Digital, Equity + Excellence

What is DE2?

Newfield School district is located in the rural town of Newfield a few miles outside of Ithaca, NY. Since COVID, Newfield schools have disproportionately struggled with responding to the changing technological needs of students. Before the pandemic, Newfield students were the only ones in the county who were left without a 1:1 ratio of students and devices. Even after implementing a 1:1 device ratio after the COVID-19 pandemic, 23% of students continued to report that they had difficulty accessing resources. 30.2% of the school district as a whole does not have consistent access to broadband Internet. There are students in this community who do not have consistent access to Internet service, and also students who cannot afford it. The economic divergence that has occurred between Newfield and Ithaca in particular is rather astounding; the Newfield community has not been able to progress past the year 2000 in terms of economic enrichment. Although the situation in Newfield school district is unique for the state of New York, it is not unique in the scope of the United States, or in the world. There are other towns, school districts, counties, etc. that suffer from many of the same problems Newfield does. Our design challenge is to build and spread the word about DE2’s youth media campaign dedicated to increasing access to an affordable, stable Internet connection on a state, national, and global level.

Mission Statement:

DE2 wants to generate digital content to advocate for digital social justice and national access to broadband Internet access, specifically for students in rural areas.

Meet the Team

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Producer

Arin Hendell ’23 – Westchester, NY 

I study communication and information science, specializing in UX (User Experience). As a producer, I employed communication strategies to organize the functions of my team throughout our design process. I wanted to distribute tasks based on our strengths and what we are comfortable with while making sure we learn from one another and provide updates on our individual work. This communication was key to curating a cohesive user experience, making sure our deliverables are consistent across media, reflecting our team mission, and accessible to all necessary stakeholders.

 

Webmaster

Lily Huang ’24 – Shanghai, China

I major in Information Science under the concentration of UX, while taking the Game Design and the Business minor. My role is to design a cohesive, consistent and effective website for DE2 that appeals to both our stakeholders and families lacking stable broadband access.

 

 

 

Writer

Emma Cerrato ’24 – Exeter, NH

I am a current junior at Cornell University majoring in English with minors in Business and Information Science with a concentration in UX/UI. As the Writer, I was responsible for creating the copy for our research and media kits, as well as crafting the majority of the writing portions of all our deliverables over the course of this project. 

 

 

Multimedia

Emily Romero ‘23 – Queens, NY

I am a senior majoring in information science with a concentration in User Experience. In the multimedia role, I focused on different types of design work using platforms such as Canva and Figma. The designs were driven with the intention to spread DE2’s mission and bring awareness of internet connectivity issues happening just a few miles outside of Ithaca.

 

 

Our Process

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Our team’s mission was to create resources that help lacking school districts, individuals, and families gain internet access, regardless of their budget or previous knowledge about creating a media campaign. Our media and research kits were crafted with media that are inexpensive and easily reproducible. As many of our stakeholders are from towns that lack funding and internet, we created resources that they can adopt at any scale and at any price point. Our “research kits” can be shared beyond the Newfield school district, creating opportunities nationally for students to gain more experience with technology and research practices.

The most significant experience we had as part of this project was the ability to conduct user research at Newfield schools in Newfield, NY. Our team took two trips to Newfield over the course of the semester to interview students and learn about what their experience is like using technology in Newfield. We crafted a set of interview questions before going to the school, and conducted interviews in the school cafeteria. After our interviews, we compiled our session data and pulled significant quotes or experiences to put on our website. We took student feedback into account when deciding which aspects of our deliverables, specifically pertaining to our research and media kit materials.

Deliverables

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National Campaign Resources

Tabletop “Kits” 

When communicating with children to learn more about their needs, for example, there is certain language, demeanor, and content of questions that they engage with. These “tabletop” kits are a framework for any group or institution to conduct interviews and learn more about their stakeholders. This guide includes sample questions and factors to keep in mind when designing for and engaging with certain stakeholders. 

 

Media “Kits”

These media “kits” give children and parents a platform to share their stories about themselves, their peers, and their community. Our kits include thoughtful guiding questions that convey the lacking and need for resources. By evoking empathy in stakeholders that can contribute their time, money, and resources, DE2 aims to close the digital equity gap in Newfield School Districts, and around the country. Below is an example of a “letter to your senator” that students or parents could use to express their concern about Internet access to their local legislature. This letter has a Newfield letterhead and Newfield coloring, but the template can be exchanged with different colors and letterheads as need be.

Research “Kits”

Our Conducting Research 101 Kit focuses on how to effectively and efficiently gather information through sites and general sources of information. We propose two questions for students to think about, such as: “Is there a problem you have encountered recently that you would like to address?”, to get them started on what they want to research. The following cards focus on ways to conduct good research. It highlights the value interviews have, how important it is to evaluate if a source is good or not, and finally that the process is not always linear. These cards are meant to be printed and distributed amongst students in classrooms, and are specifically designed to get students to ask critical questions about problems that are important to them.

Promotional Material

Bumper Sticker

One of our first deliverables was creating a bumper sticker for our stakeholders. These bumper stickers are intended to be distributed to the community to bring more awareness about DE2 and their mission. In regards of design, we wanted to make DE2 the main focus and that it was readable to potential viewers on the road.  We hope that this design will become an asset to get more people involved in the initiative.

Merchandise

We explored numerous types of medias in order to communicate DE2‘s mission. Creating merchandise was a great way to take our work further with DE2 and produce materials that can be worn. We explored two different designs for t-shirts.

 

Flyers

Aside from spreading DE2‘s mission to people outside the Newfield community, we also wanted to create media that can be used throughout Newfield Schools. While visiting Newfield, we were able to talk to students about how internet connectivity affects their lives both in and outside of school. In our first flyer, from left to right, highlights testimonials from students about how much of a struggle it is to participate and excel academically. During our visit, we were able to take photos of students whom were interviewed for flyer designs as seen on the right. Finally, we also used flyers to communicate new initiatives DE2 is taking and how students and faculty can participate.

  

 

Redesigning DE2‘s Original Website

We first investigated the existing website to see what information we could pull out. Our main priority is to create a brand new platform that compiles the facets of DE2’s mission, and should ideally create a space for students both in Newfield and in other rural towns and counties across the country to share their experiences with little to no broadband access in a way that has an emotional pull with DE2 stakeholders. DE2 also want to include resources on the website that students and other site visitors can use to learn how to advocate for broadband access in their communities.

1. Call to action – we wanted to include more statements and opportunities on the website that compelled stakeholders to take action.
2. Consistent layout – by making the content and layout more visually appealing and consistent, the website would appear more professional and draw investors in.

[Prototype] Creating Working Deliverables

We restructured the pages, introducing selection mechanics, improving navigation, and creating a more playful visual aesthetic.

[Test] Our Final Deliverables

After consulting with Sunny and making edits, we finally launched the new website pages.