Projects

Cultural Mapping: A Participatory Design Approach for Visualizing the Cultural Assets of the City. A thesis Presented to the Savannah College of Art and Design.

My exploratory design concept for an online cultural mapping was an effort to make cultural resource information broadly available for an educational experience, in which the end users can discover the wide range and the diversity of resources in the community. The research has implications for the community planning process and building the foundation for collaboration with the outside resources.

The culmination of my thesis project on cultural mapping centered around the power of assets mapping. Cultural mapping encourages the use of capacity-focused as an alternative approach to visualizing the assets in the community. This approach includes individual capacities and organizational capacities such as citizen associations and cultural and communications organizations.

Visiting CreatHere, Chattanooga, TN

In line with our philosophy of sharing our vision and passion for creating a collaborative innovation networks in the region we introduced ourselves to similar design thinkers in the region and learn about other organizations who share similar vision and inspirations for change. The purpose of our visit to CreatHere was basically to share, learn and discover.

The site visit was great learning experience. During the visit we talked about our experiences concerning working with a Global Virtual project team for the COINs class with SCAD. We also shared our vision to meet community’s vision and goals as well as our approach to help communities transform their assets into innovative solutions.

Our discussion with Helen Johnson, Co-founder of CreatHere was extremely thorough in explaining the different projects and programs that were initiated by CreatHere. We also met with some team members in CreatHere who truly understand community as field for design and innovation so well. The experience was extremely helpful to us in learning about other models.

Cultural Mapping Project: Dalton City Council

The purpose of the visit was to share and present the finding from the cultural mapping of Dalton that was carried out between May – August 2011. Saad presented the summary of the findings and demonstrated selected samples of digital mappings that were generated from visualizing the cultural resources in the community. The presentation was carried out during Dalton Mayor and Council Meeting.

The presentation covered the initial steps toward mapping the existing cultural resources in the community based on the local knowledge through using multiple tools that combine quantitative and qualitative methods. The presentation covered creative city planning framework based on three broad areas including place, economy, and culture. The presentation also provided a synopsis of a design concept for a web-based platform for participatory cultural mapping capable of promoting public participation and engagement.

By the end of the presentation Saad acknowledged all the different people in the city of Dalton who have participated in the project. He especially thanked Mr. Ty Ross, Dalton City Administrator for his collaborative efforts and support throughout the entire process.

Sharing the results of the project with community stakeholders was a great learning experience. The presentation received positive feedback from the attendees and attention from Dalton local press. The study was also shared with Dalton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau for their feedback.

Exploring the Strategic Value of Interdisciplinary Collaboration

Visual Model submitted for research and industry poster session presentation at the COINs 2010 Conference, Oct 7-9, 2010, hosted at the Savannah College of Art and Design. The purpose of the model was to propose an approach that integrates design thinking, the business model Canvas, and collaborative innovation networks to visualize a model that leverages the internal relationships as well as external networks to meet strategic business goals. Click here to view the poster.