SME and DME

Possible SMEs:
Both women listed below work at the CU Denver Counseling Center and have background in mindfulness issues, I was thinking that because Cynthia Chen has a PHD and her bio specifically states working with behavioral issues, she might be the best specialist to work with.

Brittany Bouffard, LCSW
Outreach/Prevention Coordinator, Psychotherapist

Cynthia Chen, Ph.D.  
Licensed Psychologist, Crisis Coordinator, Psychotherapist

 I think for my DME I might reach out to Michael Salamon, as he has extensive experience with design research and he might be able to help me figure out what direction I want to go in with the digital aspect of my thesis.

SME Email draft:

Hi ,

I'm currently a senior in the Digital Design program and I'm entering my thesis project for the upcoming spring semester. For my thesis, I'm hoping to explore design solutions for people who want to take advantage of intrinsic motivation to change their habits and behaviors instead of extrinsic motivation. After reading your background information on the CU Wellness center's website, I was hoping that we might be able to discuss the possibility of working together, I need a subject matter expert that I can refer to during my thesis project to provide expert knowledge on my topic, help guide some of my research processes, and provide outside feedback on the progress that I make during this process. If this is something that you might be able to help me with, I would love to connect with you sometime soon so that we can discuss potentially working together, please let me know if that would be possible and if you would be open to that!

Best Regards, Julia Olson

DME Email draft:

Hi Michael,

How are you? I know that it's been a while since we've spoken but I'm entering thesis in the spring and my topic is heavily research based and I thought of you as a potential DME. I'm exploring possible design solutions for people who want to take advantage of intrinsic motivation (internal motivation) instead of extrinsic motivation (external motivation) to help them break bad habits and actively pursue altering their own behaviors. If you would be open to discussing the possibility of working together, please let me know!

Best Regards, Julia Olson

Questions to ask my SME
  • What topics do you think I should be exploring besides the effectiveness of intrinsic motivation versus extrinsic motivation?
  • Have you ever tried to utilize intrinsic motivation with any of your patients? If so, for what purpose, meaning what behaviors were you trying to help them help themselves to change? How successful would you say they were?
  • As an external influence on your patients, has that impacted their intrinsic motivation's potential? If so, how?
  • What are some common behavioral problems that you have helped patients work through? Were these problems something your patient was already aware of or something that you helped them discover?

Questions to ask my DME
  • What kind of technologies do you think would be successful in helping people change their behavior? Why?
  • What kinds of research do you think I should utilize during my process?
  • What would be a good scope for the project that I am about to undertake?
    • Meaning how far should I push my research and what kind of result should I be looking for? (like a definite answer or an open ended answer)

Update 11/7/18
After emailing Michael Salamon, he informed me that his schedule would unfortunately not allow him to be my DME, so I will have to find another candidate for that position. 

I also emailed my potential SME on the 30th of October and have yet to hear back from her, so I might need to search for another potential SME as well. 



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