Problem
When trying to figure out what I would focus on for this project, I first thought about what would have been helpful, or would be helpful to me now, as a new resident of Ann Arbor. I had a conversation with some students in SI 582 about our mutual interest in sewing and avenues for that here. I told her about the free sewing classes that I saw were offered at the Ann Arbor Public Library over winter break. A local source for events both free and for a fee, for events and community building activities. I see ads for different craft activities in Ann Arbor but those are randomly dispersed throughout my feed on social media. How might we create a platform for events to better inform community members and strengthen the community.
User Priorities
The only specifics for demographic would be Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti residents. When businesses and services add their events to the platform, they can specify any age restrictions or suggested age ranges. I would benefit from a site of local arts and craft activities in Ann Arbor, because that is the best way for me to decompress from my studies but there could be an array of events - crafts, sports, film/media etc.
Existing Solutions
EventBrite is the biggest one for local events and activities, but generally excludes established businesses who may be having a seasonal deal for customers, for example. There’s also Ticketmaster for concerts and live art, but limited to that. You can always visit the Ann Arbor Public Library to check for their free events. I recently discovered S’more, a platform for people to share events they’ve attended in a city, but it is only available in 10 cities, not including Ann Arbor. The problem is that there isn’t a platform that includes all of the above. A one stop shop for everything happening throughout the city, yearlong.
Design Requirements
Essentially, this platform would host an array of events and activities that are happening in and around the city. It would populate events from all of these different resources, provide users a link to visit the original source of an event and even allow businesses and event planners to verify the information on the site. Users would be able to filter but distance from them, type of event, cost of event, or age preferences for events. Later iterations would be able to have ratings from users who attended an event or activity.
Stakeholders
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Ann Arbor residents - both new and established
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Small businesses and event hosts
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Established businesses who want more visibility or centralized promotion
User Interview Protocol
Updated Problem Statement
How might we create an avenue for businesses to reach community members to strengthen their community. A consolidated platform for all events across a city would help promote small and large businesses, seasonal events and discounts as well as strengthening the community of said city.
TLDR
From my interviews I learned that for my solution, it would benefit me to make sure to simplify the process of finding events. Currently, users are exhausted with the sheer number of sites used to find one event. They had diverse interests so they utilise different websites/apps for different events, which could be streamlined. Knowing what your friends and close community members are doing would increase the turn out of my interviewees. Having access to that information would be beneficial both for the businesses and communities. A customizable UI would be beneficial for users who are dealing with budget constraints, location, types of events etc.
User Interview Protocol
"Hello [name], thank you for agreeing to participate in this interview. A little bit about myself, I am a first year Masters student at the University of Michigan School of Information studying User Experience Research and Design.
I am conducting this interview to get a better understanding of how we are able to find and build community in our respective cities. As well as how we find activities and just things to do in general.
This interview should take about 20 minutes to complete. I’m conducting this interview mostly for the benefit of my own data analysis. If I were to quote you in any report, I would only do so without identifying your name. If there’s anything you really don’t want on the record, even if it’s anonymous, please let me know that, too.
Doing so will have no adverse impact on you. With that being said, do you consent to this interview being recorded?"
