After being stranded in the Detroit Airport, we finally arrived in Paris a day late and arrived at the venue already fifteen minutes into our 24 hour competition. While we were selected to the finals based on our long-term design project, the IU Energy Challenge, the final round was a bit different. Each of the six teams were given a design challenge and had only 24 hours to work through the problem and prepare a presentation. The problem was complex; we were given a description of an information system for monitoring air quality that involved multiple stakeholders and multiple technology components. Our task was to ensure the projects success by redesigning the end-to-end user experience.

We got off to a slow start, having already been up for two days straight. But after a short power-nap we started to gain some momentum and proceeded to break down the problem by articulating goals of the interconnecting stakeholders. Our work space provided some surreal inspiration: it was right on the boardwalk of the Seine with a superb view of the Eiffel tower at night. We also had some tough competition as all of the finalists teams were extremely focused. All of the teams worked through the night, right up until the 2pm deadline. Here’s a photo of Will and I having just finished the marathon design session:

A few days later, we presented our design to a distinguished panel of judges including Surya Vanka of Microsoft, Tom Chi of Yahoo and Ok/Cancel fame, and Neil Churcher of Orange. Interacting with these experienced design professionals was probably the most valuable part of the event. They provided excellent comments and criticism on our design rationale and even took the time to give us personal feedback after. Overall the final round was an amazing learning experience. I think our first place success is really a testament to the quality of design education that we have received at Indiana.

Below is a pic snapped from the stage of the super-over-the-top award ceremony at the Louvre.

And here we are really enjoying our over-sized cardboard check:)

With our new flight departing this afternoon, we’re set to arrive in Paris at 9:30am tomorrow. At 1pm the Interface Design finals will commence, and we will be given a brand new challenge with 24 hours to design, build, and present our solution. No rest for the wicked, I suppose. Nevertheless, we are psyched to be competing in the world’s biggest technology competition, all under the theme of environmental sustainability. And we’re optimistic: maybe sleep deprivation is just the stimulus we need for some out-of the box thinking ;)

I’ll try to post some more updates once we land in Paris. If you are interested you can also check out the Imagine Cup details on the website or follow frequent updates on their blog.

In addition to the project work, all the interns will be meeting in a weekly seminar, where we have open-ended discussions, guest speakers, and occasional trips to green networking events in the state. Its basically a high-energy think tank for campus sustainability. We will be blogging about our discussion here. All in all, it promises to be a very engaging and productive summer.

“From March 20 to April 17 2008, more than 9,000 students living in Indiana University dormitories competed to reduce their energy and water consumption in IU’s first-ever Campus Energy Challenge. Throughout the competition, the Energy Challenge Website provided frequent updates on consumption data, competition standings, and conservation tips. This dynamic web-application evokes a sense of fun and motivation by giving students helpful feedback that supports and encourages their conservation efforts. At the end of four weeks, students conserved an estimated 446,139 KWh of electricity and 613,919 gallons of water. Remarkably, the students’ conservation efforts resulted in an estimated $26,000 in avoided utility costs and 801,454 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions, which is equivalent to taking 67 passenger cars off the road for one year.

The site design features dynamic, interactive data graphics, which allow students to easily compare their consumption with other dorms and track changes over time. The site also includes a list of suggested conservation actions and educational information to raise awareness about climate change and other environmental consequences of resource use. While many information visualization tools exist, rarely has this type of interface been designed for non-experts in mind, and for the purpose of motivating environmental action. Through competition and an engaging user experience, the Energy Challenge Website seeks to transform perception of the basic resources on which we depend—and so often take for granted—and make them visible, valuable and meaningful.”