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

Design Innovation for Group and Individual VolunteeringVersion 3.0 published December 09, 2009 by Randall Blair ([email protected])

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© Copyright 2008, Randall Blair

ContentsProject Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Design MethodHuman Centered Design Process . . . . . . . . . . . 5

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

AnalyzeRequirements of Volunteers . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Requirements Matrix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

SynthesizeSolutions Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Concept Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

RealizeConcept. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

ResourcesResearch, Bibliography, Credits . . . . . . . . . . . 21


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Project SummarySituationYoung people in America are very willing to volunteer their time and 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 energetic and capable population.

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.

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

Aims of the ProjectBy 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.

Can innovations that affect group and individual volunteering activities have a positive effect on future activities?


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Design Method


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Human Centered Design ProcessIn this model, once the need to use a human centered design process has been identified, four activities form the main cycle of work:

1. Specify the context of useIdentify the people who will use the product, what they will use it for, and under what conditions they will use it.

2. Specify requirementsIdentify any business requirements or user goals that must be met for the product to be successful.

3. Create design solutionsThis part of the process may be done in stages, building from a rough concept to a complete design.

4. Evaluate designsThe 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.

Specify Context of Use

Produce Design Solutions

Specify RequirementsEvaluate Designs

Identify need for human centered

design

System satisfies specified

requirements


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Research & Discover


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Youth and VolunteeringMillions of Young People Volunteer15.5 million youths between the ages of 12 and 18 contributed more than 1.3 billion hours of service during 2004.

Young People Volunteer More Than AdultsYoung people volunteered at twice the rate of adults with 55 percent of young people volunteering, compared with only 29 percent of adults.

Volunteering Helps Young People SucceedYouth who volunteer are less likely to engage in risky behavior, are more likely to feel connected to their communities, and tend to do better in school.

Altruism Is the Driving MotivatorYouth 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 CrucialA youth who has a parent who volunteers is nearly three times more likely to volunteer on a regular basis.

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

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

A national study, conducted by the Corporation for National and Community Service, with the U.S. Census Bureau and Independent Sector, found the following facts about young volunteers.


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What Happens When Young Volunteers Grow Up?Majority of adult volunteers were youth volunteersForty-four percent of adults volunteer and two-thirds of these volunteers began volunteering their time when they were young.

Greater FrequencyAdults who began volunteering as youth are twice as likely to volunteer as those who did not volunteer when they were younger.

Give and Volunteer MoreIn every income and age group, those who volunteered as youth give and volunteer more than those who did not.

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

A report from Independent Sector and Youth Service America illustrates the strong impact of youth service on the giving and volunteering habits of adults.


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Youth and TechnologyMobile Use71% of teens 12-17 own a mobile phone.

Text-messaging is the number one activity for mobile users age 14-25 at 86%.

Mobile users age 13-17 send and receive an average of 2,899 text messages per month. This is more than 3 times the rate of the nearest age group.

Social MediaSome 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.

The use of mobile phones and social media – from texting and blogging to online social networking to creation of all kinds of digital material – is central to many teenagers’ lives.


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Research TouchpointsGROUPING

Mission Outreach at the church•

Boys do community service through scouting, •eagle scout projects

Learn about opportunities through the •groups they belong to, scouts, church, NHS

Liked doing things as a group•

Don’t usually do independent things unless it •is done as a family

if they need 10 they sign up 20•

DESIREone boy 17 came and said he didn’t volunteer •at all, didn’t appeal to him

said it felt really good to help people•

girls said they liked to volunteer because they •always felt good about themselves afterward

to like it as adults , have to like it as kids•

create volunteers for the long run•

Kids like the human contact, will get them to •volunteer later on

most guys who volunteer come in through •their girls

ATTITUDElike to go on the mission trips•

have to = resentment•

make it fun•

recruitment•

positive talk, never “failure” in volunteering•

treat them as adults, they will act as adults•

older kids should mentor younger kids•

For guys has to be more “macho”•

responsibility•

key to success is how the kids are treated•

OPPORTUNITIESschools have announcement screens that say •what’s happening

thought it wouldn’t be too hard to find a •volunteer opportunity if they wanted to

non threatening opportunities•

Being asked is a big motivator•

EASEmake it easy for the kids•

Remove barriers for the kids•

kids are impulsive•

most are after school•

don’t treat volunteering as something to •grade and pass

“make it easy and fun”•

COMMUNICATIONcan email, announcements, posters , phone •calls, facebook, twitter

student execs use text messaging to their •chairmen

instant volunteering phone app•

“drive-through volunteering•

facebook app•

alerts•

Young people who discuss a volunteer •experience are twice as likely as others to volunteer regularly.


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

Mode Description

Group Organizer/Leader ...wants to find and manage the logistics between the individual volunteers and the service organization.

Enthusiastic Volunteer/Altruist ...happily participates as often as they can and wants to stay current on the opportunities available. Encourages others to join.

Reluctant Volunteer/Resume Builder ...is only interested in volunteering to enhance a college or job application or to fulfill a school requirement.


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Analyze


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Requirements of Volunteers

Requirement Description

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

Elegant Administration Secure and understandable management of the connections between the participants and the requirements and contacts of volunteer opportunities.

Empowered Engagement Allow for varied engagement styles, giving participants the ability to find necessary information and make informed and appropriate decisions while maximizing their control.

Social Experience Ways of communicating to and with individuals and the general public connecting them to the participant and the opportunities.

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.


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Requirements Matrix

Group Organizer/ Leader

Enthusiastic Volunteer/ Altruist

Reluctant Volunteer/ Resume Builder

Elegant Administration

Empowered Engagement

Dynamic Delivery

Social Experience

= size indicates relative importance of requirement to user

2

1

3

The System User must have the ability to...1 Organize the Connected Group2 Control Event Information3 Interact With the World


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Synthesize


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Solutions Architecture

Organize the Connected Group Control Event Information Interact With the World

Organize event information•

Notify members of requirements to •participate

Set maximum and minimum group •members for a particular opportunity

Create events•

Search database for events•

View group member information •

View commitments for the events•

Assign other roles for the event•

Allow access to event information•

Invite people to join event•

Communicate with event agency•

Notification

Proactive alerts about appropriate groups •or opportunities based on preferences

Instant notification of an immediate •volunteer need

Tag opportunities and groups for search •and grouping

Receive alerts and messages via e-mail, •sms, social-application messaging

Export events to calendar or print•

Empowerment

Get notified of any special requirements•

Ability to make information be private •

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•

Ability to post comment on all events•

Can invite others to volunteer in specific •opportunities

Communicate with any or all of the entire •team at once

Share experiences with their group and/•or the public

Post media (images, movies) related to an •event

Use a scoring or rating system for events•

Post volunteering levels or status in a •public way if desired

Communicate volunteer activities in •other media

PARTICIPANTORGANIZER

VOLUNTEER


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Concept Map


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Realize


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Easy to ad event to your calendar

Concept

At-a-Glance history and hours given and pledged

Friends hours shown for motivation/competition

Search by tags/keywords for events. Preferences can be set for common tags (location,etc)

Ability to create your own event to add to the global database or to make private

Easy to see pledge status for any events that are in your list. Clicking can change status.

Next event is at the top of the list

Event title data and location

Additional event notes and instructions can be hidden if

desired

Ability to invite friends to pledge and to message to the event

participants

Screen to manage events and their properties

Screen to manage groupsReport of volunteer history with hours,

locations, dates. Exportable.

Way to set preferences when to be notified if someone needs help now

Page to set preferences for messaging, search, communications

Utilize Facebook Connect for account management and connecting to friends

and status updates.

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.


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Resources


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Research, Bibliography, CreditsBibliographyhttp://nonprofit.about.com/od/volunteers/tp/youthvol.htm

http://www.civicyouth.org/?page_id=237

http://www.independentsector.org/programs/research/engagingyouth.html

http://www.upassoc.org/usability_resources/about_usability/what_is_ucd.html

Special ThanksTo the students and directors of the SHARE program at Shawnee Mission East High School in Leawood, KS.

Members of Valley View United Methodist Church Youth in Overland Park, KS.