Cho et al. [1] describe the importance of learning outside classrooms and schools and highlight the disadvantage the low-income communities are experiencing since they cannot contribute monetarily for their kids overall development, above a specific limit, despite their willingness and efforts. The researchers work with such a community of first and second-generation immigrant Latinx families. Post understanding their expectations and limitations, they adopt an asset-based approach to the design and develop a free SMS subscription where they intimate families about all outside school activities in their area that have a minimal fee or are free. Post providing this service for a time period, the impact was measured in the form of verbal feedback for the intervention. Through the different phases, language wasn’t treated as a barrier but was rather taken into careful consideration and providing Spanish alternatives in the interview language and SMSs increased the reach of the project. In this project, the authors successfully started a wave that caused a lot of commotion and affect, for the better, a lot of people, including undergraduate students from their university. The project validates the asset-based design approach and adds value to the community in which it was adopted.
The research methodology adopted was divided into four phases. The first one was ethnographic research through semi-structured interviews, with an asset-based approach, conducted for forty families hailing from low-income backgrounds across non-white communities, especially Latinx. It was followed by data analysis. The families were given the option to choose who the interview should be conducted with, making them feel that the power dynamic was in their favour. They would have been more comfortable with the interviewees. The sampling method or the interview analysis methods haven’t been specified. The second phase strayed from the initially adopted ABCD approach and done using the standard Human Centred Design technique of making personas. The third step was design sprints based on the personas developed, and lastly, they involved the families who signed up for their SMS based service. Their opinions were taken to validate the solution. Throughout the process, the authors adopted a user-centric approach in their well-conducted research. The primary asset used is the popularity of the SMS service. Another asset, the social networks of the mothers could be tapped into and made better use of. The SMS service got a lot of unplanned publicity and had a good reach. A planned and targetted approach would validate this lens further. Every decision taken in the process was backed up by literature.
A different perspective that would add value to the research was missing. The authors have made only one persona, Monica, that they have worked on scenarios with, and she is an embodiment of the average person they interviewed. This limited the scope of thought since many parents’ qualities, needs, expectations, and pain points may be left out. Instead, while making personas, ideally, there should be at least two that have different characteristics, but their goals align. An alternative solution to the problem would have come by including the immigrant low-income families and all centres that take these afterschool programs. They need to reach out to more people to publicise their programs and facilities too. By working with them, maybe a better, more cost-effective solution could be introduced, which didn’t expect or require more assets than currently available. It may have resulted in a self-sustaining solution, better for the long run.
A significant disadvantage of the asset-based design approach is that it limits the designer’s potential extension to the research in context, and it may not need it everywhere. In a case like this study where the context is with low resource families, an asset-based approach made the best of their situation. In other places where income or resources are not limited, aspiration or even need-based approach might bring up better solutions. Since this study is highly specific to its context, it is a disadvantage of this study too that it cannot be generalized or extended beyond the demographic scope chosen here.
The narrative of the paper has a good flow, and the description of the process is story-like. The title is descriptive of the research.
References