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One issue I have been thinking about is applying user centered design in situations where target users do not have the problem that is trying to be solved. For example if your goal is to build a software program to encourage people to reduce their energy usage, but the users do not need or want to do that, then does user-centered design make sense as the approach to solving this problem?

I spent the weekend at Code for America’s Brigade Congress event where we enjoyed programming related to running the volunteer program that Code for America administers. We covered a large swath of topics from fundraising to diversity. After helping run a brigade for over a year I have come to realize that brigades face two types of problems: figuring out how to do something, and then executing on doing it.

On Saturday I attended the Public Interest Technology Summit at Harvard Kennedy School. About eighty people gathered to learn about and discuss issues related to public interest technology. Public interest technology is the term the Ford Foundation is using to describe the field that many of us currently call civic tech. It was a worthwhile summit where I networked and learned a lot.

Almost a year ago my friend Mandie asked me to do the BAA Distance Medley with her. I roped in another friend and as a result signed up for my first half-marathon. I had never run a half-marathon before and was not sure how well it would go. After a year of training including a month of getting up at 5:30 a.m. to run before work on Tuesdays, I made it to a place where I was ready for this challenge.

Yesterday I ran some numbers about the impact of my group at MAPC and posted them on the wall: