Qkrowd is an app that aims to help young people find work by enabling them to connect with others locally who share their interests, and with existing employment support agencies. The app uses digital "tribes" called Krowds and geolocation to facilitate these connections. Users choose a Krowd persona and build an avatar to represent their skills. They can then view a map of other users and opportunities in their area, and work together on small tasks while earning points in the app. The goal is to help users gain real-world work experience and build their confidence and resume. Qkrowd is seeking funding and partnership with agencies to develop and test the app.

1. Making jobs together

2. Qkrowd engages with young people
and enables them to work together to
make new jobs with assistance from
existing national and EU support
agencies.
Qkrowd enables young people by
using:-
•Digital tribes call Krowds – find
people who share your interest or
passion and make it work together.
•Hyper-local geolocation - meet and
make jobs together near where you
live.

3. App How you can
Research
Development help
Research into
The app’s
some of the
conceptual
barriers young How you can
development
people face in help us to
and a simple
engaging create and
walk through
positively with test the app
of the game
work and
flow
support

4. Aspiration
Optimism Connection

5. Everyone has aspirations.
Aspiration Joseph Rowntree Trust research shows
how it is true whatever the social or
economic status.
There is not a class of people who do
not aspire to live happier, better lives.
How to enable peoples’ aspirations is
the question.

6. Optimism is an enabler to push and
pull people into a better life.
Optimism
Esther Duplo’s new research in India
shows how people in extreme poverty
can make their own lives better by
building up skills and money through
small tasks and with limited support.
Optimism is the first step in unlocking
peoples’ aspirations!

7. Connection to people, places and
information is the bridge for making a
Connection new life real.
In a 2012 American Psychological
Society research presentation, the
importance of connection in goal
achievement rather than self-esteem
or worth was highlighted.
Connection to society makes
engagement possible.

8. Engagement
Motivation Connection

9. Gamification is a crucial aspect of the
app and how it engages with young
Engagement unemployed people.
Using game mechanics, we can ask
personal questions, show other people
and places and demonstrate practical
opportunities to the user.
Using individualised play, we can offer
a new digital conduit for service
delivery.

10. Motivation to interact and change
depends on aspiration and optimism.
Motivation
We will embed motivational interview
and other proven techniques into the
app structure to raise individual user
expectations.
Using game concepts of badges and
rewards, the app pulls the user in to
engage and connect

11. The app connects a user to:-
•Other local users
Connection •Local employment and education
support agencies
•Local work or work experience
opportunities
The user communicates through
FaceBook or Twitter but the app
simplifies the identification of relevant
local people and places.

12. The app uses themed The app uses hyper-
‘digital overlays’ called local geographic data to
Krowds. deliver connections,
opportunities and
The mechanics of the information that are
app remain the same specific to the user.
but the ‘look and feel’
of characters, maps and Connections must be
places are matched to relevant and local to
user’s personal choice. enable engagement.

13. Digital Tribes and self-recognised
personas are important ways of
engaging with people who do not
recognise or relate to existing
structures of support.
The app will have a range of digital
personas ,called Krowds, to choose
from. The sample here are from
childhood. User testing will provide a
real selection.
This choice at the very opening of the
app acts a soft pre-selection question
for the type of people and types of
User Experience that are offered later
on.

14. Once a Krowd has been chosen, the
app starts and the use is rewarded
with a point/badge.
The use of points and badges to
maintain regular app use comes from
game design theory.
The app offers to show a map of local
connections or to start building the in-
game character or avatar.

15. Building up the avatar is the way in
which we engage with the user and
build up their confidence in their self-
assessed skills, knowledge and
interests.
Using the motivational interview
technique (OARS – Open ended
questions, Affirm, Reflective listening,
Summarise), the user can answer
questions (including some jokey ones)
so we can build an in game avatar that
actually shows and affirms the user’s
real world capabilities.

16. The user can look at the local map
whenever they like.
The amount of information shown may
however, be limited by how much
information they have provided in the
avatar building process.
The key elements of the map are:
Other app users who have different
skills
Centres offering training or support
Opportunities to work

17. Clicking on an opportunity will show
what it is and offer the user the choice
to do it or not.
At this point, the user can contact
other users or service providers to
build up support (skills or knowledge
they do not possess) to achieve the
real world task.
Contact will be though FaceBook or
Twitter as they already provide
regulated secure and safe
communication systems .

18. Having gone out and worked with
others to achieve the task, the user
logs back in and is rewarded with
points.
These points build up through use of
the app and show both the user and
others that they are achieving and
making work in the real world.
Using the app builds confidence and
affirms the skills of the user.

19. The user can keep playing the app for
as long as they wish.
However, the goal of the app is to
make them confident enough to stop.
The app builds up a record of their
achievements which can be
transferred to a CV or similar work
record.
By working locally, mutually and on
small tasks, the app user has affirmed
and proved their capabilities and
knowledge through work.

20. Funding
Partners Users

21. We are currently looking to fund the
app development and testing through
Funding the United Kingdom’s Design Council
‘Working Well’ Challenge.
Qkrowd can work in any
country, contact us if you want to start
it where you are!

22. We are looking for partner
organisations who are already service
Partners providers to young people seeking
employment or training.
The app acts as digital conduit to a real
world service providers and we need
people experienced in delivery of
support.

23. For testing and prototyping, we will
need to work with partner agencies to
Users work with users to define what works
best
Key development questions include:
•Digital personas to be made available
•What questions in avatar creation
•Type of work opportunities offered

24. If your organisation is interested in working with us to try
a new way of engaging with young people digitally to
make jobs, please contact me.
Alastair Somerville
+44 (0)7808 480749
@Qkrowd
Qkrowd@gmail.com