Category: Designing for Change

Nudge Implementation

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I chose to change the magnets on the front of the dishwasher for my nudge. My hope was that the change would highlight the need for people to unload the dishwasher. I chose a yellow and black color scheme for high visibility.

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Preliminary results are promising. On my first day of observation students did unload the dishwasher more quickly and as a result there was no crunch at 3pm. Everyone was able to put their dishes in the dishwasher right away. Results were less promising on the second day, George unloaded the dishwasher.

An interesting unexpected behavior, people seem willing to move the magnet into the ‘Unload’ section if they see the dishwasher needs to be unloaded but do not have the time to unload it themselves.

Nudge Assignment

 

I observed activity in the ITP kitchen for this assignment. Sharing a common kitchen is always a challenge, so there was sure to be some pain point there. My original thoughts were around running the dishwasher, since I know that has been a problem in previous years and is something I don’t do all the time myself.

However, after observation it turns out that running the dishwasher is not the sticking point of the ITP kitchen. Some of my observations:

  • Everyone will rinse and put their dishes in the dishwasher, or wash them in the sink
  • No one will run the dishwasher
  • George will run the dishwasher
  • Very few people unload the dishwasher

The fact that not many kitchen-users are unloading the dishwasher creates a situation where both dishwashers are full. This in turn creates a backlog of dishes that either are left on the counter or washed by hand. The result is a messy kitchen or one that’s overcrowded. The situation is exacerbated by the ‘3pm Rush’ where many people are cleaning up their lunches before they go to class. I counted at least 20 people who either left their dishes in the sink or waited to wash them by hand instead of unloading the dishwasher.

 

Diversity and the National Parks

This past summer the National Park Service celebrated its 100th birthday, a tremendous milestone for any organization. One of the main challenges that the National Parks face as they look to the future is how to attract more minority visitors to the parks, as current park visitors are overwhelmingly white.

The National Park Service has a number of initiatives in place that they hope will bolster attendance, recognizing minority history in existing parks, adding more language inclusivity, and recruiting more minority rangers. The Park Service is hoping that once people visit a park, they will fall in love. However, I can’t help but think that more effort is needed to grow minority attendance at the parks. Getting to a National Park is quite an effort and without a solid idea of what the National Parks can offer, people are going to be disinclined to visit at all. And if you can’t get them in the gate, they won’t fall in love.