Shaping higher education for inclusivity and equity
The Challenge
Driven by the collective efforts of advisors, teachers, and trusted adults, holistic advising has proved effective for steering students, irrespective of their backgrounds, towards credentials of value. The Coordinating Board for Higher Education (i.e., The Coordinating Board) in one of the largest states in the country aspired to establish a holistic and equitable advising system for all Learners (e.g., students and returning adults). Consequently, they enlisted the help of Artefact to delve into the needs and experiences of Learners and Supporters (e.g., advisors, counselors, parents, teachers, friends, and mentors) to develop a way forward.
The Outcome
Our six-month collaboration resulted in a comprehensive and actionable 5-year strategy and roadmap grounded in Learner and Supporter insights. It includes plans to modernize the Coordinating Board’s suite of digital advising tools, increase the availability of human support, and develop advisor effectiveness through training and capacity building. Since delivering the strategy, the state’s Commissioner approved the roadmap, and the initial phase is currently under implementation.
Understanding a Fragmented Advising System from Multiple Perspectives
Designed to support students pursuing a degree or career, the advising system in this particular state spans over one thousand independent school districts and thirty-five public universities. Each educational institution’s diverse population, bespoke resources, and graduation requirements lead to inconsistent access to quality advising across the state. We used a mixed-methods research approach, utilizing generative and evaluative methodologies to understand the current and ideal advising experiences of a diverse range of Learners and Supporters.
Our research process included conducting 60-minute, one-on-one qualitative interviews, an in-depth technology assessment of twelve of the Coordinating Board’s tools, and 90-minute co-creation sessions with Learners and Supporters.
Learners Navigate College and Career Pathways Differently
We analyzed our findings and identified six broad categorizations of Learners and Supporters in the state. Learners fall into three common categories based on their mindsets, behaviors, challenges, and needs.
Reactors are hesitant about their future and often focused solely on the present. They need support to come to them. Explorers can envision the future and begin building a plan for themselves, but they still seek support as they consider multiple possibilities. Planners have a vision for their future, actively strive to achieve their goals, and proactively seek out support when needed.
“Honestly, I wasn’t really thinking about college until the minute we graduated.”
– Eduardo, Student, Reactor
Learners seek and receive support from all types of Supporters. Guides understand how to navigate college and career transitions, passing along professional knowledge and formal resources. Coaches motivate Learners when they get “stuck,” need reassurance, and require nudges to be held accountable. Peers identify with the interests and lived experiences of Learners and can serve as an exemplar of success and a source of inspiration.
“There’s information everywhere and I don’t have time to crunch all the data!”
– Nina, Teacher, Coach
While each type of Learner navigates college and career in their own way, they each experience their non-linear educational journey in phases. These phases — Dream, Explore, Deliberate, Pursue, and Acclimate represent the actions Learners take to transition from one environment to another.
Developing a Vision for the Future of Advising
Conversations with Learners and Supporters helped us understand that the current advising system is episodic, fractured, inconsistent, and impersonal. To realize a vision for the future of advising the state, a modern advising system would need to continuously work with Learners and Supporters through a coordinated effort that would be consistent and compassionate. This insight formed the basis of the north star vision and theory of change.
Through a series of workshops with the Coordinating Board and its partners, we used a theory of change framework to draft the key strategies and actions required to realize the north star vision that would occur over a 5-year period. The strategies aim to develop a data and technology infrastructure to create a personalized advising experience, leverage a network of partners to scale high-impact interventions across the state and democratize the role of advising to increase the number of effective Supporters.
“I feel fortunate that I have people to encourage me on my journey to go back to school.”
Geoffrey
Returning Adult Student, Planner
We started this program by asking, “How might we create an ideal advising experience?” After speaking with Learners and Supporters from all backgrounds, we found an open landscape where students could explore any future they might dream of, and a curated set of tools and resources to help them along the way. The Coordinating Board is dedicated to creating a holistic and equitable advising system, one with a modern technology infrastructure and human Supporters credentialed to provide effective guidance. With the leadership of the Coordinating Board and the state’s Commissioner, we are hopeful for a future where educational advising works for all, one student and one credential at a time.
Defining opportunities that promote youth well-being in digital spaces
Strategy
Centering youth voices to foster opportunities that promote mental health
The Challenge
The tech landscape is rapidly evolving, with the metaverse and web3 redefining the social spaces in which young people carry out their online lives. Hopelab, a social innovation lab and impact investor, wanted to explore how it may influence, design, and invest in these spaces to support youth in their mental health and well-being, particularly those from BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities. Hopelab engaged with Artefact to understand the current and future state of web3 and the metaverse to uncover actionable areas of opportunity Hopelab can readily act upon.
The Outcome
We created a comprehensive set of principles and opportunity areas that informed Hopelab’s strategy aimed at influencing and activating emerging technologies in support of youth well-being. Our research with subject matter experts, youth advocates, and creators clarified what young people are experiencing online and resulted in six principles describing what youth want in a better tech future. We also conducted several co-design workshops with Hopelab teams to create alignment on the key opportunities for partnership with organizations at the frontlines of creating equity in digital spaces.
Gen Z activity, by the numbers
Nationwide surveys showcase how Gen Z youth are already engaging with metaverses and web3 assets. Compared to millenials, Gen Z is almost equally enthusiastic about the metaverse and web3.
Seeing the metaverse and web3 as a force for good
A key question Hopelab posed is whether the metaverse and web3 will exacerbate the harms youth already experience on the internet today or whether things might be different. It’s undeniable that the metaverse and web3 will host a series of dark activity, such as bad actors, extreme content, echo chambers, privacy breaches, and surveillance capitalism, all issues that proliferate on today’s internet. In fact, the immersive nature of the metaverse may make some harms more acute and traumatic. Furthermore, the volatility of digital currencies can cause financial distress, leaving those who invested more vulnerable to market crashes, like content creators or small businesses.
And yet, there is reason for hope. The metaverse and web3 offer new and exciting opportunities for youth to gather, play, experiment, exchange ideas, and create. All of which are critical developmental assets for adolescents that promote wellness and the ability to thrive. Well-being is supported through rich social experiences on platforms like Fortnite and Roblox. And on web3, young people are starting careers that weren’t previously viable, finding new audiences and fanbases, creating financial independence, and finding and contributing to caring communities. Communities are engaging in these spaces while building their creativity, socioemotional, and critical thinking skills online.
With this context in mind, we focused our research on how best to mitigate the harms of these technologies and build technology that supports youth mental health and well-being as a force for good. Our research and strategy process combined expert voices alongside youth advocates and BIPOC LGBTQ+ artists to gather a holistic perspective on impact, ethics, responsibilities, and initiatives.
“For the average youth, there’s probably a lot of benefits to [these emerging technologies], and they may not feel so much of the downside. But there are vulnerable populations whose lives are horribly impacted in a very negative way, so it’s pluses and minuses. The average kid’s going to get through this and probably find a number of benefits, but we have vulnerable populations and they’re going to struggle with this.”
Mike Milham
Vice President of Research, Child Mind Institute
A complex landscape
Emerging tech will create positive and negative impacts on four critical components of youth well-being.
Identity & Self Sufficiency
The ability for youth to explore self-expression and gain financial independence are promising aspects of the metaverse and web3, but unfortunately is still not a reality for most. Avatars create a sense of psychological safety for youth to experiment and play with their identities, but manifesting avatars through VR can also lead to more embodied experiences of online harassment of bullying. In the same manner, web3 technology promise financial independence and data ownership for the creator economy, but also compounds pressure to perform and may be a more challenging space to enter for creators with smaller audiences.
Image Credit: Idoru
Meaning & Connection
Youth are forming relationships and communities online that mean as much to them as those formed in real life. Both the metaverse and web3 offer different social interactions and affordances, broadening the possibility for richer engagement and more diverse communities to form. There is hope that these technologies can develop our socioemotional skills and teach empathy. At the same time, negative experiences online are greatly upsetting and isolating and some metaverse spaces, especially those accessed by VR, could exacerbate this as the metaverse draws us further into the digital realm.
Image Credit: Fortnite
Rest & Rejuvenation
There are exciting new applications in the metaverse that can support our need to take breaks and find a moment of calm. But experts are concerned that this tech will further draw us in, thereby diminishing our ability to control how we spend our time. Digital markers that can drive wellness interventions are still in the “infant stage” of development, as are interventions that leverage peer networks. However, the large amount of activity in the space is promising and it will be interesting to see what takes hold.
Image Credit: Tripp VR
Safety & Security
While public awareness and actions to protect safety online are growing, with the advent of web3 and the metaverse there will be new forms of dark patterns and dark participation that can leave youth more vulnerable than ever. For example, the absence of an accountable organization for any given web3 platform makes makes bad actors difficult to penalize. A variety of safety measures will be needed. Platforms that design for bystander interventions and peer communities of support offer a promising way forward to protect youth safety and security.
Image Credit: Adobe Stock
Understanding the journey
Young people’s relationships to digital technologies are dynamic and multifaceted. Speaking with youth advocates and BIPOC creators helped us understand their relationship to the metaverse and web3, and how these technologies may appear or gain interest in their lives. These high-level journey maps summarize general pathways into each technology and the potential tradeoffs youth negotiate.
“Some members of Gen Z don’t exactly attach to the metaverse right away because I think we have yet to be given the value add. It’s another platform you can be with your friends on, and we already have very many versions of ourselves on social media. But the potential it has is huge. If the metaverse is a place in which you can have psychological safety, where there’s social and emotional growth and there are platforms dedicated to that at every level of execution, when you ask me about my excitement, that’s a 10 out of 10.”
Arielle Geismar
Youth Activist & Hopelab Youth Advisor
“At the end of the day, whether it’s Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, LinkedIn, any of them really, you are supporting their platform. It’s not your platform. We have to rely on them and hope the don’t crash or end up being sold to someone that’s going to change the algorithm in a way that all these people that follow me right now can no longer engage with me[…]This is a lot of work, especially when all of these platforms keep changing their technology, entry point and qualifiers.”
SassyBlack
Music Creator & Consultant
Principles for Action
Through our research, we found six principles that were important to youth when creating interventions for a youth and wellness-centered web3 and metaverse. Each principle paired with multiple opportunity areas and interventions on which Hopelab and its partners can act.
Youth are already showing us the way
Young people feel the impact of technology in their daily lives for better or worse. And they are willing and ready to express their viewpoints and enact change. There is a collective call towards a different future that supports their efforts towards autonomy, curiosity, and connection.
The current energy around the metaverse and web3 is exciting because, much like generative AI, the technology is still emerging, and there is room to shape conversations, actions, and decisions. These technologies will mature and be harder to influence in the coming years. Though diving into the early stages of development may seem overwhelming and ambiguous, it allows Hopelab and its partners to initiate positive change from the onset. We are excited about the work Hopelab is doing to support the next generation to establish a better, more healthy relationship with today’s technologies and those coming in the near future.
Learn more about Hopelab by visiting the website and following it on LinkedIn.
“This is new tech. I think it’s important for communities like ours to be loud and to reassure women and to encourage them to participate so that they don’t miss out.”
Traverse helps bridge the patient-provider gap to enable more inclusive and respectful care.
The Challenge
The United States healthcare system struggles to holistically serve increasingly diverse patient populations. Existing care excludes many factors that acknowledge a patient’s personal and cultural identities, negatively affecting healthcare access, experiences, and outcomes.
+ Marginalized identities receive less quality care + Diverse language speakers have less access to medical information + Multicultural communities are unable to establish trust in providers
The Outcome
Traverse leverages digital tools and technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Natural Language Processing (NLP) to support culturally responsive patient-provider interactions across the primary care journey.
It helps bridge the gap between providers steeped in biomedical systems and patients with increasingly diverse lifeworlds, so providers can address their patients’ whole identities and backgrounds, leading to better health outcomes.
“[My doctors] treat me as if I had no rights. As if I weren’t human. Many times, my doctors have refused to treat my asthma and diabetes. They allege my problems are mental, they dismiss the symptoms I describe to them and mock me because I am trans.”
Personalized care that is powered by a decentralized identity wallet
The Traverse system is built on top of a digital identity wallet that encrypts all sensitive personal, cultural, social, and familial data shared by patients and stores it in a decentralized manner on the blockchain. A patient’s smartphone acts as the key for unlocking their digital identity with providers who can use the data to seamlessly tailor care unique to patient needs, preferences, and values. This self-sovereign approach ensures that patient data is portable across providers, accessed with explicit consent, and controlled directly by the patient.
Traverse uses digital tools to support patient and provider interactions across the primary care journey.
Pre-visit
Connecting patients to best-fit providers
By leveraging the personal and cultural profiles stored in patient digital identity wallets, Traverse sorts and presents patients with local providers who align with different facets of their background, culture, and identity.
In addition, detailed provider profiles highlight and display reviews from anonymized patients with similar data profiles. These features deliver relevant community insights, helping patients select culturally-aligned healthcare providers.
Setting expectations for clinical visits
The digital onboarding experience details what to expect during clinical encounters, helping patients avoid uncomfortable surprises with providers. This stage aims to bring familiarity and alleviate anxiety for patients who may experience discomfort or mistrust in clinical and medical systems.
Contextual tips for providers on the go
Providers are given a digital tip board that summarizes a patient’s concerns, cultural background, alternative medical perspectives, and other factors that impact how providers might provide care and communicate with the patient.
Traverse also suggests relevant patient interview questions and delivers reminders about patient identity details to enable more culturally responsive care that considers an individual’s multi-dimensional lifeworld.
Clinical visit
Supporting more dynamic conversation
During clinical visits, providers use a tablet that acts as an AI-based digital scribe. Using natural language processing (NLP), the Dynamic Visit feature listens to conversations between patients and providers. It then delivers discussion prompts and relevant resources to providers, which can be accessed in real-time or referenced later.
Facilitating bi-directional communication
Traverse acts as an interpretation tool to bridge patient-provider understanding gaps. For example, providers caring for patients who value alternative medical approaches, such as Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), would be coached to integrate them into treatment plans.
In situations where providers need more support communicating health details to patients, personalized flashcards can be presented for better understanding.
After visit
Digital coaching throughout the day
Providers receive immediate feedback, between clinical visits, from AI-enabled conversations with patients. The Dynamic Visit feature uses NLP to analyze discussions and delivers actionable tips to make on-the-go adjustments based on communication factors such as agreeableness, compassion, and positivity.
For the provider
Relevant cultural factors the AI scribe presents in patient conversations are re-surfaced and integrated into provider EHR systems for easy reference. Allowing providers to engage more deeply with the information and help outline culturally responsive after-care instructions.
Providers can also grab real-time learnings by engaging with content in the sidebar. They are encouraged to expand their cultural competence with courses that help fulfill continued medical education (CME) credits.
For the patient
After visits, patients receive a follow-up note from providers summarizing their visit and outlining the next steps in a culturally responsive way. For example, to address affordability concerns, specialist referrals might show expected out-of-pocket cost information and help navigate insurance and public benefits.
Similarly, non-medical interventions such as diet and lifestyle changes can be contextualized within the cultures and communities that shape how patients view and experience health.
What it means to design for agency, understanding, and transparency in healthcare
Agency means that patients have a right to exercise control in their healthcare decision-making. They have the ability to locate culturally appropriate care and therapeutic options through interactions that reaffirm their dignity.
Understanding requires bidirectional communication where vital medical,
cultural, and contextual information is shared in patient-provider
conversations, giving providers a strong sense of culturally appropriate
treatment options and patients the ability to choose between them.
Transparency involves providing visibility at every step of the medical journey to support patient decision-making. It means giving them clear guidance on what to expect during medical appointments so they can best prepare how they see fit.
Generating insights to support and empower youth activism
The Challenge
Discover and understand technology related issues that animate youth activism and the barriers young people face to support social change venture, Omidyar Network’s, vision of a technological ecosystem that empowers youth and makes technology outcomes more accountable, equitable, and inclusive.
The Outcome
Generative research and strategy recommendations informed directly by youth voices. Our research revealed seven recurring issues that youth are focused on today, helping to align areas of focus and opportunity to Omidyar Network’s core strategies. Recommendations for a wider group of philanthropies and funders were also created.
“Artefact’s roots in human-centered design made them the ideal partner to help Omidyar Network create a strategy inclusive of youth voices. Their commitment to centering youth voices throughout the process generated actionable insights and recommendations. Omidyar Network is excited to use these findings to shape future engagements with digital natives. ”
Emma Leiken
Chief of Staff, Programs Omidyar Network
Informing strategy with inclusive & continuous research
Omidyar Network needed actionable insights to ensure their learning strategy serves, supports, and empowers youth. To achieve this, we pursued a mixed methods research approach that included social listening, in-depth 1:1 interviews, and focus groups discussions with young people who have spoken about how technology is affecting their generation.
Whether it was engaging digital natives to comment on our preliminary research insights, or inviting them to attend a key milestone presentation to Omidyar Network, we sought to ensure digital native voices remained centered throughout.
Identifying and centering seven focal issues that activate youth
Our research revealed a common theme – today’s youth is a generation attuned to the systemic and interrelated nature of many of the issues they are passionate about.
While the topics young activists care about are diverse, we identified seven recurring focal issues that animate youth today. These seven areas can help Omidyar Network and other social change ventures gain a deeper understanding of digital native activists and their generation-specific journey, experiences, challenges, and needs.
Understanding the three core needs of young activists
Now that the seven focal issues at the heart of digital natives have been identified. A second question arose: what do youth activists need for sustained, organized, and successful activism? Again using a mixed-methods approach, Artefact continued conversations with youth participants to discover their needs, and apply those discoveries to Omidyar Network’s funding and philanthropic strategy.
Our conversation with digital native activists and leaders revealed many areas of need that youth organizers have regardless of the focal issue of their activism. The diverse needs could however be bucketed into three categories: personal, organizational, and external needs.
Personal
Needs related to current and aspiring activists as people
Maintain balance
How might we make activism more balanced, sustainable, and life-affirming for individuals? What if digital natives had access to youth activist support circles, workshops, and wellness retreats?
Enable focus & flexibility
How might we create freedom for young activists to evolve and grow beyond one issue or model of change? What if there was a youth activist cohort designed for or co-created with digital natives?
Organizational
Needs related to running a youth-led organization
Build infrastructure
How might we reduce the administrative burdens and risks associated with organizing? What if resources and consulting on the organizational landscape were committed to digital natives?
Sustain momentum
How might we help youth-led organizations maintain momentum over time? What if digital natives received stipends or compensation for their work?
Create healthy partnerships
How might we support mutually beneficial partnerships that are respectful? What if mixers, chats, or formal mentorship offerings existed for digital natives?
External
Needs related to interacting with others
Create space for impact
How might we help digital natives find places where their voices are valued? What if digital natives received invitations to participate (through grants, fellowships, and competitions)?
Reimagine standards
How might we reimagine the evaluation standards for digital natives? What if there were programs that met activists where they are?
“Young people starting their own thing need to believe in a cause, and commit to investing in it […] The fast paced nature of online social justice discourse has made it the norm to care about caring about things.
That’s not enough. We need mission, community, and a deep, collective sense of care.”
Sukhnidh Kaur
Digital Native Activist & Content Creator
Recommendations for investing in better futures for our youth
With insights, opportunities, and organizational goals aligned, Artefact helped Omidyar Network ask actionable and generative questions. If teams were to consider allocating resources to address personal needs in youth activists, for example, they can ask “how might we create freedom for young activists to evolve and grow beyond one issue or model of change?”
Asking questions such as these, will help focus Omidyar Networks’s offerings and serve as a gut-check to ensure efforts continue to center youth needs.
Detecting age-related macular degeneration earlier and more accurately
The Challenge:
Transform MacuLogix’s groundbreaking automated dark adaptometer from a tabletop research device into a patient-centered, wearable system to enable eye care professionals to more effectively detect and monitor age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
The Outcome:
A responsive, adaptable, and smart AMD testing experience designed for the needs of patients, technicians, and clinicians.
The Impact:
As the first wearable and portable dark adaptometer on the market, eye care professionals across the world are using the AdaptDx Pro system to detect and manage AMD.
Due to its ease of use, built-in AI technician, and ability to create a personal darkroom, eye care professionals are screening up to six times more patients per month with the AdaptDx Pro than with the tabletop version.
“Artefact was a fantastic team and partner. They are thoughtful about technology and care deeply about the user. Thanks to Artefact’s great product design and guidance on user experience, the AdaptDx Pro has been a smash hit.”
Gregory R. Jackson, PhD
Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer, MacuLogix
A more accessible and comfortable screening experience
AMD is the leading cause of adult blindness in developed countries, affecting one in eight adults over 60 years old.
MacuLogix has led the medical field in AMD screening since launching its novel dark adaptation testing device in 2014. Yet this large tabletop device was difficult to use for many patients and required a specialized dark room at significant up-front cost to eye care professionals.
We partnered with MacuLogix to help transform this tabletop tool into a comfortable screening experience for people of all abilities, helping eye care professionals improve patient outcomes through earlier and more accurate diagnosis of AMD.
“The AdaptDx Pro is so much easier [than the tabletop device] because you don’t have to put your chin on the device. This is far more comfortable. I can actually lean back. I can relax.”
AMD patient
Supporting patients of all abilities
Artefact helped MacuLogix transform its tabletop medical device into the most accessible, head-mounted testing tool of its kind.
The comfortable, lightweight, and flexible experience serves patients of all physical abilities, including those with wheelchairs or who are bedridden.
Improving patient outcomes through early detection
Early detection and proactive disease management are key to preventing vision loss from AMD, but historically AMD testing has been based on late-stage symptoms alone.
The flexibility and ease of the AdaptDx Pro allows eye care professionals to increasingly test based on age (the leading risk factor), transforming AMD testing from a reactive to preventative approach.
Increasing accuracy and efficiency of screening
Better usability and less workflow friction help technicians screen patients faster and more easily.
Consistent, automated testing instructions and adaptive feedback powered by the AdaptDx Pro’s AI assistant “Theia” reduce risk of patient or technician error and increase the exam’s reliability.
Exam automation also empowers technicians to multi-task and screen multiple patients simultaneously, further increasing the rate of successful screening.
Designing for all stakeholders
Artefact led generative primary research with patients, eye care professionals, and technicians to gain empathy and identify opportunities for the new AdaptDx Pro system. We then conducted evaluative prototype testing to determine the best experience concept for all stakeholders.
Our research uncovered key insights to inform the design and experience of the AdaptDx Pro – from the importance of retaining social connection for patients throughout the automated test, to ensuring that technicians are aware of what the patient is experiencing during the exam by including an external-facing embedded display on the headset.
“The AdaptDx Pro is so vital to the care we provide that another unit had to be purchased to accommodate our increased volume.”
Shajida Reich
Optometrist
Preventing vision loss from AMD
MacuLogix envisions a future where everyone 50 years of age and older can access accurate and efficient AMD screening. The AdaptDx Pro will enable clinics to scale their practices by testing more patients across different contexts and increasing the number of patients who receive early AMD detection and treatment.
We’re proud to be a part of MacuLogix’s vision to eliminate blindness caused by AMD.
Expanding access to education for nontraditional learners
The Challenge:
Leverage Arizona State University’s online learning platforms to support institutions serving nontraditional learners so that they have better access to courses, communities, and opportunities.
The Outcome:
A vision for a customizable platform experience where institutions can access ASU courses, pathways, and degrees, and contextualize them for the unique needs of their learners.
The Impact:
ASU is positioned to offer courses, learning pathways, and degrees to nontraditional institutions across the country, an important step toward reducing barriers to higher education for organizations struggling with digital learning capacity and expanding access to online education in the face of the ongoing pandemic.
“Artefact was a valuable partner in helping us realize our vision to improve equity in higher education. This work will impact so many learners and we are excited for what’s to come.”
Lukas Wenrick
Assistant Director of the Learning Enterprise, Arizona State University
Transforming traditional models of education
The Arizona State University (ASU) Learning Enterprise is dedicated to expanding the university’s online courses, platforms, and digital learning technology to nontraditional organizations such as high schools, community colleges, minority-serving institutions, and corporate education groups.
As the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the existing inequities in higher education, ASU recognized that many nontraditional institutions pushed into digital learning lacked the courseware to provide continued online education and the technology platforms to deliver it to students.
We partnered with ASU to help evolve their existing online learning platform so that a diverse group of institutions can better purchase, adopt and scale ASU courses and degree programs both on their own and through ASU-hosted platforms.
Helping institutions scale courses with ease
We designed ASU’s online learning platform to help prospective partner institutions quickly and easily customize a unique learning offering for their organization.
Potential partners can browse and filter courses and certificates; sign up and procure learning offerings; set up a management dashboard to generate insight reports; and export courses to their existing learning management systems – all in one powerful platform.
Empowering learners to forge their own path
The learner platform helps students achieve their educational goals through ASU partner offerings.
Learners can enroll and
select courses, track their progress, and browse new offerings to help develop
a unique pathway toward earning a certificate.
Inclusion: the heart of the process
We engaged communities of use in the creative process to understand how ASU’s digital learning offerings would be most useful for nontraditional institutions.
Through conversations with leaders from high schools, nonprofits, and minority-serving institutions, we identified different use cases for educators and learners; how institutions might co-brand digital content alongside ASU; and how to elevate these opportunities to learners.
We continued to adjust strategy and iterate the user experience model to reflect feedback from potential partner institutions.
“Artefact’s fantastic design skills and clear understanding of engineering enabled them to design meaningful solutions that development teams can build. They were a great partner.”
Roger Kohler
Technical Director, Arizona State University
Foolproof tools for engineering
To ensure seamless handoff between design and development, we created an information architecture and user experience flow that engineering teams could easily track to.
This included a set of experience prototypes to convey the ideal platform experience for learners and administrators; a design component library and specifications to help developers build our vision; and a landing page template to guide the creation of new visual styles for prospective institutions.
Lifting barriers to education
ASU’s online learning platform is an innovative new business model poised to advance equity in higher education by reducing barriers to access.
With greater acceptance and adoption of distance learning due to the pandemic, ASU and its partner institutions are well positioned to expand access to courses, pathways, and degrees for all learners, today and tomorrow.
Helping technologists chart the future impact of their work
The Challenge
Evolve philanthropic venture capital firm Omidyar Network’s ethical design resource into an impactful and accessible toolkit that encourages teams to question and address the implications of their products on people and society.
The Outcome
The Ethical Explorer Pack: a physical and digital toolkit to pioneer a new standard for building tech that’s safer, healthier, fairer, and more inclusive for all. Its inviting narrative and lightweight physicality keeps it on-hand and front-of-mind during important discussions.
“Artefact was the ideal partner to bring our vision to life in the Ethical Explorer Pack. The team provided thought and care every step of the way, with excellent communication and beautiful final output.”
Sarah Drinkwater
Director, Beneficial Technology, Omidyar Network
An approachable, actionable guide
Omidyar Network works to ensure that technology is a force for good in our communities.
They launched the EthicalOS design resource in collaboration with the Institute for the Future (IFTF) to encourage technologists across the industry to think through the risk areas and consequences of the products they create.
We partnered with Omidyar Network to transform the EthicalOS document into a refined, relevant, and accessible toolkit that technology designers are excited to engage with and promote throughout the product development process.
Who is the Ethical Explorer?
The Ethical Explorer brand represents those in a technology organization who want to serve and support ethical values in design, foster an inquisitive culture, and ignite positive change through dialogue.
Generating awareness and conversation around tech ethics among peers is not easy. It can sometimes feel like an uphill battle, full-time job, and unchartered territory all rolled into one.
Championing this work takes continuous commitment and exploration. Thus, the Ethical Explorer was created.
Mapping the ethical risks in technology
The Ethical Explorer Pack centers around eight Tech Risk Zones such as algorithmic bias, bad actors, and disinformation.
Each zone features a unique illustration that expresses unforeseen danger and potential challenges Explorers might encounter in the wild. The color of each Risk Zone is intentionally vibrant to represent danger and command attention.
The Risk Zone Cards
The Risk Zone cards provoke thoughtful conversation around responsibility and impact, no matter where you are in a product’s lifecycle.
Each card has three types of questions to help teams figure out where they stand, anticipate risk, or lead the way when it comes to radical change.
The Field Guide
Complementing the Risk Zone cards, the Field Guide suggests five different activities to help both individuals and groups start their journey toward more ethical technology and gain buy-in within their organizations. Explore as a group to build habits moving forward, or reflect and challenge past decisions on your own.
Unique stickers let Explorers show off their passion and advocacy for ethical, inclusive, and safe technology.
Equipping designers for the road ahead
We created the Ethical Explorer Pack as a starting point. Designed to not only help technologists find their “moral compass,” it also encourages them to advocate for a responsible movement in technology – one that’s grounded in asking questions, challenging norms, and creating a future where tech products are built with responsibility at the core.
Safer store experiences. Seamless online shopping.
Technology
Three ways technology might improve food retail following COVID-19.
The COVID-19 pandemic cast a spotlight on an essential service many
of us take for granted: the grocery store.
Customers now expect more of their grocery shopping experience: safety and efficiency in-store, a fast and reliable online experience, and the flexibility to choose how and when to make purchases.
We imagined three ways that emerging technology might help customers shop with more confidence, while ensuring businesses efficiently manage guest volume, protect employees, and sustain revenue.
1. Guiding safe behavior
Grocery stores encourage browsing by design, and have struggled to manage traffic and protect essential staff during the pandemic. Wider aisles and static signage alone don’t inspire efficient behavior and are often ignored.
Smart augmented reality way-finding could direct store traffic in real time, helping customers navigate more efficiently and reducing the burden on store employees to monitor and enforce social distancing.
The technology
A combination of vision technology and object-tracking AI in-store could project augmented reality boundaries around customers to encourage proper social distancing. Guided route projections update and re-direct based on real-time data to reduce interaction and optimize routes.
Projections could also act as responsive aisle signage, indicating direction based on real-time store traffic and closing aisles to accommodate workers cleaning or stocking the area.
2. Forecasting risk
Customer movement, proximity, and shopping duration are all factors that increase the risk of virus transmission.
We imagine a system that tracks this data to determine and communicate the risk status of stores.
The technology
Vision technology like in-store object recognition, or crowdsourced GPS data, could gather real-time information on factors such as peak traffic hours, how long shoppers linger, and proximity to others, generating a risk status for each store.
An AI assistant might predictively manage this data to help customers identify stores with the lowest risk at the time they want to shop, or find the optimal hours to visit their preferred grocery – all without leaving the house.
3. Bringing the best of in-store, online
Once considered a luxury, online grocery shopping has become a necessity for many. Vulnerable populations in particular have adopted the approach, with seniors comprising the largest new demographic of online shoppers since the pandemic.
We envision an elegant and immersive online shopping experience that introduces the familiarity of in-store shopping. Customers navigate by store sections, allowing them to discover forgotten items or be inspired by new ingredients just as they would in a physical store.
The technology
In-store cameras or robots with embedded vision technology could scan shelves daily, allowing shoppers to see and select available items.
Tools in the platform to compare size, color, and ripeness allow customers to “feel” information akin to shopping in a store.
What’s next for food retail?
While the percentage of grocery sales online is estimated to more than triple as a result of the pandemic, 87% of people still prefer to buy in-person. Customers will continue to visit brick-and-mortar stores to explore the possibilities of food and engage with their community.
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced retailers to focus on risk, yet grocery shopping is an inherently tactile experience. Physical stores may transition into smaller showrooms that customers visit to socialize with staff and discover new ingredients and recipes, while staple items and consumer packaged goods are automatically delivered to their homes.
We see the possibility of emerging technology to support such evolving norms around shopping and help craft a future where both brick-and-mortar and online shopping are integrated into one seamless, safe experience.
An emergency preparedness concept for a world in flux
Technology
Navis helps people prepare for emergencies and respond effectively.
The Challenge
The effects of climate change and urbanization are increasing the frequency and severity of crises like natural disasters and pandemics, yet less than half of Americans have an emergency plan for their household.
How might we help people better understand risk, take smart steps to becoming prepared, and more effectively leverage the power of community to help each other in times of need?
The Outcome
Navis is a conceptual emergency preparedness system that guides people in planning for, and responding to, crisis scenarios.
The app uses conversational UI and augmented reality to help people create a personalized emergency plan on their preferred devices. The durable polycarbonate home hub helps people stay connected during an emergency and translate plans into action.
Combining behavior change research with the possibilities of emerging technology, Navis reduces barriers to emergency planning and helps people better assist their communities during a crisis.
A simple, personalized way to prepare
According to cognitive psychology research, decision-making biases like short-termism and underestimating scale deter people from assessing their risks or preparing an emergency plan. The Navis concept makes emergency planning easy and intuitive.
A guided onboarding experience reduces barriers to getting started. The app’s “preparation mode” uses calming colors and clear directives to communicate stability and encourage engagement. It provides positive reinforcement and helpful tips as users progress on their preparedness journey.
Convenient and conversational
Most of the necessary information for your plan is collected through conversation with the app. Every question answered adjusts what additional details are gathered about your household. The app syncs across all smart devices, allowing people to work on their plan at their convenience, on the devices they prefer.
Visualizing risks in the home
It’s hard to imagine how your home will be affected by an emergency such as an earthquake or fire. We envision using the power of augmented reality to make risks tangible and help people see the unseen.
Augmented-reality scans throughout the home identify risks based on emergencies that might occur in your specific location. The app could detect dangerous items or exits that may become blocked, and generate insights such as suggested places to shelter.
A tailored plan
The app guides households through a series of bite-sized modules that gather essential information such as geographic location, discretionary income, individual age and ability, and household medical and dietary considerations.
Navis would automatically generate a personalized plan and curated emergency kit unique to each household’s needs and the risks relevant to where they live.
A dependable guide when infrastructure is disrupted
The Navis concept transforms your preparedness plan into concrete action for any type of crisis – whether your smartphone is working, or standard technology and infrastructure is unavailable.
The heat, flame, and water-resistant polycarbonate home hub is designed to withstand force. It remains synced with your preparedness plan at all times.
In an emergency, the app and home hub alert you of a crisis occurring and prompt through voice and screen to set a status as safe or needing help. Once marked safe, it directs you to begin your personalized emergency plan.
Consistent connectivity
As a mesh network node, we envisioned the home hub to help you communicate with neighbors and loved ones by connecting to other home hubs or smartphones nearby, creating a resilient local network across neighborhoods.
This network range has the potential to provide communication capabilities when standard networks are unavailable.
A robust hub
The e-ink display screen and triple-power LED lights indicate status while providing options for ambient and directional lighting. The low energy draw of e-ink and LEDs allow the hub to function for weeks without a charge. In addition to USB and USB-C charging ports, it features a solar panel for back-up charging.
In a crisis, we reach for familiar technology first. The “emergency mode” on the Navis app and home hub helps people communicate and act on their emergency plan from any device.
Put plans into action
In a disaster situation, the Navis app shifts into “emergency mode,” using high-contrast color and typography to provide clear directions. Contextualized actions displayed on both the home hub and your mobile device help you take quick action based on your unique preparedness plan.
Locate family and friends
Navis automatically syncs your family’s statuses to your app and home hub, helping you check on loved ones and identify who needs help in your community. Colors communicate status at a glance, displaying neighbors who have requested assistance.
Empowering neighbors as first responders
Communities cannot rely on institutions alone for support in times
of crisis. It can take days for emergency services to arrive after a disaster,
and neighbors are often the
first to respond to those in need. Helping communities help themselves is the key
to keeping people safe in an emergency.
Navis imagines how communities can share resources and skills during and after an emergency. Through the skill-matching feature, users can request assistance in the app or identify neighbors that need help. The portable home hub also allows people to easily transport it to those nearby who may not have connectivity or power.
Connecting people to a local community of prepared homes deters reactive
behavior like panic buying and helps communities more effectively coordinate
among themselves in times of crisis.
“You want to take as much pressure off of first responders as possible so they can triage effectively…What matters in terms of disaster response and recovery is community connection and social cohesion.”
Disasters disproportionately affect vulnerable populations. We envision the Navis system to expand beyond individual preparedness alone to better equip and inform communities at large. Just one Navis system in a community center or shelter, for example, could aid a wider population in need.
By helping people build an interconnected network of prepared households, communities can better support their vulnerable neighbors and build broader resilience. Concepts like Navis demonstrate opportunity for responsible design to deliver more equitable experiences and drive positive community impact.
A personal data advocate for an expanding digital universe
Technology
A concept for the future of personal data ownership
Is privacy dead? From our homes to our heartbeats, the devices, apps, and appliances that surround us constantly collect data from almost every action we take – awake or asleep.
This data is growing exponentially. Quintillions of bytes of data are generated each day, with the entire digital universe doubling every two years. As facial recognition and ubiquitous sensors become commonplace, the system that comprises our personal data will increasingly monetize our attention at every turn. It is clear that not all companies – or even governments – share the same approach to data privacy, leaving our personal information vulnerable to neglect, misuse, or even weaponization.
Continuing down this path risks a future where data privacy and anonymity is a luxury for the wealthy, powerful, and digitally literate. Without the right tools working in conjunction with the right regulatory policy, we will lose the capacity to manage this intimate picture of our lives.
At Artefact, we are exploring a future with a radically different paradigm for personal data collection and ownership. A future where our data works for us, on our terms. A future with Kagi to help.
Rather than trading data for services, we imagine a future where people control and leverage personal data to improve their lives.
Secure, reliable, empowered data ownership
Kagi
(pronounced “kah-ghee”) is a conceptual intelligent agent that stores and manages
personal data on an individual’s behalf. Named after the Japanese word for
“key,” Kagi is both a secure data repository and an intermediary between our
experiences and the data they generate.
Kagi uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to recognize a person’s data privacy preferences and, over time, earn the ability to make increasingly important decisions for them. Kagi is invisible and automatic, eliminating the need to spend time mired in personal data management. It gives people the power to fully own their data and control its use.
Returning data ownership to the individual
Even
the most routine digital services incentivize users to continually share personal
data with no visibility around how it is utilized. People may inadvertently
grant an e-mail provider permission to scan private messages for tailored
advertising, or allow a ride-hailing service to record their location data even
after closing an app.
Kagi
makes it simple for anyone to secure their personal data and understand how it
might be used. It stores a person’s entire personal data footprint, acting as
an intermediary between the platforms that collect it and brokering deals with
the services that want to use it. Unlike today, Kagi prioritizes the interests
of people over platforms.
Quarantine, store, and secure
Kagi controls the flow of data between a person’s devices and services and their central servers. Using a distributed network like blockchain, Kagi acts as a trusted single repository for personal data to ensure that it is protected from unsanctioned collection or use.
Of course, companies already own scores of people’s personal data. Where possible, Kagi cleans up and deletes existing data and “digital exhaust” that already exist on a device or service.
A trusted assistant
Each person trains Kagi’s machine learning AI with their data privacy preferences, interacting with the agent less and less over time as it earns trust in making data decisions.
Eventually, Kagi will automatically recognize a person’s privacy preferences based on past behaviors and settings, and automatically monitor and manage the entirety of their personal data on their behalf.
Automatic, scaled privacy preferences
Kagi ensures data privacy outcomes are consistent with each person’s preferences. If someone is concerned about sharing their family’s health data, for example, Kagi can apply their specific privacy preferences across platforms that engage with healthcare information.
Kagi also manages the nuances between complex data privacy frameworks that may vary from service to service. In a future where people may be bound to hundreds – if not thousands – of data privacy policies, Kagi consistently manages the entirety of a person’s data preferences.
An advocate in the public domain
Imagine entering a pharmacy of the future. Biometric scanners track your identity, facial recognition senses your mood, AI cross-references your past buying patterns to influence your behavior, and a mixed-reality interface directs you toward certain products – all before you’ve even picked up a shopping basket.
Kagi acts as a real-time data advocate amidst a world of connected technology and predictive personalization, helping people control the impact this surveillance has on their lives.
Control how you connect
Enjoy the conveniences of a connected digital world without personal data being consistently collected or used to tailor experiences at every turn. Kagi helps people make the most of useful technology like facial recognition where appropriate, while helping automatically opt out of algorithmic personalization, mixed-reality intrusions, and other forms of targeting and manipulation.
Flag sensitive data requests
Kagi identifies unprecedented data requests that may require on-the-spot decision making. Like a credit card company flagging unusual spending, Kagi only alerts people when they need to handle a unique data request.
Monetizing data – on our terms
We
envision a future where we not only protect and control our personal data but
unlock new ways of creating real value. Kagi gives people ownership and control
over how their data is sold, giving rise to a marketplace where people harness
their data in the ways that work best for them.
Kagi shifts data-driven business models so that individuals are in the seller’s seat and decide how to leverage their personal data. When people protect their personal data from automatic access, we expect new services to emerge that allow them to monetize or extract value from their data in new ways.
From data-driven medical research to policymaking and planning smart cities, there are several ways society could benefit from a voluntary exchange of connected and integrated data where people are fairly compensated.
Confidence in an accelerating data landscape
We envision a future where individual choice defines personal data ownership. Intelligent assistants like Kagi are just one piece in a future paradigm of empowered data ownership. There is ample opportunity for technology to help align all data stakeholders – from individuals to businesses to policymakers – in navigating our ever-expanding digital data universe.
