We had a great time at our West Portal Neighborhood Feedback Day! It was our first time bringing out our digital prototype + fun cardboard frame of a digital neighborhood bulletin board out for a test run, to gather feedback from the community. See below for the who, what, when, where, and why.
We accomplished the three goals we set out for the event: 1. Spread awareness and get people excited 2. Get support from key stakeholders, and 3. Gather feedback from West Portal residents.
We talked to over 50 residents and collected over 70 post-it notes with feedback on the prototype. We showed several iterations of the concept and collected feedback both on the content and design.
Below are the top ten learnings from the event!
Founder Julia Gitis at this Neighborhood Feedback Day
Asking people “Do you remember what was here before?” and showing them this photo of the print news rack worked every time.
Pretty much everyone said “…oh yeah!” and then they were really curious and excited to hear about a modern digital replacement. This has been our elevator pitch from the beginning and it definitely makes a compelling hook.
Even though most people didn’t use the print news racks themselves, they liked knowing that they were there and what they represented (a thriving democracy and an informed community).
West Portal residents love the prototype!
Post-it notes with feedback
We need to get more creative about how to gather feedback.
Many residents didn’t want to interact with us because they thought we were selling something. We already have some ideas on how to do this at our next event and are open to more!
The Golden Gate Bridge design was a hit!
West Portal residents liked the quirky design, and they also had feedback on the physical display. People suggested brighter screen, bigger font, bigger visuals, making the look and feel less electronic, and even tilting the screen upward like reading a book.
Residents are also excited to see a dynamic design, since this iteration was static.
Building the frame in my living room :)
Thanks to lots of friends and neighbors for stopping by!
Upcoming Events was the most popular content!
We showed six different types of content on the prototype, and upcoming events was the clear winner.
Residents want to see a mix of local events and festivals, school events, and community meetings, including public meetings where they could provide public comment (Several residents mentioned SFMTA meetings specifically).
There were a couple content types people suggested that we didn’t have yet, though it’s come up before: 1. promotion/ discounts at local merchants 2. neighborhood classifieds, like finding a babysitter or dog walker
Photos of neighborhood pets remains very popular!
By popular demand, neighborhood pets is prominently featured in our prototype. Residents across the board were excited to see photos of local cats and dogs, and wanted to add their own (someone even wanted to add their pet fish).
Community News Lab volunteers Francis Li and Sapna Satagopan with founder Julia Gitis and Bay Area Reporter publisher Michael Yamashita
Lots of young people stopped by to check it out
Residents responded well to Local Art and Local Schools
People love seeing art on display! When looking at art, residents asked for more information about the artists and art studios.
Young people— like these sweet middle schoolers— were especially happy to see news from their schools included.
Local News is nicer in theory than in practice
Somewhat ironically, since the origin of this project is showcasing local news, residents did not pay much attention to the Local News section of our prototype. Like in prior feedback days, they like the idea of having it, and they’re excited to replace the print news racks with something modern, but they don’t all personally want to read local news. One resident said “The news is so troubling lately, I feel like I need to escape.”
We did get various feedback about improving the news interface to make it more appealing, which might help too.
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A relevant cartoon from Sofia Warren
The Neighborhood Poll section needs more work.
The poll wasn’t as well executed in our digital prototype as it was in prior cardboard versions, so we didn’t get any takers this time. We did hear that if we show live poll results, people will engage with it. We’ll try that next time!
A few residents also suggested topics for a weekly poll.
We’re getting excitement from important stakeholders!
It was great to have key stakeholders come by and get excited about our work. We had multiple local publishers and community leaders stop by the event to check out the prototype, including publishers from across San Francisco. They were excited by what they saw and we’re looking forward to building on that momentum
“I’d love to do an event like this in my district.”
“Wow, you’re much farther along than I thought you were.”
We are already in discussion to co-host upcoming Neighborhood Feedback Days in the Castro, the Mission, and the Bayview neighborhoods.
Email signups from the event
Next Steps
Our next steps are 1. continue designing and building the prototype based off this feedback, and 2. co-host more Neighborhood Feedback Days across San Francisco. We are excited to iterate on these learnings and bring an updated prototype to a Neighborhood Feedback Day near you soon.
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We are seeking artists, makers, designers, software engineers, hardware engineers, neighborhood leaders, content strategists, and business development experts to join our all-volunteer team for a few hours a week! Please reach out if you’re interested or can recommend someone we should talk to.
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Thanks for reading!
Julia