The Digital Streets project explored the potential of a community tool to improve street accessibility of Elgin. The tool aims to support collaboration between Moray council and various community groups, particularly those with disabilities. The initial focus area was around Elgin High Street, but with the intention to extend the tool to cover other areas. This concept was jointly proposed by the University of the Highlands and Islands and Moray Council and accepted by the Digital Health & Care Institute as Experience Laboratories, which took place between January and April 2016.
The design-led approach taken in pre-Lab activities and within two Experience Labs provided the opportunity to explore the potential of a digital or physical community tool and aimed to deliver a set of requirements that were firmly user driven. This report presents the findings from Lab activities.
An initial pre-Lab Community Street Audit was led by Living Streets, a UK charity that aims to ‘create a walking nation, free from congested roads and pollution, reducing the risk of preventable illness and social isolation and making walking the natural choice’. Engaging a group of mixed participants comprising of people with disabilities, Experience Lab team members, representatives of community groups and partners from NHS Grampian and Moray Council, the aim of the Street Audit was to identify issues that encourage or discourage everyday accessibility of Elgin High Street area for members of our communities.
In Experience Lab one, experience maps were produced to capture both the specific positive and negative experiences of the group, including their general perception of the High Street area. The group also considered what Elgin might look like in 50 years time, and the steps required to reach that vision.
The second and final Experience Lab aimed to consider and articulate the requirements for a community tool, based on the insights gathered in previous labs etc. An innovation generator technique was used to encourage creative thinking and brainstorming to create new or repurpose existing inventions, from which user driven requirements were distilled.
The outputs from the Labs, audio, photos, videos and field notes, were analysed for emerging themes and the findings provided valuable insights on user experiences of the street accessibility, aspirations for the future of Elgin and knowledge of current technology. The resulting requirements highlight the importance of personalisation, opportunities for working with community groups, businesses, transport and public, increasing general awareness of accessibility challenges and easy to use application.
