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PROJECT OVERVIEW  

4

PROFILES AND STAKEHOLDERS 

7

PARTICIPATORY DESIGN METHODS 

8

3 PHASES OVERVIEW  

12

PHASE 1:DISCOVERY  

14

Generating Tactical Empathy 15. Discovery Phase Methods 17. Initial
Stakeholder Meetings 18. Problem Framing 20. Interviews and Surveys
23. Stakeholder Mapping and Persona Generation 25. Reflection
Mapping the Discovery Process 30.

PHASE 2: IDEATION  

32

What If Statements 33. Future Scenarios 34. Yellow Brick Road, or
Idea Mapping 37. Values-based Design and Human Design Goals 39.
Community Engagement Events 42.

PHASE 3: PROTOTYPING  

44

Storyboarding 45. Moodboard 47. Space Creation and Physical Modeling
48. Wireframing and Digital Mockups 50. Paper Prototypes 53.

CONCLUSION  

56

APPENDIX  

58
3

 PROJECT OVERVIEW
PROJECT OVERVIEW
This guide is the result of a
yearlong collaborative project that
re-imagines the FOIA request
process.
How can Freedom
Our of Information Act
process (FOIA)
requests
explored improve
the
the relationship between
following local
journalists
two key and
communities
report
on?
questions: they
How can a media
literacy intervention
focused on FOIA and
civic
engagement
impact
learning
experiences
for
aspiring journalists
and
civic
media
practitioners?

4

 The Participatory design process prioritizes
collaboration among people working together
to better define problems and iterate through
potential solutions. The participatory design
process, in contrast to traditional design
processes, includes all stakeholders. This
orientation increases transparency, helps to
ensure that the proposed solutions can, in fact,
solve the defined problems, and creates a sense
of shared ownership and success.
For the Putting FOIA to Work project, the
participatory design process was used to
help design meaningful engagement between
journalists, journalism students, and the
communities that were the focus of our project.
Our goal is to experiment the design process
applied to local reporting and engagement. In
this project, traditional methods of journalism
such as research, lead generation, interviews
and reporting, story writing, and publishing
are augmented and enhanced by involvement
from diverse stakeholders, such as nonprofit investigative journalist organizations,
FOIA filling service providers and civic design
practitioners and journalists. Each of these
stakeholders brings to the table different
forms of expertise, collectively contributing
to a process that uses FOIA to generate
collaborative reporting projects and meaningful
community engagement.

5

 The student teams and partners chose to focus
on the issue of gun sales and procurements
in Massachusetts. This topic was decided
collaboratively by BINJ, Muckrock and the
participating students at Emerson College,
through deliberation and research.
This guide is written for journalists, journalism
and media educators, community organizations
and stakeholders who wish to understand
how participatory design can leverage the
FOIA process to increase community-driven
reporting, ensure greater engagement in the
storytelling process, and foster a sense of local
involvement in news.
This guide is part of the “Make FOIA Work:
Using Freedom of Information Act Requests
to Engage Communities in Locally Relevant
Reporting” project, supported by a Challenge
Fund grant from the Online New Association
(ONA) and spearheaded by Professor of
Journalism Paul Mihailidis at Emerson College.

Guide written by Adam Gamwell.
Layout by Courtney Lord.
Editorial Oversight from Paul Mihailidis
and Vassiliki Rapti.

6

 STAKEHOLDERS
PROFILES AND
STAKEHOLDERS
Partners:
º Emerson College,
º Boston Institute of
Department of Journalism
Nonprofit Journalism
º The Engagement Lab
º MuckRock

The Project Team:
Paul Mihailidis Associate Professor,
Journalism

Emerson College
Engagement Lab

Adam
Gamwell

Design Anthropologist &
Affiliated Faculty, Media
Design, Journalism

Emerson College
Engagement Lab

Michael
Morisy

Co-Founder & Chief
Executive

MuckRock

Chris Farone

Editorial Director

Boston Institute
of Nonprofit
Journalism (BINJ)

Catherine
D’Ignazio

Assistant Professor,
Journalism

Emerson College
Engagement Lab

Catherine
Buckler

Project coordinator

Courtney Lord

Lead Designer

Engagement Lab

Johnny
Richardson

Lead Developer

Engagement Lab

Vasiliki Rapti

Affiliated Faculty &
CMAP ’19 candidate

Engagement Lab

Manon Banta

CMAP ’19 candidate &
Project Assistant

Engagement Lab

Herman E.
Servatious

CMAP ’19 candidate,
Project Assistant

Engagement Lab

7

 DESIGN METHODS
PARTICIPATORY
DESIGN METHODS
How to Scope a Project for
Participation
When getting started, participants
should take stock of the project
context, such as:

8

º

who are the known
stakeholders or partners?

º

is there an idea of what
problems they face?

º

what constraints and
opportunities are present at
the start?

º

what is the timeline of the
engagement?

 Amongst the Media Design teams
working with BINJ and MuckRock, the
context was defined as “understanding
the work of BINJ and MuckRock in
relation to the FOIA process, local
journalism, news production and
consumption, and information access
over the course of a college semester.”
In first assessing the idea of building a
design process around FOIA practices
and local journalism, our team used
the Stanford dSchool’s Design Project
Scoping Guide to outline the elements
needed to frame a design challenge:

WHAT

what is the human
experience we are trying to
affect?

FOR WHOM

what group of people are
we designing for?

CONTEXT

what are the important
facts, insights, instincts,
background knowledge
we bring to the table that
clarify our challenge and
why it matters?

GOALS

ASSUMPTIONS

what do we want to
accomplish?
generally when approaching
a project people have some
intuition or hunches about
the opportunity in mind.
What are they?

9

 The first step is for the
team to answer these
questions together, out
loud. Writing ideas down on
whiteboards or sticky notes
is encouraged. At the initial
phases of a project, teams
can’t always answer all of
these questions, or may
not feel satisfied with the
initial answers. That’s OK
and encouraged. As teams
move through the discovery
and ideation phases, they
can (and should) revisit the
design challenge questions
to better scope and define
the project.
The dSchool guide notes
further that questions 3-5
are Team Considerations,
while 1 and 2 are Challenge
Space questions. What this
means is that questions 3-5
are means for the team to
develop their understanding
of the problem space important facts, goals,
assumptions - together
to create a baseline of
actionable knowledge.
Questions 1 and 2 help
shape the way teams

10

understand the problem
they and their stakeholders
face.
Minimally when getting
started, teams will have
some idea about their own
considerations—such as
they are working with a
certain group of people,
or what the context of
their work is. The key
here is to not jump to
solutions or conclusions,
even though this may be
tempting. If team members
find themselves coming
up with ideas to solve
problems, write them
down on sticky notes, and
place them to the side. It
is helpful and important
honor team members’
instincts and experience,
but the goal of this phase
is to frame problem in the
best way. Solutions at this
phase represent individual
or team dynamics, not
necessarily a good or
effective response to the
problem.

 º Early project goals in the
Making FOIA Work case
could be, for example,
“Aiming to understand
how local journalists
present and use FOIA to
others.”

º Service

º Assumptions could look
like “We need to test the
assumption that students
don’t know or care about
FOIA.”

º Workshop or Training

The art of scoping is
premised on bounding the
project in specific ways
that allow the team to
move forward but that
leave room for discovery
and multiple kinds, types
or categories of solutions.
Framing a problem should
NOT embed a solution nor
presume stakeholder needs.
It gears the team towards
discovery.

º Literature

º Digital App or Software
º Physical Product
º Curriculum

º Exhibition
º Website

An open list like this can
help team members from
jumping to one idea like
“making a workshop,” or
“designing an app”

A tactic to keep focus on
problem definition, rather
than solution finding, at this
phase consists of listing
categories of potential
solutions:

11

 DESIGN
3 PHASES OF
PARTICIPATORY
DESIGN
Participatory Design is
flexible enough to be
split The following three phases
into encompass a framework
which we find to be helpful,
many and the methods draw from
mix of design thinking,
phases. aparticipatory
research, and
human-centered design
methods. Participatory
Design is an iterative
process. This means, it
often is not linear. This
can be a challenge for
process-oriented people,
as it involves a high level of
ambiguity, particularly as
the project begins. Iteration
also means participants
can (and should) cycle back
across each of the phases
as they feel it is necessary.

12

 DISCOVERY

The goal of this phase is to listen closely
to the users for whom you are designing.
This includes gathering background data
and information, conducting observational
research, interviews and surveys with
stakeholders, organizing and evaluating
data and analyzing patterns.

IDEATION

The goal of this phase is to frame points
of conflict discovered in the first phase
and generate possible solutions. During
this phase, teams evaluate, envision,
propose, and iterate on novel, bold future
possibilities to solve the problem.

PROTOTYPING

03

02

01

Ideally in this process, team members and
stakeholders are in frequent communication
so questions, ideas, and solutions can be
shared and iterated by everyone who can
fruitfully give input. The three main phases
in our design process are:

The goal of this phase is to conceive,
design and test the artifacts created to
solve the problem. Prototyping also allows
designers to evaluate their process and
design decisions by making their solutions
more real and to generate feedback from
stakeholders for further refinement.

13

 DISCOVERY

14

Participatory Design is
built on a Human-Centered
mindset, meaning the
perspectives,
Because participatory design
experiences involves working with, and designing
alongside, others, this kind of
and work often challenges unconscious
and biases. To be
wellbeing assumptions
successful, facilitators must create
safe and accountable
of people, psychologically
space where participants can
sometimes explore differences with patience,
respect, and open minds.
called
is where the real work
users or This
begins.
stakeholders
is paramount to problem
definition and solution
finding.

PHASE 1
PHASE 1

 Generating Tactical Empathy

EM • PA • THY
noun

The ability to
understand and
share the feelings
of another.*
*

Oxford New American Dictionary

In order to understand
what challenges, issues or
problems communities face,
participatory design begins

with empathy - gaining a
felt understanding of how
stakeholders perceive and
feel.

15

 Team members can
ask themselves and
stakeholders:
º What challenges do they
face in a given area, and
how do these challenges
manifest?
º What are their
motivations and thoughts
in trying to accomplish a
task?
º What behaviors and
actions are common in a
given scenario?
º What do they say, to
themselves or others,
when discussing a
particular topic?

16

The goal of empathizing
with others, or putting oneself in another’s position, is
to get to know a group of
people previously unfamiliar to you in terms of how
they experience a problem or challenge. What do
they say, think, feel and do
around a particular issue?

 Discovery Phase Methods

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
BRAINSTORMING

OBSERVATIONAL
RESEARCH

SURVEYS AND
INTERVIEWS

RESEARCH

FRAMING
CHALLENGES

MAPPING
POSSIBLE
STAKEHOLDERS

PLANNING
DESIGN PROCESS

17

 Initial Stakeholder Meetings

Early in the process, the Media
Design teams were introduced to
partner organization leaders, Chris
Faraone from the Boston Institute
of Nonprofit Journalism, BINJ, and
Michael Morisy from Muckrock. Chris
presented BINJ's investigation into the
militarization of local Massachusetts
police departments. Michael took the
class through Muckrock's website and
the process of filing a FOIA request.
The initial meeting with BINJ and
Muckrock clued the design teams
into the ways these organizations
approach news gathering and
reporting, information and news
dissemination, and their perspectives
on local journalism.
The Media Design cohort consisted of
10 students, which would be large for
a design team. The cohort was split
into thirds to facilitate manageable
working teams.
18

 Initial stakeholder meetings
are crucial. They are an
opportunity for the design
team to get to know
the people they will be
designing with and to ask
initial questions about
problems or challenges they
face.
Take note of names,
organizations, and roles.
Get a sense of who the
organizations or community
partners are. What are their
mission and goals, how do
they operate, what do they
produce? What is the size
of the organization, is it
hierarchical or flat, etc.?

Generally, teams will have a
reason for meeting and this
guides the initial framing
around problems. How are
stakeholders addressing
the challenge space? Do
they simply talk about it,
do they have programs
or projects in place to
address challenge? What
do they see as the most
crucial aspects of their
work? What are the biggest
challenges and what are
the biggest opportunity
spaces they see?
Questions teams ask should
be tailored towards getting
to know their partners and
allow for their partners to
get to know them.

19

 Problem Framing

Following initial meetings
with stakeholders, teams
begin to frame directions
for further investigating
the problems that were
articulated.
To demonstrate this
process, the following
examples highlight how
FOIA design teams began
to frame problems around
gun sales and procurements
in Massachusetts.

to journalism students.
The team saw journalism
students as the next
generation of news
providers and producers,
who could provide insight
into issues through
the lens of storytelling
and reporting. Seeking
a balanced spread of
perspectives, team
members interviewed
journalists at BINJ,
professors at Emerson
College and undergraduate
journalism students.
When working through
participatory design, or any
design process in teams,
sticky notes and sharpies
are a must. Use them
to capture down single

Example: Design Team
#1 framing around the
problem of ‘care’
Given the recent and
unfortunately ongoing
phenomena of shootings
in the United States,
Design Team #1 chose
to explore how college
students experienced
realities and news about
shootings. They narrowed
their stakeholder scope

20

Theme capture from meeting
from Design Team 1

 ideas—problems, context,
people—and seek input
from all team members.
Use the 5 problem framing
questions above to guide
the organization of sticky
notes. If there is an
abundance of context or
what stickies but few who,
then this is an indication of
where further research may
be necessary.

the following:

Example: Design Team
#2 explored questions of
access and user interface
design of the FOIA request
platform, Muckrock.

This open-ended set of
actions were undertaken
by interviewees who used
the MuckRock website
for the first time. Users
attempted to complete
each of the three tasks
and narrated their actions
while doing so. Design
Team #2 took notes of user
actions, their comments
and feelings, when they
felt stuck and what worked
well. To complement
contextual research with
first time users, Team 2
set up interviews with
MuckRock staff to gain
further perspective on how
the internal team articulated
and thought about the
organization’s mission, their
current design and feature
choices, and goals for future
growth.

The more accessible a
platform is to a community,
the more it can perhaps
be utilized. The second
design team explored the
usability of project partner
Muckrock’s FOIA request
platform. They conducted
initial user testing of
MuckRock’s website. Initial
insights included confusion
around the seeming lack
of organization of content
elements on the home page
and lack of clarity in terms
of the services offered by
MuckRock.
Design Team #2 used
contextual research tasks to
define their problem space.
Specifically, they asked
project participants to do

º Try to contact a member
of the Muckrock staff
º Try to find out about
the FOIA process in
Massachusetts
º Try to find information
about gun sales in
Massachusetts

21

 Example: Design Team
#3 began on questions
of news fatigue for
consumers
Design Team #3 framed
their exploration into gun
sales in Massachusetts by
asking how consumers of
news may engage with,
or disengage with, news
about these subjects.
Their design process
began with conversations
with Chris Faraone (cofounder of BINJ) and
Jason Pramas (Network
Director for BINJ) in order
to get a better sense of
how they understand their
relationship with their
audiences and the ways
in which their publishing
choices affect local
community moods.
Design Team #3’s
problem framing process
also incorporated a
general survey to local
participating communities
around their news habits
and moods towards
local news. They found,
unsurprisingly, low levels
of trust in news in general,
but an openness to the
local news organizations
that they feel more
connected to.

22

Problem Framing
Conclusion
All three Media Design
teams turned their attention
to discovering stakeholder
problem areas and to
understanding where pain
points emerged between
journalists and local
communities. Focus areas
included:
º How journalists foster
community collaborated
stories
º What structures need to
be in place to encourage
readers to take action
beyond reading the news
º What confuses first-time
users in the MuckRock
website
º What are the true
impediments for
community members to
be genuinely engaged in
local news reporting
During this discovery
phase, particular emphasis
was given to the following
methods: interviews and
surveys, stakeholder
mapping, and persona
generation, after thorough
research and careful
observation.

 Discovery Method 1
Interviews and Surveys

Interview questions can
be either open-ended,
meaning answers aren’t
prescribed, or closed.
Surveys can also have both
kinds of questions, though
researchers tend to get
more in-depth answers
from interviews given the
opportunity to ask follow
up or clarifying questions
in-person. Surveys are
good, on the other hand, for
gathering a larger amount
of data quicker.

Interviews
and surveys
are methods
of data
gathering
that let
designers
into the minds of
stakeholders.
Design Team #2, working
on MuckRock’s FOIA
request platform, offered
the following rationale
for using a survey in their
initial exploration:
"We conducted an initial
online poll asking folks if
they’d ever filed a FOIA
request, and if they’d
be interested in sharing

feedback on a website
that facilitates the request
process. We did a series of
in-person interviews testing
the current MuckRock
website with potential users
to get their feedback on
the look, feel, and usability
of the website. We also
did one on one, in-person
interviews with several
MuckRock staff members."

23

 Some responses from
interviews:
"[The website] would
benefit from more granular
organization. Given the
multiple, and somewhat
disparate purposes of the
website, it makes sense
to have a top level of
organization before you
break down into sublevels
to try to track the various
things that people want
to use the website for. It
would make sense to have
a very simple front page
that says ‘Do you want
to...?’ and then lets people
drill down from there."
"I don't have a sense
of how MuckRock got
started, I didn't see any
affiliations, and they don't
have any links to partner
organizations. I feel like
typically a big organization
(although I don't know
how big they are) has
more up front info about
who the organization is,
and although I think I
know what they do, I don't
actually know who they
are."

24

In an interview with
MuckRock founder, Michael
Morisy, the team discovered
some important insights:
In this critical interview,
we learned that MuckRock
does not have a single
function, but defines itself
as a “platisher;” a blend of
‘platform’ and ‘publisher.”
MuckRock sees their core
mission as being a conduit
for transparency.
This discovery was a
defining moment in our
process as it encouraged
us to embrace the
multifunctional aspects of
the the MuckRock website
as we worked towards our
ultimate redesign.

 Discovery Method 2
Stakeholder Mapping and Persona
Generation
In participatory design,
stakeholder mapping is a
method for
For Design Team #1, stakeholder
organizing mapping took the form of creating
spectrums around care,
information attribute
knowledge of FOIA, feelings of
for change, and
and data empowerment
whether they felt gun violence was
gathered becoming normalized in the news
or whether it was consistently
from unnerving.
background
research, interviewees,
surveys, and
observations.
Mapping attributes allows
the design team to note
patterns and trends across
interviewee perceptions
and attitudes.
These attributes can be
used to create personas,
which are data derived
sketches of people based

on patterns, trends and
commonalities. The purpose
of personas is to keep
individual data anonymous
and to ensure design focus
for the widest possible
group of people while still
addressing the specific
and contextual problems
identified by stakeholders.

25

 Fig. 1: Team 1 Attribute Map

Design Team #1 found
that asking questions
around gun control and
violence, as well as school
shootings, tend to be
polarizing and depressing.
They also found that

26

interpersonal connections
with interviewees, such as
whether they knew or had
a connection with someone
before interviewing
them, changed how open
respondents were.

 Design Team #2 created an
attribute map to navigate
MuckRock’s website. They
developed the following
taxonomy:
º The site is (easy / not
easy) to navigate
º The site is (well- / not
well-) organized
º (Would / would not) use

site in the future
º The site’s purpose is
(very / not very) clear
º (Ease / difficulty )
completing all tasks
º Thinks website is for
(general / specific)
audience

Fig. 2: Team 2 Attribute Map

27

 Drawing on the patterns
noted in surveys and
interviews, Design Team
#2 came up with a persona
named Reed, who:
º Is a millennial (age 22 to
37) [age/generation]
º Consumes news two
or more times per day
[habits]
º Usually feels
disappointed and
helpless after reading the

news [emotional states,
problem area]
º Believes they are a
trusted member of
the community [social
standing perspective]
º Trusts the news sources
they curate [perception]
º Does not see themselves
as civically engaged, but
wants to be [perception,
problem area]

Fig. 3: Team
3 Attribute
Map

28

 One strategy for better
understanding and making
personas actionable is
to note attributes that
categorize the persona’s
specific features. For
example, labeling a
persona as a millennial is
a feature. The attribute of
millenial can be age and
generation. We added
attributes in brackets to
the Reed persona example
to demonstrate how
attributes and features
work together.

Specific attributes help
clarify what a feature might
indicate to a designer. By
noting how persona traits
can be mapped on to larger
categories like emotional
states, social perception,
and behavioral disconnect,
we can identify problem
spaces more clearly. Reed
helped Design Team #2
identify two problem areas
news consumers like Reed
face:
º feeling disappointed or
helpless when reading
the news
º disconnect between
wanting to be civically
engaged and not taking
action to remedy that
These two issues can be
connected to each other,
but is it important to
consider them separately.

29

 Phase 1 Reflection
Mapping the Discovery Process

Fig. 4: Mapping the Research
process in Discovery Phase from
Design Team #1

As noted in Figure 4,
Design Team #1 organized
their process across
background research,
observation and interviews.
They spelled out key
observations and findings
and helped bring them to
life through quotes.
They also took note of

30

what resources they
employed such as online
cloud services, transcription
services for interviews
(Trint ), and organizations
they drew from like BINJ,
as well as teamwork
highlights, including project
management, division of
labor, communication and
allocation of skills.

 Reflecting on the Discovery
Phase, Design Team #2 noted:

Design Team #3 reflects at the
end of the Discovery Phase:

”When we began this process,
we were told it would be
“messy,” but it wasn’t until
we were underway that I
understood what that actually
meant. Messy is being on the
journey before you even know
where you are going, messy
is making assumptions and
then having to backpedal and
begin again, messy is grappling
to develop the best set of
questions to get to the heart
of people’s needs without
showing them the way, messy
is reframing a challenge four
times before you get it right.”

”What we know: At this point
in our process, we have taken
the original problem as an
entrypoint to start asking
questions. We have discovered
that “headline fatigue” is a
common theme experienced
by news readers. We think
that this can be solved by
presenting the news in a new
format or creating a new way
for someone to feel involved.
What we don’t know: We are
curious to know more about the
levers that a user can identify
that help them transform from
feeling “passive” to “involved.”
We don’t know if there are
areas of Boston we should
focus on or if we should build
from our persona.”

31

 PHASE 2
PHASE 2

IDEATION

Ideation is the process
of strategically coming
up with various ideas
and possible solutions to
the problems identified
in the discovery and
empathy phase. There
is a massive amount
of potential methods
for idea generation,
organization and
selection. This section of
the guide documents a
selection of the methods
the design teams
employed in the ideation
phase of their process.
One method borrowed
from design firm IDEO is
the creation of “What if”
Statements. This exercise
is a way of framing
possible directions for
personas or stakeholders
without dictating specific
solutions. They allow
the team to see what
directions align with
stakeholder needs.

Fig. 5: Selected questions and
solutions from Team 1

32

 Ideation Method 1
What If Statements
Following the persona Reed
(discussed above) as well
as insights gathered from
interviews with BINJ staff,
Design Team #2 came up
with the following What If
Statements:
º How journalists foster
community collaborated
stories?
º What if Reed didn’t have
to read the whole news
story in order to feel
informed?
º What if BINJ could
grab readers’ attention
without having to read
whole article?
º What if BINJ didn’t have
to hold events to engage
communities?
º What if Reed could feel
like an authority without
holding a traditional
community role?

º What if Reed could feel
empowered after reading
news without feeling
fatigued?
º What if Reed could
contribute to developing
new without being a
trained journalist?
º What if journalists
didn’t have to do more
than report the news in
order to be a catalyst for
citizen action?
These "What If" statements
provide a means to
externalize and organize
potential directions teams
can take for pursuing
solutions. They help
contextualize and focus
the iteration phase of the
process through a set of
structural boundaries.

º What if Reed didn’t have
to do extensive research
in order to understand a
news story?
º What if journalists
received follow through
without call-to-action?

33

 Ideation Method 2
Future Scenarios
In the Future Scenarios
ideation method, teams
brainstorm scenarios that
do not yet exist in order
to see if they can identify
any deeper or other unmet
needs that affect the
current problem. Questions
here include, “what would
a future look like where
our problem was met?

had a lot of questions,
but were fuzzy on the
problem. By categorizing
our questions, we saw that
the focus on the topic (gun
sales) was distracting us
from our interest in how the
interviewees felt a sense of
care in talking about heavy
topics (like gun sales)."

Design is an iterative, and often
messy process. It takes patience
and a willingness to work with
ambiguity.
What would we need to
accomplish to bring that
future to fruition?”
Design Team #1 employed
future scenarios with the
following intentions in mind:
"We created future
scenarios to generate
questions around what a
future could look like that
addressed our problem.
What proved most useful
in this process is that we

34

One key insight Design
Team #1 came across
in this phase is that
despite moving through
the discovery phase, the
problem of what to try
and solve for was still
unclear. This is common
in the participatory
design process. As they
categorized questions
through the Future
Scenarios exercise, Design
Team #1 realized that
gun sales as a topic was

 distracting from a root
problem around care
when students engaged
with heavy topics. In
other words, gun sales
themselves weren’t the
problem to try to solve for
at this point, especially
as the team began to
emphasize their work
with news providers like
BINJ and information
aggregators and FOIA
services like MuckRock.
For these organizations,
freedom of information
and story reporting are of
paramount importance,
and hence how readers
experience care around
the news creation and
consumption process
became more pertinent.
Design Team #2, focused
on redesigning MuckRock’s
online platform, initially
felt stunted trying to think
about what future scenarios
would look like, given their
seemingly limited solution
space. They noted:

"I was feeling limited in the
activity until our professor
suggested that we think
beyond the website to
some of the broader issues
that were addressed in
the interviews that we
conducted. Through this
broader approach, a whole
world of possibilities
emerged. In considering
the data we collected from
interviewees, I discovered
that a core part of the
work we are doing in this
redesign really speaks to
issues of access. When
we look to potential users
of the MuckRock website,
there are a number of
things that could impede
people's access to its
functionality. The issue
that we settled on was the
financial barrier of filing a
FOIA request."

35

 "Our future scenario was
this: "if in the future there
were no financial barriers
to file a FOIA request, what
would that look like?" The
phrasing of this question
was important to us as it
doesn't actually focus on
cost, it focuses on access."

36

"'Future Scenarios'"
allowed our group to step
beyond the website we are
trying to re-design and to
consider the broader issues
of our problem space. This
particular process allowed
me to imagine possibilities
that have the potential to
illuminate a way forward,
but also clarified some of
our structural and societal
limitations in a way that
was eye-opening for me.
Many of the limitations
that we developed in
our reflections were
overlapping, indicating
that there are several big
challenges that hold us
back from doing many
things that could create a
better future for our world."

 Ideation Method 3
Yellow Brick Road, or Idea Mapping

Idea mapping is a process
where teams can focus on
where they are heading and
what the most important
priorities are in their work.

Fig. 6: Design Team 1 Mapping Groupthink

37

 Design Team #1 utilized
idea mapping to reorient
themselves to the bigger
issues they were engaging
in beyond gun sales
alone. After conducting
the mapping process (see
Figure 6), they wrote:
"We were pleasantly
surprised at how easily
ideas flowed and built off
of each other when we
were synced as a Team: we
had clarity on our focus,
on our user group, and on
our problem, and with all of
this, found a momentum in
conversation and possibility
that we previously had not
experienced as a Team in
this project."

38

With a sense of direction
following the “yellow brick
road” flow diagram, Design
Team #1 began to select
possible solutions to the
problems surrounding the
lack of care people may
feel around heavy news
topics like gun sales and
police militarization. The
Team pulled together key
questions from Future
Scenarios and solutions
they felt matched those
questions. Grouping
questions and possible
solutions together clarified
an unmet need for creating
spaces that prioritized
the experience of the
interviewee (and could
benefit the interview itself ).

 Ideation Method 4
Values-based Design and Human
Design Goals
Complementing the selection of problem questions
and potential solutions, all three teams engaged in
a values-based exercise premised around defining
and aligning stakeholder and design team values. 1
A values based assessment helps stakeholders
better define their design goal, reframe the problem
they are trying solve, and organize how to think
about a solution. Design Team #3, focusing on local
news consumption and engagement, developed the
following value map (Figure 7).

Fig. 7: Design Team 1 Mapping Groupthink
This exercise was adapted by Dr. Gamwell from “How to Practice Ethical Design” by Maheen Sohail of Muzili. Google Slide
Deck of the Method.
1

39

 Design Goal
Our goal is to make the interview
process more appealing/beneficial
for the interviewee by encouraging
a sense of ease/value in order to
increase local connections between
journalists and communities
and improve confidence in local
journalism.

Fig. 8: Design Goal for Team 1

40

 Design Team #1 used the
value mapping exercise
to align the values that
emerged from interviews
with local journalists with
their own values. After
the mapping process, this
ideation exercise asks
teams to express a clear
design goal, consisting of a
single sentence that conveys
what the team wants to
accomplish, for whom and
why. Two questions guide
this outcome: What is the
problem we are trying to
solve? Who are we solving
for and why? Figure 8 shows
the design goal for team 1.

Design Team #2 convened
around the values of
transparency, access,
and trust. This led them
to articulate the design
goal: “We want to enable
MuckRock to be a vehicle
of access for potential
users by making their
platform more transparent,
trustworthy, and userfriendly.”

41

 Ideation Method 5
Community Engagement Events
With clearer design goals, the teams had the
opportunity to take their ideas to the community
and get some feedback. In the latter half of the
fall semester, community stakeholder BINJ was
holding a fundraiser at a local venue in Boston.
Many local and independent journalists came out
to support BINJ and to visit with colleagues. Teams
put together games as a way to gather data and
feedback about their ideas.

My worst interview was person or place
about topic
. It was bad
because Reason
.
My best interview was person or place
about topic
. It was great
because Reason
.
My ideal interview would be
person or place about topic
. It would be awesome because
Reason
.

Fig. 9: Interview Mad Libs for BINJ Fundraiser

42

 Fig. 10: Design Team 3 "BINJO" Activity for BINJ Fundraiser

This playful approach
to engagement allowed
the group “to question
whether interviewers could
connect to the interview
experience as something
they cared about. The
event atmosphere was
not research focused, but
the ‘Mad Libs’ activity we
created resonated with the
many journalists there, and
the challenge of creating
the activity offered another
place where we had to
create clarity in our focus
as a group.”

Design Team #3 created
“BINJO” a playful spin on
bingo, that they played with
all participants at the event.
Through this play, Design
Team #3 was able to gather
data on how these two
groups of stakeholders
approached themes they
identified around news
fatigue, civic engagement,
trust and journalistic
participation.

43

 PHASE 3
PHASE 3
DESIGN: PROTOTYPES
Prototyping involves physical renderings, storyboards,
and sketches of a proposed solution. Through prototyping
teams hone their ideas and gather internal and external
feedback on what’s working and what isn’t in order to
improve a design's impact for stakeholders.
Think about prototyping like this: walk through the
experience, make things and ask for feedback, create the
thing and run it.
The following prototyping methods can be used by teams
to realize their ideas:

STORYBOARDING

MOODBOARDS

SPACE CREATION

WIREFRAMES AND
MOCKUPS

PAPER PROTOTYPES

44

involves visualizing how a
proposed solution would help
a persona
a form of visual collage that
clarifies aspects like form,
color, or feel that a solution
may take
involves setting up a physical
area in which a solution can
be acted out
a tool for outlining the
elements of a digital layout
sketches of a digital
application that demonstrate
the steps a user would go
through when accessing it

 Prototyping Method 1
Storyboarding
Storyboarding is a
method similar to what
screenwriters and graphic
artists use to depict a
scene.
Teams can use post-it
notes, index cards, sketch

on paper or digitally to map
out the course of action as
a stakeholder experiences
a proposed solution. Like
all prototypes, these can
be quick sketches and
do not require artistic
proficiency. The idea is to

Fig. 16: Storyboard sketches from Team 1

45

 convey a scenario problem
and articulate how the
proposed solution changes
the experience for a user or
stakeholder. Storyboards
provide a roadmap for
designing an experience,
and clarify what elements
could or should be included.

The figures show examples
of team storyboards for
a co-creation interview
space (Figure 16) and a
community reporting booth
prototype (Figure 17).

Fig. 17: Storyboard sketch from Team 3

46

 Prototyping Method 2
Moodboard

Fig. 18:
Design Team
2 Moodboard

Moodboards are a form of
visual collage that clarifies
aspects like form, color,
feel that a solution may
take.
They involve collecting
similar visuals to a
proposed idea. Figure 18 is
an example of moodboards
from Design Team #2
depicting various layouts,
color palettes, and feel
they drew inspiration from
to incorporate into their
proposed redesign of the
MuckRock homepage.
Design Team #2 focused on

a visual and informational
redesign of MuckRock’s
site, so they used
moodboards to select color
palettes and typography.
They used Adobe Color
CC for the palettes and
Adobe Typekit as a base
for discovering typefaces.
The colors were selected
based on user feedback and
the type faces combined
sans serif to emphasize
experience of contemporary
clarity.

47

 Prototyping Method 3
Space Creation and Physical Modeling
When prototyping a
physical space, teams can
rearrange or repurpose
existing areas to work
out how a solution may
function or feel.

lighting. Large sheets
of white paper were
affixed to the wall so that
interviewees and journalists
could collaboratively write
ideas, questions, and facts.

For example, Design
Team #1 prototyped a
“pop-up Green Room” in
which interviewees could
co-create the interview
experience alongside the
journalists who would
interview them. In Figure
19 below, Design Team #1
prototyped an interview
space with chairs, a table
with snacks, low indoor

Creating spaces using
existing furniture and
materials provides a
realistic and rapid means
for teams to physically
conceptualize a idea, to get
a better understanding of
how a solution may work,
which elements need more
development, and to get
feedback.

Fig. 19: A Co-Creation Interview Space

48

 Interview
when was the
last time you ...?

do you care
about who is
buying guns in
your community?

what is your
reaction
to gun
violence?

what did you
have for breakfast?

what is your
favorite color?

what is your
favorite
food?

what do you
know about gun
sales?

do you know
how many guns
your police
department is
buying?

what do you
know about
gun sales in
the NRA?

how are you?

what kind of
firearms do you
think are appropriate for police
department to
have?

Fig. 20: Physical model of
a topic selection board for
interviewees and journalists

In another example of
physical modeling, Design
Team #1 employed
participatory methods
into their solution. They
created a “choose your
own interview” board in
which interviewees could
choose what topics they

Construct
your persona
I'm confused
by ...

I don't like ...

I want to
know more
about ...

I feel like ...

I value ...

I'm intrigued
by ...

Something you
should know
about me is ...

I want to say ...

I'm angry
that ...

I can't ...

I can ...

I wonder
whether ...

Fig. 21: Physical modeling of a
‘Persona’ board for interviewees

wanted to be interviewed
about (Figure 20, as well as
a “persona” wall in which
interviewees could choose
select cards to direct
questions as well as make
known how they approach
questions and topics)
(Figure 21).

49

 Prototyping Method 4
Wireframing and Digital Mockups

Wireframing is a
prototyping tool for
outlining the structure of
a website, an app or other
digital space that provides
a clear rendering of how a
site is layed out.

with ink and paper or
created digitally using
illustration or web design
programs. Figure 22 shows
an example of wireframe
sketches for a redesigned
MuckRock homepage.

Wireframes clarify where
elements on a webpage
are placed such as menus,
images and text as
well as the hierarchy of
information. Wireframes
can be physical sketches

Note: Wireframes work
well in conjunction with
Moodboards, especially
when moving between
sketches and digital
renderings.

Fig. 22: MuckRock Site Sketches by Design Team #2.

50

 Digital Renderings or
Mockups are more
detailed realizations
based off of wireframes.
Figures 23-25 detail
the website mockup for
MuckRock’s proposed
homepage. Note how the
mockup clearly displays
key user information in the
MuckRock menu such as
“Who We Are” and “What
We Do” and “Why FOIA."

The latter portions of the
mockup contain Calls to
Action, or CTAs, which are
action oriented buttons
that ask a user to do
something, like File a FOIA
request. Many modern
websites have CTAs as
a way to guide users.
Figure 25 displays a quote
from MuckRock founder
to increase user trust by
showing the human side
behind MuckRock and the
FOIA process.
3 section website mockup:

Fig. 23

51

 Fig. 24

All three CTAs center on actions around FOIA requests:
º LEARN takes users to information about the FOIA
request process, and to news articles by MuckRock
º FILE takes users through the process of filing a FOIA
request
º SEE takes users to a searchable archive of all filed
requests, and allows them to see FOIA requests they
can support

Fig. 25

52

 Prototyping Method 5
Paper Prototypes
Paper prototyping is a
rapid and cheap method
for defining and designing
a user flow, or how
someone will use a digital
application.
For example, Design
Team #3 came up with a
combined physical and
digital prototype that
provides news reporting

access to community
members. Part of this
solution involved the
creation of a digital app
through which users could
report stories to local
news outlets. Such an app
could also be used to help
community members access
and file FOIA requests as
part of the news making
process.

Fig. 26: Physical prototype of booth and iPad app on paper

Walkthrough of iPad paper
screens:
º SCREEN 1 provides
introduction, background
on BINJ, and how the
reader can help

º SCREEN 2 shows the
instructions on how
to record and what is
expected of a recording
session

53

 º SCREEN 3 is a release
contract (which is tied
to the audio record)
allowing BINJ to use
the provided content.
However, the subject
gets to choose how the
audio gets used i.e. in the
article or podcast.
º SCREEN 4 is an example
of a prompt screen.

º SCREEN 5 is the wrap
up page that allows the
user to provide optional
contact information and
also takes them back to
the start.
In addition to the booth,
Design Team #3 also
concepted a story collection
app for smartphones as a
paper prototype:

Fig. 27
Sketches
from Team
#3, BINJ
Booth App.

Note how paper prototypes
are similar to wireframe
sketches. The major
difference is that paper
prototypes document a user

54

flow, or how a user will
interact with a digital app,
in addition to displaying the
visual layout.

  

CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION

Participatory Design
is an ongoing and
iterative process.
While based on in-depth
research, interviews, surveys,
intensive ideation and idea
testing, and storyboards and
light field testing, prototypes
are most often the first
iterations of solutions. One
course or workshop likely
cannot solve entrenched
problems, but working
iteratively across Discovery,
Ideation, and Prototyping
can provide inspirational
and concrete steps for how
to notice problems, get to
know people, generate and
organize ideas, and propose
effective solutions.

56

  

APPENDIX
APPENDIX
STRATEGIES AND
TOOLS
Discovery Phase
º Use of free online tools and platforms for conducting
surveys (Survey Monkey and Google Forms)
º Use of social media (Facebook, Twitter)
º Data collections and analytics
º Data visualizations
º Attending useful local workshops (General Assembly)
º Lynda.com online tutorials
º Journalist class visits and direct interaction with
undergraduate and graduate students

Ideation Phase
º Brainstorming sessions for the purpose of framing
design challenges, mapping stakeholders and planning
the design process
º Writing ideas down on whiteboards or sticky notes
º Constant individual and group reflection
º Persona mapping exercise using a series of “What If”
statements

58

 º Conducting small or large scale surveys and interviews
to gauge problem areas such as “how journalists foster
community collaborated stories” or “what structures
need to be in place to encourage readers to take action
beyond reading the news” or “what confuses first-time
users in the MuckRock website” or “what are the true
impediments for community members to be genuinely
engaged in local news reporting” etc.
º Implementation of games like @stakegame, designed
to be interactive and spark conversation and
simultaneously collect more persona data
º Conduct values-based design workshop to frame ethics
of prototypes
º Sketching
º Role-playing
º Storyboard and moodboards
º Color palette exploration

Prototyping Phase
º Paper and digital prototyping and their validation
º Storytelling podcasts

59