Design Innovation for Group and Individual Volunteering

Design Innovation for Group
and Individual Volunteering

Version 3.0
Published December 09, 2009
Created by Randall Blair

Design Innovation for Group and Individual Volunteering 2 of 21
Version 3.0 published December 09, 2009 by Randall Blair (randall.r.blair@gmail.com)

Contents
Project Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Design Method
Human Centered Design Process . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Research & Discover
Youth and Volunteering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
What Happens When Young Volunteers Grow Up? . . 8
Youth and Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Research Touchpoints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
User Behavioral Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Analyze
Requirements of Volunteers . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Requirements Matrix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Synthesize
Solutions Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Concept Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Realize
Concept. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Resources
Research, Bibliography, Credits . . . . . . . . . . . 21

© Copyright 2008, Randall Blair


Project Summary
Can innovations that Situation
affect group and Young people in America are very willing to volunteer their time and
individual volunteering energy to efforts that truly believe they can help people and make a
difference in their community. Agencies can benefit a great deal from this
activities have a positive energetic and capable population.
effect on future activities? Many adult volunteers have their first experience as volunteers as young
children. It is common that these experiences are done as a group with
family, friends, churches and other youth service organizations like
scouting.
Few, if any, good systems exist that give the young volunteers a way
to independently match their time, communication, flexibility and
socialization desires to a volunteer opportunity. There is also a need
to develop a system or method to better manage the acquisition,
communication and organization of individual volunteers into groups in
a way that fits into an increasingly mobile/digital culture.

Hypothesis
Supporting group volunteering for young people will lead to increased
volunteering for those people when they are adults.

Aims of the Project
By listening to and observing the needs of young volunteers and of the
adults that support them in these activities, we can design a system that
uses current and emerging technology to facilitate the administration and
participation in group volunteering opportunities.



Design Method



Human Centered Design Process
In this model, once the need to use a
human centered design process has been
identified, four activities form the main
cycle of work: Identify need for
human centered
1. Specify the context of use design
Identify the people who will use the
product, what they will use it for, and
under what conditions they will use it.
Specify Context of Use
2. Specify requirements
Identify any business requirements or user
goals that must be met for the product to
be successful. System satisfies
Evaluate Designs specified Specify Requirements
3. Create design solutions requirements
This part of the process may be done in
stages, building from a rough concept to a
complete design.
Produce Design Solutions
4. Evaluate designs
The most important part of this process is
that evaluation - ideally through usability
testing with actual users - is as integral
as quality testing is to good software
development.



Research & Discover



Youth and Volunteering
A national study, Millions of Young People Volunteer
conducted by the 15.5 million youths between the ages of 12 and 18 contributed more than
1.3 billion hours of service during 2004.
Corporation for National
and Community Service, Young People Volunteer More Than Adults
with the U.S. Census Young people volunteered at twice the rate of adults with 55 percent of
Bureau and Independent young people volunteering, compared with only 29 percent of adults.
Sector, found the Volunteering Helps Young People Succeed
following facts about Youth who volunteer are less likely to engage in risky behavior, are more
young volunteers. likely to feel connected to their communities, and tend to do better in
school.

Altruism Is the Driving Motivator
Youth who volunteer do so out of altruism, strongly agreeing with
statements such as “I would like to help make the world a better place,”
and “It’s important to do things for others.” Only 5% of students became
involved with volunteering through a school requirement.

Adult Role Models Are Crucial
A youth who has a parent who volunteers is nearly three times more likely
to volunteer on a regular basis.

They Need Flexible Volunteer Opportunities
Thirty-nine percent of teenagers volunteer on a regular basis; 35% do so
occasionally; and 27% are episodic volunteers.

Enhance College Application
Volunteering positively represents citizenship and service can actually
boost an applicant’s chances for admission to a college.


What Happens When Young Volunteers Grow Up?
A report from Majority of adult volunteers were youth volunteers
Independent Sector Forty-four percent of adults volunteer and two-thirds of these volunteers
and Youth Service began volunteering their time when they were young.

America illustrates the Greater Frequency
strong impact of youth Adults who began volunteering as youth are twice as likely to volunteer as
service on the giving and those who did not volunteer when they were younger.
volunteering habits of Give and Volunteer More
adults. In every income and age group, those who volunteered as youth give and
volunteer more than those who did not.

Volunteer Families Become Most Generous
Those who volunteered as youth and whose parents volunteered became
the most generous adults in giving time.



Youth and Technology
The use of mobile phones Mobile Use
and social media – from 71% of teens 12-17 own a mobile phone.
texting and blogging to Text-messaging is the number one activity for mobile users age 14-25 at 86%.
online social networking Mobile users age 13-17 send and receive an average of 2,899 text messages
to creation of all kinds of per month. This is more than 3 times the rate of the nearest age group.
digital material – is central Social Media
to many teenagers’ lives. Some 93% of teens use the internet, and more of them than ever are treating
it as a venue for social interaction – a place where they can share creations,
tell stories, and interact with others.
The Pew Internet & American Life Project has found that 64% of online teens
ages 12-17 have participated in one or more among a wide range of content-
creating activities on the internet, up from 57% of online teens in a similar
survey at the end of 2004.
• 39% of online teens share their own artistic creations online, such as
artwork, photos, stories, or videos, up from 33% in 2004.
• 33% create or work on web pages or blogs for others, including those for
groups they belong to, friends, or school assignments, basically unchanged
from 2004 (32%).
• 28% have created their own online journal or blog, up from 19% in 2004.
• 27% maintain their own personal web page, up from 22% in 2004.
• 26% remix content they find online into their own creations, up from 19%
in 2004.
The percentage of those ages 12-17 who said “yes” to at least one of those five
content-creation activities is 64% of online teens, or 59% of all teens.



Research Touchpoints
ATTITUDE GROUPING DESIRE
• like to go on the mission trips • Mission Outreach at the church • one boy 17 came and said he didn’t volunteer
• have to = resentment • Boys do community service through scouting, at all, didn’t appeal to him

• make it fun eagle scout projects • said it felt really good to help people

• recruitment • Learn about opportunities through the • girls said they liked to volunteer because they
groups they belong to, scouts, church, NHS always felt good about themselves afterward
• positive talk, never “failure” in volunteering
• Liked doing things as a group • to like it as adults , have to like it as kids
• treat them as adults, they will act as adults
• Don’t usually do independent things unless it • create volunteers for the long run
• older kids should mentor younger kids is done as a family • Kids like the human contact, will get them to
• For guys has to be more “macho” • if they need 10 they sign up 20 volunteer later on
• responsibility • most guys who volunteer come in through
• key to success is how the kids are treated their girls

COMMUNICATION OPPORTUNITIES EASE
• can email, announcements, posters , phone • schools have announcement screens that say • make it easy for the kids
calls, facebook, twitter what’s happening • Remove barriers for the kids
• student execs use text messaging to their • thought it wouldn’t be too hard to find a • kids are impulsive
chairmen volunteer opportunity if they wanted to
• most are after school
• instant volunteering phone app • non threatening opportunities
• don’t treat volunteering as something to
• “drive-through volunteering • Being asked is a big motivator grade and pass
• facebook app • “make it easy and fun”
• alerts
• Young people who discuss a volunteer
experience are twice as likely as others to
volunteer regularly.


User Behavioral Modes
This set of behavioral modes defines the different ways users approach, engage, interact with, and even think about volunteering in groups .

Mode Description
...wants to find and manage the logistics between the individual volunteers and the
Group Organizer/Leader service organization.
...happily participates as often as they can and wants to stay current on the opportunities
Enthusiastic Volunteer/Altruist available. Encourages others to join.
...is only interested in volunteering to enhance a college or job application or to fulfill a
Reluctant Volunteer/Resume Builder school requirement.



Analyze



Requirements of Volunteers
Requirements are formed by assessing more intangible things like motivations, preferences, hopes, and desired outcomes. “What are they trying to
achieve” is a useful refrain for driving this analysis.

Requirement Description
Dynamic Delivery Support the timely notification of events, messages, alerts for known and potential opportunities.

Secure and understandable management of the connections between the participants and the
Elegant Administration requirements and contacts of volunteer opportunities.
Allow for varied engagement styles, giving participants the ability to find necessary information
Empowered Engagement and make informed and appropriate decisions while maximizing their control.
Ways of communicating to and with individuals and the general public connecting them to the
Social Experience participant and the opportunities.



Requirements Matrix
= size indicates relative Group Organizer/ Enthusiastic Volunteer/ Reluctant Volunteer/
importance of requirement to user Leader Altruist Resume Builder

Elegant Administration 1

Empowered Engagement 2 3

Dynamic Delivery

Social Experience

The System User must have the ability to...
1 Organize the Connected Group
2 Control Event Information
3 Interact With the World



Synthesize



Solutions Architecture
VOLUNTEER

ORGANIZER PARTICIPANT

Organize the Connected Group Control Event Information Interact With the World
• Organize event information Notification • Ability to post comment on all events
• Notify members of requirements to • Proactive alerts about appropriate groups • Can invite others to volunteer in specific
participate or opportunities based on preferences opportunities
• Set maximum and minimum group • Instant notification of an immediate • Communicate with any or all of the entire
members for a particular opportunity volunteer need team at once
• Create events • Tag opportunities and groups for search • Share experiences with their group and/
• Search database for events and grouping or the public

• View group member information • Receive alerts and messages via e-mail, • Post media (images, movies) related to an
sms, social-application messaging event
• View commitments for the events
• Export events to calendar or print • Use a scoring or rating system for events
• Assign other roles for the event
Empowerment • Post volunteering levels or status in a
• Allow access to event information public way if desired
• Get notified of any special requirements
• Invite people to join event • Communicate volunteer activities in
• Ability to make information be private
• Communicate with event agency other media
• Access personal volunteering history
• Empowered to commit to opportunities
• Search for opportunities based on criteria
• Track their volunteer time
• Can create a report of volunteer activities



Concept Map



Realize



Concept
The concept is to create an online application that will store volunteer opportunities and user history in a database. The user will be able to access the
data and search for events, pledge hours and see their history. It will utilize Facebook Connect to provide the seamless experience to the millions of
users of that platform. This will also allow a similar experience for the user to update this content on a website, in Facebook and on a mobile device.
Next event is at the top of the list

Screen to manage events and At-a-Glance history and hours
their properties given and pledged
Screen to manage groups
Report of volunteer history with hours,
locations, dates. Exportable.

Way to set preferences when to be
notified if someone needs help now Friends hours shown for
motivation/competition
Page to set preferences for messaging,
search, communications

Utilize Facebook Connect for account
management and connecting to friends Search by tags/keywords for
and status updates. events. Preferences can be set for
common tags (location,etc)
Event title data and location
Easy to ad event to your calendar

Additional event notes and
instructions can be hidden if Ability to create your own event
desired to add to the global database or
to make private
Ability to invite friends to pledge
Easy to see pledge status for
and to message to the event
any events that are in your list.
participants
Clicking can change status.



Resources



Research, Bibliography, Credits
Bibliography Special Thanks
http://nonprofit.about.com/od/volunteers/tp/youthvol.htm To the students and directors of the SHARE
http://www.civicyouth.org/?page_id=237 program at Shawnee Mission East High School
in Leawood, KS.
http://www.independentsector.org/programs/research/engagingyouth.html
Members of Valley View United Methodist
http://www.upassoc.org/usability_resources/about_usability/what_is_ucd.html Church Youth in Overland Park, KS.


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