Chapter 3
Deep Diving 
into LifeStories 

3.1 LIFESTORIES ETHNOGRAPHY
3.2 ASSET-BASED
COMMUNITY MAPPING


Activations
Community Building PlaybookLearning Journey CurriculumLife Stories PodcastAbout ↗

A Community-Centered
Social Design Curriculum

Drawing from experiences 
of activating coffeeshops in asset-based, community-led approaches, this social design curriculum guides a student through the process of creating meaningful participatory programs co-designed with communities, beginning from a cup of Kopi and conversations with fellow neighbours in the local coffeeshop.




LEARNING CHAPTERS

1 SENSING 
2 DISCOVERY
3 DEEP DIVES
4 ACTIVATING 
5 SUSTAINING


Fieldwork Assignment

In pairwork, with one student as interviewer and one as the visual recorder, interview seniors through offering a sketch for a story. 

ACTIVITY SPANS 3 WEEK


Learning Objectives

Practise ethnographic interview skills through visual storytelling. 



3.1 LifeStories Ethnography  

Every Hack Kopitiam activation begins with LifeStories sketching. Through the mediation of the arts, the curiosity of students often lower the barrier for elders to share their stories with us. The sketching process visualise the stories told to immortalise a moment that the senior remembers fondly. The sketch serves as a social magnet to seed connections, making interactions more convivial. The elders bring back the sketches as a fond memory of the encounters.