This is the first main activity in our project. Before developing the prototype, it was important for us to identify the community and their unique behaviors, population, culture, and values. At the beginning of this stage, we recognized the steps of empathy to the community that we had a rare understanding. In terms of local agriculture, we identified two communities: the local organic farms and rooftop farms. 

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Through the practice of the SOAP note, we were able to clarify the community needs and the direction of our prototype development. Here we have shown our performance on the change of the
"Subjective" into the "Objective" version in the SOAP note. Previously, we assumed the biggest challenge they had been encountering was the extremely high land cost in Hong Kong and the limited local crop market demands, which were presented in our pre-field work preparation. Although we could not visit the farms due to the outbreak of the virus. We were able to do an online interview with Totak Ting,  the owner of a local organic farm. And the Rooftop Republic representatives. The community needs were modified as follows.