Design Jam
October 13th, 2017 | Design Jam | Caitlin Endyke | MSI 1st Year, Human Computer Interaction
Do you know how your health data is stored? If
you needed to go to a new doctor, do you know how your medical files would be
transferred? In this digital era, you’d probably assume they’d be emailed (or
otherwise electronically sent), right? I would have thought so, too, until I
attended a Multidisciplinary Design Jam, hosted by the School of Information,
the School of Public Health, and the Law School.
It turns out that each state has differing
regulations for how medical files can be shared electronically, and these laws
determine whether or not one doctor can easily send your health data to
another. In the Design Jam, Dr. Jody Platt outlined the problem and asked teams
of students to think of a possible solution that would make the process of
transferring digital health data easier, while still following the appropriate
rules. The event allowed us to work across disciplines to sketch a solution,
and it was exciting to approach such a complex problem from so many different
angles. Students from the Law School and Public Health lent their subject
expertise to the issue, while SI students used our design process skills to
help the team sketch possible ideas. Our team leaned heavily on available
mentors from each discipline to ask questions about the problem specifics, and
get feedback on our solution - one that was definitely a more creative approach
than something I would have come up with on my own. As someone who tends to
attack a problem rather methodically, with as much data in hand as I can
gather, the Design Jam forced me out of my comfort zone and allowed me to apply
some of the design methodology that I’ve been learning in class, while getting
the chance to collaborate with students from departments we don’t normally get
to work with. It was a fun (and challenging!) experience, and I look forward to
the next event.
