HACK to the FUTURE [INSPO]

Inspiration

Numerous principles / values - all aligned with the UN Goals. Building tech (app) for the greater good of humanity.

We seem to think that time is aplenty... in abundance... but if the pandemic has taught us one thing, it is not to waste it as we may never know when it will run out... In recent years people have been spending more and more time in front of screens - skyrocketed due to covid spiralling out of control We are a lot more conscious of time spent on our devices, devices which supposedly help us in our day-to-day life, but we have become a product. Dangerous ramifications [fake news / general misinformation, privacy related issues, cyber security, fraud] - e.g. research has shown positive correlation between time spent on Instagram; more likely you are to fall victim to eating disorder.

Time is our most valuable commodity; do not waste it.

What it does

Our mission is to create an app that provides impactful, no-frills, content controlled by you [the end user]:

No syphoned data; nor nasty algorithms [respecting your privacy]
Enabling you to lead on your values

Time on your watch; Time Well Spent.

How we built it

We decided to use the online platform proto.io to visualize how the app would look like on an iPhone. No coding has been written as the idea is still early stage and was born during this hackathon. We used colours such as yellow and red as they are the most user friendly and can be associated with a more humane colour palette and are proven not to cause additional addiction to the user [unlike the colour red!].

Challenges we ran into

Dealing with revenue concerns The limited usage we are forecasting will inevitably lead to a lower monetisation figure per customer. Assuming a user would be reading around 15 different articles per day or content pieces we plan to add 5 advertisements that would be seen per user on a daily basis. This would be compensated by a higher engagement by the user, since the advertisement would be tailored to the interest mentioned by the user, and the lower number of items in the feed would lead to higher attention to each post. Additionally, we plan to partner with specific publishers active in those topics that users highlight as of interest, to distribute exclusive content on the platform, therefore driving the new user acquisition.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Deciding on the idea after brainstorming for several hours on the first day. We started out with 5 ideas.

What we learned

How tricky it is to design a prototype in such a short timeframe and that is without access to developers.

What's next for HACK to the FUTURE [INSPO]

We plan a buy-in from users that are willing to see additional relevant advertisements to contribute to relevant projects. Similar to the TreeApp, where users can watch a number of advertisements to plant a relevant number of trees, we plan to invite the user to watch more than the basic 5 ads to contribute to a particular project they find interesting, relevant, and aligned with their values. Examples could range from sponsoring local community projects to donations towards endangered animal protection.