Responding to Critiques of Assist:
After Monday, I was most curious what others in the class thought about Assist, both the app and the pitch. Because the app got a lot of blog feedback, I will be summarizing, responding to, and attempting to resolve these feedbacks:
Summary of Concerns:
- Effectiveness in getting help: Is broadcasting a help request to multiple people as effective as isolating one person for help? (Ethan, Lauren)
- Effectiveness in lessening feeling of rejection: Is being ignored by a group less painful than being rejected explicity in a 1-on-1 request? (carolmou)
- Incentive: When the help request itself isn't personalized, what makes people likely to help? (Ethan). What if people are busy? (carolmou)
- Tagging feature ontology: If requesters are tagging their request with classifying tags, are potential helpers exploring/clicking on tags to see how they can help anybody? Why such tags are needed are unclear. (Lauren)
My Own Concerns:
As someone who experiences very little shame (i.e. rarely weak, desperate, burdensome, fearful of rejection) in asking people for help, I was wondering if the app was still useful for someone like me. But then I realized, beyond the pitch's reasonings, I could use this app to stay connected to my friends.
Advice to Address Concerns:
Data Collection:I think the app relies on whether this broadcast help request method is effective at all. So this would have to be resolved by data-collection, not just philosophizing over human nature. I too worry, because as we learn in emergency response trainings: you should always point out a single person to call the ambulance instead of shouting at a crowd.
Incentive Structure: What would make me take on a help request? Not only a karma/kudos system, but perhaps also an urgency rating. If I know how distressed my friend is, I would be more incentivized to help. The competitor app, Taskrabbit, literally pays "Taskers" to complete tasks. Assist's incentive claims to be the personal connection between the friends on the app, so what are ways to reward/indicate strengthened friendships on the app? Maybe celebration of milestones?