CHANGE

Use the power of new technology to create an application or service that facilitates perosnal or social behavior change.

Design Inspiration:My inspiration is centered around habits. I am interested in the idea that habits are routine and unnoticeable. Tithing to a church is a habit. A tithing habit becomes routine and unnoticeable once it is placed into motion. Technology may stimulate, encourage and support the thithing habits of church members. Technology may also enrich the user experience of giving by strengthening community ties. A customized application designed to encourage digital tithing through interactive media reinforces the idea that contributions are making a difference in the community.

Activites:I interviewed 4 users regarding habits in general, habits regarding tithing to a church and digital tithing vs. traditional tithing. The people I chose to interview are active members of a church and were between the ages of 14-25 (1 middle school student, 1 high school student, 2 married young adults).

I surveyed the participants and they all agreed on the following:• Habits are routine.• Tithing to your church is a habit.• Knowing what my tithe goes toward is valuable to me.• Acustomapplicationdesignedspecificallyformychurchthatsupportstithingwouldmakeanimpact.

Observations:I observed 4 users interacting with 5 different websites. I asked the participants to talk-aloud while they explored the sites. Two of the sites were habit changing websites designed to encourage habit change, monitor and customize habits. The other 3 sites were designed to support giving and were targeted toward churches at a corporate level. The giving websites offered digital tithing solutions such as kiosks and mobile apps. The habit changing websites offered email reminders and mobile apps.

I used Skype to observe these sessions along with note taking. Screenshots with annotations are provided along with user needs summary.

Dana LynnHuman Computer InteractionApril 14, 2013

INTERVIEWS

MITCH – ON GIVING

What does giving mean to you?Giving is sharing. It does not have to be material things. It can be sharing bounty or intelligence. It could be a gift of money or service or whatever you have that is extra.

What feelings do you have when you give?Giving makes you feel important in the world. When you give you are affecting other people besides yourself. Self worth goes up and so does self importance.

What feelings do you have when you cannot give?Thisishardbecausetherewasafinanciallytoughperiodformyfamily.Myfamilylikestogivetothehomeless.And one time we could not pay for groceries. We could not give as much. We did not feel important. We felt helpless. When we could not give material things we learned to give other things like; happiness, compassion and friendship.

What feelings do you have when you see others giving?Ifeelgoodforthem.Itsreallycool,selflessandawesome.Ithink,whyamInotdoingthatrightnow?Givingiscontagious. The community catches on.

What do you get back from giving?When you give something and someone cant give back, you will get thanks and appreciation. After giving you get praise to the next level.

Do you believe that the giving of time is the equivalent of giving money?Yes, because, service counts as time and is equal to pay.

Is tithing to your church the same as charitable giving?No, because the church is home and more personal. When I give to my church it feels like I am doing this kind of for me, feels closer to home. I experience closer feelings.

MITCH – ON TECHNOLOGY

What form of technology do you use the most to communicate with others with? Mobile phone, mobile tablet, laptop, desktop, telephone?My top form of technology is texting. I am not much of an email person, email is old fashioned. My mobile phone allows for text only. If I had a smart phone I would do all of the app and web stuff. I talk on my cellphone alot.

Do you frequent your church website?No, I do not. Most of the information I need for what’s happening with the youth group comes from emails from the youth group coordinator. Our youth group Facebook page helps keep us informed about what is going on. The person in charge of events sends us text messages all the time. I visit the church website semi-frequently.

What other websites do you visit that support your spiritual growth?I visit a site called tut.com. I get emails from the universe. When I read one and feel good. I can wake up feeling yukky and get an email from the universe saying I am really awesome! This is personalized. I love this. I like Mike Dooly,wroteabook,video,workshopsonpositiveaffirmations.

Do you tithe to your church? If so, is it online or on site during the service?As part of the youth group we have to give 10 hours of service for the church. This is personal and really helps. It totals 40 hours per year. I spend most of my time with younger kids. My brother and I donate online. We donate, 2 dollars per week. And we sometimes donate during service too.

What impact would sharing your profile and contribution history with your online community have on the church?Everyone would know how many people really support the church. It would make the community stronger. We could see who really cares. We are all contributing. Very positive.

JUSTIN – ON GIVING

What does giving mean to you?Giving means sharing yourself with others without anything expected in return.

What feelings do you have when you give?Satisfaction, joy, accomplishment, compassion.

What feelings do you have when you cannot give?Inadequacy, helplessness.

What feelings do you have when you see others giving?Happiness, sense of community, motivation to give.

What do you get back from giving?Satisfaction of knowing that I changed something.

Do you believe that the giving of time is the equivalent of giving money?Yes,definitely.Peoplewhocan’tgivemoneycanhavethesamesatisfactionfromgivingtime.Itispossiblethatgiving time is more valuable than giving money, ex: youth group sponsors. You cant just give high schoolers money with no time we would not know what to do with it!

Is tithing to your church the same as charitable giving?Not really, because the church directly affects me. When I give to the church I am giving to me.

JUSTIN – ON TECHNOLOGY

What form of technology do you use the most to communicate with others with? Mobile phone, mobile tablet, laptop, desktop, telephone?Cell phone, plan to upgrade to smart phone in future, texting for now is my main form of communication.

Do you frequent your church website?Not at all, once in the past year. With a smart phone I am more inclined to use sites and apps to support my growth. At the youth Rally conference we used a meditation helper app. I want to have these kind of apps that help me to meditate.

What other websites do you visit that support your spiritual growth?None, not right now.

Do you tithe to your church? If so, is it online or on site during the service?Whenever I have extra money. Yes I have a regular amount per month.

What impact would sharing your profile and contribution history with your online community have on the church?This would be really helpful to see other people giving. Giving in a group is easier than giving by yourself.

AYLYN & RYAN – ON GIVING

What does giving mean to you?A:GivingmeansthatIgivemyresources,mytime,myexpertise.Givingcanbedefinedbyanythingthatyoucanoffer to another human being.

R:Givingmeanshavingfaiththatyoudon’tneeditandsomebodycouldbenefitfromyourtimeandorresources.

What feelings do you have when you give?A: I feel anxious sometimes about whether it was the right decision to give. Sometimes it feels really great and you are sure you know, and it is for the right reasons. For example somebody did something for you and you give back and it feels awesome.

R: Anxious, but it makes you feel good when things are in balance. Giving and receiving balances the universe.

What feelings do you have when you cannot give?A: Sometime I feel guilty. When it is expected that you to give, church is a perfect example. Talk about tithing, when you are not in the position to tithe money you can make up for it with time and resources. Sometimes I feel guilty not contributing.

R: Resentful that you are expected to give or that you cannot give.

What feelings do you have when you see others giving?A: I think its admirable. I admire them and feel pleased that people are willing to give and that people are not alwaysselfish.

R: It is good that people feel like they have money to share, and then the others can do what they can.

What do you get back from giving?A: Every time you give you always receive something back. Give and receive. The more you give, the more you receive. Lending a few bucks or giving someone your old computer. I give a lot to my friend and he gives a lot back to me and that’s a really cool exchange.

R: A sense of brotherly love. Giving is a natural thing to do. Not because it is moral or imperative. If your friend is in need you help them out. Knowing directly where it is going is more gratifying than giving indiscriminately.

Do you believe that the giving of time is the equivalent of giving money?A:Idefinitelybelievethatitis.Itisdebatedinoursocietythough.Peopledon’tbelievethattheirtimeisworthanything. Time is worth money. At church I try to gauge how much my time is worth to the music department. I am worth 14-15 per hour to sing for the church. I try to gauge my volunteer time for a dollar equivalent.

R: If you keep all of your money, then other members would be expected to give more. If you don’t give any time other members would be stretched for time. It is better to help together with both time and money. It is important for a church to have a balance of time and money coming in. If nobody gave time the church would have to pay for labor therefore causing a disconnect.

Is tithing to your church the same as charitable giving?A: No, the difference is contributing to your church, community garden, etc, forms a deeper connection. The churchisanextendedfamily.Givingtoyourchurchiscloserandmoresignificant.

R: You can tithe to your church regularly and also give charitably to it for example there is an extra special need at the church that would warrant a charitable contribution in and above tithing.

AYLYN & RYAN – ON TECHNOLOGY

What form of technology do you use the most to communicate with others with? Mobile phone, mobile tablet, laptop, desktop, telephone?A: Texting 1st, laptop 2ndR: Smart phone, laptop

Do you frequent your church website?A:IdidwhenIfirstwaslookingbutnotnow.Iliketheideaofagiving/receiving board (I need a pet sitter for the weekend, or help with yard work, or baby sitter, like a Unity Church craigslist). If people in the community don’t knowwhatyourneedsarethenyousimplydeclaringthem,howwillthatmanifest?Forexamplewhatifyouhaveaninterviewandneedapairofblackpants?DoesanybodyhaveapairIcanborroworpurchaserealcheap.Some people need big things and some need little things. There could be the giving column and the receiving column, needs column, resources column, yoga instructor matches up with someone who wants to try yoga. This would be like a digital bartering system.

What other websites do you visit that support your spiritual growth?A: I visit meditation websites. I like sites that have guided meditations. It would be nice to incorporate meditation intothechurchwebsite.Itcouldbetailoredtoaspecificstyle.

Do you tithe to your church? If so, is it online or on site during the service?A: No, but we will when our income is more stable. We do tithe our time = to the amount of money that we would give. This is approximately 5 hours week per person.

What impact would sharing your profile and contribution history with your online community have on the church?A: Seeing the ideas of other people would have an impact. Sharing shows me how that change some ones life and she shares the resources, like facebook. You could see that someone is cooking for that family and yo might say,maybeIcoulddothat?

R:Stayawayfromspecificity,forexampleshowinghowmuchpeopletithe.Couldusethetokenidea.Itcanrepresent dollars and time however could appear competitive.

OBSERVATIONS

Mitch discovered quickly that Habit Forge was an online coaching website and that it would send you email reminders.

Mitch could not tell initially where to sign up from the previous screen and had to scroll back up to locate the signup area. He created an account and assigned himself to a habit of playing baseball 3 hours per week on certain days throughout the week.

Mitch liked Habit Changer better. He said there were more choices here and that it was more personalized than Habit Forge.

Mitchsaidthissitewasbasedonscientificresearch about people’s brain patterns and how that affects their habits.

Mitch discovered the testimonials but was not sure if he could really believe them. He wanted to and thought that it would be helpful, but trust was an issue here.

Thebenefitsofthiswebsiteofferingwerehighly visible from the checklist on the left hand side. Mitch saw this right away.

Mitch liked the idea of a mobile app and a kiosk for processing donations to the church andspecificallytotheyouthgroup.Thistriggered a design idea.

Insight: The idea of texting to donate was appealing to him since he does not have a smart phone yet, he was particularly interested in the concept of texting to donate to the youth group account.

Mitch loved the idea of a kiosk in his church to promote events and fund raisers. This triggered a comprehensive design idea.

Insight: The youth group needs a better way of planning for trips and fund raising. Some people need help paying for trips and we need a way to track money for our trips. We need to fund raise for our summer trips. Asking for a dollar from every one does not necessarily work. It would be convenient if people could donate to our youth account. A Kiosk would present a better way for the youth group to raise money.

Justin was not sure how this site could help establish a habit. He felt that the reminder system could be better.

Insight: What if there was a popup app noti-ficationsystem.

Justin liked Habit Changer better overall. He said the visual was better, more organized, better color scheme. Hesaidthescientificresearchwaspersuasive. He did not understand why you have to pay for these programs. He felt the success stories were helpful.

Justin did not think that the church would switch form traditional tithing to digital tithing. He thinks it will take time. He said the kiosk is a good idea if it is introduced for a specificeventorfundraiserandthenletthechurch grow into the idea of a kiosk as a main tithing format.

Justin was confused by this website. He was not sure if it was designed for an organization. He noticed that there were 2navigationssystemsandthefirst3linkswere identical. He said the site was really cluttered and he did not know where to look. He thought they had a good product. He thought that if it was called “Easy tithe” theyneedtofindawaytomakeiteasiertouse.

Justin felt that this company was open and transparent with regard to their beliefs and that this will discourage customers that are not open to the beliefs of this organization. This would limit who they do business with. Do they have the right to except or refuse customersbasedontheirbeliefs?

Aylyn scrolls to the bottom of the page and notices the graphic tiles for habits, exercise, healthy foods, going for a run etc.

She said that it looks like a website where you can keep track of yourself. She was not sure what the site was about initially.

She said she would not use this site, and that she did not understand how it worked. She said the site does not seem very user friend-ly, it does not give you an example of how to use the site and did not guide her.

She noticed that you can watch a video. She said the video was too long and decid-ed not to view it.

Ryan wanted to reorder the information for clarity. He said the site should start out with a headline such as “How to improve your life, here’s how.” He said the site was vague and looked like an advertisement in the top portion. He said that the “join free” should be at the bottom and the graphic tiles should be at the top. The interactive tiles should be at the top and “Build your own habit”shouldbethefirstthingpeopleclickon.

Ryan responded to this site more than the previous primarily due to the color and the way the information was organized. He said that the it was 2 pages long and that was good. He also said that the blue border contain him visually and that the color was pleasing.

Aylyn clicked on the smoking tile. She said the interactive tiles are stimulating. You just click on the picture and the picture shows you what to do.

Aylyn said the plan was good however the “buy now” button should be at the bottom to give the reader time to get more infor-mation in. She felt that the reader needed more time to explore the information and seethesuccessstoriesfirst.Thecostisbeingrevealed to early, and may make people put up a wall. There is not enough explora-tion. It was high pressure like a car sales-man.Pricesshouldbeatthebottomofthecontent, the price doesn’t have to be in your in face.

Aylynfeltthatthescientificresearchwasinfluential.Shesaidthatanytimeyouputabrain on a website people will believe in it.

Both Ryan and Aylyn were skeptical about the success stories. They wanted to know how could they validate them. Some peo-ple need this kind of reinforcement to make decisions and some do not.

Insight: Success stories on a church web-site would be different. This would be like a personal referral. Familiar people are more useful. If our friend recommends this, then we trust her.

Aylyn felt like a giving kiosk was to imper-sonal and to business like. It may be that the church was not ready for this kind of service. She felt that it was something you would see in a mega church. She mentioned that church was one of the few places you did not have to pay to get in and the kiosk sym-bolized payment and could be distasteful to members. She liked the idea of digital tith-ing but from the comfort of your own home.

When asked about a kiosk for the Youth Group, both Ryan and Aylyn became open to this idea. They were put off by the idea of just swiping and giving. The idea of commu-nity involvement and special projects was appealing to them.

Insight: The kiosk could show different icons for different projects that you donate to-ward. What project would you like to tithe toward?Thegardeningproject,thesummercamp, music program, etc. Instead of the general out of pocket tithe, the kiosk offers personalization and connection with com-munity. The kiosk in this case offers more than traditional tithing methods of passing the basket.

The donor could look at programs, or see who needs help. See what is budgeted for and what your tithe goes toward. This allows for transparency and for the congregation to see the bigger picture.

Technology options: create an app for the church where you could see from any smartphone. You could also have a kiosk and website where all of the technology works together.

USER NEEDS

ON USER NEEDS

1. The youth group needs a convenient way fund raise for trips and events.

2. The youth group needs an easy way to accept donations such as through text messaging.

3. The church needs to incorporate methods of digital tithing such as mobile apps, and kiosks vs. traditional tithing.

4. The youth group needs a kiosk exclusively for fund raisers and youth group events.

5. The church needs a way to educate members about tithing.

6. The church needs a way to strengthen community ties and visibility with regard to tithing.

7. The church needs a way to easily and readily encourage tithing.

8. The church needs to integrate the community at large.

9. The church needs a way to track donations.

10. The church needs a way to track volunteers (volunteer database).

11. The church needs a responsive website to accommodate mobile phone, tablet and desktop.

12. The church needs to increase visibility for the habit of tithing on its website.

13. The church needs improve the donation transaction on their website.

14. The church needs a way to make the habit of tithing more personal and easily accessible.

15. The church needs a way to share the progress/success of its members with regard to tithing and volunteering.