Co-Design for Inclusive Technology

Virtual | 09.15.2023 | 2:10 - 2:30 EST

3. Understanding Tech-Enabled Community Networks

The power of co-design with communities has proven to be an invaluable creative approach, fostering distributed collaboration among those impacted by the solutions being developed. As climate change intensifies, island and coastal communities are grappling with increasingly frequent and devastating disasters, such as hurricanes and floods. Our team, comprised of researchers, humanitarian practitioners, designers, and technologists with diverse expertise from both the local archipelago and the global stage, has been diligently exploring how to co-design inclusive civic solutions alongside those directly affected by these disasters. Together, we aim to bridge the last-mile disaster relief gap and establish enduring resilience within underserved communities. During our session, we will use our past co-design workshops as examples to share practices and insights learned while convening residents, community groups, and governmental and non-governmental entities from across Puerto Rico.

Speakers

Azury Wei-Ching Lin, MS, Product & Design Lead, re+connect

Azury is a design strategist with a system mindset, currently concentrating on sustainability challenges and advocacy for social changes through a humanity-centered design approach. She has mainly worked with early-stage startups to craft and deliver visions of products and services in a holistic approach – from branding, storytelling to product and service development.

Pamela Silva, MS, Co-Design Lead, re+connect

Pamela's passion lies at the intersection of technology, environmental sustainability, and social impact. She adopts a human-centered approach to co-design products and machines that address community challenges and opportunities. Her co-creation technique blends strategic design facilitation with engineering consulting and services.