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Design Research for Media Development a GUIDE for PRACTITIONERS Design Research for Media Development A GUIDE FOR PRACTITIONERS By: In Collaboration with: Design Research AUTHOR: CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Panthea Lee Jennifer Thibault for Media EDITORS: DESIGNER: Kate Petty, Ethan Wilkes Mollie Ruskin PRODUCTION MANAGER: ADVISORS: Development Patrick Ainslie Zack Brisson, Amanda Noonan A GUIDE FOR PRACTITIONERS © 2013 Reboot Design LLC. The material in this work is subject to copyright. However the authors encourage the dissemination of knowledge. We invite you to contact us should you seek to reproduce this work in whole or in part. For all queries on rights and licenses, we can be reached at [email protected]. Reboot // 45 East 20th St, 5th Floor, New York, NY USA 10003 +1 212 388 1010 // www.theReboot.org ACKNOWLEDGMENTS With special thanks to Mark Frohardt, Amanda Noonan, and Sam De Silva from the Internews Center for Innovation and Learning, Oren Murphy from Internews Asia, and Charmaine Anderson, Arif Khan, Muhammad Ghawas, and the entire Internews Pakistan Country Office. The case studies and examples throughout this book are drawn from a design research investigation commissioned by Internews in Fall 2012. It took place in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) regions of Pakistan, with fieldwork executed by a dedicated field team. Reboot is grateful to our researchers Amjad Ali, Qaiser Ali, Sumaira Asghar, Shakir Ullah Dawar, Arif Khan, Farooq Ali Khan, Jasim Khan, Kamran Khan, and Rizwanullah Khan—thank you for your hard work, your perseverance, and your commitment to finding the real answers. Finally, to all those in FATA and KP who welcomed our team and shared their By: In Collaboration with: lives with us—thank you. Contents 2 Foreword 4 About This Guide 10 Introducing Design Research 16 PHASE 1: Define 50 PHASE 2: Plan 66 PHASE 3: Collect 88 PHASE 4: Synthesize 110 PHASE 5: Design 122 Looking Ahead 124 About Reboot 125 About ICIL 1 // FOREWORD Foreword In 1980, I was working on the Thai- relationships with the communities I was drawn to Internews because We were most delighted to find in Cambodian border in a refugee camp they are seeking to serve. This is their work has long embodied a Reboot an organization that shares of over 130,000 displaced individu- a process that goes well beyond similar ethos. Program design is our values. Reboot brings significant als. This was my first experience in simple question and answer surveys. firmly rooted in the principles of expertise in formal, as well as the international humanitarian and This is a process that demands an strong communications and an intuitive, human-centered design. development space. A number of ethnographer’s ear and a journalist’s intimate relationship with the end This guide was developed to assist organizations were present providing inquisitiveness to uncover the behav- user. Our evolution into human- those working within Internews to assistance, and all were effective in ioral insights that drive a community. centered design, therefore, is only challenge our embedded assump- their own way. But one organization natural. This approach allows us tions and deepen our relationships impressed me in particular for the I was also fortunate to work with to further refine our engagement with the communities we serve. This degree of proximity they maintained Fred Cuny of Intertect, a master of with local populations and com- guide is also written for the broader with those they were working to this approach, during the return of munities to develop solutions fitted community of practice that hopes to serve. The doctors and nurses of Kurdish refugees to Northern Iraq in to their daily needs and aspirations. understand the continuously chang- Médecins Sans Frontières would 1991. Although called in to advise This approach also allows us to move ing information ecosystems that often just sit with their patients and commanders of the multinational beyond a program design process increasingly define and constrain local staff, beyond the scope of their forces responsible for the repatria- that simply informs our initial development practice. work and questions—beyond the tion, Fred, as always, first went deep engagement to one that ensures traditional relationship of aid worker into the camps to develop plans deep and lasting relationships We hope you find the ideas and and aided. based on an ever-evolving under- throughout the life of a project, methods of this guide valuable in standing of the needs and capacity keeping objectives based on shift your work and welcome your views In the over three decades since that of local leaders and individuals. Fred -ing priorities relevant and on target. and suggestions. first encounter, the organizations was deeply committed to solutions and individuals I have seen success- that included the “end user” in both Mark Frohardt fully fulfilling their development mis- conception and implementation. Executive Director sion are those who have built close Internews Center for Innovation & Learning 2 Design Research for Media Development 3 // about this guide About This Guide This is a hands-on reference guide This resource is our effort to share Throughout this guide, several special features will for media development practitioners. our process with our Internews help you better understand and implement design research: colleagues and among the broader It is based on principles and practices media development community, in of design research that have been the hopes that it will inspire practice long used by the private sector, and and discussion and have an impact grounded in the experience Reboot far beyond our immediate goals. has gathered in designing and implementing international develop- This is not a comprehensive guide ment projects around the world. to program design. As a field, media development has a rich history of FATA in Focus use real-life examples Tools signal a resource to help This guide was born out of a col- innovation, thoughtful leadership, from an Internews project in the FATA practitioners implement the design laboration between Reboot and and tried-and-true processess— region of Pakistan to illustrate research process. Sample templates Internews, through its Center for many pioneered by Internews. design research principles in action. and examples from the Internews They show how the approach both Pakistan Case Study, can be found at Innovation and Learning, and its Indeed, many ideas in here will requires adaptability to context and www.design.internews.org/tools. Pakistan Country Office. Together, we likely be familiar to readers working offers rich contextual insights. sought to understand the complexity in this systems-oriented field. Thus, of the information ecosystem in the our hope is that this guide will help Federally Administered Tribal Areas practitioners integrate design (FATA) region of Pakistan. Our ulti- research principles and practices A companion website for this guide can We are eager for feedback and mate goal was to design contex- naturally into their existing work, be found at www.design.internews.org. to hear about your experiences in This online platform will be frequently applying these approaches. Please tually appropriate programs that stretch their creativity, and find new updated with resources to support send thoughts to [email protected] improved access to information solutions. practitioners seeking to integrate and [email protected]. by communities in this region. design research into their work. 4 Design Research for Media Development 5 // ABOUT THIS GUIDE // Principles in Practice Harnessing Design Research in FATA This guide features a running case studie to illustrate how design research can apply to media development. All examples are drawn from an investigation conducted in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) region of Pakistan in September 2012. About FATA Socially, economically, and politically, Politically, FATA has traditionally Yet opportunities for change are But the region remains media dark, FATA is the least developed region been ruled, not governed, by on the horizon. The upcoming 2013 with variable access to mobile in Pakistan. Sixty-six percent of the unelected tribal leaders. The region general election will be the first time networks and Internet and tight population lives below the poverty is strongly conservative and cultur- that political parties are able to form restrictions on journalists. Although line;1 its key industries are farm- ally isolated, constraints that are and operate in FATA, meaning the there has been an increase in media ing, smuggling, and illegal drugs;2 heightened by geographic and first chance for FATA communities access and channels in recent years, unemployment is estimated at 60 security factors. United States mili- to have their interests represented little is known about the informa- to 80 percent;3 and the literacy rate tary operations using unmanned on the national stage. To leverage tion and media behaviors of FATA is 22 percent (and 1.5 percent for aerial vehicles (drones) have tar- this moment, independent and communities. females).4 geted the region since 2004, in an good quality information about the attempt to defeat Taliban and Al- political process will be vital to its Qaeda militants. Drone strikes have residents. killed up to an estimated 3,400 people.5 6 Design Research for Media Development 7 // ABOUT THIS GUIDE // Principles in Practice HARNESSING DESIGN RESEARCH IN FATA Project Background Project Approach Given the
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