What is the core of my thesis project and how should I communicate this
The first communicating ideas seminar of this term and I was interested to see how this track would develop in this new term. We focussed the class on determining our project message and which ways we could entertain this.
Explaining the project in ...
The first exercise we went through was working on the way we could explain our project briefly. For me this was qutie clear as I ended term 2 with an idea of where I wanted to go with my project. The ways I defined the project were:
In a paragraph: The project focusses on giving people the knowledge and power they need to shift from old energy habits to more sustainable options. This project came forth out of the gap between data availability and user understanding. Combining a monitor with and energy bot people can have a human-like interaction that provides them personalized tips and insights.
In 16 words: Shifting peoples energy habits to more sustainable behaviour through humanlike interaction, bridging the gap from data to understanding.
In 8 words: Shifting peoples energy habits to more sustainable behaviour
Looking Deeper at the Project
The next exercise we did was using ChatGPT to create a detailed description and the what, how and why of our projects. I used ChatGPT 3.5 which might have not given the best results but what I really liked is that by doing this the AI prompted me with questions about the project and it caused me to think clearly how I might have to explain these elements to another person. Below you can see my results and the additinonal thoughts I created by seeing my project description and what might be peoples needs in the context of this proejct.
The starting prompt in case you want to give it a try about your own work:
"I have a design/innovation project that I want you to help me to describe more compellingly.
I want you to ask me five questions about my project that can help you in this process, each question should be on a different message, and you should wait for me to answer before jumping into the next question.
The final definition of the project should be no longer than 1000 words and it has to be written in a friendly and easy-to-understand language.
After having the project definition, you will help me to define my project purpose, based on the golden circle of Simon Sinek. Star asks about "What" the project does, then "How" the project does it, and lastly "Why?" the project does it. Ask me questions related to this method to get more information about my answers, and the final outcome should be a purpose definition no longer than a tweet."
Reflecting on Communicating Ideas 3.1
This first class of the term really gave me the opportunity to refresh my thoughts on my project and understand how I might be able to reach out to new groups of people in the future of this project. In particular the exercise using AI to have a in depth conversation about what I was doing was interesting as it was almost like talking to an impartial participant. This allowed me to share my point of view on the project and then get the feedback and summary from the AI.
I feel moving forward I might try doing similar exercises in relation to my project so that I can continuously reflect and position myself. It could be a nice tool as an addition to talking to peers and communities, but at the same time I feel it shouldn't replace these human-human interactions, as then the project might fail to get the deep insights requried.
