NTU Mobile HCI – Homework #1

Every time I sit down to think about mobile apps I wish I had an iPhone. That would make filtering out brainstormed app-ideas so much easier. Long story short, I do not own an iPhone. So every time I find myself in an annoying everyday situation two things usually come to mind: I wonder if “there’s an app for that”, and “I wish I had an iPhone”.

The Problem

There is one “everyday” problem I keep coming back to, one that has been plaguing me ever since I came to Taiwan. It is the damn coins. Back home we use almost exclusively  cards for buying even small stuff, but here I keep building up this massive pile of coins on my desk all the time. The problem is that I really cant get myself to carry them around, and whenever I find myself at 7-11 buying something for like 31 NTD and paying with a 100 NTD bill I curse myself for forgetting to bring coins yet again.

Brainstorming

So I started thinking about how this could be improved with a mobile app. Early thoughts was that maybe I can do something that helps remind me to bring just enough coins to buy something. The problem, however, is that I very rarely leave home thinking that I am going to buy that small candy bar or a bottle of water. So when I find myself at 7-11 and realize this, my coins are still at home. Making the app context aware would work, maybe combining it with some digital TODO-list on the fridge, so that when it says “buy more water” and the phone detects that I am leaving home, it would advice me to bring enough coins for said purchases. This was quickly getting very advanced with extra hardware peripherals though, something I wanted to avoid for this solution.

I went through many different ideas, finally reaching the conclusion that there seems to be a whole lot of effort to put in just to get more productive with my coins. Maybe there are other nice things I can do with them? Maybe an app that suggests how to make different cool graphics based on what coins you have, using coins kinda like pixels. Then I got a bit embarrassed about thinking of this ahead of another way, namely charity. Since I cant come up with any good ways to spend these coins, someone else surely can.

Solution

Here is my suggestion for a mobile solution that helps you get rid of that amassed stockpile of coins and helping a greater cause at the same time.

Step 1: The user is instructed to put all his coins on a flat surface such as a bed or a table, spread out evenly. Then, using the the devices camera and some image detection, the user takes a picture of the coins and the application calculates the amount of money in the picture.

Step 2: The application displays a list of different causes and/or organizations, displaying clear information of just what the users money could lead to. For example: “Your money could provide fresh water for 10 people for over 5 months. Most people cannot live without water more than 4 or 5 days.”

Step 3: Using the GPS of the device, the user can see exactly where there are collection-points for a given cause. If the user feels that a certain chosen cause is too far away, the map display can help in finding a cause nearby.

Idea Sketches

Below follows the first sketches for the solution that was made during the brainstorming process.

Moving On

If I would proceed in developing this solution past this first design iteration there are some things I would need to keep in mind. Below I list problems that are clear at this early stage, and what needs to be considered for taking this further.

* How to detect different currency and how to know what each currency is worth for a charity organization?

* Do charity/aid organizations keep good track of exactly where there “collection” boxes are?

* Is the “fun/unique/novelty” factor enough to make a user try it. Why not just go to a store with the whole jar? Does the user value the information and the availability of choices?