Community Engagement Award Winner 2023-2024
Service Design / User Study / Social Innovation | Sep 2023 - Present
One Tap Away
One Tap Away is an ongoing social innovation project, initiated by Team Tech Along, a team of undergraduate students formed by myself with a passion for giving technology solution for gender-based violence related social services. As part of Student-Community Engagement Competition 2023-2024, it is a self-led project partnered with a local non-profit organization, VLMFSS (Vancouver Lower Mainland Multicultural Family Support Services) to bring social impact in our community.
Jae Eun
Kate
Ella
Figma
Adobe Illustrator
Manychat
User Study
Primary/Secondary Research
Digital Prototype
Partnership Management
What is this project about? Check out this video as an overview.
Our current focus is to utilize a digital interactive agent, such as a chatbot, to narrow the technological gap between the social service providers and young population.
How did this project start?
The ideation of forming a team for technology intervention for social services began when I was working at VLMFSS as a Victim Support Worker.
I noticed that young people in their early 20s are generally hesitant or uncomfortable to seek help through traditional mode of contact, such as a phone call or an email.
But would young people actually be interested in chatbots?
Hence the user study through SFU Directed Studies!
My experience assisting young victims of crimes and realizing the need for technology intervention led me to do a user study as part of my SFU Directed Studies course.
User Study
This is a poster that I presented at 2024 SFU Undergraduate Research Symposium. Hover on the numbers to see I progressed through the user research!
Overall, I saw that young people see value of chatbots to a limited extent, mainly for administrative tasks.
Click here
to see the poster in full size.
Re-contextualization
: How can I apply my findings for social innovation?
Through the user study, overall, I saw that young people see value of chatbots to a limited extent, mainly for administrative tasks.
So I wondered, "How can I translate the research findings into the fieldsite of gender-based violence-related work, like VLMFSS' website?"
Me
Is there anyway I can integrate chatbot into social services? I can probably work with VLMFSS!
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Funding
: We were awarded $2000 for this project!
I gathered up two more undergraduate students, then applied for SFU 2023-2024 Student-Community Engagement Competition for the project to integrate chatbot into VLMFSS' system ; then called the project 'One Tap Away' chatbot.
We secured $2000 funding through the Competition!
Read how we explained our project on SFU website.
Chatbot Integration
: We added a chatbot function to VLMFSS' Facebook.
Using Manychat, a chatbot builder web application, we were able to set up a chatbot API for VLMFSS' Facebook.
With a trigger as simple as 'hi', 'hello', or 'hey', the users will be able to start the conversation and be introduced to resources.
Instead of searching for the resources themselves, the users can simply tap on the suggestions to look into the details.
The users can even have the option to be redirected to a calling option.
Reflection
: It's not done yet! What are our future plans?
Our future plan is to set up the Advisory Committee, composed of industry professionals where we can receive feedback of the chatbot design.
In August 2024 ✨,
I held a co-creation workshop, where the service providers can express what their expectations are for a chatbot for the gender-based violence.
Based on my user research, the values were found at its technical aspects that enable administrative tasks, rather than its ability to emulate human properties, such as embodiment or personality.
This is why as of this moment, the chatbot primarily focuses on doing a search on resources on behalf of themselves, with ready-made prompts.
I was excited to gather ethnographic data from collaborative design workshops with the Advisory Committee, later in this summer, and see if my perception of giving the “agency” to the chatbot aligns with the stakeholders’ perception.
Current Stage
: Building an AI chatbot, informed by co-creation workshop…
CONTACT ME 🙌