Human Practices
Overview
While researching project ideas, our team stumbled across an amusingly named plant disease: fire blight. Coming from one of the largest pome fruit producing states in America and seeing the devastating effects of the disease on orchards and in economic losses, our goal of combating this disease was solidified.
The idea of connecting firsthand to a variety of individuals and groups who are key figures in various stages of the industry was essential to our project. We met with many: from professors in ethics who advised us on promoting inclusivity within our project, to tree specialists who treat fire blight and expressed interest in our concept, and everything in between.
Beyond stakeholders, our team dedicated time into reviewing regulations and literature. We highlighted the importance of compliance with existing guidelines, allowing us to address potential regulatory challenges. By reviewing literature, we were able to contextualize our work within the broader field and ensure our approach is safe to be received and well-informed.
In Human Practices, our focus was on refining our approach by integrating the insights we gained from our engagements and research. Thanks to the feedback we received, our project saw numerous modifications over the course of the season in order to warrant our project was designed to be good and responsible.
Design Framework Approach
Tackling the issue of fire blight in the agriculture industry is one that requires us to consider numerous factors to ensure the safety especially of the environment and human health, so we selected a design framework to fit within these goals. The model we selected is the Design Council’s Framework for Innovation, the Double Diamond design process, a nonlinear model in the shape of two diamonds that allows us to iteratively improve with feedback and new insight. Beyond the model itself, the framework’s principles well-aligned with the values that we prioritized in Human Practices; putting people first, communicating visually and inclusively, collaborating and co-creating, and iterating these steps to work most effectively.
The two diamonds represent divergent thinking, or strengthening our knowledge about the issue’s context, and convergent thinking, or the actions and steps we take to address the issue; respectively. Each diamond is further split into two sections for a total of four phases: discover, define, develop, and deliver.
Our Values
Environmental Safety
Ethical Responsibility
Economic Sustainability
Scientific Feasibility
Stakeholders
Identification
One essential element to HP was reaching out to stakeholders in order to build context and incorporate feedback for the development of our project. Because of this, our team reached out to a wide variety of individuals and groups, including ethics professors, the general public, fruit tree disease specialists, and more. We used two different methods to categorize these stakeholders in relation to our project.
First, we used a stakeholder engagement matrix in order to record levels of engagement and identify gaps of involvement. We categorized different potential levels of engagement, and documented current levels of engagement with “C” and desired levels of engagement with “D”.
We also used Mendelow’s Matrix to categorize our stakeholders, which suggests analyzing them in terms of power (their ability to impact our project’s process or our outcomes) and interest (the degree to which stakeholders are interested or impacted by our project’s success). Our team aimed to meet with stakeholders who fall on a variety of locations on the matrix in order to ensure we can cover all grounds in receiving feedback.
HP Survey
Over the summer, our team conducted a survey to form an understanding of the public’s views on our project. By reaching out to the public, we were able to develop the values that should be most emphasized within tackling the issue of fire blight. By incorporating the feedback taken from the public, we were able to steer our project in a direction that aligns with the public’s opinions on what is important for us to take into consideration.
SD iGEM Symposium
In early August, we collaborated with fellow high school iGEM teams in the area (Del Norte, Westview, and Rancho Bernardo) to organize a symposium. During this symposium, we had the opportunity to present our project and gain feedback from peers well-versed in the world of synthetic biology.
Implementation
Proposed End Users and Vision of Usage
Our project is designed to help pome fruit tree growers everywhere by delivering a highly effective and definitive solution to the fire blight disease. We especially envision larger commercial apple and pear orchards using our project to simplify the currently complex course of action needed to prevent and treat an infection. Fire blight is among the most difficult plant diseases to manage and results in detrimental physical and economic effects annually to the apple and pear industries.
After moving out of the research and development phase and into the testing phase of our project, we hope to onboard and collaborate with established orchards to determine what we need to fix in our project. Additionally, we hope to work with established agriculture supply chains to indicate our place in the market. Once our treatment has undergone several rounds of testing, aligns with appropriate regulations, and is properly registered in the legal scene, we plan to release it on the market to promote and encourage a sustainable solution to this devastating problem.
Policy Review
In late June, we conducted a policy review to examine local, state, and national agriculture standards and regulations as a framework for how our project would be implemented and what steps we would need to take.
Environmental Analysis
In order to address the role of pome fruit trees in the ecosystem and whether our project will have an impact on the environment, our HP team conducted an extensive review of the environment in the areas that we plan on implementing our project.
Sustainable Development Goals
In late July, our team formulated this writeup to support the impetus for our project. One of our objectives in this project was to find an efficient yet sustainable solution to this common, devastating disease impacting the agricultural industry. Because of this, we located a potential area where these issues are apparent and where we can implement our biological approach: the UN. Our project aligns with many of the goals that the UN provides for sustainable development, and in conducting this writeup we were able to see more clearly the different areas we need to improve.
Impact Assessment
In mid August, our team conducted an impact assessment to evaluate the scope of our project. We reviewed potential social, ethical, and health impacts, as well as researched recommendations and mitigation strategies should any issues arise. By administering this assessment, we were able to consider numerous dimensions of our project and its potential implications when implemented.
Additional References
“Framework for Innovation.” Design Council - Design for Planet, www.designcouncil.org.uk/our-resources/framework-for-innovation/. Accessed 29 Aug. 2024.
Barrington, Red. “What Is Mendelow’s Matrix and How Is It Useful?” Oxford College of Marketing Blog, 27 June 2024, blog.oxfordcollegeofmarketing.com/2018/04/23/what-is-mendelows-matrix-and-how-is-it-useful/.
Project-Management.info. “Stakeholder Engagement Assessment Matrix: Uses & Example [PMP®-Relevant].” Project-Management.info, 15 July 2020, project-management.info/stakeholder-engagement-matrix/