Our team meetings are consistently productive and they always move us forward in real ways – this week was no different – which is a great feeling, and a dizzying one at the same time. As Amanda pointed out, we did feel the effects of not having someone assigned in a design role and we got a little bit hung up on how to move forward for the sake of this check-in versus our real end goal. Ultimately, it felt like we were agreeing even when we were disagreeing because we don’t know where the design will end up (it’s in an in-between stage right now), but we agree it will require dedicated time and focus. I will be meeting with our first three contributors to get their initial thoughts before we dive too deeply into that – it is very reassuring to have them along for the journey, rather than guessing and wondering at how it will be received by end users after all of the additional work that could go into it only to get that feedback at the end.

Maggi’s efforts on the multimedia front this week were above and beyond, and they also showed us a sense of how much is possible on the design front. I feel a bit naive saying this now, but it’s apparent how many decisions there are to be made about every aspect of every feature. At some level, I knew this, but it is coming up again and again. And it’s an argument for speed and committing to rapid decision making, as argued for in the reading that framed our semester. Obsessiveness, or at least chasing the illusion of completion, can weigh you down and be unwise at this stage, but it’s still hard for me to let go of.

In our next phase, in addition to expanding our submission based domestically, we will be seeking a small number of international submissions in order to test the “state/province/region” field of our form flowing into the map. Feeling much more confident with the consent form makes this relatively easy. Pressing for a due date at the next level of scale with networks of students once removed from me directly will be an experience – to see response rate and whether they are sufficiently hooked by the concept. It also makes it all a lot more real – both exciting and terrifying at the same time.