I can hardly believe that it’s already been a whole month with Rice 360°!

I would have never guessed that designing a UI would take so much thought and time! I started out, last week and the beginning of this week, sketching out different layouts for the IncuBaby UI in PowerPoint. Then, I upgraded the 2D prototypes to something like this:

I used felt for the panel and cut printed pieces out of paper and taped hook-side velcro pieces to the backs. This kind of prototype allowed us to take the different pieces in our hands and physically move them around. I can now say that I’ve seen how the felt and velcro in the OEDK can steer prototyping. People on my team are reorganizing the pieces in hopes of coming across a nice UI layout. I also may set up in a common space and ask passersby to play with the UI layout and ask for their feedback as well. Ultimately, I’d like to pick one or two nice layouts and send sketches of them to Malawi to ask the nurses there for usability feedback.

On a completely different note, I should be able to start leading a study to test the accuracy of our temperature probe on adults around campus in the next weeks (with IRB approval, of course). So in preparation for that, I’ve been working on developing a data recording sheet – a sheet that reminds the investigator of the steps that need to happen and provides space to note necessary measurements and record any unusual occurrences. Again, a task that I thought was relatively simple, but became a mini research task within itself. There’s a slight controversy surrounding temperature probe placement; some say to place the probe over the liver and others say to place it far from the liver. And both argue in these ways for the same reason: to obtain an accurate measure of core temperature. I’ve done quite a bit of research, and it turns that I have about the same number of sources going for either way. Next steps may include talking to doctors and getting professional advice on this matter.

I’ve had a productive week this week, and I’m looking forward to a more challenging and even more productive upcoming week!