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NOTE : Names of people interviewed have been changed to preserve anonymity.
1. A Leader of Orientation Program - Judy Jetson
Judy has been working with the Freshman Orientation program for two consecutive years of being an undergraduate at MIT. She genuinely enjoys meeting the freshman when the semester starts and sharing her insights on what it's like to be at MIT. Judy claims that it's the best part of her semester. Through the program she has engaged in several activities including dance performances, theater roles and various sports activities. The program sets up groups of roughly ten to twelve freshman assigned to one orientation leader. She especially likes nights when her group can go out to dinner across the Bridge or around Harvard Square.
Dinner nights can sometimes be impromptu. The orientation goes on for a week but halfway through the week, the schedule is more flexible and lenient. The week's schedule does not include a single mandatory dinner night. Rather, freshmen are encouraged to get to know others in their group by going out to dinner with them. On such nights when a group plans to go out with Judy, she says, "I never carry cash on me and neither do several of the freshman. I have a check book but I noticed the freshman aren't prone to use one either. For most of them it's their first time eating with a group of people they just met. Dinner can be at times awkward and it is up to the leader to make the freshmen feel comfortable.We try to be organized about how the bill gets paid but the worst case scenario is friends pay for friends and figure out who gets paid back later." She admitted that it could be a messy situation and has no idea how to make things work out much more smoothly.
Lessons learned
How long have you had a dog? | <2 |
How old is your dog? | 5-7 |
How big is your dog? | medium |
How often do you exercise your dog? | 2 times a day |
What kind of outdoor activities do you involve | Walking in the park, hiking, playing fetch |
How often does your dog socialize? | At least once a day |
What concerns do you have while letting your | Worried about aggressive dogs |
What problems do you face while involving your | "We meet other dogs and dog-owners when we go to the park but often need to coordinate with them to make sure we meet." |
Any ideas for applications that might help improve | "Access to dog relevant information (for e.g. dog friendly places to visit such as hiking trails, outdoor restaurants, etc.), |
Lessons learned
- Dog owners are probably willing to have his/her dog socialize
- Dog owners faced problem of coordination with other dog owners
- Dog owners might expect a platform that collects info about dogs and their owners
- during freshman orientation week, several groups go out for dinners
- these groups are made of newly introduced freshman, not yet friends
- freshmen usually don't carry cash on them, they naively sometimes expect free food all of that week
- friends end up paying for others and the billing situation quickly grows complicated and nested
- they need a simple way of paying each other back and avoiding confusion
2. A Working Professional - George Jetson
George is a early-thrities male who started working a couple of years back. As a busy single young adult, he hardly has time to cook for himself and generally prefers to eat out. He generally goes out for lunch on weekdays with his colleagues from work. George and his 'gang' consider themselves foodies and love trying out different cuisines and restaurants. On most Fridays, he and his colleagues like to unwind after work, with drinks at their favorite pub. George also likes to celebrate his colleagues' birthdays at work with cakes that everyone generally pitches in for.
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How long have you had a dog? | >5 |
How old is your dog? | >7 |
How big is your dog? | medium |
How often do you exercise your dog? | everyday |
What kind of outdoor activities do you involve | Everyday the dogs are let out to play and run in the backyard. In the summer there is an underground pool that the dogs enjoy swimming in. |
How often does your dog socialize? | Well, we have two dogs, so they socialized everyday. |
What concerns do you have while letting your | The friendliness and cleanliness of other dogs |
What problems do you face while involving your | n/a |
Any ideas for applications that might help improve | Doggie play groups? There are kid play groups, so why not? This actually could be a great idea. |
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Lessons learned
- working young adults like to spend time in group recreational activities, involving group expenses.
- Keeping track of recurring expenses via email exchanges is not scalable and quickly becomes unclear.
- Records among different people can become inconsistent, especially with debts cycles among groups.
- It is uncomfortable to keep track of debts, payments and remind people.
- It is a tedious process to remember bank details for different people and pay each one via online transfers.
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