CASE STUDY:
Join the Clean Air Revolution
Video Storyboard and Job Aids
Small business owners, school administrators, community leaders (houses of faith, nonprofit groups, etc).
The Stakeholders
Image: Unsplash
People are getting sick too often. Excess illness is leading to high absenteeism, reduced morale, and lost productivity.
The Problem
I’ve spent the past 6 months consulting with researchers, engineers, educators, and public health advocates at the Corsi-Rosenthal Foundation to learn how to build air purifiers to reduce the spread of illness in my community. I wanted to give back to the foundation by contributing simple, accessible training resources for their audience.
My Role
Image: @TaniaJSpencer for the Corsi-Rosenthal Foundation. This DIY air purifier can be built in 15-30 minutes using a box fan, 4 filters, duct tape, scissors, and a utility knife.
Needs Analysis and Recommendations
I conducted a needs analysis to determine the gaps between what people are currently doing and what they need to do, and to target interventions. Training isn’t the only solution, so I noted non-training recommendations in my plan.
Tools
Google Documents, Microsoft PowerPoint, Adobe Illustrator, Camtasia.
Many people think that preventing illness is out of their control, or believe that being sick is good for them due to “immunity debt” myths. This project will require an extensive marketing campaign with an emphasis on increasing motivation.
Different cultures require different instructions, as they use different metric systems and have access to different products.
Many people confuse filtration (cleaning the air, achievable by DIY purifiers) with ventilation (changing the air, requiring expensive building upgrades). Filtration may be solved by training, but ventilation is an environmental problem. We need to communicate the difference between filtration and ventilation without overwhelming people.
Challenges
Many common illnesses are airborne. Washing our hands is not enough - we also need to clean the air.
Lessons for the Future
This project is still in process. I’m working with my community to secure grants to build DIY air purifiers, while preparing the video storyboard for Camtasia to produce a short (~75 second) video to motivate community leaders to take action.
Cleaning indoor air is more important than ever. Data from the CDC and other researchers confirm that, as of March 2024, over 17 million Americans are struggling with Long Covid. But we have strong evidence that ventilation can reduce exposure to viruses.
I’m developing some accessible resources to share with the Corsi-Rosenthal Foundation (the short video, a simplified calculator, and a “quick guide” to help stakeholders make a clean air plan). But conducting the needs analysis reminded me that knowledge, skills, and resources are not enough. People need motivation to make change.
Can we create a long-term marketing campaign to increase public awareness about airborne viruses? Can we use art, social media, and other cultural means to help people understand that “immunity debt” is a myth? Can we help people who are understandably tired of hearing about “the pandemic” realize that they have much more control over it than they think?
These are some of the questions I’m asking myself as I continue to collaborate and problem-solve with researchers and advocates at the Corsi-Rosenthal Foundation, and members of my local community in Tucson, Arizona.