The National Dialogue on the Quadrennial Homeland Security Review

Six years after its creation, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) undertook the first Quadrennial Homeland Security Review (QHSR) to inform the design and implementation of actions to ensure the safety of the United States and its citizens. This review, mandated by the Implementing the 9/11 Commission Recommendations Act of 2007, represents the first comprehensive examination of the homeland security strategy of the nation. The QHSR includes recommendations addressing the long-term strategy and priorities of the nation for homeland security and guidance on the programs, assets, capabilities, budget, policies, and authorities of the department.Rather than set policy internally and implement it in a top-down fashion, DHS undertook the QHSR in a new and innovative way by engaging tens of thousands of stakeholders and soliciting their ideas and comments at the outset of the process. Through a series of three-week-long, web-based discussions, stakeholders reviewed materials developed by DHS study groups, submitted and discussed their own ideas and priorities, and rated or "tagged" others' feedback to surface the most relevant ideas and important themes deserving further consideration.Key FindingsThe recommendations included: (1) DHS should enhance its capacity for coordinating stakeholder engagement and consultation efforts across its component agencies, (2) DHS and other agencies should create special procurement and contracting guidance for acquisitions that involve creating or hosting such web-based engagement platforms as the National Dialogue, and (3) DHS should begin future stakeholder engagements by crafting quantitative metrics or indicators to measure such outcomes as transparency, community-building, and capacity

A hermeneutic inquiry into user-created personas in different Namibian locales

Persona is a tool broadly used in technology design to support communicational interactions between designers and users. Different Persona types and methods have evolved mostly in the Global North, and been partially deployed in the Global South every so often in its original User-Centred Design methodology. We postulate persona conceptualizations are expected to differ across cultures. We demonstrate this with an exploratory-case study on user-created persona co-designed with four Namibian ethnic groups: ovaHerero, Ovambo, ovaHimba and Khoisan. We follow a hermeneutic inquiry approach to discern cultural nuances from diverse human conducts. Findings reveal diverse self-representations whereby for each ethnic group results emerge in unalike fashions, viewpoints, recounts and storylines. This paper ultimately argues User-Created Persona as a potentially valid approach for pursuing cross-cultural depictions of personas that communicate cultural features and user experiences paramount to designing acceptable and gratifying technologies in dissimilar locales

Broken World

Broken World is a non-violent, non-competitive MMO set in an expansive post-fuel world with an emphasis on building a community. The art style is drawn from the real world, using low-poly models. The game is built upon a unique peer-to-peer networking model, which allows for a low-resource server. It also features a terrain rendering system that utilizes PNGs to store landscape data efficiently. Along with the game, a suite of custom development tools were built to allow developers to insert game content quickly. Post-development, the game and its related technologies were evaluated for their effectiveness

Theorycrafting the Classroom: Constructing the Introductory Technical Communication Course as a Game

When games are approached as a pedagogical methodology, the homologies between games and technical communication are highlighted: pedagogy that teaches people to play and succeed within certain confines; classroom assessment that provides meaningful feedback to encourage self-improvement; instructional design that incorporates gaming theory and game design principles; and usability to ensure optimum success. This paper provides an overview of these topics for instructors to consider when designing a technical writing course as a game

Co-designing smart home technology with people with dementia or Parkinson's disease

Involving users is crucial to designing technology successfully, especially for vulnerable users in health and social care, yet detailed descriptions and critical reflections on the co-design process, techniques and methods are rare. This paper introduces the PERCEPT (PERrsona-CEntred Participatory Technology) approach for the co-design process and we analyse and discuss the lessons learned for each step in this process. We applied PERCEPT in a project to develop a smart home toolset that will allow a person living with early stage dementia or Parkinson's to plan, monitor and self-manage his or her life and well-being more effectively. We present a set of personas which were co-created with people and applied throughout the project in the co-design process. The approach presented in this paper will enable researchers and designers to better engage with target user groups in co-design and point to considerations to be made at each step for vulnerable users

Service user involvement in practitioner education: movement politics and transformative change

This paper will attempt to both celebrate key developments and best practice involving the users of health and social care services in programmes of practitioner education in a UK context, and offer a critical appraisal of the extent to which such initiatives meet some of the more transformative objectives sought by service users activists for change. The approach is largely that of a discussion paper but we illustrate some of the themes relating to movement activism with selected data. These data relate to earlier research and two specially convened focus groups within the Comensus initiative at the University of Central Lancashire; itself constituted as piece of participatory action research. We conclude that universities represent paradoxical sites for the facilitation of debate and learning relevant to key issues of social justice and change. As such, they are places that can impede or support movement aims. Particular strategic responses might be more likely to engender progressive outcomes. These ought to include the presence of critically engaged academic staff operating within a scholarly culture that fosters forms of deliberative democratic decision making

Moving Forward as a Family: Crafting a 2-Generation Strategy for Central Texas, PRP 192

United Way for Greater Austin commissioned this policy research project to guide their focus on helping low socioeconomic families achieve greater financial stability through the development of a Two-Generation (2-Gen) strategy for the Central Texas region. Two-Gen programs emphasize the importance of education as a means for better economic outcomes. High-quality early childhood education programs allow children to make critical neural connections during a period of substantial growth and development, ultimately better preparing them for pre-kindergarten programs and academic success in subsequent years. Adults working low-paying jobs encounter barriers to career advancement due to lacking credentials or relevant education. It is not uncommon for parents working long hours for low wages to have at least one child in need of high-quality early childhood education, yet they are unable to enroll their child in such programs due to issues such as cost, transportation, and time away from work. Two-Gen programs seek to resolve the issues complicating this problem of financial instability by providing high-quality educational and training programs for both parents and children, which are even more effective when intentionally coordinated so that the family develops as a single unit in a positive direction. The research consisted of a literature review; a program scan at the local, state, and federal levels; and site visits within Austin, Dallas, and San Antonio, as well as Boston and Miami. Data collected specific to the Central Texas region include a labor market analysis, a needs assessment, and a mapping of current organizational assets. Obtaining and analyzing this data allowed the team to better understand 2-Gen program development, outcomes, impact measurements, and areas for improvement. The research team developed practical applications for the information collected, ultimately contributing to the proposed anti-poverty strategy through the intentional coordination of 2-Gen services by leveraging existing organizational assets to best address the area’s most salient needs. In addition, the team proposed an evaluation strategy involving cost-benefit equations, program evaluation metrics, and a screening tool to predict the likelihood of a program achieving successful outcomes. The report concludes with policy recommendations at the local, state, and federal levels, as well as a summary of the populations affected by financial instability and future directions for this field.United Way for Greater AustinPublic Affair

Laying a Solid Foundation: Strategies for Effective Program Replication

With limited funds available for social investment, policymakers and philanthropists are naturally interested in supporting programs with the greatest chance of effectiveness and the ability to benefit the largest number of people. When a program rises to the fore with strong, proven results, it makes sense to ask whether that success can be reproduced in new settings.Program replication is premised on the understanding that many social problems are common across diverse communities -- and that it is far more cost-effective to systematically replicate an effective solution to these problems than to continually reinvent the wheel. When done well, replication of strong social programs has the potential to make a positive difference not just for individual participants, but indeed for entire communities, cities and the nation as a whole.Yet despite general agreement among policymakers and philanthropists about the value of replication, successful efforts to bring social programs to scale have been limited, and rarely is replication advanced through systematic public policy initiatives. More often, replication is the result of a particular social entrepreneur's tireless ambition, ability to raise funds and marketing savvy. The failure to spread social program successes more widely and methodically results from a lack of knowledge about the science and practice of replication and from the limited development of systems -- at local, state or federal levels -- to support replication.Fortunately, there seems to be growing awareness of the need to invest in such systems. For example, the 2009 Serve America Act included authorization for a new Social Innovation Fund that would "strengthen the infrastructure to identify, invest in, replicate and expand" proven initiatives. The Obama administration recently requested that Congress appropriate $50 million to this fund, with a focus on "find(ing) the most effective programs out there and then provid(ing) the capital needed to replicate their success in communities around the country."But more than financial capital is required to ensure that when a program is replicated, it will continue to achieve strong results. Over the past 15 years, Public/ Private Ventures (P/PV) has taken a deliberate approach to advancing the science and practice of program replication. Through our work with a wide range of funders and initiatives, including the well-regarded Nurse-Family Partnership, which has now spread to more than 350 communities nationwide, we have accumulated compelling evidence about specific strategies that can help ensure a successful replication. We have come to understand that programs approach replication at different stages in their development -- from fledgling individual efforts that have quickly blossomed and attracted a good deal of interest and support to more mature programs that have slowly expanded their reach and refined their approach over many years. There are rarer cases in which programs have rigorous research in hand proving their effectiveness, multiple sites in successful operation and willing funders prepared to support large-scale replication.Regardless of where a promising program may be in its development, our experience points to a number of important lessons and insights about the replication process, which can inform hard decisions about whether, when and how to expand a program's reach and total impact. In the interest of expanding programs that work, funders sometimes neglect the structures and processes that must be in place to support successful replication. These structures should be seen as the "connective tissue" between a program that seeks to expand and the provision of funding for that program's broad replication.This report represents a synthesis of P/PV's 30 years of designing, testing and replicating a variety of social programs and explains the key structures that should be in place before wide-scale replication is considered. It is designed to serve as a guide for policymakers, practitioners and philanthropists interested in a systematic approach to successful replication

Rapid Response Grantmaking: A Tool for Grantmakers

This paper offers insights from the perspective of the Connect U.S. Fund's administering staff and our collective experience designing and running a Rapid Response grantmaking program. There are numerous models of rapid response programs operating in the philanthropic world, such as grassroots "kickstarter" campaigns, grants to individuals in emergency situations, individual staff- or trustee-administered rapid response funds, and funds that address unexpected "marginal" costs (i.e., unanticipated travel or marketing). The field of rapid response funding does not have a consistent or thoroughly researched body of knowledge behind it. A broader, deeper, and more rigorous review and analysis of the various structures and methods of the effectiveness of these rapid response programs -- and the Connect U.S. Fund's own rapid response model -- would greatly benefit both the philanthropic and non-governmental communities. We hope this paper will help spur interested funders to take up that task