Finished website

I decided to go for a clean cut, very basic theme.

The site is currently live on http://dinnermate.net

The site is up as well as the test page. I put the example queries up on the about_us page aswell as showing a test page on the ideal_site page to show what option i'd like to have as well as a login page.

The login page would take them to their own site with links to their friends, their own recipes, as well as being able to rate other recipes and a live forum.

I now have to create the advert for this site, now that it exists!

BUilding the design of the site

I'm building the site with a retro theme, and although i love the wallpaper, it looks really dated and i'm having trouble making it look good.

I'm using stock photos for the moment whilst i get the look of it sorted out.

website: basic functionality. no design.

i've set up all the main pages that i'm going to use in my website, but they currently don't look very good.

http://dinnermate.net/ is set up with a note at the bottom of the home screen showing the currently active search times that with turn up a result. i'm wondering whether or not i should put this info in a 'website testing' page on the site as it does look a little crude!

ive been looking at other websites, and i originally pictured a retro website with glamourised home-makers gracing the pages, but now i realise that it is perhaps a little dated, and that maybe no amount of creative tweaking will prevent that.

I have to think more about site design, and get started on my stylised advert very soon!

I've decided that i will do a 'example website' page where i can show how the site WOULD work if i had more time and know-how.

Hardcoding the website

I decided to hard-code the results of the website rather than trying to get it to 'talk' to a MySQL database so that i could have a working finished product by the deadline.

This means that i have to type in all the possible entries i could get for my example, and then link it to an output page so that it looks as if it's working. I would have loved to have better integrated my databasing knowledge (ive created a database in mysql etc), but it just doesn't work properly, so i've taught myself some basic php language. It did help that i've been learning flash as i could apply my knowledge of code structure to it.

I am going to restrict the function of the website to ingredients only, not including the desired time or any other functions at this point in time.

This is my first page at the moment: It is white on black at the moment, but i want a 60's or retro type theme and i've got it a bit wrong.

Working on the design

I've got the basic function of the site working farly well locally:







I'm having trouble fixing the database source fields, and i've had a look at the code and it's hard-coding the results from the sausages section.

When i go to try and fix it, it ends up with no results at all, so i am going to try to focus on the appearance of the site, as i've been trying to fic it for ages via online tutorials which isn't working.

For my final submission, i think that i'm going to hard-code the search queries to various pages, and do them seperately with a few examples as i can't connect to my remote database at all, and need the help of a tutor. What i was doing was too ambitious, and the last week of working through online tutorials has been unsuccessul, although i now understand MySQL much better as well as being ale to use web development tool i'd never heard of until this project.

I am now going to focus o the design: I want it to have a 1920's black and white theme: is a bit kitch, but the era conveyed domestic bliss and a time where cooking was shown as a pleasure (something i want cooking to be again by making it less of a hassle). I will use images, and will have a page on my website which shows the advert i've made for it too as sort of an instructional. I want the advert to be a spoof, and my idea is to chop it up out of old adverts and have charlie chaplin type titles and make it in black and white. I will storyboard these initially, and then get some feedbac before going forward.

Learning PHP/MySQL & SITE BUILDING

The hosting company that i bought my website from had dbadmin pre-installed which according to the tutorial on http://www.freewebmasterhelp.com/tutorials/phpmysql/2 will make the whole system much simpler.


I am going through the tutorial, but i realised that i don't actually know what i want in my fields, or how to structure it. I realise that i need to create an example in excel to work out how to structure it, and find a few recipes to populate it.

I wasnt sure if i should include include the original web address of the recipe in the database in the first test database to save space, but i will do as it allows me to keep a good record. In my first database i am going to include: an index of the recipe (an 'R' followed by a 3 digit number), the main ingredients, and the cooking time.

I realised that i have no idea what the most commonly thrown away foodstuffs are, so i decided to look it up. If i am designing an app to save ofen discarded food, i have to know what food is often discarded. I found this article by the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7389351.stm which states that 60% of food waste is salad, fruit or bread, resulting in 9bn of avoidable waste, most of which went untouched. The study looked at over 2,00 households. Potatoes and bread made up almost 40%. Meat and fish made up around 18%

I think that i'll focus on these, but in the future I'll undertake my own survey to find out what is most often thrown away in a more detailed way. I want to include food costs too.

I found a link on the website which states 20 recipes for under £1 per head, which assumes that you have the basics: oil, butter, flour, stock cubes and dried herbs. I'll do the same, as my idea does kind of rely on the fact that you have very basic things as otherwise it might be too complicated (you'd have to input absolutely everything you have in the cupboard, and assuming means that youd save time). I will aso assume that you have milk, onions and garlic.



this is my database test layout, which i will use to build my first online database



this is my first online database, which i made using dbadmin, and populated using information taken from my excel spreadsheet.

I'm watching this video tutorial to learn how to link it up with dreamweaver: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xuy4cvL2zqs

Learning PHP/MySQL and FTP

As my website building knowledge is limited, i am teaching myself how to integrate MySQL

I am using these two tutorials
http://www.freewebmasterhelp.com/tutorials/php
http://www.freewebmasterhelp.com/tutorials/phpmysql

i am also going ahead in the databasing lecture tutorials on my university course to learn extra MySQL programming.

I have paid for and registered my own domain called dinnermate.net
Whilst it is getting set up, i'm using a free website called web.com to host it for free so i can get ahead and practise what i've learnt.

I realised that to work through the PHP tutorials, i had to learn FTP and downloaded Filezilla which is a FTP client

edit: 1am

Now understanding FTP, realised that my freehosting service doesnt support php so willhave to wait til tomorrow when my paid domain goes live.

Building the site. part 2

I have purchased a domain name from one.com as i've used them before, and they set up very quickly, and have good technical support.

I had a look at other hosting poviders who requested monthly payments, and as i planned to keep my site up and work on it for another few months past the deadline, this was the best value for money at £11 inc. VAT

Building the site

I have to decide

-Where to get content from
-Which platform to use as a user interface, and how to build it
-The look and functionality of the site

I decided to get content initially from http://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/recipes which is a database of thousands of free to use recipes as i will not be infringing any copyright laws. The recipes themselves are family orientated, and the site is full of ads which funds it. There is already a community built around it with membership and chat functions.

I am going to make it into a website, considering the audience of single mothers who are less likely than other social groups to have smartphones. If i do widen my audience (and i believe it woud be relevant to other groups), i could make it into an app.

I am going to build this website using dreamweaver and MySQL which we are learning on the computing part of my course. Currently i don't have the know-how to integrate a database into a website, so i am looking online for tutorials. For the minute i am going to use a very short list of perhaps 3 recipes to test out the technical side of the website, and make it very simple, having only the functionality for a user to input a single ingredient; no time information or other constraint, and have the program output a recipe. I know how to ask a database to search for a word within a block of text so far.

The look and functionality of the site will be extremly basic in the prototype which i will use a function test, and will also do a focus group with it to see if it is actually relevant.

Branding: I have so far called it 'dinnermate' and designed a basic logo, and will probably stick with the name as it's very simple and self-explanatory.

My Big Idea

I decided to design an app that comes up with child-friendly menu ideas, based on what the mother has in the cupboard.

I came up with this idea from reseach indicating a problem with coming up with a varied, nutritious diet through interesting recipes for meals, and also the problem on limited funds and time.

It searches a database of recipes to find recipes that are child friendly.

You input the foodstuffs youd like to use, how much time you have, what foods your child doesnt like, and it comes up with recipe suggestions with information like how much the meal costs per person, nutritional information and how long it will take to make.

The app would probably go on the assumption, like many recipe books, that the user has very basic foodstuffs like oil and basic seasonings i.e. salt, pepper, mixed herbs.

I believe that this app would help mothers come up with interesting, child friendly meals that are economic and nutritious. It could also reduce food waste by suggesting food combinations that the mother might not have thought of, and therefore will use the leftover bulk bought foodstuffs before it goes off and is therefore thrown away. It could also save time as the mother would be able to make use of what she has, and won't have to pop to the shops to buy particular items.

I have created this video to show the situation before:



Here is the scenario after:



To create a community, i'd like mothers to be able to login, and put their own recipes in there, which would then be searchable by others. There would be the option in the interface to search only user generated recipes, professional recipes, or both. There would also be a rating system for users as well as a reviews section so you can see other peoples reception of it, which would probably influence whether you made it or not. There would also be a timer on it, to record how long the recipe took you to make it (which from experience is always longer than it says), which would be logged aswel. You can contact other mothers, and there would be a noticeboard and a 'meal of the week' to keep mothers coming back.

There might also be a section for food offers.

I am going to design both iphone app and desktop versions. Problems with an iphone app: single mothers arent a very big user group.

It might even be an idea to put it on a platform like an ipad or a standalone version.

What next?

Designing both iphone and desktop versions.

Initial flash design work:



A vocal interview



I showed the interviewee my potential sketches which are shown below:






What i learnt from this:

That kids themselves could use it, for rainy day activities and to learn omre about good food nutrition.

There could possibly be a short list of additions to basic things that they had made before, to make them more interesting.

Could you put your own recipes on it?

Questionaires & Looking after destiny

I found out by reviewing my completed day research forms that single mothers spend a large amount of time preparing food, and i wanted to look into wasteage, cost and nutritional worries.

I firstly created a questionaire tailored to this focus, with the following questions:

1. How old are your kids?
2. How many do you have?
   
3. How much do you spend on food a week?
4. How much do you waste?
5. What sort of things do you throw away?
6. Why do you usually throw food away?
7. How do you choose what's for dinner on a daily basis?
8. How long do you usually spend on meal preparation every day?
9. How often do you have takeaway?
10. What do your kids do whilst you are cooking?
11. Do you eat the same meals as your children?
12. Why is this?

From the responses i recieved (a few of which i recorded on my phone), i had a few ideas.

Focus on giving the user FAST meal ideas to reduce food wasteage, and also create variety. Nutritional information, and the inclusion of fruit and veg is important as some mothers are worried about their childrens intake of healthy foods and also their salt/fat intakes.

Also to possibly involve the kids with the meal preparation, to teach them skills and also to keep them busy to cut down on their time in front of the tv.

I decided to look after the 3.5 month old fostered daughter of one of the mums that i'm in contact with for the afternoon on my day off (and of course her mother was on hand just in case anything went wrong). Even without having to go to work, basic tasks like having to prepare food, feed her, clean up after her and give her the attention she needed was very dificult. I spent a lot of timemaking sure that her food was the correct temperature, and at one point i had to go and buy some from the shop (I asked her mother to not bring enough food so that i'd have to go shopping). It was extremely difficult just to navigate my way around the aisles, make sure she didn't get fussy and find the right formula with baby Destiny in a handheld baby cradle (as opposed to a body carrier which would leave my hands free). I was also shocked by the expense of baby formula, and how many different types there were.

http://www.babycentre.co.uk/baby/formula/findrightformula/

I got some extra information from this website, and discovered that my very slow bottle preparation time is typical. Based on preparing a single bottle for a baby taking 30-40 minutes, and 6 bottles being consumed a day, it can take upto 4 hours a day out of a mothers daily routine.

I've been looking into typical food costs online.

http://www.netmums.com/coffeehouse/house-garden-194/kitchen-household-14/258854-average-food-cost-family-3-a.html

Mothers are giving suggestions on saving money on the weekly food bill, and i've found a website which allows you to input your weekly shopping lsit, and searches the 4 biggest UK supermarkets, then selects the cheapest options from each shop, creating a cheapest list for each, and allows you to get deliveries and only have to checkout once. The service is completely free, and claims to be able to save you 35% on your food bill. You can even save a shopping list, or import your tesco favourites list.

The website is: http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/departments/Bread_in_Tesco.html

It also has a great little section called a 'health checker', where you can input the food you like, and it generates a healthier option.

The website also gives you a very interesting calories per weight which is clearly displayed above all foodstuffs, making shoppers aware of their buying choices.

This functionality of this is similar to a project i did last year, which helped motivate dieters and provide healthier eating options.

Saving money seems to be quite a large part when it comes down to food, and i will take thi sinto consideration when creating my website.

Recording and investigating daily routines: Day Mapping

To help me get a better understanding of my target audience, i decided on three methods of investigation:

Day Mapping forms
Questionnaires
Shadowing (where i took a day in the life of a single parent)

First i designed some forms for mothers to quickly input data about what they're doing at different times during the day. I tested this out on a single mother who is long term fostering. It was mostly filled out by her adult daughter who was with her during the first half of the day. This eliminated the problem of it distracting the mothers daily routinge, and her either forgetting or changing her actions because of the survy. I decided not to use dictophones as the mothers i contacted were very uncomfortable with the idea.

I wanted to find out basic information like what time the mother & kids got up, the kids ages, and what they did at various times during the day.

Mothers name/age: Vena, Over 45		Mother wakes up: 7.30
Childs age(s): Destiny: 3 months (fostered), Roshnee 18, Avi 19		Child wakes up: 7.10am
Travelling time (hrs) 30mins + 20 mins + 30 mins		Mother bedtime: 8.30
Food preperation time (mins) 90-120		Child Bedtime: 7.30
Shopping time (mins) 10 + travel time (done by daughter)		Hoursework hours: 2
05:30	Sleeping	18:00	Destiny goes to sleep after her feed
06:00	Sleeping	18:30	Roshnee back from uni, dinner
06:30	Sleeping	19:00	Mum relaxes, tidies up
07:00	Destiny Wakes Up (7.10). Roshnee feeds her & Plays. Doesnt cry	19:30	Cousin comes over for dinner, wakes baby up, who falls right back asleep
07:30	Vena (Mum) Wakes Up, Sanitises Bottles, Prepares Breakfast. Changes Destiny.	20:00	Hoovers front room after visitors leave, takes a wash out and hangs it up
08:00	Prepares meat for dinner (saves time in the afternoon). Forgot ingredients so Roshnee goes to the corner shop	20:30	Mum falls asleep
08:30	Mum finishes preparing beef for dinner (to save time) & Roshnee packs baby travel bag for destiny	21:00	Sleeping
09:00	Mum bathes Destiny & changes her.	21:30	Sleeping
09:30	Washes some dishes, Showers	22:00	Sleeping
10:00	Goes to meet Social Worker for discussion (20 minute bus ride+Waiting time)	22:30	Sleeping
10:30	Meets Social Worker	23:00	Sleeping
11:00	Goes to parenting lesson (10 min walk there & back)	23:30	Sleeping
11:30	Bus back home	00:00	Sleeping
12:00	Mum feeds destiny and plays with her + puts her down for a nap	00:30	Sleeping
12:30	Mum does lunch (toasted sandwiches)	01:00	Sleeping
13:00	Mum cleans surfaces in the kitchen + finishes washing up	01:30	Destiny wakes up, needs changing
13:30	Puts in new load of laundry + hangs clothes up	02:00	Sleeping
14:00	Still hanging clothes up/ironing. Destiny stirs for a feed.	02:30	Sleeping
14:30	Watches tv & holds Destiny as she falls asleep	03:00	Sleeping
15:00	Vacuums front room, not upstairs: has to wait as it would wake destiny up. Mops floor. Roshnee gets ready for uni	03:30	Sleeping
15:30	Roshnee goes to uni late , Destiny wakes up in a bad mood so Mum has to stop cleaning and settle destiny. Puts her in front of the tv in her play cradle	04:00	Sleeping
16:00	Vaccums upstairs, brings destiny to the kitchen to watch dinner being cooked and to keep her company	04:30	Sleeping
16:30	Puts rice in rice cooker on a timer and washes salad, Meat in oven	05:00	Sleeping
17:00	Changes sheets in house, and mum plays with destiny. Dinner finished	05:30	Sleeping
17:30	Mum eats dinner and feeds Destiny at the same time

This chart was written up in an excel spreadsheet. I realised that in the given time, i would only manage to get the sheets filled in a few families as survey response statistics are very low (even with a motivator like a prize entry), (i managed 3 in the end) so i had a look online for single mothers daily routines to back up my research.

Once i had finished the daily routine sheets, i learnt that a large part of a day was taken up in food preparation, and speaking to parents about their sheets i learnt that a big problem was food (cost/variatio/preparation). Household chores as well as childcare had to be done, and they had so much experience that they could be done quickly, expecially with support from various family members, but a large problem was creating a varied, healthy and nutritious menu that was child-friendly.

It was difficult to plan in advance and as a busy mum, they wanted to do a bi-weekly shop rather than lots of small ones as they saved time, but it was easy to forget things and due to fresh food going off fairly quickly, things ran out and they ended up with various foodstuffs that didnt seem to go together. Children had a tendency to be picky, and there were certain things they didnt like, but the mother didnt want to do chips and chicken dippers every day.

I want to ask more questions about menu selction and decided to gear my questionnaire towards food purchasing, meal preparation and

I also had a look at existing 'day in the life of a single mum' articles online as i wanted a varied pool of information to analyse.

http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/A-Day-In-The-Life-Of-A-Single-Mom/402682

Being a mother today I believe is just as challenging and difficult as it was in yester years, the only twist it seems is that as a single mom, we've upped the anti by doing everything ourselves.

There is no man in the house to help us with even the simplest of things like taking the garbage out (which was lovely when I had that luxury). We learn very quickly that we have to pull up our boot straps and get it all done ourselves or it simply doesn't get done at all.

Looking back at my day today, I'm amazed that so much has been done and that so much has been accomplished. Multi-tasking has a whole new definition for me! For me, this is just what a typical day looks like.

The goal for me is to try to put in some down time for 'me'. I don't get a lot of it these days and I know I need to soon or I'll crash. Sadly, I think this is the case for most single mom's out there. So, here's what a typical day looks like for me!

I woke up late this morning (probably from still being sore from playing football with my nephews after Thanksgiving dinner). Took the dog for a walk, get my son up (always fun never a chore) prepared breakfast for the two of us (most days it's a hot meal, today because of time it was just cereal), made my son's lunch, drove him to school, drove to get a well deserved coffee! Back home and start work (I work from home, thank God!).

While being glued to my desk working on my computer, I managed to take short breaks in between and finished off 4 loads of laundry (2 before lunch, 2 after), had lunch (consisting of a bowl of soup within 15 minutes) back to my computer for work until 4:30, then; vacuumed the main floor, prepared dinner, picked up grocery essentials (milk, cheese, bread); picked up my son from school, cooked and ate dinner, help my son with his homework, take the dog for a walk, wash dishes, changed bed sheets, vacuumed my son's room, drove my son to hip-hop class, drove back and took out the garbage and recycling, responded to some emails, listened to voice mails and left messages; picked up my son from dance class; showered; checked emails and responded to remaining emails, bedtime story with my son before he goes off to sleep; take out food in freezer for tomorrow's dinner.

Now it's shortly after 11pm and I'm finally in bed writing this article and looking forward to a good night's rest. No complaints here. If anything, I get a rush from accomplishing so much in one day; but my one question is, if had a man in my life, where the heck would he fit in my life???!!



http://gizabethshyder.blogspot.com/2010/10/day-in-life-of-single-mother.html

5:10 a.m. Alarm goes off. Hit snooze.

5:20 a.m. Alarm goes off again. Get up and run.

6:45 a.m. Dressed and ready to wake kids.

7:00 a.m. Prepare breakfast - eggs, cheese toast, waffles - while kids get dressed.

7:30 a.m. Drop kids off at school and head to main hospital.

8:00 a.m. Sip morning coffee and pay bills.

8:45 a.m. Triage first few cases. I should have known it was going to be a day in the trenches when my first three cases were "scrotal mass," "hemorrhoid donut," and "sacral and ischial pressure ulcer." Hemorrhoid donut? I've heard of colon donuts - they are the margins created by the auto anastamosis thingy during surgery - but hemorrhoid donut? Not something I really want to contemplate over my morning coffee.

9:15 a.m. Get text from histo tech at GI site - "I'll have slides ready at 10:00." All 90 blocks. Big day.

9:45 a.m. Head over to GI clinic to sign out cases. Frustratedly troubleshoot computer issues I've been having all week with our drop down diagnosis, web-based sign out which is normally a dream - saves having to dictate - but is causing problems currently. Try not to take out frustrations on the extremely nice and eager new histo tech that I already love. Resolve to surrender to computer and wait until my partner comes back on Monday to help me on the relatively few problem cases.

12:00 p.m. Hit a lull in cases and decide to run to Sears to tackle the tire pressure issue that elicited a warning light I had to look up in my car manual before I walked into work - it's been on all week and I had no idea what it meant.

12:20 p.m. Deliver divorce decree to financial adviser who is splitting my residency retirement $$.

12:45 p.m. Head back to GI clinic and wolf down frozen burger with corn nuts, Planter's chipotle cashews (Yum! Their skinless olive oil and sea salt almonds are also amazing!), and a Coke Zero.

1:00 p.m. Continue GI cases.

3:00 p.m. Run to Barnes & Noble to get a few books in a series Sicily has been begging for.

3:20 p.m. Head back to main hospital to tackle rest of cases there. Learn from partner that he successfully deflected a possible apheresis procedure. I joke with him later in the evening that he jinxed me.

5:00 p.m. Finish cases and start to leave hospital. As I am walking out the door, receive a phone call from a frantic oncologist who warns me of a critically ill transfer that will probably need apheresis. Call hematology and tell them to page me when they get blood work so I can review peripheral smear. Luckily there is a Quinton in place so I don't have to call radiology.

5:15 p.m. Run to house, get Jack's prescription bottle, and call in asthma meds. Rush to pharmacy to pick up asthma meds.

6:00 p.m. Empty dishwasher. Stuff down dinner - microwave nachos with beans and Rotel. Pager goes off halfway through eating.

6:15 p.m. Head back to hospital. Call mom to see if she can meet my kids when their dad drops them off at 7:30 and get them to bed.

6:45 p.m. Shake my head in disbelief as I look at smear. Definitely a procedure tonight. Go to ICU to meet with oncologist, see patient, then back to office to perform calculations necessary for plasma exchange. Call blood bank and dialysis nurse on call. Go back to ICU to complete consult in chart and write orders.

7:45 p.m. Lull. Waiting for blood bank to thaw necessary products for procedure. What to do? Catch up on journals? Nah. Read news. No. Head back to Barnes & Noble to buy mom gift for helping out tonight, knowing I won't be home until late. I really need to buy stock. It's my fourth trip to book stores this week - other two were Wordsworth.

8:30 p.m. Back in blood bank with techs watching dejectedly as some of the FFP busts after thaw (this is common). Jokingly blame tech I have known for many years. Go over to histology to chat with night crew. Call apheresis nurse to ensure that she has completed her dialysis procedure and is getting the apheresis machine ready. Take a picture of blood bank Halloween decorations.

http://dandelionmama.wordpress.com/2010/10/23/a-day-in-the-life-of-this-single-mother/

Single Mother

October 23, 2010

by Tracy M

*updated as the day progresses*

6:46 a.m. It’s unclear if the sound of rain gurgling down the gutters wakes me, or if it’s the cold little feet my daughter under my side as she flops sleepily, arms akimbo, in the pre-dawn light. When I fell asleep to the muted monologue of Letterman, I was alone in my bed, but as happens so often now, I wake with one or several little people pushing on my warmth and needing mama.

7:20 a.m. All three of them are in bed with me now, watching Handy Manny, and I am slowly being shoved towards the peripherara of the bed, as sleepy snuggling gives way gradually, as the room lightens in the gray pallor of the drizzly day. Bean’s ability to tolerate jostling and touch diminishes as his hunger kicks in, and the clock is ticking to get him fed before he tanks.

7:30 In the kitchen, the weather makes me feel like making a nice breakfast, and I whip up a batch of cinnamon crumble muffins and throw them in the oven. I like the sound of rain and the cozy feeling in the kitchen. Abby comes in to offer her “help” but I am distracted as I try and look over my homework while the muffins cook. I had an assignment due yesterday, but I know I have some leeway and if I turn it in by Monday, I should be fine. I shoo her out of the kitchen and start some bacon popping in my cast iron skillet while I think about post-colonial Africa.

7:54 Breakfast is on the table, and I even lit a candle to make it feel cozy and homey. I call the kids. I can hear cartoons and giggle-bickering. I holler louder- breakfast is ready! Still nothing. For some reason, this ticks me off. I have so many other things I could be doing besides fixing a hot, homemade breakfast, and they can’t even come eat? I am in a sour mood now, and when they do come to the table, Bean immediately yelps and runs to hide, because his muffin is in the shape of a heart and not a circle. Dammit, why did I even try?

8:00 Bean is back at the table after I wrangle him out of his squeeze-spot with much honking. They eat their nice home-made breakfast in the kitchen without me. I’m not hungry and I am crying in my room– quietly, because I don’t want them to hear me. I turn on PBS and watch through angry tears as some guy makes dovetail cuts in a beautiful piece of wood with a hand chisel.

8:22 The kids are off playing, and drag myself to the kitchen as start a load of dishes and clean up from breakfast. So much work for only a few fleeting minutes of happiness. Do they care that I do these things? Does it make a difference? Should I just have given them cold cereal? No, I can’t do that. Bean only eats specific things, and I pay for it if he doesn’t get them. We all do, including him. This is another series of questions to which there is no answer, and only time will show the return on investment.

9:00 Bean has requested that I move his therapy hammock from my room into the TV room so he can watch movies in it. It really calms him down when he comes unwound, and I’m game for moving it. Any time he can tell me what he needs with actual words I am grateful and try to do it. Unfastening the hammock from the bracket in my ceiling joist, I realize I have no tools to install a new bracket- X took all the drills and drivers. Digging in the kitchen junk drawer, I find a hammer with part of the claw missing, some screwdrivers, and one mangy crescent wrench. I can make this work.

9:40 After hammering small holes in the ceiling to determined the direction of the joists, I find a good spot and attach the anchors. It’s hard, since I have no drill to make pilot holes, but I use a screwdriver as a lever to get some torque on the eyebolts, and get them seated well with some elbow grease. Standing on one of the kid’s chairs to reach the ceiling, I am still holding a wrench in my hand as I clamp the carabiner, and the wrench slips and smacks me in the mouth. My lip is bleeding, but my teeth seem intact.

10:00 I sit down to crack my textbooks and start on my post-colonial Africa paper. The kids are happily playing in the basement, the dishwasher is finishing the dishes, and it’s cozy and warm at the kitchen table. I get about a page and a half written- it’s a decent start, and I was only interrupted three times by kids’ needs and to wipe a bottom. Bean is very happy and content with his new hammock location, and I am reaping a small reward. The Wii is babysitting so I can get those pages written.

11:00 I realize I’m hungry, and since everyone is still happy and occupied, I think cooking myself something sounds therapeutic and nice. On my counter are some plump late-summer onions brought over by some friends from church– I slice them up and get the caramelizing– still not sure what I’m going to make, but caramelized onions are always a good start. A long time ago, I learned not to toss apple or potato peels down the disposal. It seems the same applies to onion skins. Just as the onion was beginning to sizzle, I turned on the disposal and it erupted all over the kitchen. Reaching behind me I flip off the stove.

11:25 Everything under the kitchen sink is on the floor, and I have unscrewed all the pipes and cleaned them out. There is a pile of towels and a bucket full of nasty water than I decide pouring in the toilet is the best plan. It was a good choice. Briefly I had contemplated calling my HT when I thought I had fixed it the first time and water shot up all over my clothes. I wiped at the hot tears that sprung to my eyes and screwed up my resolve. I can do this. It’s all put back together, and so far no leaks, and the disposal is emptying again. I just have to start a load of towels.

12:00 I sit down to carmelized onions with goat cheese on a gluten-free slice of bread. It’s astoundingly delicious. I can hear Bean has found his trumpet, and this makes me smile. He loves that thing- we had lost it in the move. I found it last night cleaning out a box. I microwave myself a cup of peppermint tea and realize no one has had a bath or shower yet, and I have to get us to the grocery store. Shoving aside the paper I’m working on, I remember the test I have to prep for too. If I play my cards right, I should be able to get to it all. I lag a little, enjoying the warm cup of tea in my hands. It’s still raining, and heading to the grocery store on a Saturday with all three kids is… not my favorite. But it cannot be avoided.

1:27 Still trying to get everyone out the door. All are finally dressed and clean- but it’s like herding cats. I get one shod and coated and near the door, and the one I wasn’t paying attention to bolts. Jeffrey is the only child cooperating, and Abby is weeping because she left her favorite fluffy coat at preschool and the world must stop. Bean will not stop trumpeting his bugle, and Jeff is ready to kill him. I really hope my cloth grocery bags are in the car. One in the car, two headed out the door. Still no progress on homework.

2:31 Well, that was fun. The grocery store with Bean is always a… challenge. All those colors and smells just put him over the edge, so we practically run through with our list and get the heck out of dodge. He ran away from me and hid twice, which isn’t bad. My neck prickles with self-consciousness as I scan the aisles calling for him; older people inevitably look down their noses and over the tops of their glasses at what looks like a naughty child and the terrible mother who clearly cannot control him. I’m used to it, but it still hurts. When I found him the second time, I shoved the food aside and put him in the cart, where he kicked and honked until we were through the check-out. I see a friend’s husband in the store with one of their kids, and I have a moment of envy at their ability to divide and conquer. It’s almost three o’clock and I am no further on my paper, the laundry hasn’t been started, the beds need changing. There is a single-adult dance tonight in our stake, and I had tossed around the notion of going, but honestly, I just don’t see it happening.

2:45 The groceries are all put away and the kids have taken their laundry to the wash room, so there’s that. On the couch, the boys snuggle in brief brotherly harmony as they peer intently at the screen of Jeffrey’s gameboy. I can hear Abby singing “Yo Gabba GABBA!” to herself as she spins in the computer chair in the basement. Whirrrrrr…. whirrrrrr…. And I have to go coax her to move so I can actually get started on some homework now.

5:02 Got a solid hour and a half of studying in while Abby spun herself on the desk chair next to me and occasionally asked to loosen a Lego for some big, delicate thing she was intently building. Bean hung out in his hammock, swinging contentedly and playing Harry Potter on Wii with Jeffrey. I was able to log into my University website and watch a lecture I missed earlier this week (loooove professors who record their lectures!), and then scored 96% on the 50 question quiz that followed. My tea is tepid on the desk here next to me, but that’s okay- it’s time to go cook dinner. I have no idea what I’m making, and the laundry is still forlorn and undone.

5:35 Dinner is served. All comply. At this point, there is no way anyone is reading this insane document, so I’ll just say we had frog eyes and Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans- in the flavors of soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. And an English muffin with pb for Bean, of course.

6:15 Kitchen is cleaned, dishes are going and the kids are getting their jammies on. I have bribed them and promised TWO chapters from Harry Potter and Sorcerers Stone if they are compliant and obedient children. Reading to them every night is one part crazy-making stuff, and two parts sweet, sweet goodness.

7:24 Abby is in bed, because she couldn’t keep her feet off her brothers, and she is happily singing primary songs to herself. The boys are in their beds with flashlights reading Calvin & Hobbes. Yes, it’s early, but with 9 a.m. church, they’ve got to be in bed by 8, otherwise morning is horrible. Also, my sanity is at stake. By this hour, I’m done. Maybe now I can get some laundry started… I still have three essays to write before tomorrow night on post-colonial Africa. What I really want to is to curl up with a book I want to read and escape for a while. So much for the stake dance.

8:16 The doorbell rings, and it’s Jeffrey’s Sunday School teacher, who also happens to be the nicest man on earth. He’s brought us a pizza, as he does almost every weekend, from his pizza restaurant. The kids will be bummed they missed him- he’s always a popular sight on our doorstep. All three kids are asleep already. Hallelujah.

8:32 Pizza is cooling on the counter. Time for some real homework. Forget social life, forget dating. Where on earth would I fit anything else in? Looking back over this day, most of what I do many other mothers do as well. Maybe not the full-time school, but the other stuff. The part that sticks out and makes my heart throb is not having anyone to share the joys and triumphs with- I am alone with all three of my children almost all the time. And while I love and adore them, they are arrows that I am prepping to shoot into the skies of their own lives. Here, where I am, I stand alone. Having someone to bounce ideas off, to help when I am tired, to pass a kid to when I’m at my wits end- these are the hardest moments.

From looking at these maps of average days, i can see that time consuming tasks are things like housework, food and the problem of making time for yourself. I am going to focus on food as i find it quite interesting and reducing the time would increase the amount of 'me time' that single mums have.

Investigating communities: cancer research 10k fundraiser

On Sunday the 17th of October, the annual Cancer Research 10k fundraising event took place, and i went along, seeing it as a great opportunity to help out as well as to speak to various members of this large and diverse community.

I felt that it was made up of a few sub-sections (based upon the groupings of people)
-solo runners
-couples
-small friendship/family groups (adults)
-larger professional groups of runners (5-20 members)
families

I saw a few parents looking after children whilst one parent ran. The children were generally very well behaved: no tantrums, although they were playing and running around a little causing chaos in the large crowd.




With over 3,000 runners taking part on the day, Victoria park was hugely crowded, but with everyone in a good mood and a common cause it was a fantastic atmnosphere.






http://www.flickr.com/photos/24605631@N07/5102872802/ a link to ( a shortened version of) the video footage i took of the family.

I managed to speak to a few people on the day, and identify the vast minority of individuals who had brought young family members with them, and to see how they handled the chaos with kids in tow.

I managed to speak to the family above, and the mother kindly filled in one of the 'daily diarys' that i designed to try to get a greater understanding of the challenges that parents faced.

The family was made up of two parents, 3 kids, and an older couple who i later learnt were a sister and her partner.

The mother was attempting to take part in a group warmup, but with the dad a few yards away (after a few seconds) and not paying attention, she had to stop periodically and settle them down, as well as doing the warm up half heartedly whilst trying to keep track of where the kids were.

It was here that i came up with the idea of day-mapping which would hopefully highlight problem areas, and to map differences and to compare it with another daults daily life (childess) to see what either of them are possibly missing out on, what challenges they face and what could possibly be improved.




The finish line.

Whilst i was waiting here i was asked by a dad if his (2 year old, face-painted) son could get to the front to support his mother.




What i learnt from this day was being able to compare the behaviours of parents with children, to adults without children of the same ages. Every parent here had a partner or someone else to take care of the children, and with the huge amount of people, the children were in danger of getting lost or even knocked over and hurt. The parents were quite distracted, and it would have been easier perhaps if they were seperated from their children during the warm out and admin parts of the run. At the finish line, i got asked by a dad if his child could squeeze through to the front, and i wondered if it might have been easier if there was somewhere for young supporters to go where they wouldnt be crushed and could see easily.

Online Research

To reach a large volume of different people within a short space of time, the best way to do it is by joining various parenting websites, especially those with forum sections where lots of members get involved.

There are various different types of parenting websites, some focusing on only one demographic (like http://www.mumandworking.co.uk/) focusing on helping mums back int work with job listings and articles and forums. Other types are websites like http://www.netmums.com/coffeehouse/ have a broader target audience and naturally have a larger volume of visitors. Until i narrow down my community, i will largely focus on the websites with a larger range of people.

What i have also noticed is that are huge amounts of online solutions and support for mums, so perhaps any e-solution i come up with mould already be available in some form, so i have to be very careful.

I've subscribed to a few websites and posted in the forums to try to get a bit of a dialogue going.

I have interviewed a mother with a young adopted baby, and will write this up shortly.

What i will do next is:

Narrow down the section of the community that i am focusing on
Try to make more contact with more members
Visit members of this community

Week 2: Narrowing Community Focus

In this weeks lesson, we presented the work we'd been doing for the previous week, and were also asked to design a poster that would get a response from the recipient within two hours.

I designed this:



It was designed to play on students cheapness, but was quite ineffective as i recieved no replies. The tear off in the corner was very small, and i really should have used a computer to design it, as it wouldve been much quicker and i'd have been able to put more thought into the design (since we only had 25 minutes to do it once i'd reached the library).

Other members of my group were more successful, but some used more controversial tactics.

I also selected the community i was to focus on for the rest of the project: parents (namely mums) with young children. However, this is a huge group, and i'd like to narrow it down in the next few days. I identified 8 different general subsections that members of this group would fit into (they were not necessarily exclusive).

Observing Communities: London Bridge

Location: London Bridge

Groups:
1. People rushing
2. people waiting for someone

There were few mums with young children, and there were lots of inappropriately dressed people who has misjudged how cold the day was going to turn.

There were no school children

The people waiting were usually leisure seekers: older people, tourists, parents taking their children for days out or students. A few were working people picking up a quick lunch.

Time spent in the area was either:

Very short (Walking to a train) <3 minutes
Medium (Checking train times) <5 minutes
Larger (Getting newspapers or food or waiting for trains in warm spaces) <5 minutes

Groupings were usually very seperate: 70% solo 20% in pairs 10% in small groups I focused on mums with young children, and seperated them into different groups

-Mums with buggies: Seemed very expert at managing on escalators alone and always knew exactly where they were going Nobody helped them out unless they were directly in their way Had to know their journeys in advance in order to minimise travel time

-Mums with under 5's Seemed very stressed as they could dart off without notice although the kids i saw with them seemed quite quiet and well behaved

-Mums with under 12's
More relaxed Leisure journeys (rather than essential journeys-i guessed these from the baggage they carried, maps etc) Children carrying their own supplies (backpacks)

All the mums i saw had this in common
-Flat shoes
-Jeans/comfortable

I noticed that there were lots of retired people, but they always seemed lost. I wondered what was there for them to help them out.

Observing is not quite enough: I have to talk to people and find out what their challenge are. I want to focus on parents, but need to narrow it down to create a smaller community.

Week 1: looking at artefacts part 2

This section is about making useful technological suggestions for the communities that created my three chosen artefacts.

I attempted to tailor my suggestions to the time period, rather than trying to bring HDTV to the prehistoric man. I also attempted to not be patronising, and make suggestions that were realistic and useful.

Artefact #1: Ghanaian Coffins

1) Roads: To reach more modernised areas for trade and jobs as well as to take advantage of their technology i.e. planes
2) Tools: The coffins are all handmade, probably meaning that it would be very time-consuming (and expensive) to make. Also in hot countries, bodies have to be buried very quickly otherwise they start to decompose. To speed up this process, and make it cheaper to create (and therefore more accessible to all members of the community), i suggested modernised tools.
3) A digital music player or recorder: To record a message or to play a loved ones music to them in the coffin.

Artefact # 2: Folding chairs
1) interactive bench: people would sit down in the area for longer (and engage more with the exhibits) and it would become part of the exhibition. They would also have something to lean on whilst making notes.
2) A work station: To enable them to find out more about anything that interests them straight away. Possibly would contain digital information (the printed blurbs were quite short), a encyclopaedia britannica, useful websites, and possibly book suggestions. This could be linked upto the museum gift shop or to a big book website like Amazon and the museum could earn comission, creating another revenue stream.
3) Note cards: visitors are able to leave notes about their reception of the piece, their thought, adding their own knowledge, or starting discussions. This would be digitalised and posted online for users to visit. This could pull more visitors in for the museum through search engines (searching for a term would bring up the forum, then theyd come in to see the exhibition). This would also be very useful for researchers, and also for the museum to learn more about how people recieve their exhibitions. It could also create more of a community outside of the museu, encouraging return visits.

Artefact #3

The skull house

1) Maps: To record the location of shrines (As many are scattered around, easily lost after generations, and the materials if places in the wrong place are easily damaged so they may get lost and may never be found again). A map for the people would allow them to never forget where everything is, and to be able to pay their respects if they wish to.

I found it very difficult to think of anything else for these people that wouldn't be patronising to them if it was introduced, or to think of anything that they'd embrace, as many communities are, rightfully so, very proud of their heritage and the way that they do things. It was also a lot further back in time than my other Artefacts.

I am limited by the amount that i could deduce about the community from this one artefact. I did look around the neighbouring exhibits to find anything similar from Rovania, but i couldnt, instead finding out about generally the western Solomon islands (which i later learnt that roviana is part of) and their shell ornaments. I instead decided to look it up online.

I haven't managed to find a lot on it; a single mention in a google e-book about the 'spooky' skull house for the skulls of Rendovan chiefs

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=eUmcHEZLFYgC&pg=PA265&lpg=PA265&dq=solomon+islands+skull+house&source=bl&ots=ys7GEdDoZP&sig=WSFuM3D7XCxPO6a3oYG1drOq-GY&hl=en&ei=pLaxTJy2DceOjAfc4JxZ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=solomon%20islands%20skull%20house&f=false

Week 1; Looking at artefacts part 1

Location: The British Museuum

Date: Tuesday 5th october

The first objective was to observe three artefacts within the space of the Museum and try to deduce or learn as much about the community that created them as possible. Based on this knowledge, four separate technologies or ideas that would be useful to the community were suggested.

I found sketching and photography quite useful, and i took a lot of photographs of things that i was interested in. I made my selections based on things that grabbed my attention and made me want to learn more. I selected two artefacts based on ancient cultures i didn't know a lot about, and one that i felt more involved with.

I made quick line drawings which was a skill i picked up in the first year, which forced me to appreciate the shape and dimensions of the artefacts i selected.

Artefact #1

Figurative Ghanaian Coffins

This was the piece that i chose to talk about to the group during the session as it was the one object that i found beautiful yet poignant.

Essentially an elegantly crafted eagle inspired coffin, this was handmade by two brothers in 1951 for their grandmother who had always wanted to fly.



It was displayed high above my head , in a transparent case which emphasised the effect of flying. It was a beautiful sentiment, for the two brothers to wanted to represent the aspirations of their grandmother and give her a sense of flying in death.

It became very popular around this time, with many members wanting to comission their own coffins, and with people designing coffins for hteir loved ones.

What i thought about the community that made this:

-Rural/Remote/Old-Fashioned: The community had members that wanted to fly but couldn't
Sentimental: the beauty and thoughtfulness of the burial; other members wanted a similar burial

-Technically skilled: Impressive craftmanship and variety of specialised skills

- Self-sufficient: Able to create this piece using thier own (not outsourced) community members and materials.


Artefact # 2

Folding chairs

This was not an artefact on display, but i was drawn to it not only as it was clearly a design intervention to try to make peoples lives easier, but also becasue it was not being used by anyone.




I thought that my intended user base was probably: Researchers, Older people, and schoolchildren as they were the only people who would need to be in the space for long enough to need to sit down. The former would be interested in the exhibits and need to spend a long time with them much longer than the rough average 10-20 minutes most people spent in the room), and be able to move to the food hall as they needed to engage with the exhibits. Choolchildrena nd older people might be too tired to stand for the 20 minutes or so to view everything in the room.

Next to the set of 10 folding chairs was a sign reading 'Please help yourself. for use within the museum online. please return after use'. It was very inobtrusive, and when i moved closer to it, one of my fellow students said that she hadn't even noticed it.

I do wonder if the reason that nobody was using it was because they had no use for it, or if they simply hadnt noticed it. It was located tucked beside the rear entrance to the hall, and i only noticed it was i was walking out. If you enter by the back door, it is unlikely that you'd notice it as your attention would be towards the exhibits, not in the corner. I drew this rough floor plan to show what i meant.



This got me thinking; there's no point designing something useful if it is noticed too late to use, or can be easily missed. There is something to be said for the aim of making sure a design 'fits into' or 'goes with' a space (unless your intention is to be noticeable), but not to slide so well into the background that they can be very easily missed.

I deduced a few things about the community, two of which contradict eachother completely.

-Thoughtful/Considerate: Thought to consider tired users
-Unthoughtful: Made the assumption that they were needed although they may not have been. Did not place the chairs in an obvious place, or at both doors.
-The desire to want users to engage with the space for as long as possible
-Health & Safety conscious; perhaps they were following some guidelines that says that they need chairs to protect themselves legally if someone collapses. Or that they have to provide seating.

I noticed that there weren't chairs in all rooms, in fact i only noticed chairs in one place. In other museums i.e. the V&A, there is fixed, permanent seating available in various places even in exhibition areas; not just in the food hall. I wonder why. It might be becasue they thought that fixed seating would detract from the effect of the exhibitions.

I thought about who might have designed it and why:

Was it a suggestion in a suggestion box
-An ideaby the curator

I am going to go back to the museum and ask around to try to find out if this has always been a permant fixture and if not, when, why and by whom it was designed.

Artefact # 3

Roviana Skull House



The 'skull house' contains the skull of an important ancestor and it marks a claim to land and sea by the deceased.

It is a shrine, with shell valuables placed within it which represent money, or were used as ornaments or charms.

The people may have been/had;
-superstituous or spirtiual given their respect for the dead, and the suggestion of a belief in and afterlife
-they may have had a concept of ownership: making land, especially even whendead
-ancient: as there was no metal currency
-a fair skill level: constructing basic wooden structures, which the majority of modern day people can't do
-reverence for the dead