NYUAD Ecoherence Forum
2017.9.27 Han Su

I wanted to make a mobile friendly forum long ago, and this time when Alia and Ali grouped with me to make a project on NYU Abu Dhabi’s Ecoherence, I was more than excited to join. Before long an anonymous forum app called YikYak was sold by it’s founder, because the app was infamous for the illegal deals and inappropriate words. I think the main reason for its failure is a lack of relationship between the users. Though it is located based, the user does not know where is each other from, what’s worse the posts are usually randomly without a certain issue to focus on. So this time when we design the forum, we got a theme as to make the environment of NYU AD better, not only the literal meaning of “environment”, but also the school as a whole, therefore we hope people will not misuse the forum to go against each other or show the negative side of humankind.

Here’s Ali’s description on our purpose and processes of doing the project:
“Each year, NYUAD wastes plastic, paper, and huge amounts of food in the dining hall. Ecoherence, a student-led team in NYUAD that deals with saving energy on campus, recycling, and having less waste. We have been discussing with them about what are the most waste-related factors that affect the NYUAD community, and they have provided us with extensive feedback and information, and some waste-related statistics that are conducted each year. We have incorporated all the information about waste in NYUAD, and made an interactive website that raises awareness about waste within the NYUAD community.
Over our meetings together, we have agreed upon having some sliders that show how much plastic, paper, and electricity the user consumes, and outputs the result of a bigger picture of what the user consumes as a whole. We have also included quirky wording to make the experience more accessible to all ages of the community. We also included some posters or pictures that show the tips on how to save energy. A link is also included should the user want to click and join Ecoherence through Facebook.
Another big game changer is the anonymous posts from users. Any user can post about anything about waste and energy in NYUAD, either tips and advice or observing some bad activity that happens in the community. For example, if much paper was printed in setting for no use, then the person who encounters this can post about it in the anonymous posts page. In this way, people would be aware of such activities and be more informed on what is going on in the community.
Tips and advice are also offered by the website for users to learn more about how to bring your own water bottle, or reading more your laptop rather than printing, and more. In this kind of medium, people can use and share this website to their peers. By having the Ecoherence group providing for a better and healthier lifestyle for the environment, our group may use the resources they provide such as statistics, pictures, and an understanding of the important and pressing matters of waste in the NYUAD community.
As more students increase each school year, more and more waste is happening especially with the Starbucks cups of both in the library café and in the dining hall counter. Having a forum-like page where people can interact and comment on the factors that damage our environment will help in notifying the community especially the freshmen who can start their year by saving energy.”