Course talk:LFS350/Projects/2014W1/T9/Proposal

This week, I liaised with Joanne to coordinate the revision of materials (database, survey) and to schedule a planning meeting for the Mid Main Service Providers presentation to take place next week at Mount Pleasant Neighbourhood House. I attended the meeting with Joanne and Andrew Hunter (from MPNH) on October 20th, during which we planned our joint presentation for the MMSP meeting. We also discussed changes to be made to the survey, which I made and sent back to Joanne for printing.

I categorized and tabulated the data base to improve accessibility of data. I also added a few assets that were missed in the initial draft. During out Mid-term meeting with the community partner, I took the role of Scribe, which is basically recording all the points made by the partner, into defined and clearly categorized sections. After the meeting, I typed up parts of the notes and created a google doc for other members to add their notes as well. I find that this project is overwhelmingly demanding; I want to be on top of my responsibilities and also be able to contribute more than my defined roles; I don't think I did the latter this week and only managed to do my assigned roles.

This week I was part of the team that finalized the food assets database and coordinated with Shirley and Yuki when we converts the data base from a word document to an excel spreadsheet. During the meeting I jotted down some general notes about what needs to be completed for the revised proposal and who will be taking charge of those changes. I feel like this project is really taking a big chunk of every member's time and some demand more than what we are able to give. I feel that we need to work on communicating with less negativity and focus on positive aspects of what we have already accomplished.

This week I assisted in editing the project charter and updating necessary categories. During our last meeting as a group on October 22, I explained to the group that upon finishing my midterm (October 23) I would be able to resume my contribution and work towards the project. Communication is still an area that can be improved on as a group. I think that although using Facebook for our group collective discussion is useful, information is sometimes hard to find on this particular platform.

This week I took part in completing the food assets database, added some more assets and deleted the assets that are not necessary. After that we transfer the database from word to excel. What I found challenging this week is finding the appropriate restaurants to put on our database. Some of the restaurants have high scores online, but they don't specify if they provide any organic, vegetarian or vegan options. So it's a bit difficulty to decide which ones to put on the database.

This week I took part in adding the food assets database and plotting the assets that are added after the meeting on the map. The database is now easier to read and modify on excel. The notes from the meeting contains many new ideas, so Shirley and I tried to put all new information on our database. I feel the same way as Shirley that not all stores or restaurants provide adequate information online.

This week, I took part in creating the initial version of our assets map that was presented to our community partner and members. I found it difficult to plot organizations that did not have a physical location but Michelle, Shirley, and Yuki created a food assets database that contained contact information for these organizations so I passed on the information to them.

I took part in creating the database this week. I found time management was difficult. There are 2 midterms and one not school related exam, and making time for group work and meetings was not easy, so I tried to study everything ahead of time in case if there's any sudden group meetings that would mess with my schedule.

This week, we got the chance to discuss our database that I took part in building it with Joanne and our community members on the potluck dinner. However, I found it difficult to find all assets' information on the internet when I was working on the database, so I tried to look for them from other sources.

This week, I liaised with Joanne regarding the potluck asset mapping session that took place on October 14th. Building on my phone meeting with Joanne following the previous asset mapping session (for which I created a summary of emergent themes), Joanne and I corresponded via email to arrange the promotion of the event, ensure that the proper materials were supplied, and answer any questions/speak to any concerns. I relayed this information with my team, and coordinated team roles and responsibilities to ensure all tasks were completed. I planned the event agenda, which I formalized and printed for Joanne and my teammates; I created a facilitation guide for the breakout session, which I also printed for Joanne and my teammates; and I created a food asset mapping survey/questionnaire which I sent to Joanne to print for the group. The day of the event, I worked with Jessica to edit and revise the food asset database document, which needed revision in terms of format, content, and grammar. I briefed my team mates on the agenda for the night and instructed them on how to facilitate the breakout groups. During the event, I facilitated the group food asset mapping discussion, discussed next steps with Jennifer and Joanne, and made arrangements to facilitate a food asset mapping session with the Youth Council.

The biggest challenge I faced this week was coordinating the team's activities to ensuring that everything got done; for various reasons, I found that I was responsible for quite a heavy workload. I hope that the work will be more evenly distributed in the future, and that the quality of work won't require so much revision.

This week I began plotting the assets onto the interactive map online. I took the ideas that the community members wrote down during our meeting/discussion with them and I materialized it onto the map. I found it difficult to plot some things that were of interest to LMRP such as urban gardening groups because many of them didn't actually have a certain location.

My activities for the week included: -Studied documents regarding participatory asset mapping, and taking note of my part as the scribe for the upcoming meeting -Recorded and categorized community members' ideas and recommendations on the asset map -Mapped some of the assets on the actual google map The challenges I faced were: -Some of the assets had to be categorized as "non-representable" as they referred to human resources and qualities sought by community members, I decided to record them as part of the database that will be accompanying the map.

Last week (forgot to post this earlier), I helped to arrange a group meeting in preparation for our Food Assets mapping session Potluck with our community partners. During our group meeting, I took meeting minutes and I assisted in creating the worksheet used to collect more information on the community partners and to gain more knowledge about the quality, accessibility and affordability of food assets and/or food services may be for them. I helped to edit the database prior to the first copy being sent to out community partner liason Joanne. During our Food Assets mapping session Potluck I was also a note taker. The biggest challenge last week and reoccurring challenge is communication within our group.

This week, our team conducted our second data collection session with our community partner, Joanne, and the community members. In preparation for this, our group split up into the assets map and data base team and the presentation planning team. The assets map and data base team constructed a preliminary assets map using Google Map and the assets that were on the sheets that Joanne gave us at our first meeting. Google map was the platform for our assets map because Team 24 decided that they would be using Google Map and Joanne asked for our maps to have a consistent format; we ended up having the decision made for us. We plotted the assets that had a physical base of operations (such as restaurants, community gardens and grocery stores) on the map and created a data base for assets that did not have a set location (such as gardening clubs and special events). These were presented to Joanne and the community members at our potluck dinner on the 14th. The presentation team created an agenda for the presentation, a food assets worksheet (asked questions such as where do members get their groceries) and presentation format. The presentation was a round table discussion where members would review the map and data base and give us feedback on what we missed or should change. We have begun to make changes to our map and data base based on the feedback that select team members collected during the presentation.

We've also begun to make changes to our project proposal based on the feedback we received from Kieran. We plan to work on the revisions, and also meet with Team 24 to discuss the format for the assets map, during next week's breakout session.

Throughout this week we have made some changes to our project and charter. For instance, we modified our research question to be more detail oriented and more specific to one problem rather than what we presented in our charter presentations that consisted of several question that lacked specificity and was broad in nature. We have made some contact with the Hastings Sunrise group in regards to the facilitation of the food assets map and further coordination will take place throughout this week. Also note, one of our group members has created a flyer for the little mountain neighbourhood house potluck which was requested by our community partner. In addition to creating this flyer, we will also be advertisement them in appropriate places. The more we advertise, the better the representation of the community we will get in our data. One of the more significant steps that we've taken this week is the confirmation of our launch date for the map. We will be holding this event on November 4th and our goal is to bring as many members of the community as possible in hopes of creating a universal map that community members are well aware of. But before we can start planning any of that out, we need to first collect our data and develop a mapping structure. The method of mapping needs to be adopted by both groups because the main principal of this assets map is to be universal throughout Vancouver. Hopefully there will be little to no conflict between us this upcoming week.