Inspiration
Mihiro first noticed a increase in issues covered by the Japanese media regarding unemployment as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. There were numerous articles regarding government assistance and financial support being provided to the general public. However, support for vulnerable groups - single parents, the elderly, and people with disabilities - were rarely discussed. As these groups are more severely affected by natural disasters, infectious diseases and financial crises, their problems are often ignored and considered a taboo subject by the Japanese government and society.
Out of the numerous vulnerable communities, we chose to focus on single parents due to an increasing emphasis in gender equality and feminism in Japan. We noticed that single-female-parents are more likely to suffer poverty than single-male-parents, as Japanese traditional social norms make it harder for women to attain jobs. They also earn less than the average Japanese male.
The aim of our app is to ease the many burdens all single parents possess, regardless of gender. However, we are hoping to assist as many single-female-parents as possible who encounter sexism and prejudice on a daily basis.
What it does
After an account is made by the user, they will have an access to the "Articles", "Video", and "Market" platforms. The "Articles" platform is where users can share their tips and recommendations to assist single parents in daily housework tasks. It includes "comment" and "chat" functions, where users are able to interact with the writers of the article. We also added a "follow" function, so users can directly connect with other users. The "Video" platform allows users to share a snapshot of their lives, such as cooking videos, and videos of their children. Lastly, the "Market" platform allows users to share their skills in exchange for money.
How we built it
MockingBot was to complete the prototype. We first designed the three main modules of this application: the Article module based on text and picture sharing, the Video module based on video content sharing and the Market module for temporary work release. Designing the final prototype involved adding user detail pages, comment forums and private chat functions to the main modules - supporting user needs in establishing an online community.
Challenges we ran into
Mutual understanding: As some members joined us later on in the challenge, there was a disjointed level of understanding across the team about the general idea of our product. This often led to incorrect work being submitted and misunderstandings across discussions. However, we managed to play to each other's strengths which worked extremely well!
Creative obstacles: As most of us are commerce students, we do not often encounter situations where we are faced with challenges regarding innovative solutions. We were unsure about the simplest of things - even on the colour of our prototype. This project has really challenged our minds and expanded our horizons on developing innovative solutions to make a positive social impact.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
Teamwork: As our team encountered a multitude of challenges on this journey, one thing that we could always rely on was each other. Our members were mostly from different time zones, which allowed the project to be constantly updated and completed for the next person to leave their mark. Our team worked together extremely well despite our conflicting schedules which is a great achievement.
Eliminating barriers and embracing failure: Most of us were not comfortable with thinking outside of the box and creative problem solving. However we jointly agreed that we came into this experience solely to learn new skills. This allowed any mental pressure or fear of failing to completely dissipate, leaving only our willingness to learn and try new things. Our capabilities for creativity and innovation were thus maximised, which allowed us to individually and collectively work together on an idea that we were all passionate about.
What we learned
Learn from those who are different: As we all came from diverse educational and cultural backgrounds, we often had conflicting views and opinions. However, we soon overcame this and played to each other's strengths. We were able to gain valuable insights and expertise from that we never knew we would gain.
Practice through learning: We learnt from the multitude of workshops, panels and mentoring sessions and were fortunate enough to be able to apply our knowledge learnt to our prototype. Although we were not always confident with our attempts, we were able to apply critical feedback received to our work - thus only making it better.
What's next for Team 17
The next practical steps to bring this application to life would involve spreading the word about the application via social media (particularly LINE, Twitter and Instagram) to build traction as social awareness about this app will be the key to its success. Forming a community group via social media platforms such as Facebook will be imperative in allowing like minded single mothers to join an online “support group”, as well as approaching potential sponsors to seek greater financial assistance to add more features to the application. Finally, businesses will also be approached for a partnership, particularly those who have single parent employees and those who provide services in the industries that single mother users of the application wish to offer themselves.
Built With
- amazon-web-services
- mockingbot
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