designstorytellingninasem2
Design Storytelling
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Week 11/12: Reflection and Final Edits
Final Feedback
Bullet point stats on front page, make it easier to understand.
Reword 2021 stats as reading it into 2051/ Make shift between 2021 and 2051 obvious.
Widen box and formatting on homepage.
All three are shown below on our front page information/ introduction
What were some of things KidsFuture did specifically to help Michaels life, the kinds of items and what made a difference change Michael spelling
Add hyperlink to front page stats.
Add header for animatic.
This project explores the issue of poverty in Aotearoa in 2021 and the kinds of situations that cause it.
Reflection
I enjoyed the development process of the second part of this project in particular. It was very satisfying to see the progression of our design fiction and how that formed onto the wix website that we framed our ‘what if’ scenario into. I enjoy presenting information in new ways so it was cool to see all the different aspects/ options of wix and to try out my own design with it even if it wasn’t super amazing!
I believe I have done a significant amount of work towards this project and think its fair to say that overall have contributed the most. I developed the majority of the animatic, the writing for the home page, design system for website (colour, placement, image treatment, typographic choices, ect)/ edited everyone’s pages to match, alongside obviously my own diegetic prototype. I do not mind as I found it easier to produce the writing for our website since my diegetic prototype was already mainly text based as it was a blog, and as for the design of the website it was pretty simple to edit and establish the design system that is currently applied to all the pages. I agree with what was said in the chat about having this project online, I think it was easy to complete online, but important to have at least that first half in person to establish a good connection with my group. The only major downside to online is if members from your group aren’t very responsive it can get tedious and difficult to progress especially in an environment where their individual work is necessary to have in order to proceed.
Perhaps utilising Trello more would've made a difference in the distribution of work but I also think that is up for the team to decide and notindividually. I had been setting general tasks each week for everyone to know where we were at and where we were heading but maybe I could’ve asked for some more guidance on what my group was comfortable with.
Overall the methods of establishing a strong design fiction allowed me to better understand how to make design decisions around the kinds of possible futures that I could encounter. This creation of a future ‘what if’ scenario gave me a chance to fully immerse myself in a distant possibility. This could be used in my real life work by applying this creative thinking to the future of a clients business or work to help purposefully design content for them that is pre-planned and applicable for the development of their brand.
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Week 11
Since I’ve mostly completed by prototype for the website this week mostly includes feedback from Anna and developing the website on my team members tab to match with the design system of the website that I loosely created.
I presented this colour choice/ illustration choice and reasons to them last week and they agreed.
Feedback:
-be mindful of all language and taglines/ captions used on website
-add home page descriptions. Where KidsFuture has improved and come from ect.. Home page can have some info about what the initiative is about and maybe only 1 image.
We are KidsFuture. In 2021 approx. 319,000 children (27.9%) were living in after-housing-costs income poverty.. approx. 210,500 children (18.4%) were living in income poverty, and approx. 160,000 children (14.0%) were living in severe income poverty, on the 40% or less measure.
As a comparison, more children in Aotearoa NZ live in severe poverty on this measure (160,000) than live in the country's fifth largest city, Tauranga (152,000).
New Zealand decided it was time for a change and major government funding was funneled into helping these kids begin a brighter future. Althought this has improvwed the situation over the past 30 years, child poverty is still a real problem in 2051. KidsFuture was created to provide education, health, and happiness opportunities to kids who need it in an easy and accessible way.
Stats info from https://www.cpag.org.nz/the-latest/current-statistics/latest-child-poverty-figures/
-include 90s visualisation and description of who has done what in another tab
I’m going to try embed this into our website on another tab. I'm waiting for this to upload but have it in a video box with our team credits ready to fill out below
- include references for info and images too (wix stock image).
Since most of my prototype is type based and not imagery based all my photographed used are part of the wix stock image database
Credits:
Nina: Developed website design, animatic, and blog prototype.
Image references: Wix stock imagery
Statistics references: https://www.cpag.org.nz/the-latest/current-statistics/latest-child-poverty-figures/
-get rid of ‘me at 15’ and put the other two next to each other for comparison
-include some more on what KidsFuture did to help Micheal
Back when the care package application was just in its starting phases, I applied hoping for some minimal extra aid at home. What I received was the resources and external help I needed from those who ran KidsFuture for me to finish my education and support my siblings till I was through school. The overwhelming passion that the team here had for me drove me to want to do the same for as many kids that grew up like me. Now we have extensive and well developed opportunities kids can apply for right now. Check out the other options on this website to see some of our most popular ones that you can apply for now.
Here's the changes made this week now that all the prototypes are added.
After my team had uploaded their prototypes onto the website. This is just me adding the correct formatting to all our prototypes so it forms a cohesive platform.
Before:
Forgot to take before pics but Terry already added the boxes and type I just reformatted and added some illustrations/ application buttons/icons
After:
Before:
After:
Before:
After:
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Week 10 (part 2)
Website Development: Front Page
A group member made a sub menu that will redirect into different pages for our prototypes to go into. I have edited the first page of our wix page to have a consistent colour scheme and some images, and added our initiative name KidsFuture and a tagline for our home page
When you scroll the menu stays with you for easy access to the other pages on our site
Also corrected the colours when you hover over the submenu to match the dark blue/ yellow theme. Yellow is a happy, youthful colour, full of hope and positivity. These are the kinds of feelings our website wants to invoke so I chose it as the colour for our KidsFuture wordmark. It's a colour that grabs your attention and for that we hope to draw eyes to our cause, which is to help kids break their poverty cycle in 2051. The dark blue works well with the yellow and is also a calming, cooler colour.
I edited the front page further to edit the treatment of the images to black and white so they don't overpower the already yellow and blue colour scheme. I also added some childlike illustrations of plants.
I chose this imagery to represent the growth we want to inspire in the kids we try to help. That the kids we hope to help escape poverty can be nurtured into a flourishing future.
Also added a sprouting flower as part of our wordmark to reinforce this ‘growing plant’ metaphor.
Website Development: Prototype Page
Here are some segments of my prototypes page. I kept with the design system I created on the first page. Blue/ yellow colouring and the plant doodle illustrations that look like they are growing out of the text boxes.
I added a sliding banner at the bottom with some taglines for the KidsFuture project.
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Week 10
Website Premise Additions
I think this website should have been created as a result of this major funding put into helping kids in poverty in 2021. Then these tools that are created as a result of my teams prototypes based on education/ safe spaces are what helped my prototype ‘Micheal’ escape his situation and he is now an advocate and front person of the initiative now. This is why his story is on our website.
I have added this on Miro so my team can further frame their prototypes
Website Name?
By giving our website a name we can further ground it as a ‘real’ initiative in our future ‘what if’ situation.
Name idea: KidsFuture
Diegetic Prototype Development
Today I will write out the two major text sections for my prototypes blog for the website.
These sections will consist of an earlier life of my character who has been stuck in poverty, their feelings, thoughts and situation. Then will be followed by their current life in which the major funding helped them escape poverty as a child/ young adult. My persona created for this character ‘Micheal Harding’ will help me frame these posts on the website.
Then it will finish off with him commenting on his contribution in the creation of this initiative website that our 2051 future is based in, and that he wants to help kids that were stuck in situations like his.
Current brief of my prototype:
Entry on website from an adult that was helped by these services and/or how the government funding turned their poverty situation around. Essentially a before and after of their mindset and personal situation.
Header/ Introduction
Michael is one of the many kids our initiative has helped. In fact, he’s one of the first! Now he is the face of our project where we provide education, health and happiness opportunities for kids stuck in less fortunate situations.
We believe in every child having the equal opportunities and hope for a brighter future in Aotearoa.
First Section: Michael's childhood situation
Here is Michael with his own story:
Let me paint you a picture. At 15 I was lost. Money was always scarce and my family were living in and out of my mums car when the rent couldn’t be made. Renting in Auckland was so much and we definitely couldn't buy. My mum worked long hours to make ends meet and she was always exhausted so I took on as much as I could to help her manage. I tended to miss a lot of school to look after my younger brother who was just 4, we couldn't spare any money for kindergarten.
I felt isolated and stuck in the same routine, my attendance was horrible because I needed to watch over my brother and as a result all my grades at school were bad. I didn’t see much of my classmates or friends and felt like I had no one to turn to for advice. I spent most of my time worrying about my siblings, a place to live, and how uncertain I felt. This left me with little time to worry about friends, school or extracurriculars.
My situation felt hopeless, but in 2021 the New Zealand pushed major funding into helping children in poverty and from that the KidsFuture initiative was formed. The opportunities KidsFuture created for me allowed my siblings and I to build a better future for ourselves and in turn I want to dedicate my life to giving back to the place that helped me.
Second Situation: Michael’s adult life and involvement in initiative
As of now I am the head spokesperson for the KidsFuture initiative because I believe in helping kids who are like me. I wasn’t given the right opportunities before KidsFuture but now our reach is bigger than ever before so I strive to provide a helping hand to any child in need.
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Week 9
Specific Poverty Situation in 2051
I am thinking that the large funding that New Zealand put into helping kids in poverty (that happens as a result of our ‘what if’ scenario), helps push kids in 2021 out of poverty and into better opportunities and careers. As a result of this, many of these children that were helped in 2021 are now working in government positions of varying importance.
Now they want to help kids in 2051 who are stuck in the same situations they were get their basic needs such as a safe space as well as new education opportunities. Poverty is improved as a result of this initial funding, which causes these opportunities to be available, however it is not fully stamped out in 2051 so we still need these options available to help those in need.
Website Premise
Essentially our website will emulate an initiative or government website that provides education, health and happiness opportunities for children in 2051 who still may struggle with poverty. Our prototypes work into this by being examples of these products, necessities and possible opportunities that are presented as options that disadvantaged kids can apply for.
I have put these both these explanations above on miro to help frame our prototype work.
Diegetic Prototype Ideas and Development
This week we need to each decide on a diegetic prototype.
Government funded meal packs that are completely dehydrated/ compressed. Adding hot water makes a warm meal. The original dehydrated packs are small so easily transportable.
This is the idea that I might develop for my diegetic prototype. I am thinking that it fits into our ‘what if’ future scenario in 2051 as a free/ very cheap alternative to food for families/ people who struggle to provide a variety of meals for themselves due to their financial and personal situations.
This prototype allows families with children under 18 to apply for a weekly meal pack that delivers them with a weeks worth of lunches and dinners of dehydrated meals in ready to cook packs. Simply add boiling water and combine the meal components and the food is hot and ready to eat. Inspired by those astronaut meals that they bring into space!
Final prototype idea
After discussing with Anna she provided the idea based off the persona I created last week to create an entry/ blog section of the website where it describes how our website has helped those in poverty improve and eventually escape poverty.
Entry on website from an adult that was helped by these services and/or how the government funding turned their poverty situation around. Essentially a before and after of their mindset and personal situation.
The prototypes each member of my group chose covers one of these opportunities to help kids break their poverty cycle: Education, welfare, physical and mental wellbeing.
Mine focuses on how these opportunities have actually helped an individual and provides a personal account of how poverty initially affected their lives and how the funding/ new education and welfare opportunities helped them get out of poverty before becoming an adult.
I think I will frame it by having the entry done by a creator of the program or initiative in 2051. They will be an adult who’s life was vastly improved by the major funding put into helping kids in poverty in 2021.
I did a quick sketch of maybe how it could be formatted on our website, this prototype will fit with our premise of helping kids by first describing to them that it is possible to beat poverty. This entry is intended as a first touch point for kids in poverty to read over to understand why this website was created and how there is hope for a better future even if you feel your situation is hopeless. This adds some depth to our website premise by giving it a face behind it and their story.
Since this prototype will be mostly based in writing most of the inspiration for this prototype will be from the persona I created of Michael Harding, he can be the child in 2021 that escapes poverty as a result of the funding who eventually goes on to create this website to help kids in poverty in order to pay it forward.
It could also draw from various sources of blog formatting to help me frame this on the final website we make. Some ideas are shown below of how entries like this could look.
Simple Header that establishes what you are about to read and who it is about
Ideas of formatting for the title and placement image of Micheal who is creating the entry that recounts his experience with poverty. How it could look when viewed on a phone?
Perhaps when you scroll Michael's story it is told in different segments that show the different hardships/ aspects of his life, and then how those have changed and his new goals and aspirations in life shown in little sections that you can view in a ‘map’ like formation. Similar to the image above.
Overall Website Inspiration
Since our website is likely to have different sections/ sub pages where our prototypes sit, perhaps our home page can have a simple title and heading statement like this travel blog website here that is laid over the top of a main image. This way it is not overly complicated and the different tabs are clearly visible that you can click on to see the various opportunities/ entries that our website provides (diegetic prototypes)
Here are some government/ initiative websites that are made to help kids, could draw inspiration from their formatting and feel of the website. These websites all have very similar ideas and values behind them to our future 2051 website. I included the link so I can reference them later on if I need ideas o how charity websites and initiatives set their tone.
https://www.variety.org.nz/get-involved/
We give each kid what they need for a happier, healthier childhood – the childhood that every Kiwi kid deserves.
https://www.kidscan.org.nz/
KidsCan believes that education is a child’s ticket out of poverty, and gives them the opportunity for a better future. But kids can’t learn when they are cold, wet and hungry.
https://www.childmatters.org.nz/
Effecting change to prevent abuse and neglect.
https://www.cpag.org.nz/the-latest/current-statistics/
Our vision is an Aotearoa where all children flourish free from poverty.
These examples all include a donate button. Since our future ‘what if’ scenario already includes major funding for kids in poverty and those children growing up wanting to pay it forward like my persona Michael, I'm not sure if that will be necessary as we already have the needed funds to help the children still left in poverty. Its just the issue of creating the future website that is available to help the remaining kids that still deal with poverty.
Overall they are quite colourful and playful, this makes sense because they are catered towards helping children. I particularly like the KidsCan website and their more simple choice of an accent colour of red and the minimal ‘childlike’ illustrations to help annotate different segments of their site. ChildPovertyActionGroup also uses orange very effectively as their main colour and I like the way they break their website into square segments. Makes it interesting to look at without being overly complicated when scrolling.
We can use a brighter colour palette and maybe some hand drawn aspects to help support the idea that our website is made for children. Overall I think a clean and straightforward approach to our website design will be the most effective in presenting our prototypes as all part of the same projec
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Week 8 Notes
Some notes on how we should structure this group project that I can refer back to in the future.
In Miro we developed some design fiction possibilities around the design matrix. Here is what we completed. My contributions are in the green boxes and the orange box is how we all worded our final ‘what if’.
Develop the 'what if' scenario
After using the design matrix to brainstorm some possible ‘what if’ scenarios we choose one and develop it into a deeper description of what New Zealand's poverty problems looks like in the future (2051).
I created a persona of a possible child living in a poverty situation who might benefit from our ‘what if’ scenario. If he and his younger siblings received more outside help and opportunities to jump him into a better future his life would vastly improve.
Chosen ‘what if’:
What if New Zealand put major funding into helping kids to get out of poverty?
We also each created a possible context for our website that will be present in 2051 that showcases our diegetic prototypes that are possible in this future where poverty problems are greatly improved. These are the three coloured boxes at the bottom of the developing ‘what if’ question (in orange).
I think we should develop on the idea for the project website in which there is a website that provides assistance and free recommendations from those who have been helped in the past, as well as ideas and tips to help break out of poverty. There will be a section that allows those in poverty to apply for goods, necessities or even jobs.
This means there can be four sections on our website (one for each group members prototype) that describe different items, products, and opportunities that kids can apply for to help them break their cycle of poverty.
Brainstorm ideas for diegetic prototypes
Here are the initial brainstorms from miro that I added to a new frame. Any of these could be developed into a possible prototype for our 2051 project website that creates opportunity for kids in poverty
Decide on your project platform (Spark page or Wix)
I then created a wix page with a basic template and invited my team members to edit.
Assign tasks on Trello
I created a Trello board today and added my team mates and the tasks for this week and some basic ones for the following weeks
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Week 7 Notes:
I was not present in the week 7 lecture due to personal reasons but here is my review of the project slides. The project is the creation of an online platform that presents 4 individual ‘diegetic prototypes’ (one for each member of the group)
Here is the weighting so I can review where the work is balanced:
10% Exploration of possible futures
The diegetic prototype meaningfully explores a future scenario and demonstrates critical engagement with the issue that the group has chosen to investigate and explore.
10% Presentation
Consistent design throughout the project (e.g. use of colour, font, design elements). Clear structure/layout. • Language used is clear and effective. No significant grammar, spelling or punctuation errors.
10% Storytelling
The visual, written and media elements of the diegetic prototype (design object/artefact) are original, creatively executed and presented in a way that supports the fictional storyworld/future scenario that the project explores.
10% Project Management
Submission of a trello board (or similar tool/s) that clearly demonstrates effective collaboration, time management and project management.
I think in the vein of poverty in a future environment such as 2051 there are certainly many different directions we can go in in terms of tone. As the ‘Thing from the future’ prompts from the week 7 slides show, the way we can express possible futures greatly vary. I am guessing for this project, depending on how we want our diegetic prototypes to interact with and impact the design fiction we create for 2051, we will have to create a narrative of how poverty in New Zealand has impacted those experiencing it in 2051. Since the 90s animatic discussing creating possible opportunities and pathways to help them break the poverty cycle
I think it would be appropriate to take more of a grow/ transform or even discipline approach. I think collapse creates a design fiction doesn’t align well with the ‘opportunity’ fiction we have already established in our animation as it means our perspectives and debate on the wicked problem of poverty is more or less shut down when compared to the other three.
A possible ‘What If’ for the poverty scenario in 2051 could be what if there was a widespread increase in poverty related issues in New Zealand that created a massive push in the way we operate and handle those stuck in poverty. Perhaps there is a shortage of trade and imports from other countries if covid strains continue to worsen and travel through materials and food. This creates a ‘transform’ future design fiction in which technology was forced to advance to a next stage to handle growing poverty.
Perhaps a possible prototype that comes from this could be a small compact object that can be easily transported that unfolds into a small room that can be used as a house/ shelter for those who cant afford a permanent home, could even be other items such as a bed or stove and such that ‘dehydrate’ or compress into a tiny area
Perhaps another possible prototype that is a pill that replaces entire meals. Perhaps in this transitioned society food prices are inflated. Like meal substitutes but they are specifically created to combat hunger in poverty so they are government funded and only provided to those who need them
I think of the way we handle lockdowns in Covid as an example of a massive event that changed the way our society functions.
Obviously we have shifted to online learning for the remainder of the year which I am guessing is unfortunate for most people. I don't thrive well stuck in my house for extended periods of time and this half of semester 2 has got me feeling anxious and I am concerned about mental wellbeing. Finding motivation for any tasks (not just uni) has been particularly difficult these past 3 weeks. I was very sick the week leading up to lockdown and well into it so it feels like I have been isolated for a month now! I am trying to positive through this particularly brutal level 4 and hope everyone else is doing the same.
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Presentation on Poverty
Edited more of the presentation to make the transitions autoplay with better and more readable timing. Put some effects to emphasis certain words and animated images into a few more slides to get it to 90 seconds. Right now its more around 2 minutes but will condense it if needed.
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Here is the work, information, and animations I've put on the presentation so far
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Animatic and visualisation
I think for our presentation we are going to focus on lack of opportunity and resources and how that continues the poverty cycle within New Zealand. Since this animation powerpoint is just presenting our issue to the class we need information and statistics on what kind of things in New Zealand create and keep people in poverty.
I began the first 9 or so slides in powerpoint for my group and some basic animations that we could possibly use.
I have now developed and animated about 70 seconds of the slideshow to autoplay. My group will edit and tweak my framework to reach the 90 second animation so we can present next week.
Editing in powerpoint is hard to keep consistent but I thought a steady colour palette, style of illustration, and typeface/font size would keep it cohesive.
A possible last page that could leave the viewer thinking about how and why we need to create opportunity for those who are struck by poverty.
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Poverty Situations
We did a similar activity to last week in which we listed situations that affect poverty individually, locally, nationally and globally. Being able to visualize the issues that drive poverty trends in a clearly laid out and labelled diagram like this clearly sets out all the ways it can manifest, grow, and continue. It labels some of the pathways that poverty strives in.
Poverty is a complex problem. There are many aspects to it, and it has many causes. Understanding poverty strictly as economic inequality and measuring it with relative poverty thresholds makes it difficult to view poverty as more than unemployment, poor living standards, and a low income. But poverty encompasses more than this.
A proper definition of poverty must address the many different types of poverty and acknowledge that poverty is hunger and lack of shelter, illiteracy and not having access to school, being sick and unable to see a doctor, fearing for the future, living one day at a time and feeling completely powerless and trapped by things beyond one's control. Poverty covers a lot of different situations and living and learning conditions and means different things from one country to another.
Some poverty causes I researched where
The Cultural Cause of Poverty
Cultures have internal and external elements that contribute to the existence of poverty. Some of these conditions are tangible and external, like:
Lack of shelter
Limited access to clean water resources
Food insecurity
Physical disabilities
Lack of access to health care
Unemployment
Absence of social services
Gender discrimination
Poor infrastructure
Government corruption
Environmental circumstances such as natural disasters, droughts, limited resources or depletion of natural resources
Other elements are intangible and internal—knowledge, aspiration, diligence, confidence, leadership styles, participatory governance, social capital, values, and peace, to name a few.
The Lie of Worthlessness Causes Poverty
Poor people often believe they are failures. And this message of oppression and hopelessness affects their ability to hope for a better future. Their grandfathers lived in poverty. Their fathers lived in poverty. The cycle continues with them and will continue to the next generation as well.
When people believe this lie of poverty, that they are worthless because of their circumstances, they become victims. They lose hope, and without hope, it’s difficult to dream of a better way and almost impossible to be an agent for positive change.
When people in poverty have a low view of themselves and no hope for the future, their relationships are affected. They have a low regard for other people and don't believe that their relationships will get better.
Children are particularly vulnerable to this lie. When poverty surrounds them, they believe they have no value or purpose.
The solution is introducing a voice that transforms the worthless and hopeless mindset into a message of truth: “I matter. I have worth. Things can get better.”
This change in mindset is easiest when it is done early in a person’s emotional development. Therefore, it is best done with a child. That way, the lie can't take shape and influence the child’s identity. The voice of truth can be strong and influential in the life of a little child. Freedom from poverty is possible.
Information sources:
https://www.compassion.com/poverty/what-causes-poverty.htm
https://www.compassion.com/poverty/food-insecurity.htm
https://www.compassion.com/poverty/poverty-and-the-environment.htm
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Chosen Issue: Poverty
Initial Research into Poverty
The existing situation with poverty.
In New Zealand:
There is poverty amidst prosperity: There are around 682,500 people in poverty in this country or one in seven households, including around 220,000 children. Some groups are more likely than others to be in poverty: Beneficiaries, children, Māori and Pacific peoples, and sole parents are more likely to experience poverty than other groups.
Discrimination plays a part in New Zealand poverty, for example Moari and Pacific child populations are significantly disadvantaged compared to other New Zealand children.
‘In the year ended June 2020, almost 1 in 5 Māori children (19.5 percent) lived in households that reported going without 6 or more of the 17 basic needs. The rate was higher for Pacific children at 26.1 percent. These rates compared with 11.3 percent for all New Zealand children. Māori children made up nearly half of the annual fall in the number of children in material hardship.’
Globally:
“Global poverty is one of the very worst problems that the world faces today. The poorest in the world are often hungry, have much less access to education, regularly have no light at night, and suffer from much poorer health. To make progress against poverty is therefore one of the most urgent global goals.’’
The world has made huge strides in overcoming global poverty. Since 1990, more than 1.2 billion people have risen out of extreme poverty. Now, 9.2% of the world survives on $1.90 a day or less, compared to nearly 36% in 1990. But the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to reverse decades of progress in the fight against global poverty and income inequalities, and it jeopardizes the future of a generation of children.
While the full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is unknown, the World Bank estimates that an additional 88 million to 115 million people will fall into extreme poverty in 2020, with the total rising to as many as 150 million by 2021.
Trends with poverty.
In New Zealand:
Poverty can be a trap. For someone to get out of poverty, they need opportunities such as education, clean water, medical facilities nearby, and financial resources. Without these basic elements, poverty becomes a cycle from one generation to the next.
If families are too poor to send their children to school, their children will have a difficult time earning an income when they grow up. If medical facilities are far away, a parent loses income every time they take a sick child to the doctor. If rent increases in the more central suburbs and areas in Auckland, those with less income lose easy access to services and opportunities such as a job or education in these higher income areas.
The root causes of poverty are not only a lack of access to basic necessities of life like water, food, shelter, education, or healthcare. Inequities including gender or ethnic discrimination, poor governance, conflict, exploitation, and domestic violence (which is a large issue in New Zealand) also cause poverty. These inequities could not only lead a person or a society into poverty but can also restrict access to social services that could help people overcome poverty.
Globally:
Children living in poverty often lack access to quality education. Sometimes it’s because there are not enough quality schools, their parents cannot afford school fees, or because impoverished families need their children to work. Without a quality education, children grow up being unable to provide for their own children and so the generational cycle of poverty will continue.
Living in poverty also means not being able to afford a doctor or medical treatment. It means no electricity, limited shelter, and often little to no food on the table. For young children, improper nutrition can mean stunting and wasting that permanently impact their development. In impoverished countries where many people lack access to clean water and sanitation, poverty means the spread of preventable diseases and the unnecessary death of those with little access to medicine.
Drivers that effect these trends.
In New Zealand:
Income inequality plays a big part. It is not just the average income that matters for whether or not people live in poverty but how incomes are distributed. I can imagine that a poor person in an industrialized country like New Zealand will find it harder to interact within their society, than a poor person in a poor country. The disparity will be more obvious when there is a wider income gap between the rich and the poor. I’m sure with this inequality, the instances of crime are likely to increase when people find themselves looked down upon and disrespected, cycling them through the justice system and in turn possibly pushing them deeper into poverty. They would feel the injustice of their situation even more.
Economic growth alone will not necessarily address poverty and inequality.
The gap between the rich and the poor is large and shows little sign of declining.
Income disparities between Māori, Pacific peoples and Pakeha remain high.
Globally:
Economic Growth is a large factor. Understanding how and when countries achieved economic growth is crucial to understand how some countries left the worst poverty behind and how other countries can follow. However the problem with poverty is that the causes are extremely complicated with different factors contributing to the problem. Ending it requires more than just economic growth. “Developed” countries with strong economies still have a significant number of people who are struggling to survive.
Natural disasters and conflict can add to the cycle of poverty or add people to it: When a natural disaster strikes an impoverished community without functional public institutions, families are more vulnerable and often lack basic resources to recover, thus further submerging a community in poverty or jeopardizing one that had recently emerged.
No one wants to be poor. Sometimes you are born to it and your circumstances give you fewer options. You spend your days trying your best to survive, with no energy left to think about being creative and being concerned about the things that you and I think about daily.
What are the possible solutions we can propose to solve the problem of poverty around the world?
Bring education to the extremely poor to enable them to have better jobs.
Give them Health Care to improve their physical conditions and make them more competitive.
Use the budget allocated for War and Weapons to stop Global Hunger.
Governments should invest in programs and projects that will be beneficial to improving the lives of the poor – to open opportunities for them to lift themselves out of poverty. More schools, better sanitation, a cleaner environment and more income opportunities.
Give people living without electricity access to renewable energy.
Statistics, numbers, and information sources from:
https://ourworldindata.org/extreme-poverty
https://www.worldvision.org/sponsorship-news-stories/global-poverty-facts#measured
https://www.theworldcounts.com/stories/poverty-in-the-world-today
https://reliefweb.int/report/world/top-9-causes-global-poverty
https://www.compassion.com/poverty/poverty-around-the-world.htm
https://www.globalissues.org/article/4/poverty-around-the-world
https://www.stats.govt.nz/news/latest-release-of-child-poverty-statistics
https://nzccss.org.nz/work/poverty/facts-about-poverty/
https://borgenproject.org/tag/poverty-in-new-zealand/
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/124327740/child-poverty-declines-but-mori-pacific-poverty-rates-profoundly-disturbing
https://borgenproject.org/poverty-in-new-zealand/
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Class Activity: Changes in Food
Another activity we completed today was based around food situations (types of food consumed, differences from the past, drivers to what caused these changes, possible futures in food ect..) that were categorised into individual, local, national and global responses. Here is what my group completed below:
Overall food consumption now compared to 30 or 40 years ago has expanded in palette greatly country to country. This is because many more authentic cultural food options are available internationally so people are growing up with many more options to try than compared to decades ago where they only had the food directly available to them or food that they made (farms, gardens ect). Things like fast food and convivence food are more widespread and easy to find especially in first world countries. A driver for changes in food preferences could have things like globalization and capitalism play a part in them. Food preferences are changing due to increased accessibility to multicultural food due to travelling (prior to COVID) and immigration.
In terms of possible foods for the future a preferable outcome would be more sustainable options, more diversity, less waste, less processed, more organic or healthier options. In terms of fast food I thought we could move in the direction of having healthy fast food options. Currently the majority of fast food is fried and has GMO ect.. however there is a smaller section of businesses that are slowly coming up in popularity that could be classified as ‘fast food’. An example of this could be Tank Smoothie bar which is a pretty widespread food chain in New Zealand that provides quickly made smoothies, salads and wraps to its customers. If we could start to see cheaper healthier food options that are accessible to all income brackets it might be easier to decrease obesity rates and nutrition problems in our population.
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Start of class activity
At the start of the class we went through a quiz on global warming and population issues and in most cases we majorly overestimated the actual statistics. With the constant stream of media its easy to fall victim to false or exaggerated information and shocking news that can distort the scale of the problem. Its easy to feel as if things are all going downhill and to feel as if you have no control as an individual and so it results in a large portion of the population not taking action to help global issues.
The fact that things are not as bad as we thought is in a way encouraging to me because it allows me to take a step back and realise that there is still hope and opportunity for how our future is determined. I’m assuming moving forward this idea of opportunity and influence and will play a part in the design storytelling paper as we are creating a vision for our future.
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Design Research: Week 2
Today we formed teams for our creative storytelling groupwork, we have created a group chat to stay connected and although I have to leave early from this papers class because of external commitments I am confident that I can stay on top of the workload and keep the team dynamic healthy. I will make sure that my team is happy with my contribution and that we can create a cohesive and well researched design futures project.
We were shown a short video titled Waihorotui which depicted the opening of a a manhole cover to explore a secret history of Auckland’s Queen Street. NZonScreen states that Waihorotui portray the ancient waterways journey from tangiwha lair (the water of Horotiu) to fetid canal and brick sewer severed from its natural source.
It could possibly show the ways that the past has been covered up and what was once a natural stream or waterway has become an underground sewer-like system. Themes of the destruction of the environment and colonization are present in this short film, both which are prevalent social problem in New Zealand's society.
We also completed a Photo Safari for the purpose to create a visual narrative of everything an ‘alien’ would need to know about AUT’s physical space and the people that occupy it. In order to take photos in an ethical way we came up with some quick principles to follow. Some examples include not destroying the environment around you to take photos, ask for peoples consent if you are taking identifying photos of them, don’t disrupt events or classes to take a picture, inform people why a photo is being taken, be sensitive to others feelings and dignity so we don’t represent people in a negative light unnecessarily.
Within this activity we tried to represent AUT as a diverse place. We wanted to stay inclusive of all people and sections of AUT so we sourced images from multiple disciplines and common areas (work spaces, lecture theatres, common rooms, food places ect). An underlying theme we were trying to depict was AUT’s cultural variety, particularly with our imagery of AUT’s marae. An interesting thing I noticed is the inclusive nature of this university is noticeable even in its architecture, seating areas are situated in rounded and open spaces, rooms are built large, buildings interconnect and weave into multiple areas for people to interact and learn in.
This activity may be related to exploring the future in the way that we can portray an idea of a place. The particular perspective we had on AUT’s cultural diversity was the focus of our photographs so we developed a tone of voice for the way we framed and chose photos. We might do the same for a future vision as the certain way we show this vision is very important because the angle or perspective we show needs to be clear and confident to the point to where someone who is unintroduced will understand exactly what it means.
Here are some images from the activity!
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To start off this session we did a mindfulness exercise to write down how much of our surroundings that we did not notice when we came into the classroom. I thought this was interesting because it highlighted how much of our basic environment we choose to ignore and do not fully comprehend or take in.
By practicing mindfulness we can make it easier to enjoy life as it occurs, and can help me become fully engaged in activities, and creates a greater capacity to deal with events around me. Mindfulness suggests that by focusing on the here and now, many people who practice mindfulness find that they are less likely to get caught up in worries about the future or regrets over the past, are less preoccupied with concerns about success and self-esteem, and are better able to form deep connections with others.
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