Week 5-6

Hello friends! Things are starting to get along. As we advance with the ALS research from week to week we learn alot about this illness and ideas starting to come up! The hard thing about our design method (User Centered Design) is that we have to stay focused on the process of finding solution step by step according to the method and not jump in to the last step which is finding some idea that WE think that can help ALS patients. As we do our research alot of good ideas come up and we have to stash them because we want that the ideas will come from our users - the ALS patients. In order to do that we have to continue with our interviews and research and find some NEED of our patients (or users). So our task for week 5 and 6 is need identification and need verification. First of all we have to look at our interviews protocols and try to find some need that our patients come up. We found that our patients has many needs that can be addressed but one of the strongest one is the need to be able to do things alone, independently, without the help of computer or therapist. As you can understand most ALS patients are fully paralyzed and can't even speak so they are under some supervision all day. We thought that giving them some level of independence, a way of doing somethings alone without the help of no one can be a realy powerful and empowering. So after finding a need, we have to verify it with the ALS patients. We contacted our research patients and therapists and asked them if they think that this kind of solution can help them. We had been given a green light as we were told that our need is a real need that would be great to be addressed. Now we can proceed with the design process with a need in our pocket!!