“Information flow is what the Internet is about. Information sharing is power. If you don’t share your ideas, smart people can’t do anything about them, and you’ll remain anonymous and powerless.”
Vint Cerf, “Father of the Internet”
Partner Mission:
Singular XQ wants to democratize digital resources to ensure prosperity for the next generation of technology.
Singular XQ aims to utilize emerging open-source technologies to help the common good. The SXQ team aspires to do this through dismantling stigmas against open-source softwares and providing resources to organizations and universities to ensure proper utilization and development. A key objective of SXQ, in regards to their engagement with higher education, is to encourage the next generation of tech to feel comfortable straying from the current pillars of Big Tech— names we all engage with every day, whether we like it or not —to both create and share access to software that will allow for universal innovation. Their first step, however, and where our team comes in, is to use visual storytelling to demonstrate what open-source is and how it is beneficial to the common good.
About Our Partner:
See more on their website: https://www.singularxq.com/
Singular XQ is a non-profit organization centered in tech research and development working to provide comprehensive and all-inclusive product strategies for a wide range of clients, from governments to higher education. Jennifer Pierce, a published AI researcher and multi-talented tech guru, founded SXQ in 2020 with the hope of aiding her clients amidst the increasing knowledge gap in tech.
The current SQX team is small. The immediate circle is eight employees passionate about democratizing AI, all who have full-time careers aside from the project. Outside of this group, SXQ is composed of advisors, volunteers who donate their time out of passion.
In this stage of their project development, SQX acts as a code and research repository for clients, as well as anyone looking to learn more about open source. The Singular XQ team are avid supporters of design thinking frameworks and operate with partners under these concepts. Through fiscal scholarship, the organization has recently moved from a for-profit to non-profit business model, allowing them to begin to branch out into more non-financially motivated projects.
Currently, SXQ has two projects that have been launched:
- The SXQ podcast:
- Accessible via most streaming platforms
- 900 active listeners in 26 countries
- Weekly conversations SXQ has about the work of digital transformation.
- Their partnership with York University:
- The team transformed the student financial aid application portal using design thinking frameworks to enable an increase in funds claimed.
- Actively working with university art students to incorporate York University into the Toronto art scene
Meet the Team
SXQ Team
Jennifer Pierce
Jarvis Moore
Ijeonu Elisha-Wigwe
Irina Yakubovskaya
Kai Brunner
StudioLab Team
Parker Piccolo Hill: Parker is a junior (’25) majoring in English and Italian, with a minor in Urban Planning. She has experience as a creative writer and as the editorial director of three campus magazines, as well as a PR + marketing internship using emerging AI technologies. She’s interested in Futurism and Internet culture, and is excited to bring her passion about communal tech to SXQ.
Will Lin: Will is a senior (’24) majoring in Communication. He has previous experience in nonprofit consulting and marketing, with interests in filmmaking and writing.
River Yangxi Yu: River is a first-year master’s student studying Information Science, with a BS degree in Applied Psychology. She has a genuine interest in programming and has experience in areas such as UX/UI design, psychology research, counseling, and web development.
Riley Teleise Blaber: Riley is a junior (’25) studying English and Education. She is extremely excited to connect with Singular XQ and learn more about the world of digital information. She has experience leading small-scale community building projects and is an avid blog writer.
THE DESIGN CHALLENGE
Our challenge: turning the above media ecosystem into a easily digestible comic book that can be transmediated across the SXQ platforms.
CHECKPOINT 1
Our work:
~ User Scenarios ~
~ Second Report ~
Checkpoint 2
For checkpoint two, our team focused on two objectives: honing our design thinking, and creating a visual framework and narrative for our comic.
Design Thinking Progress
In our Zoom meetings, we collaborated with SXQ using Miro to brainstorm user journeys and initial ideas for the comic (i.e., tone, voice, look, and feel). This process was one SXQ uses often, called affinity mapping, and it encourages the process of collaborative thinking.
See our work in details: Miro Affinity Map Link
Comic Progress
We began with rounds of brainstorming— how could a comic be most useful to Singular XQ?
We started off small, but after seeing an inspiring website that incorporated learning and fun (link), we pivoted, thinking we could create an online, interactive piece that was both a comic and a game.
Obviously, that didn’t happen. We were brought down to reality quickly, and instead went back to our original idea: a comic.
We went through rounds and rounds and rounds of brainstorming. Alone, as a team, with Singular XQ, with the class… we absorbed every idea we could.
A picture is worth a thousand words…
We tried storyboarding and polishing our narrative. We’ve first embarked hoa simple narrative—a contrast between open and closed source worlds, with a protagonist who faces the same challenge in both worlds, but is only able to overcome it using open source thinking.
Inspiration ranges from Calvin and Hobbes to Attack on Titan— the team is focusing on creating a “nerdy” (in JP’s words!) comic that can appeal to the audience SXQ is attempting to attract.
The narrative we produced was a long, complicated one: Comic Narrative 2.0
(illustrated in the PDF below, little animation can only be shown in the website).
Website: Comic Narrative 2.0
Though quite compelling, we found the narrative above was too complicated to deliver in a short time frame. Therefore, we move to simple one with a parallel universe design:
Although silly, this is a clear narrative arc and engaging.
A Reframe?
Where we’re at now: this morning, we got a message from JP.
Since our comic idea was beginning to lean away from the strictly historical, we need to figure out a way to combine our original idea (strictly educational) with our updated idea (fantasy/sci fi).
However, we’re making progress and have a clear path forwards!
Character and World Building
Final Deliverables
Final Thoughts
Working with Singular XQ was a valuable experience. Our team was able to develop skills in communication, design thinking, and creativity through our hands-on work. The final deliverables of a storyboard and script have provided a crucial base for future semesters of the SXQ team with this class, and we have left recommendations in our final presentation (in the recording that Professor McKenzie has put on this page) for what the team can do moving forward.
Thank you to Singular XQ for a great semester!