The problem
In colleges, off-campus community are usually segregated from the student body. This can make it hard to meet new people outside of the structured campus environment. At Williams, the organizations that currently organize activities connecting students with people in the local community are very systematic and service oriented. As a result, when meetings do happen between these two groups of people, they are usually task-driven. They do not involve spending time together and thus does not encourage personal connections or building meaningful relationships.
Additionally, when there are events that could either draw community members onto campus or bring students out into the broader community, it can be hard to find information about the events prior to their taking place. This inability to conveniently learn about events, such as performances, talks, exhibits, and community activities, makes it so that even someone who might of been very interested in an event could completely miss hearing about it.
Image is taken from The Four Stages to Achieving True Community
The motivation
Our primary motivation is to bring students and community members who have similar interests together in a way that encourages personal connection and relationship. Such a goal is mutually beneficial: the student can feel a deeper sense of social embeddedness and learn more about their community, and at the same time, community members desiring more social interaction with students will be able to make those connections much more easily. A key consideration is the ease with which these events can be found: a person cannot go to an event if they don’t know that it’s happening! This is especially relevant when an event is happening that may match someone’s interest, but that the person wasn’t specifically paying attention to.
The solution
Our main focus is to build relationships in the community around campus through fostering connections. There will be two main user groups, the hosts (usually older adults or people who need services), and the host-ees (usually students). An important aspect of community building and connecting is that it needs to be intentional, and this app helps ease the necessity of searching and reaching out for like-minded people. For example, elderly citizens or people who live alone can actively ask either for help or for company. This could include reaching out for services, such as asking for help walking a dog, for companionship or activities, or offering to host students for events, meals, or even offering up a place for students to stay while school is out on holiday.
With this target audience in mind, an implementation on both a website and a phone app makes the most sense. We feel like the website form would be easier to use for senior citizens, and the app would be more convenient for college-age students. Though it would be more helpful on the app than the web, both would include a geo-tagging feature, so that upcoming events can be attached to a specific place. Tags can be added to events as well, so that a user will be notified when an event that may be of interest to them is happening in their area.
Additional considerations
One of the challenges in implementing this app would be the necessity to maintain the safety and the inclusiveness of users. We can group people together based on their shared interests, or exclude people the hosts are not comfortable inviting in an event post. Asking users to provide some sort of identification (driver licenses, school email validation), can also deter them from taking advantage of the system.
An extra feature worth adding is for people who need services and are willing to pay, or for students who want to work off-time. There can be a separate section dedicated to this purpose, but it should not be the main focus of our app.
Related organizations
There are also current alternatives for community connection currently offered at Williams. For example, the Daily Messages send out information about Thanksgiving stays in the campus community; when students respond, they will connect the students with the suitable hosts who sign up. We think the Daily Messages is confined within the Williams Community, and it is hard to get to know the hosts beforehand. Another alternative is the Williams Switch Board website. However, we think the application is too focused in terms of actions (transactional or service providing) instead of fostering relationships.
Image is taken from the sign-up page of Williams Switch Board