~ The 'Bal Bhavan ' Idea ~

From December 08' onwards:

After our reviews the most important thing that came to my notice was:

- Everyone loved the idea of blogging and introducing the usage of Internet to the homeless women.

- There was a huge need for Branding this concept .

This winter I went to India and had an opportunity to see how people with minimum knowledge and means had created an amazing institute.

I got to speak to the administrator and the workforce behind it . 

Let me introduce you to ' Bal Bhavan ' at Mandi. Mandi is a small district near New Delhi. I went there with an aim to understand  - how to introduce the blogging concept to the poor when having an Internet connection for them is a novelty. 

But when I went there I realised I was wrong and my concept did have the potential to be introduced as a global idea. 

I saw small children using PowerPoint presentation software, they were writing on Microsoft word these were the tools that I have been trying to introduce at Jennie Clarke Residence and these kids already knew how to use them.

I took a workshop with them to introduce the concept of blogging and how it can help them later in life.

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My journey proved one thing and that was nothing is too big or small it depends on how well its executed.

My Documentation:

I have completed the documentation for my interview segment. I am also in the process of recording for a PSA that I am building for Jennie Clarke website. 

Posting few pictures of my documentation and will be uploading the rough edit of my interveiw segment by the end of this week.

Also posting the storyboard for the PSA

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Storyboard for recording session:

The schedule for my recording:

I found a very exciting site on food games. These are online games and are very educational. 

check it out: http://www.foodlink.org.uk/testyourself.asp#

Week two of my prototyping..!!!!

My Ideas and prototypes:

1. I am currently working on the career fair. The idea has been approved and so now we have to see how many clients are ready with their resumes and cover letters. 

2. Databases: Its an ongoing work that we are doing at the center, we are creating a database for every client. There are 75 units which has at least one person looking for job. So this database will help us find out who at this point of time needs special attention.

3. Back to career fair, we have thought of organizing it somewhere in october and will be inviting clients from other shelters. 

4. Hopefully if this works well , we will have one career fair every month open to all the WIN shelters.

5. I also wanted to bring in the idea of games and learning. So I will be organizing a game with the staff to teach them importance of internet search engines and also usage of emails.

Now my questions:

1. I know i am doing a lot of work at the residence and it all contributes to my thesis but i am still uncertain as to what element am I missing .

2. I know everything i am doing is a part of my research , but what is the definition of a successful thesis..????

Prototyping

Hi,

So i have been doing lot of stuff. I had interviewed few clients who came for my workshop last week and asked them -"why they think its important to find a job? "
There answers were eye-opening, I have uploaded them on the Jennie Clarke site : jennieclarke.wordpress.com . Also that gave me a sense of their problems and their motivations.

After our discussion in class I also felt that there was a strong need to create a safe space for them. We were completely disregarding the fact that these people have faced a lot in life and our happy with a safe cornerof their own.

So my next prototype/ experiment is - organizing a Career Fair at the center.

I have already got the idea approved and now I am calling employers who can come in and take interviews.

We have Burger King and a security company coming in. We yet need to finalize a date. I hope it goes well.

Once the flyer is up i'll have it linked to the blog.