Dear UP community members, we are reaching out because the design thinking class (BUS495) is doing a semester-long project. Students will document stories about the Columbia swimming pool to co-create with community members how they might imagine thriving communities. We will have different research stages. For the first stage, we invite users or members of the Columbia swimming pool to participate in an interview. Its objective is to understand the importance of the Columbia swimming pool in your life. The data collected will facilitate the identification of the impacts that the closure of the Columbia pool has had on its members. If you are interested in participating in the interviews, you can contact assistant professor Beatriz Itzel Cruz Megchun, megchun@up.edu, office phone 503-943-8721. Your participation would include speaking with University of Portland students about your use of the pool. According to your preference, it would take place in a public space with social distancing, online (zoom), or by telephone. Your time commitment will be approximately 45 minutes. The interview will take place from September 25 to October 3, 2021.
Please let me know by September 28 if you can do this.
If you are not interested in participating in the interviews but want to join the conversation. We will invite you to participate in a co-creating (idea storm) session where we will discuss the challenges and opportunities faced by the community members. We will generate ideas about how we might imagine thriving communities around spaces such as the Columbia Swimming Pool and why this type of space is important. Your participation would include joining a public session in a public space with social distancing (or online meetings depending on state mandates). Your time commitment will be approximately 2 hrs. The session would take place during the week of October 25 to October 29, 2021.