Don+Mills+library

=Phase 3: Collaborative Community Information System in Don Mills Library=

Phase 1 | Phase 2 | Descriptive Keywords | Idea Process | Milestones | Scenario | Sketch | Interactive Documentation

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For a more interactive version of this information please see our interactive documentation here.

Project Overview
Community-oriented urban planning plays a crucial role in providing structure to how people socialize, interact, gather, and organize themselves within a communal space. Social engagement among community members, especially between the generations, is necessary for sustaining a community.

We wanted investigated how this is applied to the Don Mills community especially since there appears to be tension between the current Don Mills residents and the land developers who are establishing new commercial and residential developments within the community in order to attract a new demographic.

There is also the threat that the younger generation feel that they are not stakeholders in the community and as a result, are more likely to move out of the community. Without the support of future generations, the community will flourish as it had before.

With all this in mind, we set out to understand the different perspectives of current and former Don Mills residents. In particular, we wanted to know how they defined the community, how did they get information about community events, and what they thought the community lacked. After several in-depth interviews with Don Mills residents, we decided to pursue an interactive solution that would encourage connectivity and interaction among the Don Mills residents.

In our research we found that the Don Mills library has high foot traffic and attracts people of all ages, which makes the local library a suitable location for engaging Don Mills residents. We have proposed a system that comes in two parts: an interactive electronic bulletin board which displays output information to users, and an individualized interface that allows users to input information. It is our hope that this system will not only enable members of the community connect with each other more easily, but also foster greater social engagement and collaboration amongst this population.

User Types
Because the Collaborative Community Information System was designed with the particular community of Don Mills in mind, key groups within the community were examined were to cater to the needs of those with varying learning curves.

Students
This group concentrates on the preteen and teen demographics ages 12-18. The nearby Don Mills middle and high school provide the opportunity for this technology to not only aid in learning but also introduce another dimension to education in collaboration with technology. Students generally learn quickly and want to keep up with new technology. Being fully engaged in technological practices provide opportunities for the community board tables to meet more specific and advanced needs.

Seniors
This group makes up large portion of this particular community. The group did not grow up with the same technology now available but is generally eager to learn about topics of interest. This system offers opportunity for learning about new technology within more intuitive and simple tactile interfaces. The touch screens might even be used to give courses or workshops. Also the personal posts section provides a way for them to connect with community members, which could provide help with neighbourhood issues such as shovelling heavy snow.

Others
This group would include all other members of the community such as other adults and children. These groups would still use the board, especially since these might enable new kinds of social events the library might offer, such as game nights and other group learning opportunities. Students and seniors are the primary groups for this community, presenting unique challenges, but all functions of the board support use by all demographics.

Key System Features
The Collaborative Community Information System is divided into two pieces of technology.
 * The first is the **interactive bulletin board** that centres on **outputing more general information**. There is only one as it is used to show key information to large groups in large format.


 * The second involves the **table touch screens** allowing for **input of specific information**. There are several so everyone can access the system at the same time.


 * Though the two screens have similar formats, **the bulletin board is about the s****ize of a blackboard** while the **6 touch screens can fit on a single table**.


 * **The board allows for a more visual experience** where the user can see images of current or future events and explore further by going up and touching the images for more information. You can also see **main community headlines** at the top of the board from further away for a **quick look** at larger and more important events.


 * The main board **updates automatically** to give you the most current news. The format of the images is **open to change** for a more visual experience.


 * **By touching any section you can get more information** about the event or post. See scenario . You can even **print events** you're interested in to take away and show others.


 * One side of the board is permanently devoted to the **personal posts by you and other community members**. You can **create and customize these posts on the table touch screens**. See sketch. You can also **collaborate** with friends on these screens.


 * **Personal posts are colour-coded according to the nature of the post** and can be shuffled through. The most updated ones are viewable on the board. More advanced searching is available on the table touch screen.

Conclusion
We feel the key aspect to this project is the idea of sustaining community and in light of this there is potential here for much further integration into our daily lives. By having the essential goal of creating greater social interaction, this integration of technology does not enable isolation, but promote collaboration.

This project was created for the Don Mills Community, where most members of the community we spoke to in our research already loved the community and felt that there was already a sense of community there. The issue of sustainable community came up because of this sudden change, where the centre of the Don Mills community, the shopping centre, was rebuilt. The new Shops at Don MIlls tries to create a social environment but still seemingly marginalizes certain groups in the population. Not every community has this issue, or even is used to the same sense of community available in Don Mills, and because of this, could also benefit from the implementation of this technology.

The Collaborative Community Information System was created for the Don Mills Library because of the library's accessibility and general position in the community. This was a place key to our two main demographics: students and seniors. This could easily become a library project, where the Toronto Public Library could invest in this technology for all of its locations.

Though we want to keep the system in a more social environment, namely the libraries, there is potential for system access on the Internet. This could be limited as to encourage physical meetings at system locations. Locations could potentially include community centres or even lead to the integration of libraries and community centres. This could be encouraged though new events we envisioned, available thanks to this technology. There could be murder mystery library games where teams would need to collect evidence and figure out clues using the table touch screens while also having to go around the library environment physically to find these clues and speak to characters involved in the plot. There could be bingo nights or challenge nights where teams could work at each table and compete in board game events.

The more available the system is, the more effective it will be as it relies on community input. Making people more aware of their community and more invested it in is a goal for all regions. If this were to become a library system, there could be potential to have information for all of Toronto available through the system (though there would be emphasis on immediate communities). Right now the Toronto library does this but CCIS could drastically improve on the number of people that could be reached, not to mention the number of people that would be interested in participating in events because of this new medium.