Reflections on the 2013-2014 DPSI Pilot

We are excited to highlight the successes of the projects and experiences of the participants—students, faculty, fellows, and staff—involved in the 2013-2014 DPSI pilot. With an eye toward the future of the program, the DPSI team shared reflections about lessons learned from the past year on the pilot’s tumblr page. Read the post and browse the rest of the tumblr (dpsipilot.tumblr.com) to learn more about the pilot activities and experiences.

The tumblr showcases works that we’ve produced over the course of the year to help tell the pilot’s story. The videos—also shown below—explain the missions of DPSI broadly and the teams specifically, and illustrate the ways in which participants connected to the experience, the subject matter, and to one another on a personal level. We’ve highlighted a few of them here:

• For an overview of the pilot, including some of the students, faculty and team projects involved, watch the video below. 
• Recent HLS alum Elise Young, gives her mid-year impression on the progress of the ‘big data’ project and what her group hopes to do for the rest of the year.
• Nieman/Berkman Fellow and BBC journalist Hasit Shah discusses designing a new digital news service with the DPSI team members, who helped guide a product for people coming online for the first time.
• Dean of Harvard Law School, Martha Minow, encouraged DPSI teams at the Midyear Workshop by highlighting how Harvard was already being changed for the better by the DPSI projects.
• Digital Problem Solving Initiative Mentor, Matthew Battles, gave a brief overview of the Lightbox Gallery team’s midyear progress, and shares what is involved in the team projects.
• Throughout the program, ‘lightning’ talks bring expert practitioners from across the Harvard community to talk to DPSI team members and inspire new ways of thinking. For example, founder of The Experiment Fund Hugo Van Vuuren gave a talk on the ‘interoperability of physical spaces’ to remind us to find common time despite our digital life.
• In spring 2014, the Harvard Initiative for Learning and Teaching (HILT), in collaboration with the Berkman Center, hosted #HackTheEDU.