Digital Body Language

Atopic eczema is a very itchy, chronic, non-contagious, inflammatory skin condition that affects approximately 10-20 percent of the world’s population. Due to changes in our modern daily lifestyle, it has become 2-3 times more prevalent today, compared to 40 years ago. There is no single cause of eczema: it can be inherited, caused by environmental factors, or a combination of both. An incremental lifestyle change is believed to improve one’s condition, but correlating behavioral changes with itchiness severity is difficult to measure, highly subjective, and often overlooked.

Engaging men in family planning and nutrition programming provides an opportunity to move towards better health and gender outcomes. To meet this goal, we designed two innovative programs in rural Bihar, India, using Human-centered Design (HCD) research, co-creation, and prototype testing, grounded in behavioral science approaches.

A picture is worth 1000 words. Great visuals can enhance, dramatize and even bend the narrative. From historical photos to modern-day digital images made of millions of pixels, images have always been instrumental in shaping our visual understanding of the world around us. As much as they have been instrumental in shaping reality, easy access to image manipulation has also resulted in widespread misinformation. When we can fake anything, honest representation of reality in images has become a complex problem to crack.

MyMachine DreamsDrop is a brand-new complimentary program, turning our inter-generational co-design methodology into a cross-border collaboration: it's an online world map that invites anyone (adults and children alike) to upload their dream machine idea. In addition, we run an annual open call to primary school teachers to join their class, combined with a call to university professors to participate with their students.

The idea of Stic Stac Code blocks was born when I realised that most of the augmented reality (AR) based mobile applications out there let children only consume digital content. These apps impress you with polished 3D models, textures and animations, but they lack cultivating creativity amongst its users. Creativity lies in the power of Making and Tinkering and I believe a better part of technology should be designed to foster learning. Thus the question was – How might I design a creative tool that let children manipulate, create and express their unique content?

Similar to how GPS technology helps people to navigate physical infrastructure, the IBM Cloud Infrastructure Visualizer maps out virtual network infrastructure and converts it into an interactive map. This birds-eye view allows users to visualize how resources are interconnected, how are they configured, and suggests actions to take in case something isn’t working as expected. With this tool, IT Administrators will no longer be stuck navigating their virtual infrastructure and instead, they can focus their energies on other tasks that require their technical expertise more and bring value to their enterprises.

Children love to solve mysteries and to play detective by tracking down hidden objects. PIIQ is an interactive DIY scavenger hunt kit that encourages children (6-8 years) to work together. It contains detective tools for role play, set of themes to build up on and design their own scavenger hunt and blank clue cards to add curiosity. Each child plays a different role in one team and they need to use their respective tools for unlocking the boxes to get to the next clue. By working together, children not only learn how to solve problems and communicate but also work on rebuilding their confidence around social skills and restoring their sense of community through meaningful and collaborative moments.

On-court coaching has been a hot topic in women’s tennis since its implementation in 2009. The ability to call a coach on court during a match has been embraced by many players as a concept that can help fulfill their potential. In 2015, the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) permitted coaches to bring a WTA-authorized mobile device on court during a coaching break, but they may only have 90 seconds to use it. In a tennis match that can last for hours, this brief interaction is crucial, as it can change the tide of the match completely.

India boasts 1.8 million K-12 schools and a student base of 321 million! Since the implementation of Covid-19 restrictions, students have been asked to stay home and advised to online or distance learning indefinitely. As a result, prolonged isolation, decrease in outdoor play times, and increased screen time is expected to impact students’ emotional well-being. Formal education in the new normal also presents novel challenges for teachers as it is hard to discern emotions and emotive feedback virtually.

2015 saw a big influx of refugees coming to Finland. These refugees are still having a hard time gaining access to the labor market and other sectors of Finnish society. Startup Refugees is a non-profit voluntary network that supports refugees with employment and entrepreneurship in Finland. Their mission is to realize the immense human potential of refugees in Finland, most of which is now wasted just waiting for a decision.