The AIAS Freedom by Design Advisory Committee has put together these frequently asked questions that we’ve heard a lot about recently, and our frequently given answers! We recommend that you scroll through all of the answers, because you never know what you don’t know until someone tells you. If we missed a question or you want more information, feel free to email us at freedom@aias.org or contact your FBDAC Liaison per your Quad’s Freedom by Design Slack channel. We’ll include your questions here as you ask them!
1. How does this affect the NCARB grant deadlines?
If you received an NCARB Material Grant for the Fall 2019 or Spring 2020 grant cycles, then you have until December 31, 2020 to finish your project and turn in your project portfolio to the AIAS. Further, case-by-case questions can be emailed to Ashley Ash at mailbox@aias.org.
2. How do we keep the Studio Culture we’ve been building as a priority in a time like this? What are some web-tools for collaborating?
Studio is many things to the architecture student: it can be a workspace, an exhibition space, a social gathering space, and hopefully a safe space! Try to find ways to build those spaces digitally, and prioritize the ones that you need most. Some useful tools include:
- Good ol fashioned phone calls
- Slack
- Good for: general group work, file sharing (even heavy GBs), general communication and direct messages, and channels are for multiple topics/purposes
- Pro-tip: Join your Quad’s Slack Channel by asking your Quad Director for the invite link!
- Endorsed and beloved by the AIAS
- Zoom & Microsoft Teams
- Good for: video calls that can be recorded
- However: limitations for the free version
- Google Hangouts/Meet & Skype
- Good for: video calls, quick collaborative chats
- However: not as great for more than 10 people
- Miroboard
- Good for: visual file sharing, can be used as pin up space, facilitates comments on work, in-app drawing feature
- However: free version has limitations (but still could be worth trying)
- Jackbox Games (or other digital games you can play remotely)
- Good for: blowing off steam and having a good time
- Also: here’s a link to a spreadsheet of online games to engage others with here
- Discord
- Good for: working together, memes, anyone who liked Slack
- Even more that are probably worth Googling
3. What can be done to maintain continuity when the driving force of our FBD Program is about to graduate?
The biggest danger is the potential of losing all of that institutional knowledge and passion. Ideally, the experienced members would be able to sit in front of the prospective members, maybe even show a few slides, and convince them to take up the torch. Instead of that, consider hosting a virtual FBD Goodbye (or See You Later) Party where upper-year FBD members collectively take notes in a GDoc and share stories about their time in the Program. They could even take it a step further and record a video or two about Freedom by Design has meant so much to them, and what has happened during their year.
At the bare minimum, graduating FBD members should absolutely recall their past year and document what roles each position played at what points of the project that y’all took on and how your organization was able to achieve success.
Also, check out the answer to Question #5 about institutional knowledge!
4. What are best practices for transitioning FBD Executive Boards During COVID-19?
The FBDAC always (pandemic or not) recommends having comprehensive documentation of the work and contacts for your FBD Program and Project. You can do this by continuing to meet virtually with your Board, and once you have that documentation, you should transition the new Board in as you would have normally. If you don’t usually transition your FBD Board, here are some key things to remember:
- Begin to transition responsibilities while the old board is still available to help. Some questions will arise when they are tasked with things, so waiting until the summer or fall may make it harder to get questions answered.
- Work together on adjusting schedules of projects. You can do this efficiently by considering different scenarios and planning for each of them. Ask your team questions like: What are the next steps if things can be run normally in the Fall? What would we do if we are still physically distancing in the Fall? How does this change your plans?
- Keep your mentors and clients involved by sending them updates. This is important because they’ll definitely want to know what’s going on with your team, but (almost more importantly) you need to know what’s going on with them and how their plans will affect your project.
- Build community within the board itself. The Board that survives COVID19 together, goes on to build FBD Projects together (that’s a famous quote). Hold virtual hangouts for those who are interested! And use this downtime to think long term about your FBD Program by having “blue sky” planning meetings, where even the wildest dreams are discussed.
5. What are some best practices for passing off the institutional knowledge and information about FBD to people you may not see in person ever again?
The best way to pass off knowledge is to make it as easy to consume and remember as possible. The FBDAC recommends having a one-stop shop for future board members full of all necessary documents/resources. This could be a Google Drive Folder or Doc, a physical binder, or even a printed book that you can hand out. Your school’s FBD anthology (or bible) should include:
- A clear list and definition of each FBD Executive Board Position will save a lot of time at elections and in the beginning of the year. These positions and their tasks can be flexible, but starting out with well defined domains can help the new board make sure they cover all bases regardless of how they decide to actually define themselves.
- The history of the FBD Program at your Chapter, including current and past projects, special achievements, and photos, is a helpful, fun, and inspiring portion of the FBD anthology! Make it clear where this information is located if it’s not inside the anthology, organize it well, and make sure there are no contradictions within it.
- You’ll want to include a list of contacts, as getting in touch with people can be the most daunting part for new or incoming FBD members. Be sure to outline who your contacts are, why your Board should contact them, and if there are any past communications that your new Board needs to be aware of or can use as a template. This process would not be complete without the outgoing Board introducing the incoming Board to everyone involved on a Project – this can be done via email, telephone, or (safely) in person. Who should you include contact information for? Clients, mentors, past FBD members who are willing and able to answer questions, and friendly (or not so friendly) school administrators/faculty.
- Speaking of school administrators, all schools have different ways of working because of the needs of the community, interest of the students, and the way the administration of the school runs. Having directions for leadership on how to navigate that with specificity will help them learn from your experience. Ask and answer questions like, Who do you need to talk to when reaching out to the community? Are there workshops the school offers that would be useful for volunteers, and how do you set those up? How do you apply for funding from the University?
At the bare minimum: Ask yourself what would have been useful to know when you entered the role. Write that down!!!
6. How to handle a lack of funding/fundraising that usually comes in the Spring?
This is the toughest part of the COVID19 crisis. In the past, crowdfunding has been really successful for FBD Projects, and some schools have opportunities for Student Orgs to do this in a way that reaches out to alumni as well. If you usually have events planned for the Spring, they could be potentially pushed to the Fall. Some projects may have to be adjusted divided into phases to cut down on cost now, so (like we said earlier), scenario plan with your boards now, so that you are ready to hit the ground running with what needs to be done at the time, once we can work physically together again. Pro tip: Make sure your Chapter President knows to include a few dollars in the local dues that can go towards FBD when members are signing up in Fall 2020.
7. How do we keep up the hope that our FBD Program will do something even if we don’t know when or what?
FBD is about community. Keep hope by continuing to meet regularly or even by holding virtual charrettes! Some of these meetings can just be check-ins to make sure everyone is doing okay, and if people are restless and want to contribute to the combatting the COVID-19 Crisis, there are resources on another AIAS FBD Blog Post HERE. Remember that this is not the new normal (forever), and that learning how to work virtually is a useful skill both today and in the future even when we can all be in one room together again. If thinking about the future is uplifting, then spend some time brainstorming your next project – understanding that it may not happen as you plan right now. Consider what issues your group cares about and how can you make an impact; or make a list of what organizations you might want to work with.
Externally, keep in touch with the communities and organizations that you are partnering with already, and respect their time in getting back to you. Understand that they may be tackling other more pressing matters, but following up and checking in with them will help you hit the ground running when the situation improves.
8. What are some best practices for FBD Programs that are trying to keep continuity on a project and hopefully pick up again in the Fall?
We’ve kinda already covered this, so see above for collaborative digital platforms. In summation: meet regularly and scenario plan. Consider a shift in project schedule and prioritize non-physical work now, including making sure new board members are fully involved now so that they can hit the ground running in the fall. Also, and we can’t overstate this enough, document your work! In fact, now is the perfect time to pause, document, and reflect.
9. What if our client is not understanding of the change in the timeline?
Please refer to the template that AIAS National Board has produced and use it as you see fit (this was emailed to current FBD Programs, and can be obtained by emailing freedom@aias.org). The main move is to assure them that the safety of both parties (you and them) is the most important job you both have right now in stopping the spread of COVID-19. If you can, you may work remotely on projects, just be transparent about what this means for the timeline.
If your client is aggressively confused, please reach out the FBDAC! We can help you resolve those kinds of conflicts.
10. What can we do to give back during the COVID-19 crisis?
Check out our Blog Post!
Got more questions? Email us at freedom@aias.org! We’ll include your questions on this blog and get back to you!
