SparkApp !

Spark Logo transparent

Concept Description :

The aim of SomeJam was to use the means of digital technology to build up concrete ways enhancing the wellbeing of youth. We created a web application, named Sparkapp, which would generate a random activity for the user to try. SparkApp helps people to take part in surprise events. Users can customize event notifications on the basis of price range, duration, adrenaline level, physical activity level, time window, do-good (charity) activities etc.

The app was mainly designed for people between 12 to 65 years of age. We were aiming to focus on the Greater Helsinki area in the first development stage

(https://fi.surveymonkey.com/r/X6QSVXN) and got 63 survey responses from our friends. Result of our survey was as follows

  • 74% claim they like trying out new things
  • 92% think new experiences are important
  • Still 71% say, they could improve at trying new things more often

As we can see from results, the majority claimed that with a little nudge, they would get more active and do new things. So here we come in to provide that nudge !

We believe SparkApp can benefit its users in various ways :

  • As it is said an empty mind is devil’s workshop, SparkApp helps it users by engaging them in constructive hobbies.
  • Learn new things.
  • Overcome social phobia
  • Become creative and positive
  • With this app, it is possible to take part in charitable activities and hence enjoy the fun for helping others

Apart from bunch of benefits discussed above, SparkApp provides special values by opening up new horizons of random constructive activities which user may not have tried before. This may also help users to realize their hidden talents which they otherwise thought was not meant for them.

 

 

Prototyping :

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We have uploaded our working paper prototype at https://popapp.in/w/projects/56ec75a2323e0635475d2c3e/preview/56ed4cdf1c9f3a857ad0b99e

After we clarified the main functions and features that SparkApp would provide, we built a paper prototype which included the user interface according to each function and feature which could be found at paper prototype link above.

The paper prototype helped us to visualize the application and makes it easier to deliver the idea to developers as well as audiences. When designing the paper prototype, we found that it would be more convenient for the user to customize event notifications by using double-end sliders for scales, such as “adrenaline level” (from fully relaxed to Indiana Jones) and “physical activity level” (from easy going to athletic hardcore).

We also made a video in which the main concept and the process of the application was explained. Video also contains story of Steve, who was bored by his daily life and wanted to try something new and how SparkApp could help him in overcoming his boredom and engage him in something constructive . Please check out our video 

Technical description:

    • Development tools used:
    • Stage of implementation:
      • Lots of back-end logic implemented. Front end HTML/CSS was also produced and integrated with the back end, but it was not good enough for submission. We integrated the system with Facebook, making login with FaceBook possible, and collected local events’ metadata from external sources.
    • Are you satisfied with the architectural choices your group made for the software? If yes, why? If no, what would you have done differently
      • Yes. Our Architecture remained at such a simple level since only mostly back-end logic was focused on. Everyone agreed on the development process in a beautiful harmony.
    • Repository

Team members :

Group

 

Group2

 

Group3

    • Axel Wallin (programmer, innovator, designer)
    • Evan Miller (programmer)
    • Mikko Rinta-Homi (programmer)
    • Annette Mili Kemppi (programmer, innovator, designer)
    • Shubham Kapoor (programmer)
    • Yan He (programmer)
    • Evgeny Kamardin (visual artist)
    • Batman (emotional support)

During the weekend we spent in Somejam2016, we were able to collaborate, gain unique development experience and Win an electrifying hackathon environment. Our project idea was well praised by judges but lack of front end developer and technical practicalities (For ex. We could only access Facebook users personal data after a week developer has registered himself to FB)  limited our practical practical demonstrations. If given new opportunities to showcase our project we would try to overcome these limitations and also include a nice front end developer in our team

Antti-Social Network

Team members:

  • Martin Radev – Programmer
  • Nidia Obscura – Innovator/Analyst
  • Fiyinfoluwa  Soyoye – Programmer
  • Angel Gallegos – Programmer

Screenshot from 2016-03-29 12:55:13

Concept description:

We came up with a solution to solve the problem of youth distraction by specific social media sites. We looked at statistics on the usage of social media by young adults and  we discovered that people under the age of 30 use social media for up to 4 hours a day and teenagers use these media for an astounding 9 hours a day.

While this was disturbing enough, we realized that it wasn’t the main problem. The main problem was that 13-year-olds can check Facebook alone up to 100 times in a single day. This implied that youth check social media so often that they never really focus on a specific task such as studying or even having fun with their friends.

Our target was the youth who were getting so easily distracted and unfocused because of such destructive habits, including ourselves. Actually, the idea came up after talking about our own personal problems with the nowadays technology.

We aimed to solve the problem by creating an web app that could easily be installed on a web browser and track the usage of the most commonly abused social media. From our own personal experience, we knew that most people don’t realize that they use Facebook or Twitter as much as they do.

The special value of the app was that we didn’t try to limit people’s access and usage of social media. Instead, we provided them with concise and clear data on their personal usages. We believe that limiting people will only lead to them trying to beat our system and ultimately uninstalling the app. By simply providing them with helpful knowledge, they can take this knowledge and change their own habits, improve their lives and have more meaningful interactions with the world.

 

PrototypingScreenshot from 2016-03-29 12:55:45

Our prototype was a complete chrome app paired with a functioning server and a website that displayed personal usage data.

When designing our prototype, we came up with a use case called Antti. Antti is a 19-year-old boy who was having trouble getting good grades in his first year of university because he could not focus.

He would spend hours studying but realize that it was all a waste. By using our app, he quickly noticed that when studying, he checked Facebook every 6 minutes. With that realization, he was able to train himself to concentrate and ultimately do better at university.

Below, we have included pictures of the website that we designed and the graphs displaying real usage data.

Website homepage:

Screenshot from 2016-03-29 12:45:27

User statistics example:

Screenshot from 2016-03-29 12:47:15

Technical description:

In our implementation we decided to split the work into three main parts: Creating a browser extension for logging the user behaviour, a server that collects all users data for further processing and a web interface that shows the user their user statistics and habits.

The browser extension logs the web domains visited by the user, device or browser used, and the timestamp of the time he started and finished using it. At this point of the implementation, the extension was only implemented for Firefox but planned to be implemented also in Chrome browser and in the future even on Android so the app covers the main devices used by young people.

On the server side, we created a dummy server in heroku that received the logs extracted by the extension and store them into a database. The server was available to any user at the end of the hackathon but it was missing a login implementation, therefore, it only was able to create statistics for one user.

Once we collected and created some dummy readings from the user, we process them and show them into a bar and pie charts for the user. The user visits his main page where the user is supposed to select a timeframe he/she is interested to know about. For instance, it can be a day, a week or a month. Once selected, the server collects the related registries for the timeframe and create the charts. The bar chart shows the main domain activities during the timeframe, for instance, in a day it shows the domains where the users spend their time the most during every two hours. The pie chart shows the domains where the user spent the most in the given timeframe.
On the data processing, we only were able to implement simple time analysis but it was expected to include more complex analysis. Such analysis includes the times you are using the most some domains, the mean intervals between each visit, for how long you visit them, etc. Once included, it would allow the user to infer why such behaviours and why during those times. Also, it would allow us to give some feedback if the user is expecting to get rid of some bad habits. For instance, if he wants to reduce the time he spend in “Facebook”, it would be possible to show him/her the progress on this task.

Screenshot from 2016-03-29 12:56:40

The tools used were:

  • Heroku
  • Flask
  • Python
  • Javascript
  • ChartJS

The implementation we tried to use tools that we were familiar with but we did not know in detail. That is, our purpose was to learn something at the same time we were creating our solution. For example, the initial plans include using libraries from python we know but, we did not know how to use it on a web-server. We decided to use flask framework since we have heard about it but not use it in detail. We also decided to use Heroku since we needed to have available the server from any device and deploying our implementation to Heroku allowed us to do it. At the same time, we initially expected to create the extension for Chrome but since it seemed easier to do it in Firefox, we went that way.

Technically, the most important decisions were defining the scope of the project due to time limitations. For instance, we expected to implement it in a web-browser and android but, we decided to have it working at least on the web browser before moving on to a mobile device. Also, we started creating a login page for allowing different users to have their statistics but, spending much time on it would be useless since it was only a prototype.

Hobby bot

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Hobby bot slides

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The winning group. Members from left to right Pirjo (Pipe), Mika, Lunni (Mika’s dog), Lilja and Rupsha

 

Hobby bot is the ultimate tool for finding hobbies. Everyone can profit from it; those who already have hobbies but no one to practice them with, those who have no hobbies at all and those who don’t even realize that their free time activities can be considered as hobbies.

How does it work?

  1. Create an account

When creating an account, you’ll get to answer easy questions about your preferences. You may also link your social media accounts. The data collected will be used to customize your hobby list.

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  2. Browse hobbies

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Once you’ve the system up and running, you can browse hobbies using the amazing slider. One end is your comfort zone, which shows you only hobbies that are prefect matches for you, the other end of the slider is something totally new, which shows you hobbies that are least suitable for you… And everything in between! This makes it possible for you to stick with the stuff you like or try out new things.

When you do find a hobby you’re interested in, you are presented a doodle like calendar in which you can tick the times that are suitable for you. Once enough people have selected suitable times, Hobby bot works its magic and reserves automatically the most suitable time and place at the near by youth center notifying the users to confirm their attendance.

  3. Add your own hobbies!

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Sharing is caring and the old proverb goes also with hobbies. Why do your hobby alone? Add it to the system and let Hobby bot find other people interested in the same hobby. Whenever you add a hobby, you also need to tag it. These tags are actually important for the system as hobbies are recommended by them.

Tag system

We use a simple LDA to divide tags automatically into semantically coherent categories.

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These categories serve two purposes: firstly they are the core of the recommendation algorithm and secondly they double as a feedback method to the user helping them to learn more about themselves!

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This neat diagram let’s you discover the “skills” (tag categories) you practice and don’t practice through your hobbies.

Not convinced? Watch a real young person using the system!

 

Our focus at SomeJam

Having learned the most valuable lesson last year: don’t spend too much time on coding. We actually only used a little fraction of our time to make an HTML page showing the system’s front page. Apart from that we used mock ups.

Firstly, understanding well the problem domain was our main focus. We asked youngsters about how they found hobbies, what hobbies are and so on. We discovered that the word “hobby” was a rather tricky one, and that people didn’t consider things such as playing in the theater or drawing as hobbies at all. Also we found that kids find their hobbies through their friends…. But what if your friends don’t have any hobbies – or you don’t have any friends to begin with?

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We created different user profiles – simple stories of possible users and their motives. And put them all in a single mind map.

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We were also asked to list values the system adds to its users by our lovely mentors. We spent a good amount of time trying to figure it out.

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Pipe, the youth worker of our group also provided us with valuable insights about the social context of Hobby bot.

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Pipe was so eager to use the app that she took the mock up prototypes to young people to test.