Designing Socially Impactful Digital Experiences
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Catt SmallFollow
May. 9, 2016•0 likes•1,716 views
Designing Socially Impactful Digital Experiences
May. 9, 2016•0 likes•1,716 views
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Technology
Countless people in technology want to use their skills to help others. However, creating a digital product that improves society is harder than it sounds. The successful use of technology in new contexts requires more research, testing, and time than most would like to admit. Countless social good hackathons have been organized, yet many products created during these events fail to become anything more than a mention in a recap article. In this talk, I described my process of creating SenseU, a mobile sex education game that utilizes a popular form of communication: instant messaging. Using my project as a case study, I highlighted ways that the current state of designing for social good can be improved. Attendees learned ways that technology can successfully help others as well as tips for launching an interactive experience created for social good.
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Designing Socially Impactful Digital Experiences
- 1. @cattsmall@cattsmall Designing Socially Impactful Digital Experiences Beyond Tellerrand Düsseldorf 2016 Catt Small
- 2. @cattsmall@cattsmall ◇Product Designer, SoundCloud ◇Co-founder, Brooklyn Gamery ◇Co-founder, Code Liberation ◇Maker of various things! A little about me:
- 3. @cattsmall@cattsmall Technology, culture, design, and improving society. Today we’ll discuss:
- 5. @cattsmall@cattsmall Technology has improved quickly in the past century.
- 6. @cattsmall@cattsmall 8GB now vs. 5MB in 1956
- 8. @cattsmall@cattsmall Travel Credit: Paul Prescott via Shutterstock
- 10. @cattsmall@cattsmall Healthcare & abilities brykmantra on Flickr sherpaa.com
- 11. @cattsmall@cattsmall Can it solve every problem?
- 13. @cattsmall@cattsmall It doesn’t work alone.
- 16. @cattsmall@cattsmall We are problem solvers.
- 17. @cattsmall@cattsmall Makers //random integer method. Lorem.prototype.randomInt = function (min, max) { return Math.floor(Math.random() * (max - min + 1)) + min; }; //text creator method with parameters: how many, what Lorem.prototype.createText = function(count, type) { switch (type) { //paragraphs are loads of sentences. case Lorem.TYPE.PARAGRAPH: var paragraphs = new Array; for (var i = 0; i < count; i++) { var paragraphLength =
- 18. @cattsmall@cattsmall Platitudes The smartest in the world! The best work of our lives! The power to change!
- 20. @cattsmall@cattsmall Instant gratification Now That's What I Call Music LLP
- 22. @cattsmall@cattsmall This is a bad combination.
- 28. @cattsmall@cattsmall We all love technology and we all believe in its power. But we are reminded by Putin’s domestic crackdown, the annexation of Crimea and the perpetual horrors in Syria, that technology is not a silver bullet answer to the world’s problems. It generates awareness, it gives us visibility, it offers enormous opportunity – but at the end of the day, the world is still run by states and their military apparatus. - Jared Cohen
- 29. @cattsmall@cattsmall We must modify the way we think about tech.
- 33. @cattsmall@cattsmall The task Create a project that affects the way people think about and discuss an important societal issue.
- 34. @cattsmall@cattsmall Mean Girls (2004) US sex ed
- 35. @cattsmall@cattsmall The question How can I give people comprehensive sex education outside the school system?
- 37. @cattsmall@cattsmall What I learned Sex has many benefits – possibly more than we know about right now. The state of sex education was caused by various influences over centuries.
- 39. @cattsmall@cattsmall “Christian/Western guilt was an issue.” Survey respondent
- 40. @cattsmall@cattsmall “I learned most things from the internet.” Survey respondent
- 41. @cattsmall@cattsmall “Sex ed was a joke in public school” Survey respondent
- 42. @cattsmall@cattsmall Goals ◇Reach people in college between ages 18 and 25 ◇Allow audience to learn and experiment without real consequences
- 43. @cattsmall@cattsmall Mobile sex ed game ◇Phones are used for everything ◇Only source of internet access for some ◇Less likely that families will interfere
- 44. @cattsmall@cattsmall Competitive research HappyPlayTime, Show Me Yours, and Sex Positive
- 49. @cattsmall@cattsmall I did even more research.
- 53. @cattsmall@cattsmall Design goals ◇Friendly colors ◇App-like feeling ◇Realistic interaction design
- 56. @cattsmall@cattsmall “I like the texting interface. It’s super cool and new!” Playtester
- 57. @cattsmall@cattsmall “The color scheme is very soothing.” Playtester
- 58. @cattsmall@cattsmall “It felt like I was actually interacting with someone.” Playtester
- 59. @cattsmall@cattsmall What’s next for SenseU ◇Continue building ◇More testing ◇Partnerships
- 70. @cattsmall@cattsmall Accept the slower pace.
- 72. @cattsmall@cattsmall ◇Tech can help, but it can't solve problems by itself. ◇If a solution isn’t solved well, it can have negative effects. ◇Privilege affects technology. In summary:
- 73. @cattsmall@cattsmall ◇Do an ample amount of research before, during, and afterward. ◇Embed yourself to gain context. ◇Listen to your target audience. ◇Accept that social change is slow. Advice:
- 74. @cattsmall@cattsmall Thank you. Questions? Tweet @cattsmall Email catt@cattsmall.com
Editor's Notes
- Thanks
- SoundCloud Create products that help people share sounds across the world I focus on monetization design – things like the payment experience and ad products (sorry, SoundCloud users in the audience) We’re hiring for lots of positions in Berlin and New York, so HMU! Brooklyn Gamery Design and ship usable games for different platforms Our most recent game was a mobile action game called Prism Shell Now working on new games for computers Code Liberation A group that teaches women to program video games NYC-based New London branch Maker of things Random websites Social Sayings, an insprational photo generator Gaming tournament Games by myself Zines
- First I wanted to explore technology Discuss how we think about it and the way it affects our lives
- Technology has impacted our lives a lot, especially in the last century
- Just look at 8 GB now versus 5MB in 1956 It’s mind-blowing to think about the fact that they had to airlift these things Computers were HUGE
- More examples of how tech has helped change things for us include...
- Bullet trains are amazingly fast Subway stations (at least in NYC) have internet! In-flight entertainment makes 8-hour flights go by in a breeze Self-driving cars are changing the way we think about being on the road
- Look how tiny and smart portable phones are these days! We can communicate with text messages, send emails from our phones, and more You can share pictures from these devices People my age hardly use the “phone” function anymore
- Heart rate monitors and other technology help track the status of patients People can manage their healthcare online Consult a doctor without going into the office We’re helping amputees do more with bionic hands
- Because it helped so much, people began to see it as a solve for all
- However, this doesnt always end so well
- Tech can help but it can't solve problems by itself
- Technology, especially the social good variety, relies on human interaction to work Whether that means relying on people to form habits Or getting people to help each other It needs people to work
- Why do we think about tech as a silver bullet even when its repeatedly proven to not be a solution for everything? I’d like to focus on the silver bullet mentality Discuss how it happened Examples of how it fails us And how to design technology that helps people
- Many people naturally want to help others We see problems happening to ourselves that we want to solve We see problems happening to others too As designers and product creators, this is what we do We build things that solve a need This makes us think technology can be applied to anything, regardless of the context
- A creative group of makers We use the skills we have This is usually a combination of design, development, and task management
- Many say that people in tech are some of the smartest people in the world We’re also told quite often that we’re doing the best work of our lives That we’re changing the world And that we have the power to make change happen This combination leads to...
- The inflation of egos
- Since the rise of fast internet, we’ve come to expect things to change instantly We think that technology can make anything happen And that it can happen NOW That is because of how we interact with technology This thought process is fueled by
- We forget that people don’t always have equal access to tech We forget that some people have different relationships with tech We forget that things don’t always go right That’s because the people who make these technologies have privilege They are idealistic They forget that things can go wrong Sometimes, they lack the context to help new technologies get adopted by their target audience In the USA, tech is majorly white and male This means solutions mostly solve white, male problems
- This combination of problem solvers Ego instant gratification And privilege Can have harmful consequences Here are a few examples of when tech was expected to deliver And didn’t do the best job
- Social media networks connect people When they catch on and become a habit, they affect people’s lives greatly Twitter and Facebook are two of the most popular networks Hashtag activism is great for awareness, not great for solving problems In the USA, Occupy Wall Street and other movements like Black Lives Matter started and lived on social media at first Other movements have also started online, and many groups use social media to plan gatherings Although these movements started online, they are now mostly organized in person Many fault the groups (especially OWS) for not having tangible change (again, instant gratification) But they have created momentum and lead to the USA democratic party discussing the issues they focused on A lot of people use social media as a way to share awareness, but it by itself does not change society It also fails when countries block its citizens from accessing it
- Project Loon by Google is a hot air balloon that provides LTE wireless internet It aims to help give fast internet to countries in Africa and Asia They can’t afford expensive underground fiber cables It HAS given people access to faster internet However, it’s crashed 8 times in the past 2 years There’s a whole section for it on Wikipedia Just Google “project loon crash” to see where it’s landed Did they consider other options before settling on balloons that inconvenience people when they fail?
- Apple’s Healthkit opened doors for doctors to connect to patients in new ways For people to track their health data But it didn’t include menstruation tracking for quite a long time Even though a large number of people in the world have vaginas Is that because the dev team was mostly male? Who prioritized features? Did they ask the audience or assume? It lacked the context to understand that such a large audience would want this feature Even though there are a lot of people bleeding regularly and many menstruation tracking apps exist
- Another internet idea, in Texas Pay homeless people to be wireless hotspots Profits went to charity This was a marketing stunt But was again used in Prague This time is was launched with an indiegogo - which failed Why would people be okay with standing around and being hotspots? Why would consumers feel comfortable with this? Did anyone ask?
- Siri isn’t as social-good focused as the others but it is an important example It’s an assistant of sorts You could set reminders Look for things nearby When it was first released, it couldn’t help people who were suicidal Until recently, it couldn’t help people who were raped Or those who were being abused It had little to no failsafes built in because it was idealistic about how people would use it Very assumption-based
- As Jared Cohen said in an interview with MSNBC We all love technology and we all believe in its power But technology is not a silver bullet answer to the world’s problems It generates awareness, it gives us visibility, it offers enormous opportunity But people still affect society more than technology can alone The goverment can make a choice that renders technology ineffective
- We must be less idealistic and understand the place technology sits within our lives
- Instead of thinking of technology as something that alone changes the world We should think of it as something that helps PEOPLE change the world It can’t solve our problems, but it can make the process better or faster
- And instead of treating small possibilities as edge cases, we should include solutions for them Failsafes are important because things don’t always go well
- With the idea of augmentation in mind, I decided to experiment See if I could create a piece of technology that aimed to augment people’s experience And speed up the rate of change
- I wanted to focus on awareness and knowledge-sharing Technology is good for that
- I chose sex ed Very specifically, sex ed in the united states Sex education in the USA is terrible Varies by state Some states teach abstinence, some teach comprehensive education Very influenced by religion, specifically christianity Most sex ed curricula are sex-negative, discouraging people from having sex But this is bad – these young people grow into adults If they think of sex as a bad thing, how will they do it when they’re older? Young people are making decisions about their bodies Many do it without being given comprehensive knowledge I wanted to help change this
- But I didn’t want to go through schools because the education system varies This was my challenge So I immediately decided to start with research
- I looked at various references to gain an informed opinion rather than just a hypothesis books about the history of sex research papers sex ed curricula
- This is not a new problem and it probably won’t be solved immediately
- Empirical research How many people use the internet to learn about sex? What do people want to learn about sex?
- Based on all of my learnings, I came up with some goals People ages 18 to 25 Learning about their bodies, experimenting in college Allow them to experiment and learn without real-world consequences
- Young people are using mobile phones to connect with friends In some cases, it’s the only way they have access to the internet Their phones are personal it’s less likely that families will interfere with usage of the apps they choose to download By focusing on mobile, it’s possible to reach additional audiences as well Teenagers
- All of the games were short The first one was only about a very specific part of sex The middle one was more of an ad than a game It was also treating sex as a joke/taboo The third wasn’t very interactive and only talked about risks Aim: make something longer and more interactive
- Combined the curricula I reviewed and sex ed survey data Created a curriculum for the game Focused on teaching all the lessons required for a comprehensive curriculum Also covered some things survey participants wanted to know For example, what other kinds of sex are there?
- I threw together some ideas based on my research Created lots of possible mechanics
- Settled on text messaging mechanic Hypothesis: young people communicate through text all the time The idea: have people “message” in-game characters Select from a fixed number of possible replies Characters react to your response
- Based on my demographic, I created a story RAs advise their peers This, too, was a hypothesis I needed to test
- So I went and did more empirical research
- I asked 40 people about their experiences as a resident assistant
- Outside of in person comms Over 60% communicate with residents via text or email text msg - 55% email - 67% Confirmed!
- I wanted the colors to feel inviting so people would feel comfortable with the subject Since the mechanic is messaging, I wanted the game to feel like an app More immersive I wanted the interaction design to feel realistic This way, people will feel like they are talking to real humans (even when they’re not)
- The result is a game that works on Android, iPhone, and beyond It’s called senseu, named after the word “sensuality” In the game, SENSE U is an acronym for the college the main character attends The game has two parts: Messaging Narrative This helps to build a feeling of immersion
- In order to get feedback, I tested the game multiple times This feedback came from people within my target audience Their responses helped me improve the game Feedback included...
- This all helped me understand that I was moving in the right direction
- The demo is done but the work isn’t Continue building Add more interactions to make it feel interactive Consider adding more imagery to keep people engaged Modify the writing – find a balance that feels less extreme So players can feel more like the main character has their voice More testing of the game as new iterations happen Explore partnerships with sex education teachers, schools, and groups
- Now that you’ve heard the process behind my project I’d like to share some things I learned
- Technology is awesome, but your skillset is limited That’s how being human works There is always more you can learn
- Acknowledge and shed your biases before beginning your project They will only harm you in the long term
- Locate your target audience by digging into the data Do empirical research if books and studies yield nothing
- Let the research you gather inform your decisions The who, what, when, where, and why will define the how Even consider looking outside your skillset Ask: does it have to be an app or a website? Don’t choose without questioning your gut
- Interact with your target audience as often as possible Partner with those who interact with your target audience
- Feedback is crucial, especially for projects focusing on social good Open your ears even more if you are designing for a different group than your own
- Reach out when you find yourself lost People will support you
- Ensure that your project is usable reaching the right audience and actually helping that audience
- Instead of expecting your project to shift the way society works by itself, let it augment human efforts
- We are very used to instant gratification, but social change takes time
- To wrap up...
- Tech requires people to work For example, without adoption, solutions won’t stick A solution isn’t always the right one, and solutions without failsafes may have disastrous effects Therefore, test your work often to make sure it is taking the right form Tech solves problems priveleged people consider important
- Do your research Decide based on research Test as much as possible Embed yourself and gain context with your target audience Truly listen to your target audience and let their feedback affect your work (grain of salt, of course) Accept that change takes time Focus on assisting that process Use tech for its strengths, such as awareness Be aware of its limits
- Thank you so much! If you have questions, send me a tweet or email