COURSERA: TECHNICITY Final Project

Project title: #LostFound via Twitter Student: Teresa Joana Bar i Urbea

1. Topic: Use of Twitter (and other social media) to report found objects and, thus, as a new channel to search for lost objects. A mock-up mobile device application and mock-up website has also been designed as additional channels to report the finding/loss of the object. 2. What: I want to explore the possibilities of using Twitter (to focus first on one social media channel) and/or a mobile device application and/or a website as new sources of information search and delivery in cases of lost & found objects, via community collaboration and engagement. The basis of this idea is to create a new reference point to turn to in case of a loss, provided this has happened in a public space with no Lost&Found office (as they have in airports, public transport or other closed premises such as theaters, bars/restaurants, museums, etc.) This project is intended to report the finding of low to medium valued objects for higher valued items, the person finding it should be responsible enough to bring it to a municipal Lost&Found office or to a police station. However, in cases of lower valued objects (such as a baby shoe, an umbrella, a custom jewelry, etc., that might have no value to the person finding it but a high value for the person who lost it), it is often too cumbersome for the person finding the item to report it to the above-mentioned posts. This project intends to provide for an easy and accessible way to report these lower valued findings. The project would, therefore, combine the concept of microparticipation and a bottom-up community engagement using social media and/or other technical means (such as a mobile device application or a website).

3. Where: I will focus this project in the city of Barcelona, my hometown. No photos or maps are needed to visualize this project.

In case of success, it could then be exported to other cities (changing the name of the last letters for the applicable city code). This project would be applied at a city level (in megacities even at a district level) and could be used in every city with an extended use of mobile devices and Twitter. 4. Who: I interacted with colleagues both form the Technicity course and other potential users to survey the acceptance of the idea. Although some concerns on possible theft or real citizen engagement have been raised, I have received a general positive reaction to the project as a solution to a real issue. After the feedback provided by this final assignment, I intend to show this project to some social media and open data experts in my hometown, and then (after the recommended improvements) present it to the municipal government for possible implementation. 5. How: I came to this idea when I myself found some small objects of little monetary value and did not know how or where to deliver this information. So I thought of Twitter as an effective channel to communicate these finds. Spreading this habit would allow to establish this channel as a standard source of information to look for lost objects. As for how this project could improve my city, I think it would serve several goals: a) Create a new Lost&Found channel to look for low/middlevalue objects lost in public spaces (making it easier to find lost objects and diminishing the frustration of loosing it), b) Promote citizen engagement and community cohesion at a local level (since citizens will engage in civic actions that will report in a improved self-awareness and more trustworthy and stronger sense of community), c) Promote small commerce in the area (found objects will be handed to nearby businesses together with a password, as will be explained later; shops that handle honestly lost objects will gain the trust of prospect consumers). Data Analysis: To develop this project, I started searching Twitter for the hashtag #LostFound and did also a Twitter scrapping exercise for the words Lost and Found (as a Week 3 Challenge assignment). I did find out that Twitter has been used for this purpose, yet in an uncoordinated and informal manner, making the eventual contact with the person loosing the object very difficult (unless the person finding it personally knew the person losing the object, in which case she can be approached personally). [Ben Berkowitz, from SeeClickFix,

did also expose how a user of his web recently used it to report (and find!) a lost mitten (this idea occurred to me a long time before seeing this video, so I was not influenced by this video)]. This exercise did, therefore, reinforce my vision that the #LostFound project might be useful as a municipal public service. Design: This projects way of working is mainly based on an offline behavioral change system. The design of the final product (exposed in the next item) will consist on: a) either a tweet started by the hashtag #LostFoundBCN, or b) a mock-up mobile device application and c) a mock-up website. The design of the reporting process would be as follows (Person A being the one losing the object and Person B the one finding it; the top-down order of the actions correspond to a chronological order): PERSON A Loses an item in a public space Finds item lost by Person A in public space Gives found item to a shop/kiosk, restaurant nearby, providing a key word that only she, the shop attender and Person A (after contacting Person B) will know Reports found item on #LostFound_(city code) using one of three possible ways: 1. Twitter: using the hashtag #LostFoundBCN 2. LostFound App 3. LostFound Web (In the last two cases the reporting process will consist on answering the following questions: What?, When?, Where? And optionally provide a picture of the lost item. This entries will automatically turn into a tweet posted onTwitter under the hashtag #LostFoundBCN) Person A realizes about her loss PERSON B

Checks on Twitter #LostFoundBCN, LostFound App or LostFound website whether the finding of the item has been reported In case it is not, Person A enters description of lost item (answering the questions: What?, When?, Where? and an optional picture) on LostFound App or LostFound website) When application finds a matching report, it will notify Person A, providing the contact data of Person B Person A contacts Person B (via mail or Twitter) Person B provides Person A with the key word and address of shop/kiosk, etc. where she left the found item Person A goes to shop/kiosk to collect lost item using the provided key word Person A may want to thank / reward Person B for her civic action (a system of civic points o other similar reward system could be added to the LostFoundBCN App/web).

6. Final project: This project is sub-divided in two objectives, differentiated by the channel used to report the found (and eventually the lost) object:

a. Primary objective: My primary objective would be to establish the use of the hashtag #LostFoundBCN as a new channel to report found objects and, thus, to refer to in case of loss of low-medium valued objects in public spaces. This will, therefore, consist on a series of tweets reporting found objects. The tweets should start by the hashtag

#LostFoundBCN, indicating what, when and where it was found, and may or may not include a photo. Tweets may look in the following way (text in Catalan):

#LostFoundBCN Ring found at CCCB bar, on July 16th. Does anyone miss it?

#LostFoundBCN Found in Av. Tibidabo, on July 12th. Do you recognize it? The idea is that the owner of the objects gets in contact with the founder of the object, and the latter can then tell the former where she left the object (in the bar at the corner, in the small kiosk on the little square, etc.). A kind of key word or code will be provided by the person finding the object, in agreement with the person at the shop, bar, kiosk, etc. in order to try to minimize the risk of not-owners claiming lost objects.

b. Secondary objective: In case this project would advance, it would be possible to develop a website and/or a mobile device application to facilitate this reporting (or for people without a Twitter/Facebook account). A mock-up of the possible application design can be found in this link: https://www.fluidui.com/editor/live/preview/p_RAGKa1w nvSO8LelRWw3kTWC1td5bnpmd.1369594081095 To see its use directly on a mobile device, please use the following QR code:

The following diagram shows how the LostFoundBCN would work:

(Note: The diagram shows only the steps followed by the person reporting a loss, since the Fluidui.com tool allowed for only up to 10 pages. However, the person reporting the finding would go through the same steps).

After the project submission deadline, I have been working with a different programme to elaborate a mock-up website and another mock-up application. To open these links, a password will be required: Technicity#2013 (for both of them). Link to mock-up mobile device application: #LostFound_BCN iPhone https://www.justinmind.com/usernote/tests/10836284/10836287/10 838514/index.html Link to mock-up website: #LostFound_BCN web: https://www.justinmind.com/usernote/tests/10836284/10836287/10 836289/index.html

1) An initial page would lead to report either a loss or the finding of an object 2) Both users would then proceed to the report by answering the questions: a. What? (With a word or a brief description of the item) b. When? Person A: Report the date of loss (with a margin of up to 30 days). In case it is not remembered, this step can be skipped. Person B: Report the date of finding. c. Where? Person A: Provide either a street/district or mark a radius on a map where the person suspects he has lost the object. Person B: Provide the address where the object was found. d. Picture of the lost object. Optional.

3) In case of a coincidence, a notification will be sent to the person reporting a loss, with the tweet or information entered in the app about the found object. She will then be provided the option to contact the person reporting the finding either via Twitter or via mail.

7. Who did I work with?: I have worked by myself.

8. Challenges: I am aware that this project presents a series of challenges to be implemented, which could though be overcome with a proper implication of municipal stakeholders or a better process design. Some of these challenges include: Insufficient knowledge and/or spread of this practice; Little implication from users / low motivation to collaborate (this could be spurred by a reward system such as civic points, references on LinkedIn, etc. However, attention should be paid to the problem of perverse incentives); Feeling that this process is being imposed from above;

 Skepticism or low cooperation from the side of shop owners, as it could be seen as an extra, non-remunerated workload; In case a lost object never gets collected, how to handle the object (a solution would be to bring the object either to a second-hand container or to recycling a regular collection process should then be facilitated, since shop owners would not see it as part of their business); Problem of theft or fake-owners reclaiming objects