Drew Cogbill | Thesis Blog

My thesis question is the basis for or the umbrella under which all of my prototyping does and will exist.  The question itself, nonetheless, will continue to develop throughout my process.  The following are my recent stages of thesis question development.

I started articulating my question in the summer paper:

• “This thesis process I began this summer, and will continue through the year, investigates the overlap of poverty, personal storytelling, and accessible communication technology, to see how design solutions can improve the lives of people living in poverty by giving them ways to communicate more often and intimately.”
• This isn’t really a question, but it was my thoughts about the thesis concept.  “improving the lives of people living in poverty” is a bit ambiguous.

From the paper came the summer presentation:

• “Improving the lives of people living in poverty in technologically limited areas through innovative communication solutions”
• I think I was trying to be less verbose, but this actually seems less substantial than the first.

Brought to thesis class last week:

• “What technologies or systems can most effectively enable people living in poverty to ‘transcend space and time?’”
• And “What does it mean to deliver the internet (in developing regions/emerging markets)?”
• In class discussion, people had big problems with the word “poverty.”  Most assumed this was living under $2 a day poverty, while I was being poverty in a larger sense, even to include exclusion from normal communication technologies.  I need to be more explicit about what I mean by poverty and probably use a different word or phrase.
• “Transcend space and time” is a Jan Chipchase phrase which refers to the basic human need to communicate over long distances to people we care about.  First, I should really use my own words.  Furthermore, my classmates wondered about the basic need idea.  I need this to be more clear in my mind before using it in my thesis quesiton.

Currently:

• “How can accessible communication technology provide a richer experience and be more affordable for people with limited technological access in developing nations?”
• “What does it mean to deliver the internet to people with limited technological access in developing nations?”