Participatory Communication Design
Dr Carolyn Barnes and Simone Taffe, supported by staff and students from the Faculty of Design’s Design Centre (internal design consultancy), are investigating participatory communication design. The project involves the communication of information on low-harm cleaning pactices to childcare workers and is an adjunct to the larger, government-funded SASI-Cleaning Project, which addresses the many perceived and real barriers that currently exist to the wide acceptance of 'green' or low-harm cleaning methods in the Victorian childcare sector.
The aim of low-harm cleaning is to reduce environmental impact and risk to public health by using safer cleaning products and low-chemical practices. Significant reductions in toxins, pollution, waste, embodied energy, sodium in waste water and water consumption can be achieved without compromising efficacy or hygiene. Yet despite Department of Health Infection Control Guidelines that encourage low-chemical cleaning practices, a veritable cocktail of surface sprays, disinfectants, harsh detergents and air-fresheners are being used freely in many of Victoria's 2,700 early childhood centres.
Working with a small number of inner Melbourne childcare centres as case studies the SASI-Cleaning Project will identify these barriers, then gather scientific evidence and develop practical implementation solutions designed to overcome them. The role of design within the project is to identify the messages that resonate with childcare workers on the subject of low-harm cleaning and develop an information delivery system that is suited to the hectic and visually busy daily work environment of childcare centres. Test results, research and prototype design work derived from the case studies will be used in a community education program across the Victorian early childhood services sector. The program of participatory design workshops is the basis for Simone Taffe’s PhD.
What will SASI-Cleaning achieve?
- Quantifiable reduction of environmental and health impacts from cleaning in trial participant childcare centres. For example:
- Reduced levels of VOCs and improved air quality
- Reduced environmental impacts via packaging, chemical pollutants and salt in waste water.
- A user-centred guide and educational program for the implementation of safer products and practices, recording the results of the pilot project and directly answering the concerns and attitudes of parents and childcare service providers. Including:
- Evidence of the efficacy of low-chemical cleaning methods
- Safer product purchasing guide
- Qualitative evidence of environmental and financial benefits
- Anecdotal evidence of effectiveness of products and implementation process
- Design materials developed from the users’ perspective and through their direct participation.
- Publicly accessible web-guide to purchasing safer cleaning products and implementing safer practices.
- Raised public awareness regarding the risk exposure to chemicals poses the health of young children, and the environmental impact from over-consumption, waste and salts.
- Improved awareness, knowledge and acceptance of safe and sustainable cleaning methods in childcare services and the general public.
- Improved environmental health for children in childcare centres
How will the SASI-Cleaning project achieve its aims?
- The SASI-Cleaning Project will take an action-research approach by building strong active partnerships with pilot case-study participants. The pilot will be developed in four stages:
- Consultation and assessment of stakeholder positions, involves the identification of existing barriers from childcare management, staff and parents, which will inform the development of simple tests and educational tools designed to refute misconceptions.
- Pilot trial involves establishing trials in case study childcare centres to measure environmental and health impacts, develop practical implementation solutions, and test the efficacy of low-chemical methods.
- Measure performance involves quantifying the environmental and health benefits of implementing safer products and practices, then developing a promotional and educational guide/program based upon the results of pilot.
- Participatory design processes that involve childcare workers and young designers from the Faculty of Design’s Design Centre in the development of an information/education package that encapsulates and delivers knowledge on low-harm cleaning in a form that can be replicated for childcare centres operating across Victoria.
The SASI-Cleaning Project is steered by an advisory panel comprised of the following institutions and peak bodies:
- City West Water
- Swinbune Department of Environmental Health,
- National Centre of Sustainability (Swinburne)
- Swinburne Department of Child and Family Services
- Community Child Care
- ECO-Buy (MAV),
- Environmental Education Early Childhood (EEEC)
- National Centre for Design Research (NIDR)
- Asthma Foundation.
Funding for this project is derived from the Victorian Government Sustainability fund.
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