experience. 

Oxford Dictionary:
[uncountable] the state of having more than one possible meaning,
[countable] a word or statement that can be understood in more than one way, 
[countable, uncountable] the state of being difficult to understand or explain because of involving many different aspect.

res

My Attitude Towards Ambiguity

Thinking back on a time when I experienced ambiguity or uncertainty recently. This could have been a time when…

my next steps were unclear
I recognized multiple pathways/possibilities
I faced more questions than answers
my personal perception of a “right’ outcome was challenged

How did I feel ? & How did I respond?

SELF

Suing my ex-company (feel) not paying your employee is not right. I feel unsure of my works worth and in turn me. (response) Unsure as of yet, I played some music and felt low.

Taking precautions in sex (feel) I felt uncertain if I should use it with or not with my trusted partners, (response) took precautions as I don’t want to deal with the anxiety of the implications of not taking it.

Taking a weekend trip with my friends (feel) I felt scared of contracting Co-vid. (response) Fear of missing out, justified by using my time doing assignments, also took a rational decision of not going because if I get co-vid I can pass it to my parents who are old.

Deciding which ‘crown’ to get for my tooth that underwent root canal, (feel) I wasn’t sure which material crown I should get, metal? ceramic? Metal coated with ceramic? (response) my doc suggested I should go for ceramic or coated with ceramic as being a professional it’s not cool to have a shiny metal one.

Asking out someone (feel) I am always nervous about the outcome, fear of losing someone, (response) I ask anyway, as the fear or guilt of not knowing is too heavy, and also I have to be true to ‘thing’s’ I want.

TEAM

When our goals aligned or not, (feel) felt a bit weird (response) did a discussion

The difference of views, (feel) felt like the other person doesn’t understand that my solution that this meets the objective and that he could be wrong (response) discussed it and decided t keep both the solutions

Making time and taking time, (feel) wasn’t sure how much time the team member wanted to give, I personally try to put in as much time as I can, felt that other team members weren’t committed enough, (response) didn’t bring up the topic, later I realized the team member has other commitments, also their efforts could be divided into other tasks.

Sharing thoughts, and feelings (feel) I felt like I do if the other team member would be interested in that, or how would they perceive it, or how would they react. Possibly I felt scared. (response) I did not share

What recipe to give Pat for action 2. (feel) I felt uncertain, like should I give her something simple to make or something a bit complex as most of the recipes from my terrior are (response) I gave her something easy as she was experimenting with new elements.

Making decisions, (feel) I felt that there are multiple outcomes of making a decision when I and Maleeka decided of doing action 7 together, (response) I don’t know what the outcome is going to be yet.

Giving feedback, (feel) recently when I gave feedback to Zahara on censorship, I felt maybe I shouldn’t have given her that feedback, maybe it might demotivate her, (response) I checked with her privately on how she felt about my feedback and it was all good.

PROJECTS

Committing to projects (feel) I felt uncertain about my commitment to this action (response) I committed to it regardless as I had no choice but to do it.

When I had conflicting outcomes (feel) I felt okay actually (response) I was open to parallel solutions

When I had multiple options to move ahead or explore with stretch lexicon (feel) I felt good actually and overwhelmed in a good way (response) I don’t remember what my response was but what could have been my response but happy lol.

While doing initial actions (feel) I felt why am I even doing this? Is this design? (response) I decided to trust the process and also because I was having fun.

While performing the actions (feel) I was questioning if I am doing them right or wrong (response) decided to not think it in that way but keep on performing.

While asking uncomfortable questions, (feel) I feel nervous, (response) I decided to ask anyway.

How much time and money to invest, (feel) I felt skeptical (response) I tried to rationalize it with the output or the possible worth of the investment.

Updating to the Blog, (feel) I feel exposed (response) I have no choice but to post it, I won’t get marks if I don’t post.

---

Ambiguous Object Exercise

Letting go of the “right answer”

Participating friend's

Aman from Delhi, India (A)

Charles from Gujarat, India (C)

Elham from Tehran (E)

Melaine from Vancover, Canada (M)

Soumya from Mumbai, India (S)

Instructions

For this exercise, each participant needs to bring in a seemingly ambiguous object. For example, think of an object you’ve come across, picked up, and thought “hmm, I wonder what this does?” or “what does this belong to?” If you do happen to know, DO NOT reveal what your object actually is or does. Keep it a secret, which you can share at the end of the exercise. Taking turns to make up a story for the object on-the-spot. Have fun with how it might be used. By who? Where? When? For example, “this is an International Transmogrifier spies use when they’re on covert operations. They place it on a wall, flip this switch, and it reveals special messages hidden in plain sight, planted by their clandestine intelligence agency.”

Object – 1

Object – 2

Object – 3

Object – 4

Object – 5

---

“Ambiguity is like…
Jumping off a cliff in a fog“

“Because…
It’s like the process of discovering the bottom, there could be a lake, concrete slab, or a trampoline!! who knows? It’s exciting and terrifying !! “

---

Up to this moment, what tools, methods, mindsets, or other things have I relied on when I faced an ambiguous situation? What’s the composition of your ambiguity? What are the things that help you survive in ambiguity?

Tools or methods I have relied on: Listening to, I try to rationalize it, checking pro’s & con’s, multiple scenario building, I discuss it with beings, I contemplate, I research, zoom in zoom out,

Composition: Untearable, gooey, semi-solid/liquid

Helps me survive: Meditation music, I take a walk, I risk it, talking it out,