Plan HACCP

• Phase 3: Implementation

• Phase 4: First evaluation • Phase 5: Iteration

• Phase 6: Final evaluation.

The aim of describing these phases of activity in depth is to provide a rich narrative of how I worked in this particular context with a community-based Participatory Design process and how the project evolved in a participatory way. Participatory Design is distinguished from other design practices by its concern with process and not just with the design outcome or artefact (Robertson & Simonsen 2012). In order to answer the calls within the

Participatory Design community (Light 2010; Vines et al. 2013) for more detail and articulation of the design processes and how relationships develop, I have attempted in this chapter to provide detailed descriptions and reflections on the process of involving people in the design process.

February 2012– April 2013

April 2013 April–May 2013 May 2013

Phase 1: Initial design seeds sown Phase 2: Involving the community Phase 3: Implementation Phase 4: First evaluation Exploratory workshops, discussions with community members, Sowing New Seeds workshop, ideas generation Meeting with farm staff to discuss ideas and start planning Building electronics. Researching, writing scripts, recording and editing sound tracks. Aesthetic considerations First evaluation and data collection at Fascination of Plants

June 2013 August 2013 September 2013 September 2013

Phase 5: Iteration Phase 6: Final evaluation

Meeting with Olivia and Mandy to discuss first evaluation and future directions Second evaluation and data collection at eco-chic market Refining the design to incorporate new content for chillies. Content to be delivered in installments of shorter duration Final evaluation and data collection at Festival of Heat

Table 3: Phases of activity

Phase 1: Initial design seeds sown

This phase of activity took place from February 2012 (start of the exploratory study as described in Chapter 4) to April 2013, and describes the design seeds that were planted during my engagement at the farm that subsequently grew into more concrete ideas for the project. These seeds include

relationships I formed with key participants, and various conversations and ideas generated during the exploratory study, as well as different activities and events that I observed taking place at the farm.

During the exploratory study (described in Chapter 4), I identified that food growing and education around food growing are integral foci of the farm,

interrelated to the other core values of sustainability, community and well- being. For example, it was repeatedly brought up that there is diverse knowledge of food growing held collectively at the farm, and one of the

challenges of the farm was how to make this collective knowledge accessible and available to others. For example, there are often not enough staff on hand to answer questions from those wanting to grow their own food, or visitors may be too shy to approach someone. We discussed the potential for digital technology to assist in making this information accessible to a wide audience. For example, in the fourth workshop we generated a concept for an interactive map with a touchscreen interface in different languages that told you,

amongst other things, what was currently growing at the farm, their medicinal and health properties, recipes, hints and tips for growing, and which parts of the plant you can eat.

As described in the “Findings” section in Chapter 4, education is a core value of the farm. In the “Implications and opportunities for design” section in

Chapter 4 I discuss the potential for technology to support the educational work that the farm already does. For example, immediately after the conclusion of the final exploratory workshop, the education officer, Esther, approached me and explained her educational interest in exploring how looking after animals and plants relates to how we look after ourselves. She was interested in “keys into learning”: innovative ways that would potentially harness new or digital technologies to help people access the knowledge and information at the farm in a way that was not too directive or didactic. We agreed that push-button technology was inappropriate and wondered how to make technology more integrated into the surroundings. In this conversation we also discussed the existence of signage around the farm, including plant labels. Dotted around the gardens were handwritten labels with information about plants including their name and growing conditions. We discussed the possibility of augmenting these unobtrusively with RFID or QR tags. People

could then access this information, looking for tags like a treasure hunt around the farm.

Other key conversations were held with Mandy, the volunteer coordinator. Mandy has a background in ethnobotony and she was interested in finding ways to educate the public in medicinal and practical uses of plants, beyond the culinary. In early 2013 she was setting up a weavers’ garden, to link the farm to its historical location in Spitalfields, which was a centre for Huguenot silk weavers from the 17th century. In this garden she planned to grow plants traditionally used for making dyes and fabrics. She was also organising an event as part of the International Fascination of Plants Day in May 2013 (where we first demonstrated the Talking Plants), which would provide

opportunities for the public to engage with the more unusual or scientific uses for plants.

Conversations with Olivia, one of the growing coordinators, also helped to sow the design seeds for the Talking Plants. Olivia was working with different groups to support their food-growing activities. She coordinated a large growing programme and was involved in practical gardening activities with volunteers and various groups, as well as outreach, reporting, education and capacity building with local community groups. At this time she was also involved in the Sowing New Seeds project: a series of workshops run by the Heritage Seed Library from the national charity Garden Organic and held at the farm (as described in Chapter 4). The aim was to increase skills in, and share knowledge about, growing crops not usually grown in the UK. These workshops were attended by people diverse in terms of age, ethnic

background, and gardening knowledge. Olivia was coordinating the

establishment of small gardening plots at the farm for workshop attendees where they could grow “exotic” crops. For example, there was a new

Zimbabwean garden that was tended by a group of women every Tuesday, where they grew crops from Zimbabwe.

My own background and experience with audio-based projects also informed the project. For example, I had previously developed an interactive system to play back audio from a traditional textiles quilt, using an oven glove

(discussed in the “Related work” section above and in Chapter 1). The audio content for the Talking Quilt was personal stories around food, food growing and community. Drawing on this previous project, I began thinking of an audio system that could provide information around food growing, celebrate the community, and make available the rich and diverse knowledge around food and food growing that was held collectively at the farm. Rather than an audio tour, I thought of somehow augmenting the existing plant labels with digital technology as a way to provide a playful, intuitive and accessible experience.