Do Good Columbia Advisory Team

An advisory team of some of the most talented and influential people in the Midlands are working with Richland Library to plan for Do Good Columbia. They have generously shared their time and expertise; Do Good Columbia wouldn't be possible without them. Heartfelt thanks go to:

Ethel Bunch - Director of Development and Outreach, Congaree Land Trust

Mike Dawson - Executive Director, River Alliance

Irene Dumas-Tyson - Director of Planning, Boudreaux Group

Jamelle Ellis - Director of Community and Government Services, Richland County

Seth Gadsden - Director, Indie Grits Labs

Betty Gregory - Board of Trustees, Richland Library

Krista Hampton - Director of Planning and Development Services, City of Columbia

Heyward Harvin - Executive Advisor, Office of the Mayor, City of Columbia

Meghan Hickman - Executive Director, EngenuitySC

Erin Johnson - VP for Community Investment, Central Carolina Community Foundation

Robbie Kopp - Director of Advocacy and Community Access, Able SC

Michael Mayo - Owner, Palmetto Outdoor Center

Jason Outman - Executive Director, Experience Columbia SC

Elise Partin - Mayor, City of Cayce 

Lee Snelgrove - Executive Director, One Columbia for Arts and History

Bill Stangler - Congaree Riverkeeper

Kimberly Tissot - Executive Director, Able SC

Tameria Warren - Education Committee Co-Chair, Gills Creek Watershed Association

Richland Library resources and the history of Columbia's waterways

Historical Images of Columbia’s Rivers, Canals and Bridges

The Walker Local and Family History Center at Richland Library Main has an excellent Digital Collection of historical documents and images.  If you are interested in seeing more images, primarily photographs and postcards, of Columbia’s rivers, canals and bridges, use search terms like River, Canal, Bridge, "Congaree River", "Broad River" and "Saluda" to search our Digital Collections.

Print resources that include information about the history of Columbia’s waterways include the following:

Scenes from Columbia's Riverbanks: A History of the Waterways, by Vennie Deas-Moore (2008) – ACCESS Code HISTORY SC Moo or LH NATURE Rivers Moo

“Follow the winding ways of the Congaree, the Broad and the Saluda through history, and learn how three splendid and historic waterways shaped the industries and communities of Columbia.
The history of Columbia dates to 1786, when the South Carolina General Assembly moved the seat of government from Charleston to a plateau overlooking the Congaree River at the confluence of the Broad and Saluda. These three rivers helped transport people and goods, power textile mills, generate energy and support a growing community. Now, former industrial sites are giving way to recreational areas, and the heritage and natural beauty of the rivers emerge afresh. Author and photographer Vennie Deas-Moore captures both the beauty and the history of these waterways in this lovely volume.”

Carolina Riverboats and Rivers: The Old Days, by Earl White (2002) – ACCESS Code TRANSPORT Water Whi


“Carolina Riverboats and Rivers is a unique book, as important to local history buffs as it is the nation, capturing the spirit of river transportation with hundreds of rare photographs, newspaper clippings, and even firsthand accounts from the men who plied the rivers in the Carolinas.  Earl White masterfully brings together a vast wealth of research in the way that only an author who truly loves his subject can.”
 

You might be wondering "So, what is Service Design?"

As product and service designer, Shahrzad Samadzadeh, explains in her article on service design, "Service design originated from the combination of marketing, service operations, and user-centered design. It is the application of systems-thinking and design methods to address the needs that emerge from human systems (those that include users, employees, etc)."

Here are some key concepts of service design: 

Front stage & back stage: "Some parts of services are visible to the service user; these parts are called front stage. Some part of services are not visible to the service user; these parts are called back stage. As a general rule of thumb, it’s safe to assume that most services are shaped like icebergs, with an enormous amount of complexity back stage."

Actors: Humans and systems enact the service. They are the actors who are on stage.

Touchpoints & Channels: "Moments of interaction with a service happen via touchpoints. Mediums for the delivery of a service are called channels."

Cycles & Life Cycles: "A user’s service needs don’t disappear when the service is completed, they often reappear after a certain trigger; this cyclical nature of service needs is called a cycle. Users experience most services more than once over the course of their lives, and their experience with the service tends to change and develop; this is called a life cycle. As a general rule of thumb, the completion of a good service includes user-centered triggers to continue back into the beginning of the service."

Journeys: "Services unfold over time, which means that service users experience a service over time; this is called a journey. Journeys can span any length of time, from a single cycle to a life cycle. When mapping a journey, pick a scope and altitude that will be in service of your work."

What are we designing?

"Service design acts on a variety of objects, and can influence or create change at a variety of levels."

Some examples of how to read the chart provided in her article are listed below (for all examples, read the full article):

  • "If you’re designing a touchpoint (reading left to right): you’re primarily shaping a service encounter, creating change in a system of value exchange, and influencing societal practices."
  • "If you’re designing a service encounter (reading top to bottom): you’re primarily designing touchpoints and behaviors, while changing experiences and influencing at least one business." 
  • "If you’ve set out to explicitly design a system that exchanges value (reading top to bottom): you are designing behaviors, businesses, experiences, and likely at least one touchpoint."

Service design tools
So, you might be asking what type of tools do you use to design services? According to Ms. Samadzadeh, "All the tools of the trade in design are fair game. From modeling to workshops, service design does not reinvent the wheel."  One of the tools that is "quite specific to the practice of service design" is the Service Blueprint, which is "a kind of journey map that blows out, in detail, both the front stage and back stage of a service. It is a deep dive into a tightly scoped area."  And remember that since services are shaped like icebergs (and you usually only see the tip) "do not think you can blueprint the entirety of a service."  

To this question, "Why bother with service design?" Ms. Samadzadeh aptly replies with the following answers:

  1. "Because service design encompasses product-centric thinking, it can consider and deliver on all types of value exchange; it can meet a breadth of human needs — not just user and/or business needs."
  2. "Most importantly, service design provides a conceptual framework for tackling baffling open-ended problems that have implications across encounters, systems, and societal practices."

This is just a quick overview of Shahrzad Samadzadeh's excellent post on Service Design.  Please see the entirety of her article, to get the rest of the story!

Source: “So, like, what is service design?” by Shahrzad Samadzadeh | Medium.com