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Semester 2

Data, Design and the City (STIS08006)

Subject

Science, Technology and Innovation Studies

College

CAHSS

Credits

20

Normal Year Taken

1

Delivery Session Year

2023/2024

Pre-requisites

Course Summary

Today's cities produce an immense amount of data - just think of open government data, urban sensors, smart homes, and self-quantification. A new partnership between the City and the University, the Edinburgh Living Lab, is providing the opportunity for public, non-profit, business and university sectors to harness this data and participative tools to tackle complex socio-technical issues of modern life. This partnership also offers the chance for students to learn and contribute to this endeavor, while strengthening their interdisciplinary skills and employability. This learning-by-developing course focuses on developing techniques in participatory design for the generation, use and impact of data as social and scientific evidence. You will gain foundational concepts and tools for data collection, interpretation, and ethical analysis. You will then take part in a collaborative, interdisciplinary project around a "wicked problem," identified in partnership with organisations in the University, the City or the region. Teams will develop a prototype intervention, test and evaluate this with potential users, and finally present the results to the problem holder. Previous courses have explored the themes of Active Travel; Walking in the City Centre; Waste in the City; and The University Food Strategy.

Course Description

1. Academic description This course focuses on developing basic skills in participatory design in the generation, use and impact of data as social and scientific evidence. This course will provide foundational concepts and tools for data collection, interpretation, and ethical analysis. Responding to a challenge identified by the external course partners, student teams will then use these cross-disciplinary, data-based practices to prototype and test a design intervention. The course will give students the opportunity to take their learning out of the classroom into the city with the goal of shaping a better society. 2. Outline content The course begins with an overview of the city- or university-initiated problem, research ethics, and methods of data reuse and data gathering through, for example, fieldwork, sensors and focus group surveys. The course then introduces students to data management, participatory design, and data visualization. Team work is supported by mentors, and the course ends with team presentations of prototype design interventions. 3. Student learning experience The course is based on ideas of "Learning by Developing", a type of pedagogy that combines modern tools for data analysis with design-based approaches. Also called Experiential learning, this approach involves teams of students who collect a variety of types of data to better understand an issue, engage with a "real-life" problem holder, develop a prototype intervention, test and evaluate this in a participative manner with potential users, and present the results to the problem holder, such as a City of Edinburgh agency. This course is intended to make learning more engaging, strengthen employability skills, build confidence, and bring students in to contact with real world problems. It encourages students to develop innovative ideas and communicate them effectively in different social arenas.

Assessment Information

Written Exam 0%, Coursework 75%, Practical Exam 25% Assessed Assignments 1. Group Oral Presentation - 10-15mins including visualisation, prototypes, presentation of data sets. (25%) 2. An individual 1500-2500 word essay, reflecting on the group project, with a focus decided in consultation with the course team. (75%)

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