For your final project, you can build yet another app that makes ordering cat food a little easier or you can go after a problem that actually matters. Today’s guests will tell stories of tough, but very rewarding design problems, from two very different worlds.

Design That Matters is a design studio in Salem, MA that works on robust and affordable medical devices for the developing regions. Their work beautifully exemplifies the design process we aspire to: they gain deep insight into their customers’ actual needs and iteratively develop solutions that work. Tim will share stories of some of their projects. He will also pitch a design problem that he is willing to collaborate with one of the CS 179 teams on for your final project.

Boston Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics is a city agency that was formed in 2010. It pilots experiments that offer the potential to significantly improve the quality of City services. Boston’s MONUM focuses on four major issue areas: Education, Engagement, the Streetscape, and Economic Development.

Required readings (post your written response before class):

• No Laptop Left Behind. Chapter 1 of Kentaro Toyama’s “Greek Heresy: Rescuing Social Change from the Cult of Technology”

Optional readings:

• The Law of Amplification. Chapter 2 of Kentaro Toyama’s “Greek Heresy: Rescuing Social Change from the Cult of Technology”