1.
Weather or Not
A conceptual design by
[Leslie Wu]
Design Challenge
to encourage moderate sunscreen & Vitamin D usage
Stanford University, Spring 2010
CS377v - Creating Health Habits
habits.stanford.edu

2.
Weather or Not
Persuasive Purpose
To encourage a moderate increase sunscreen usage on
especially sunny days and Vitamin D tablets on particularly rainy/
gloomy days
Industrial Design
It’s sunny today, time to put on sunscreen!
[CLICK HERE TO UPDATE STATUS]
Stanford University, Spring 2010 cc-by http://www.flickr.com/photos/93033713@N00/2845037002/
CS377v - Creating Health Habits http://www.flickr.com/photos/fdecomite/320686077/
habits.stanford.edu

3.
User Description
• Stanford dorm RAs and PHEs (peer health
educators) are motivated to help encourage
health habits in their communities
• They are likely a few years older than their student
peers,
• Probably use facebook very often,
• Concerned about health but very busy with other
concerns
• Want to serve as a role model / health educator /
leader in community, online and offline
Stanford University, Spring 2010
CS377v - Creating Health Habits
habits.stanford.edu

4.
Weather or Not
It’s sunny today, time to put
on sunscreen!
[CLICK HERE TO
UPDATE STATUS]
Grace wants to be a helpful RA and PHE but she's Fortunately, she has installed the "Weather or Not" When it is an especially sunny day, the system will
inside studying all the time or on her laptop extension on her web browser insert a button at the top of her facebook login
page reminding her to suggest sunscreen to her
"kids"
Grace put on sunscreen!
[via bit.ly/healthHabitz]
When she clicks, it will update her status On an especially dreary/rainy day, the system may This time, the status message was “It’s dark
automatically and encourage others to do the same (or may not) remind her to provide Vitamin D to her outside, time to take some Vitamin D!”
(and install the application) residents, and to make things really random...
Stanford University, Spring 2010
CS377v - Creating Health Habits
habits.stanford.edu

5.
Prototype of "Weather or Not"
it's really sunny out there, 74 and
bright on Wilbur! Put on
sun-screen?
[Click here if yes!]
Stanford University, Spring 2010
CS377v - Creating Health Habits
habits.stanford.edu

6.
Features/Functionality
• User installs browser extension using Firefox
Jetpack or Chrome Extension (TBA)
• The back-end system keeps track of weather over
the weeks, and detects positive (especially sunny)
and negative (especially rainy / cold) anomalies in
the nearby weather
• The system will then with some probability
insert a prompt to share sunscreen info in the
user’s Facebook page
• The status update will contain a bit.ly link facilitating
sharing information and the service with friends /
residents
Stanford University, Spring 2010
CS377v - Creating Health Habits
habits.stanford.edu

7.
Theoretical Justifications
• In both gambling and game design, as well as
learning theory, things are well learned if they occur
at random intervals (when message is sent) and
have unexpected rewards (sunny vs. rainy) -- we
don’t always insert link to avoid spam & distraction
• Facebook already has many triggers, why not
piggyback?
• Facebook will then exert social reminders and
pressure, status updates will contain useful social
data (who is doing what), as well as weather
Stanford University, Spring 2010
CS377v - Creating Health Habits
habits.stanford.edu

8.
Other Research
• Background investigation into the ethics of
encouraging sunscreen use:
• http://bit.ly/on-sunscreen
Stanford University, Spring 2010
CS377v - Creating Health Habits
habits.stanford.edu

9.
Shortcomings of Design
• Many people use multiple/different browsers --
extension limited to single installation
• Will people learn to ignore the notification?
• May violate various software TOS
• Will RAs/users eventually discontinue service?
• Not tied into a particular life trigger,
piggybacking off of facebook trigger -- not all
students <3 facebook!
Stanford University, Spring 2010
CS377v - Creating Health Habits
habits.stanford.edu

10.
Expansion - What else is possible?
• Other form factors or ID possibilities
o Can be implemented for other networks/sites such as Twitter
o Use of status update vs [e-mail vs texting vs IM]
• Other features and interactions
o Application can use location and other data to tell people where to
get sunscreen & vitamin D more easily
o Server can track who does what, when, aggregate & visualize, or
support social gaming / ranking
Stanford University, Spring 2010
CS377v - Creating Health Habits
habits.stanford.edu

11.
Next Steps in Design Process
• Decide between Firefox Jetpack SDK (vs
Jetpack Prototype) and Chrome Extension
• Show screenshot prototypes to several
facebook users
Stanford University, Spring 2010
CS377v - Creating Health Habits
habits.stanford.edu

12.
Evaluation of Design Project
How well does the idea reflect concepts from class?
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How well does the design match the design brief?
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How viable/convincing is the proposed solution?
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Stanford University, Spring 2010
CS377v - Creating Health Habits
habits.stanford.edu

13.
Evaluation continued…
How insightful is the proposed solution?
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How well could this solution scale to reach many?
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How well does this document communicate?
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Bonus Points
Stanford University, Spring 2010
CS377v - Creating Health Habits
habits.stanford.edu

14.
Additional Comments:
Overall remarks or additional comments here
Stanford University, Spring 2010
CS377v - Creating Health Habits
habits.stanford.edu