think carrie, think!

This past weekend I attended Emergence, CMU School of Design’s second annual student-run conference. The theme this year was Exploring the Boundaries of Service Design. Dan Boyarski, Head of our School of Design, discussed the theme by asking how service design relates to disciplines such as systems, strategy, information, infrastructure, information, interaction, and product design. We spent most of the last conference trying to define and introduce service design as a discipline, and this year sought to work at the definition a bit more by looking at different fields.

That being said, here’s a quick glimpse of what I got from the conference. I attended one workshop, nine lectures, and two panel discussions. Here goes nothing.

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This entire morning, I’ve been seriously contemplating getting my piano performance diploma from the Royal Conservatory of Music (yes, it’s Canadian). Because I just have so much time on my hands. Ha.

For piano, the RCM offers 11 practical examinations. Grades 1 through 10, and then a choice of ARCT (Associate of the Royal Conservatory) diploma examination: either as a performer, or a teacher. Both of these last certifications are recognized worldwide. Additionally, starting at the grade 5 level, each practical examination must be supplemented by a series of music theory examinations in order for a passing grade.

I finished my grade 10 piano exam nine years ago. The only thing that has stopped me from doing the ARCT performance diploma is that sneaky music theory prerequisite. For the ARCT, three theory exams need to be written. Music history, analysis, and counterpoint exams need to be written, all within five years of the practical exam. And, because I never had time to study for the written exams, I never ended up finishing the diploma.

I figure it will take me at least two years to get back to the shape that I want to be in. Both physically and stylistically. So as long as I can get back into Canada sometime in the next five to seven years to do the practical and written exams, this goal of mine doesn’t seem too hard to accomplish. Except this whole time-finding business. Grad school is pretty good at stealing time away from me.

Playing and performing used to be my main channel for expression, stress relief, concentration, and just mental exercise in general. And sure, I could find other ways of doing that now. But I was a really good pianist. And it’s always a shame to stop something you’re really good at.

This afternoon (and by this afternoon I mean the afternoon of August 31st) I had a meeting with Dr. Jim Levin, Chief Medical Information Officer at Pittsburgh Children’s Hospital. He contacted me after reading this blog, and was interested in what I was doing at CMU.

It was great to meet someone that was interested in design as a way to enhance patient experience. He knew a bit about usability and related topics, having a bit of technology background. Actually, Don Norman will be in town in a couple of weeks as part of a team doing site visits at UPMC (one of three hospitals chosen in the States), and Jim will be touring them around Children’s Hospital. It will be interesting to see what Don has to say about the current state of the hospital.

For those of you who don’t know, Pittsburgh Children’s Hospital will soon be moving to a new site in Lawrenceville (it’s currently in Oakland). One of the newest developments for the hospital is that that they are going completely paperless. And so, a neat part of Jim’s current work (besides the fact that he also has an appointment as a clinician for infectious diseases) is that he is responsible for figuring out how that all works. I can’t even being to imagine how one goes about managing that sort of thing.

Anyway, at one point we started talking about how we’re starting to think of products as services, and services as experiences. A lot of products nowadays of course, are mostly being designed as tools for a larger service system. I guess in the back of my mind I always knew this, but that made me wonder whether that now affects the way we design for products versus services. One of the major differences between products and services is where the responsibility of value creation falls. With standalone products, the consumers are responsible for creating value from the product, whereas with services, the creation of value from the service is the responsibility of the service provider. But if products become a part of a service system, who’s responsible for the creation of value in the product? And does that then affect the way we should think about its design during the design process?