Context
Microsoft is providing a forum around the theme “Service meets Social” to showcase exceptional design process and ideas.  As part of a quarter long course, students are asked to form interdisciplinary teams of 2-4 students to design a user experience prototype, from which a representative team from each school will be featured in a presentation at the 2010 Microsoft Faculty Summit July 12-13, 2010 in Redmond, Washington. The Design Expo creates a forum for encouraging “out of the box” thinking, by exploring students’ visions for the future of computing as well as honing their presentation skills and engaging with students from other design teams from around the world to see how they approached this year’s theme.  Students often form lasting relationships with other students and this informal network has persisted from Design Expos over the years.

Design Topic
The 2010 design challenge explores the emerging role of designing services and the intersection of Social Networking technologies and trends. Service design is a meta design activity for intentionally integrating systems of interaction with customers—via physical systems,  information systems, and human systems—to create value and differentiate providers. Think everything from getting a coffee at Starbucks to being treated at your local hospital, from government services to financial services. Social is all about people building and connecting through communities and sharing information and influence. What happens when service meets social? There are some precursors in services such as Patientslikeme™ and some micro financing services—but what happens when service meets social in the mainstream and everyday life? This is a broad challenge—so you will need to be mindful and narrow it down sufficiently. You should consider the entire service system but in your design we’d like you to specifically look at software that addresses both the customer and the provider side of the service + social experience. We encourage you to think beyond traditional software, toward solutions such as lightweight user interfaces for inputting (entering) and outputting (disseminating information) which integrate with everyday life.

Example Scenarios

– Design a social networking service that lets patients, friends, family, and providers work together support people with chronic illnesses

– Design a social network lets the elderly provide services to families in their local communities. This should take into account those who may not be able to drive or be physically constrained with regard to the type of work they can do.

– Design a collaborative real-time service that enables students to make money as they tutor