Our First Meeting – Friday 11th January 2019
For the purpose of this project, I will be replacing the names of stakeholders with placeholders to protect their personal identities.
To kickstart our project with the Norfolk Broads, myself, my course mates and our tutor met with Richard (a local historian who has come on board as part of the Water, Mills and Marshes project), Bella (a member of the Broads Authority and a key stakeholder) and a member of the University admin team to introduce the project, ourselves and what our individual skill sets can bring to the table.
To begin with, we went around the room and said our names and a fun fact about ourselves. This was a nice, smooth introduction and it soon became apparent that Richard and Bella are humorous and playful yet professional. Richard spoke about his background as a historian and mentioned that he once filmed Margaret Thatcher, but forgot to press record. Bella talked about her role in the Broads Authority and mentioned how she likes to spend time with her children. These wholesome replies gave a nice tone to the meeting.
Bella started to talk about the Broads by touching on how there is a very low local knowledge of the surrounding areas. There are 63 broads in the Norfolk Broads and numerous walking/driving/cycling trails and train stations connecting them. She explained her experience of coming off the train at Great Yarmouth, asking the help desk how to get to Angles Way (about a 20-minute walk around the corner) and no one seemed to have a clue. Due to it being so close and convenient for a day out, a casual stroll or to show off the area to tourists, it was saddening for Bella to hear this. Additionally, children don’t seem to know very much either. Upon visiting various schools to educate (sometimes young) children about the Broads, they seemed to have no idea what she was talking about. To the point, they didn’t even know they were living in a National Park! This is a major pain point for the Broads Authority; general knowledge regarding the area of the Broads needs to improve.
The main demographic for the Broads is families and middle-aged white locals with boats. This, of course, is due to the very nature of the national parks. With such big bodies of water and the intricate rivers connecting them, the luxury of an expensive boat to truly immerse yourself in the surroundings is a pleasure only some can afford. The Broads Authority is looking to set up a couple of Summer festivals over the following years to home in on families and give them more incentive to visit.
Finally, she pointed out the three main themes that we will be looking to highlight during the project. These are:
- Cultural heritage – The type of people who used to reside on these lands over history and their roles in the communities and settlements they set up. (Romans, Saxons, people, places)
- Landscape heritage – How did the people who resided in these areas farm their land? (Romans, Saxons, the broads is all man-made because of waterways dug in the 12th century looking for the fossil fuel peat)
- Ecology and Biodiversity – The vast range of animal and plant life that reside in multiple habitat environments including forests, wetlands, mud marshes and fens.
She was keen to stress the importance of a digital service needing to “enhance the experience” and “wet their appetite”. She mentioned wanting users to have access to enough information so they are interested to find out more.
It was Richard’s turn to introduce us to the history of the Broads and it soon became apparent, that he is a very knowledgeable man. Being of an older demographic himself, he commented on how the Broads were viewed years ago. In line with the famous David Bowie lyric ” From Ibiza to the Norfolk Broads”, he explained how Norfolk was once seen as a big tourist attraction. When aviary travel was still considered a wealthy luxury, families would visit the Norfolk Broads for their Summer vacation. Whilst it was great for touristic income, it had a huge impact on the rebranding of the broads as a holiday site rather than that of incredible British space with rich cultural heritage. Richard voiced his concerns about locals forgetting its roots and therefore not being able to pass any knowledge on. He touched on Bella’s point about the Broads being accessed by water and added that information could be easier to access via this travel route (as well as traditional pedestrian footpaths). Additionally, Richard emphasised the want for people to enjoy their surroundings without damaging it. This is where the consideration of ecology and biodiversity is extremely important. Walking out in nature can also hold great health benefits mentally, physically and emotionally. This can easily be tied in with demographic research – who, how and why would it benefit?
After this, he brought out the map and started to show us the geography of the area. This is when we learnt about Angles Way and Wherrymans Way. This part of the morning was my favourite part because everything made more sense with a map in front of me. He told us some really interesting facts along the way, such as:
- The Norfolk and Suffolk Broads are man-made due to excessive digging for the fossil fuel peat around the 12th century.
- The Burney Arms is a pub on the edge of the River Yare that can only be accessed via Norfolk’s waterways or a 5-mile trek through Halvergate Marshes
- 10%-14% of Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth are non-English speakers
- The famous “Worsted wool” is named after it’s birthplace which is a small village in Norfolk called Worsted.
- Coypu, a beaver native to South America, was introduced into the British ecosystem in the 20s. They were bred for their fur but soon became a public nuisance and had to be culled.
A map of The Norfolk Broads’ waterways, train access points and motorways (provided by Broadland Boat Hire)
Theme ideas – Tuesday 15th Jan 2019
After our session with Richard and Bella, we collaborated to think of some themes we could base our app/website on. We came up with:
- Mystery – Include the element of thrilling, detective secrecy and keep users interested by making them figure out “who dun it”.
- Personification – Let the user follow a character round (possibly a Coypu?) as they act as their personal guide around the Norfolk Boards.
- Uniqueness – Build emphasis around the special uniqueness of the broads and show users why it’s such a special place.
- Secret History – Help users unravel the untold stories of the Broads and show them the nooks and crannies, only known by local experts.
- Ownership – Let users be brought back in time to when they remember the broads, therefore, personalising their whole digital experience (Only applicable for locals and/or frequent visitors).
- Collection/Geological Quiz – In a game-like manner, users are able to walk around the Broads collecting tokens or facts. When they have collected enough, they unlock an achievement or part of a bigger storyline.
Project Planning
To be able to project plan and stay up-to-date with each other’s work, we have created a trello board. I used Trello for the first time at Neontribe and was very impressed with the capabilities, so I am looking forward to utilising it again.
Water, Mills and Marshes NUA Trello Board
Reflection
During some self-reflection, I realised that in some previous UX projects, I have found myself getting excited about an idea and trying to justify it with user actions and behaviours. These ideas usually come about after one period of user research and I spend the rest of the other interview sessions confirming my hypothesis, rather than to further explore. For example, if I had an interview with one user group and came up with an idea, then had another interview with another user group, I would fixate on the original idea and try to tailor it to the needs of the second user group. I realise how awful this is and want to drastically change my fundamental practices. In this project, I aim to gather as much data as possible, track my ideas and hypothesis’ along the way but fully formulate the app/website idea based on the user research found.
References
Broadlandboathire.com. (2019). Norfolk Broads Map & Distance Charts | Broadland Boat Hire. [online] Available at: https://www.broadlandboathire.com/map-page.html [Accessed 15 Jan. 2019].