Project Proposal

Public Displays of Water Quality Data

Description

There is increasing interest from public health officials in instrumenting public infrastructure with sensors for real-time environmental monitoring. Part of this ‘smart city’ vision includes communicating this information to the public in real-time. While there has been a lot of investigation of enabling sensor network technologies, there has been less research into how this information should best be communicated to the public in affected areas. Our project imagines the future in which this real-time monitoring is possible for water quality data and looks at the information needs of members of the public, specifically those who use public waterways for recreational activities. In particular, we are interested in how large public displays offer a possible solution for situated communication of real-time environmental monitoring data.

Project Research

First, we will observe kayakers, swimmers, and additional water users at Confluence Park in Denver, Colorado to understand their needs for a water quality display. We will observe how people are using the park, how they are interacting with technology, and think about where in the park a public display might be installed. If possible, we will approach people and ask them questions.

We will also interview athletes who have prior experience with swimming in poor water conditions. Specifically, the participants of the 2017 Ironman in Madison, Wisconsin who swam in a record-high overflooded lake.

Based on these interviews and observations we will construct design requirements for a public display.

Next, we will create prototypes of displays based on these design requirements and evaluate them with these users. We will be able to show them to Ironman athletes over Skype. If we are unable to recruit anyone near Confluence Park (perhaps because it becomes too cold during the course of this project to find people by visiting the park), we will recruit people to talk to through relevant online communities, such as r/Denver. Our primary criteria for the evaluation will be perceived usefulness of the display and legibility (were people able to understand the information conveyed?).

We also have connections with the Public Health department in Denver. The Denver Public Health department is particularly concerned with monitoring E Coli levels in public waterways and communicating that information to the public. While we should be able to collect some example data (which is not yet real-time) of recent E Coli sampling from open data sets for mocking up displays, we can collaborate with these contacts if more data is necessary.

Collaboration

For communication, we are using Slack to discuss project ideas. We will continue to use this throughout the semester for project planning, discussing ideas, and coordinating meet-ups. If we find Slack to be too slow, we shared telephone numbers and will use messaging instead.

For in person communication, we believe after class is a great mutual time to meet up. We will adjust as needed throughout the semester if schedules change, and use Slack to recordinate times.

For collaboration, we are using a shared folder inside of Google Docs. We will use this as a central hub to store project proposals, user studies, and other important documents for the duration of the project.

For accountability, we will use Google Docs as a tool for us to contribute equally for written work. We will review each other’s work by providing feedback through comments, and editing as necessary. For in person research, we plan to conduct the user studies together in person, and aim to complete these before outdoor lake activities conclude for the season.

If we ever feel the workload isn’t properly divided, we will discuss it with one another, and recordinate.