Download our final presentation

Video Sketch:

We decided to tell our story from the point of view of Chun Hei, our persona. We feel that this gives the video a strong personal aesthetic. We developed a script that has Chun telling her story from a first-person perspective. The video sketch will also show detailed interactions of our system; how the user actually builds their star, explores the universe, and participates in forums. We went through a long process of recording voice audio, deciding on the visual style of the video, mocking up the interface to show the interactions, and finally cutting it all together into a cohesive whole.

In order to avoid spoiling the surprise for the final presentation, no preview of the video sketch will be offered here. But our final presentation with the completed video sketch will be posted soon.

Through multiple iterations, we developed wireframes that step through features of the information architecture of most use to our persona – creating a star, filtering through other stars, and joining a forum. We focused on unique forms of interaction including an strong micro/macro relationship in navigating the whole of the system and drag & drop media.

• How can we effectively create the identity map, networking and forum view on the screen?
• How can the identity map, networking and forum visually be represented in a cohesive manner?
• What kind of look and feel teens like?

With these three questions in mind, we came considered many ideas for the visualization such as building a virtual city, virtual gardening, stars in universe and etc. All of the ideas were the metaphors where students can build there own identity map (buildings, gardens, stars) as well as something with other students (a city, a town, a constellation). After a lengthy talk, we concluded that the universe metaphor was the most appropriate visualization because building a star visually matches with the bull’s eye format for the identity map in the generative research. On top of that, the universe matched up with the ideas that you (a star) are with other people (other stars) in the same space (universe), building constellations with stars whose interests and backgrounds are closer to yours. There are three parts in the metaphor, stars, universe and nebulas: stars where individual immigrant students can provide personal profile information and build their own identity map with various media and stories: universe where students can navigate other stars and forums and be matched with those after using the filter: nebulas for interest-based social forum where students can interact with other students with topics of interests within a theme and organize physical meet-ups.

The identity map was reborn as myStar. We went through a number of iterations of styles for myStar, considering aspects of look & feel, in addition to interactions:

Here, we will first walk you through the (almost) final “myStar” view. After providing the basic profile information such as age, a country of origin, family tree, and a school the you’re attending, you can start building a myStar. The star is divided by cultural transition period, in this case Korea from age 0 to 9, California from age 9 to 12, and Ohio from 12 to 14.

Then you can drag either system-generated photos or your own media, or add words in the panel on the right. Simply drag and drop the media in the space where you think is relevant to a particular cultural transition period and the media will automatically attach to the identity map. Then comes a pop-up box beside the media where you can enter your story relate to it, rate a significance for your identity and tag any related words. Hit publish and you’re ready to go to the next step.

You can repeat this process to build your star with as many media as possible. Here, the proportion of the cultural transition period in the circle changes as you attach the media to the map based on the numbers of media in a particular space. And the size of the media is based on the rate of significance. At the core of the circle, there comes a word cloud, the words most frequently came out as tags of the media. This word cloud will help easily identify your interests at a first glance.

As you attach more and more media to your star, it becomes more crowed. Hence, there is a limit in numbers of media which you can attach to the star as a representative one. As it gets over a certain number, the medium will be placed in the map, yet cannot be seen at a default view. When you hit the plus button beside the time bar, it will show all the media you’ve attached to the map and simply hit the minus button to hide the media except the representative ones.

What we learned:

• While participants generally understood the universe metaphor, there were some points of confusion, especially around the idea of highlighting other stars in the universe that fit certain criteria. Instead of highlighting stars in the universe view, we decided to make filtering more explicit as a way of finding types of people in our system. By using a filter menu, users can simply see all users or forums that match their filter. More generally however, we started to realize that the interactions we are planning to make with metaStar are unconventional, so a certain amount of learning will need to occur for the user. We hope to make the system clear enough to facilitate a easy learning curve.
• There was some confusion around adding entries to the identity map. This was perhaps because there were many things to enter for each entry, including significance of the entry, time period related to the entry, and location on the map. We will strive to simplify the process of creating the identity map overall.
• The idea of collaborations between people around topics of discussion made sense to participants, but the interface we had created for it was awkward. We decided to make the navigation of collaborations more conventional with a list of comments for each topic of discussion, rather than a sort of constellation metaphor. We also decided that collaboration wasn’t the right word to describe the activity and went instead with the more conventional term of forum. One participant gave us the idea of a sort of sharing circle, where each participant would have a turn to contribute a featured topic of discussion in the forum. We decided to incorporate this idea into how our forums work.
• In general, we got confirmation that this sort of service would be useful for new young immigrants for making connections with new people.

Our previous model, based on Educational subscription model, looked like this:

We needed to rethink our model, but we were certain of a few key principles: the service should be free to users, and while it identity issues plague most teenagers, our target audience remained recent, young immigrants.

Furthermore, identity is a complex, emotional topic. We asked ourselves: are advertisements appropriate in this emotional “space”?

Our first solution involved creating a revenue source that could exist quietly and harmoniously within the system. We came up with a three-layer advertising structure that would accommodate different levels and types of sponsors: well-known corporate brands, small business owners, national companies, and local vendors.

metaStar revenue sources

• Branded Image Banks: National corporate sponsors (e.g. Nike, etc.) provide metaStar with a bank of their images (brands or related lifestyle shots) that can be used within the users’ identity maps.
• Smart Text Ads: Sponsors pay us for text only ad space, but ad is only displayed when system scans and recognizes relevance to the user. Relevance is based on comments/tags that the user has made. Ads function more like recommendation, and pop up on identity map page occasionally.
• Sponsored Forums: Local vendors buy a space on a forum, creating incentive for young people to gather outside of the virtual forum and into the physical world, based on their shared interests .

This seemed to address the issue of funding pretty well, and felt like a reasonable compromise of creating opportunities for sponsorship without overpowering the site with banner ads and pop-ups.

However, as sponsors had mentioned in the past, our instructors again brought up the fact that our service was feeling like it could belong in the government and social services market, based on the target audience. Some also felt strongly that the incorporation of advertisements was simply not a good idea, given the subject matter.

In response, we’ve adjusted our service provider model to fit nicely in an arm of the immigration department of the U.S. government. In this model, metaStar provides the service, but the government hosts the system within an existing departmental website and purchases renewable licenses to support user interest. Entities that are also interested in improving multicultural teen identity (e.g. schools, cultural centers, etc.) can also purchase subscriptions to metaStar.

Map & Match has been reborn.
More details coming soon!

The primary functionality of our service allows students to create a personal representation of their identity (an “identity map”) that is interlinked with other members’ representations in a collective digital space.

The identity map is built by having the student submit short entries. Each of these entries can consists of short writings, stories, photos, audio, or video. The entries might either be records of their daily life experiences (How did I feel today? What types of music am I listening to?) or they might be deeper reflections on their identities (Do I see my native culture to be a strong part of my identity?). Both of these types of entries are incorporated into the visual representation, perhaps as different elements. If the student requests it, the system can provide inspiration in the form of system generated prompts for entries. For example, it might provide a picture of a traditional culture and ask for the student’s thoughts on it. The student can also add tags to the entry, and provide other metadata that will aid in the placement of the entry within the visualization.

In addition, each student’s identity map is part of a larger collective virtual community or world. They can explore each others entries in detail and reply to them with comments. They can participate in collaborative activities to build virtual elements that don’t belong to any one person, but instead exist in this larger shared world. We could even reward those who have participated in the most collaborations. In this way, we incorporate elements of a game into the system, engaging and motivating the students to participate.

The discussion has been somewhat abstract so far, but we are now leaning towards using a universe/star metaphor for our application. Each student’s representation of their identity can take the form of an elaborate star , with the details and elements of the star shaped from the entries submitted by the student. When the user shifts from a personal star view to a view of the entire universe, they can begin to see their star in the context of other people’s stars, in a night sky. The collaborations between students can take the form of clusters or constellations of stars. We can see how this type of metaphor can help frame and shape the type of social interaction we want to engender with our service.

This idea is still in a bit of flux. But we are in the stages of actually building the information architecture of the system. We expect that the process of actually making the thing, we will come to a better understanding of it. Some of the features discussed above may change or disappear entirely. From there we will be able to create a set of scenarios and wireframes that will act as our first prototype system.

In order to crystallize the findings from our generative research, we crafted a persona that represented the concerns and needs that we found. Meet Chun Hei.

Chun Hei is a 14 year old girl who was born in Korea, but moved to the US at the age of 12. She is currently in 8th grade, attending a predominantly caucasian middle school. The first couple years here have been very difficult for her, she has had to adapt and learn the language quickly.

She often feels awkward around her American classmates. It seems like she doesn’t get a lot of the jokes they tell and occasionally has trouble following conversations in English, so she finds herself being quieter than she’d like to be. It’s difficult for her to approach groups at school, she just doesn’t know how to introduce herself in the right way. She often feels lonely at school.

Chun Hei’s parents are still quite traditionally Korean. At home, she speaks Korean and still holds on to her Korean heritage. She visits Korea every summer; it is usually the highlight of her year. But even when she is back in Korea, she finds that she can no longer connect with her friends and family in quite the same way as native Koreans. She is stuck between two cultures; in the US, she feels Korean, but in Korea, she feels American. She is often stuck with the question “Who am I?”

Life Goals (long term objectives that don’t necessarily relate directly with our product, rather they are outlined in order to shape the motivations and background of the persona)

• have a successful career in the US – Chun Hei doesn’t want to waste the opportunity that her parents have given her by coming to the US, and wants to have a successful career here in the future
• make friends in the US – she wants closer ties with non-Korean people

Experience Goals (the emotional needs of the persona that we hope to fill when using they are using our service)

• a sense of belonging – by connecting to a community of kids with similar transitional experiences, she can feel less isolated in her situation

End Goals (more concrete, functional objectives of the persona that they will complete through the use of our service)

• connect to people who can provide a community of understanding – it can be difficult to build relationships with her non-Korean friends, because most of them don’t even realize the difficulties she has with their daily interactions
• receive guidance as she explores the question “Who Am I?” – being split between two cultures has made her naturally self-reflective, but she needs to find the appropriate guidance for her reflections

Concept

What do we propose for Chun Hei? Our concept is Map & Match, a new platform upon which teens aged 12-18 can express their personal identity in a school setting. Through the creation of a multi-faceted, virtual self-portrait, social interaction between participants is encouraged, by way of collaborative activities that utilize multiple channels.

What are the parts?

Map (Who am I?)
Visualization tool that incorporates both long-term reflections on the idea of “self” and day-to-day data, plotting emotional health and growth of the student.

• Allows users to create a complex self-portrait
• Incites reflection by the individual on their life path and identity
• Offers recognition of uniqueness; the map is a window into the life of the individual that other members of the network see

Match (Who else is like me?)
Facilitation tools that coordinate collaborative activities and motivates students to engage in social interactions across multiple channels.

• Explore others’ identity maps
  
• Comment on other members’ identity maps
• Converse through chat
  
• Collaborate on activities within the system
  

Invite (Where can I meet people like me?)
Organization tools that encourages students to reach out to one another through real world activities which can be organized by students or other facilitators.

• Send invitations to others
• View and attend group events organized by system facilitators

Scenario

The following scenario shows one use of Map & Match.

Chun Hei has arrived at her new school and is being introduced to the school’s guidance counselor, since her parents had expressed concern over how well she would adjust to the new environment. The guidance counselor speaks with Chun Hei for a while, and determines that she might benefit from some support in developing new relationships in the school, so he gives her a login key to the identity mapping system.

Chun Hei, curious, logs on and creates a profile by entering in some basic information. She is taken to an initial screen with instructions on how to build her map and an invitation to explore what others have already created.

She browses the other maps and thinks some of them look pretty cool. She is interested in many of the short stories she finds, and even encounters a story from another Korean girl about when she first arrived at the school! She begins to put in some entries to build her own map.

A few weeks later, she has built up a number of entries and has even received some comments about her stories. Through exploration one day, she encounters Tom’s identity map which contains elements similar to her own map. She comments on his entry describing his love of 60s music, which she shares. Chun Hei and Tom start conversing through the system and decide to collaborate on an activity in the system, building a new visual element in the collective map of everyone’s identity.

Eventually, the pair decide to organize a trip to a band that is playing in the city. The two meet up at the concert. Chun Hei and Tom become friends and provide each other with support and companionship that both needed.

Next Steps

After receiving feedback about our concept, we were lead to reconsider a few aspects of our designed system. These changes will become more concrete as we move into the next step of refinement with early prototypes of the service.

We began with a reminder about the audience we are serving and quickly moved into an explanation and analysis of our generative research. We took out examples of some of the collages that were made as well as some of the cultural scales that were created by the participants. What we saw was that most of the participants were quite willing (and some even enthusiastic) about sharing their collages and thoughts about identity with one another. One even asked if they could keep their collage. The linked video clip below shows an exchange between some participants, after they had presented, remarking on the commonalities between their stories.

Watch a clip from our generative research

We also learned about how most of them faced a difficult transition period when they arrived in the US. The emotions expressed included confusion, loneliness, and even hostility towards Americans. The linked video clip below shows one participant describing the “social stress” from not fitting in:

Watch a clip from our generative research

Taking this information, we formulated an argument that clarified the purpose of our Map & Match concept:

Recent young immigrants desire a sense of belonging and harbor negative emotions – such as sadness, isolation, lonliness – resulting from culture shock. This was expressed by many participants of our generative research and was also supported in much of our initial generative research. The following quotes came out of our generative research sessions:

• “I was really angry at myself for not having blue eyes and blonde hair. I wanted to blend in perfectly, but I couldn’t.”
• “My personal ‘dark age’ lasted from 7th grade to 10th grade.”
• “The more I felt miserable in the US, the more I missed Korea.”
• Culture shock on the first day of school: “You came from Holland? Isn’t that, like, the capitol of Amsterdam?”

We define culture shock as the phenomenon where perceived values and expectations don’t match one’s own culture. It’s important that we outline what we mean by culture shock. It is this phenomenon that can lead to the aforementioned feelings of isolation, confusion and loneliness, and which can also cause individuals to be more susceptible to discrimination/judgment. This idea was supported by what some of our participants told us:

• “I felt very bitter about Americans and hated them for thinking they are ‘better’ than us [Asians]. I started distancing myself from white kids and formed strongly negative stereotype towards them.”
• “Because I never grew up here, there were many cultural things I never experienced in America. I didn’t believe in ice cream trucks. I didn’t know they were real. That’s why I can’t interact at the same level culturally.”
• “When I came to US, I didn’t understand what was going on. I like to talk a lot, but for a year, I didn’t talk much. I hated this year.”

Why is this relevant? For teens aged 12-18, it is very important for them to formulate identity within a peer group. The following quote referencing Abraham Maslow and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is particularly relevant:

“[W]e see that self-worth can arise only when an individual is grounded in community. Contained within Maslow’s writings is a powerful argument that belonging is one of the central pillars that has been missing from our educational structure for some time.”
–Norman Kunc, Axis Consultation and Training Ltd

Thus, we are led to the goal of our Map & Match tool. We want to build an educational tool that encourages social interaction between students with similar life experiences during cultural transition, reducing negative emotions associated with the experience of being a new immigrant. We aspire to create a platform for the exploration of identity, facilitating students’ sense of belonging.

In order to crystallize this concept, we developed a persona and scenario of use. These will be described in the next post.