Philly Truce
Background
Philly Truce, a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization, is dedicated to eradicating the systemic causes of violence within Philadelphia communities. In response to insights gathered from the community, the organization has been responsible for developing a resource to document and minimize conflicts within and around Philadelphia schools. Presently, the tracking of incidents relies on paper-based reports, posing challenges in effectively monitoring and identifying optimal locations for personnel placement.
Project
Tech Fleet collaborated with Philly Truce on Phase 1, engaging in an 8-week sprint within an agile environment.
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Role: User Researcher (October 2023 – December 2023)
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Conducting interviews, collecting data, note-taking, analyzing findings, presenting deliverables, crafting user interview scripts, recruiting participants, preparing consent forms, performing competitive analysis, applying a trauma-informed approach, creating personas, journey mapping, and serving as an ambassador to the design team.
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User interviews, Thematic analysis, Comparative analysis, Personas, and Journey mapping.
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Courtney Druzak, Alexa Juarez-Le, Lauren Handler, Rui Tian, and Anavi Anand
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UX Design, Project Management, Content Writers, Product Management, and Development Team.
Problem
The challenge is to create a technological tool that engages our target audience (11 to 15 years old) to share information for mitigating violence in Philadelphia while also addressing the management inefficiencies The School District of Philadelphia's Safe Path Program faces. The current reliance on paper-based incident reports hampers the efficient use of incident-related data, causing difficulties in promptly managing and responding to incidents, especially as the program expands.
Solution
Create and implement a tip incident platform enabling students to anonymously send tips to Safe Path monitors, facilitating real-time triage and response to conflicts before they escalate.
Research Goals for Philly Truce:
Intake Process Enhancement:
Identify pain points in the current pen-and-paper incident reporting intake process.
Pinpoint areas of improvement to streamline and enhance the overall experience for users.
User Engagement Factors:
Understand the elements contributing to sustained engagement with the Philly Truce app among the target demographic. (students aged 11-15).
Explore factors that could encourage continuous engagement with the Philly Truce app.
Key Features for MVP:
Provide recommendations for critical features essential for the incident reporting platform system's Minimum Viable Product (MVP).
Ensure that the recommended features contribute to an optimal experience for the target users.
Thematic Analysis
The UX Research Team organized a workshop to uncover recurring themes that mirror the concerns, attitudes, and perspectives of Philadelphia residents regarding gun violence, with six (6) respondents who participated in the survey.
Summary
The survey responses provide insights into the profound impact of gun violence on the community, offering a nuanced understanding of the issue as perceived by Philadelphia residents. This analysis, spotlighting key themes, contributes valuable perspectives to the ongoing dialogue surrounding gun violence, advocating for a trauma-informed and community-centered approach.
Potential research questions stemming from these findings include:
In what ways can the Philly Truce app establish itself as a trusted resource within the community?
How can the Philly Truce app seamlessly integrate into community initiatives and resources?
What strategies can be implemented to empower community members to express their concerns and opinions regarding gun violence in Philadelphia?
Comparative Analysis
Competitive Analysis was conducted with direct and indirect competitors
Direct: Target school-aged children
Indirect: Target wider demographic or are mental health-focused
The sites we looked at:
Key Findings
Focus on anonymity
Language should be empathetic and relatable, with clear instructions
Direct information flow
User Interviews
Understand the current practices of Safe Path Monitors, including the reporting and triaging processes, when students submit incidents.
Identify potential obstacles students might face when reporting incidents to Safe Path Monitors or other community members.
Examine how students respond and cope with conflicts or situations that may lead to violence or harm.
User interviews were conducted with the following groups:
5 Safe Path Monitors
4 students
Interviews were conducted with one interviewer and one notetaker. Interviews followed UXR’s trauma-informed plan to ensure participants' and researchers' well-being and increase the quality of research.
Key Findings
Students and Safe Path Monitors indicated that one of the biggest threats to the success of the Philly Truce incident reporting platform, and thus to aid in de-escalating community violence, is that the platform may be perceived as “a snitch app.”
Insights & Themes
Theme 1: Safe Path Monitors require basic, yet important info in the dashboard. They also need processes to be kept simple.
Theme 2: For students, the community and the people in it are what they enjoy most about living in Philadelphia.
Theme 3: Social media influences how students perceive community and reporting.
Theme 4: Students may hesitate to report if they fear retaliation or aggression or may be perceived as a snitch.
Theme 5: The greatest obstacles Safe Path Monitors experience to de-escalation processes are social media, instigators, and trauma.
Theme 6: Safe Path Monitors report that they actively monitor safety inside and around the school environment, which has a positive impact on students and the community.
Theme 7: Establishing connection and trust with students are key to the success of Safe Path Monitors
Personas
I transformed insights and quotes from user interviews into concise personas representing a student, a safe city boy, and a safe path monitor. By extracting critical themes like motivations, pain points, and goals, these personas played a vital role in aligning the design team with our end users' specific needs and perspectives, fostering a user-centric approach to our project.
Journey Mapping
Leveraging insights from user interviews and personas, I crafted user journey maps – visual representations outlining the steps users, including Safe Path Monitors, Safe City Boys, and School-Aged Children, take to achieve their goals.
Research Impact on MVP
Design Decision # 1
Anonymous Two-Way Communication Exchange
Recommendation (per competitive analysis insights): Anonymous reporting feature with a short form requesting relevant and necessary information for the student to submit quickly.
Design Feature: Once a student submits a tip, an anonymous two-way messaging exchange will be activated.
An initial chatbot will begin interacting with the student before the SPM to gather general information (i.e., location, school, grade, etc.)
All other information will be kept anonymous unless the student shares personal information.
Design Decision # 2
Simple & User-Friendly Incident Management Dashboard
Recommendation (per user interview insight): Safe Path Monitors require basic yet important information in the dashboard. They also need processes to be kept simple.
Design Feature: A critical design feature involves ensuring a user-friendly interface for Safe Path Monitors when accessing and utilizing the incident management dashboard.
This facilitates efficient engagement, enabling Safe Path Monitors and school administrative staff to promptly address their main task: identifying, managing, and de-escalating potentially harmful or violent situations.
Design Decision # 3
Simple & User-Friendly Incident Management Dashboard
Recommendation (per SPM user interview): "The three things I want to see in this platform are somewhere to clock into work, a place where students can submit a report, and the tips remain anonymous."
Design Feature: In the incident management dashboard, Safe Path Monitors (SPMs) can utilize the clock-in function on the mobile app.
This feature grants SPMs the flexibility to avoid the need for physical check-ins at the school administration office, thereby maximizing their time to engage with students and promptly respond to conflicts.
Next Steps
Given our Phase 1 findings and insights from other Philly Truce teams, UXR proposes the following research for Phase 2.
Perform usability testing on the MVP wireframes the design team created.
Conduct generative user interviews, focusing on students beyond Safe City Boys, to gain deeper insights into the pain points and needs of the "average Philly student" when using a tip incident platform.
Administer surveys to comprehend the mental health and related resources required by students.
Collaborate with the UX Design and UX Writing teams for any iterations of user personas and journey maps derived from the aforementioned research methodologies.
Uphold a trauma-informed practice consistently throughout the entire research process.