After over three weeks of reading design books, exploring applications and immersing myself in a new technology environment, it is time I construct a usable post to help with the designing of Crohn'sPromise. Summarizing what I have found to be most valuable will create a checklist of standards to maintain as the designing process begins. In essence, this post is giving me an opportunity to see how much I have learned over the past few weeks.

I think that a lot of the process of design is going to rely on my imagination. The metaphors I learned in design: a screenshot is just like a billboard and an application is like a store, will prove to be incredibly valuable. Though I have no experience when it comes to creating billboards or organizing stores... this mindset will help me approach each design principle that comes up.

Like a billboard designer, I should always be asking :

1. Is it obvious to the user what is on this page and what purpose the page serves?
2. Does the user know how to proceed to their next step from this page?

For each  page, the answer to these questions needs to be "Yes." If this is not the case, then the page is not complete.

As if the design of an app = the design of a store I will need to keep in mind that a user is just a customer who is searching for a product in the store's many isles.
     1. If they get frustrated by their search they will close the app and use their time differently
     2. Creating a sense of "location" makes a search more concrete (requires intuitive layout)
     2. Tools and conventions exist to help a user with their search
                a. Does the page have a Title?
                b. Is there use of Font Sizes, Colors and additional METHODS to get the point across?
                c. Are links clearly visible and lead to a clear location?
                d. Is everything that is necessary on the page/is everything on the page necessary? (don't overcrowd)
                e. Is anything on the page going against conventions? Can something on the page use everyday conventions?

I have broken down app design into 6 sections and will list a few main bullet points for each one.
    The Home Screen

• Is there a way to get to all of the most important functions from the Home Screen?
• so make it complete-all options present and none are ambiguous
  
• but is important to not succumb to overcrowding
  
• Is there easy access back to Home Screen?
  
• Gives the feeling of "location"
  
• Using a tool bar at the bottom is one way to accomplish this (there are others-be creative!)

Layout and Organization

• Is the progression from one screen to the next intuitive?
• Answer: If I click this button, what do I expect to see on the next screen?
  
• Does everything fit into the different category titles?
• Don't compile unrelated features under ambiguous titles to save space on the previous screen shot.
  
• Can the user get an idea of the "big picture" of the app?

• Can they see more than just one input at a time and gain understanding of what the they are accomplishing
• Like the Daily Log and graphs seen on the apps already looked at

• Can the app be made in a more dynamic fashion?
  

• Options appear as they become applicable making original screen simplistic.

Inputting Information

• To be sure the page requires no effort from the user, answer these questions:
  

• Can you use a sliding scale (for #'s or between definitions like myIBD)?
• Can you create a scroll menu for inserting text?
  
• Can you provide a list of available options for typing in a response?
• this only helps if the list is concise (avoid USDA)
  
• How can you use colors here to make inputs more intuitive?
  
• Is there a need for an input option of "other?"

• To include options that serve little purpose to the majority of users
• NOT because your provided list is incomplete!
• Did you include a way for users to add personal notes?
  
• Users will be more willing to share information some if which can be crucial
• Good design: make text box project out to make it obvious

Use of Icons

• Can the instructions be explained by an icon?
  
• nobody will read text instructions.
• Can any text be replaced by a picture?

• Is the icon ambiguous?
  
• Can one or two words be added to enhance the meaning of the icon?

Presenting Data

• Presenting Data
• Can relationships be represented in a line graph?
  
• Can words be replaced by colored scales and numbers?
• Is their data present that is more distracting than helpful and should be removed?

Always be thinking

• Can this be made fun?
• Can this be made social, can there be a network aspect?
  
• Aim to create a more loyal and involved user base that will lead to the success of the app.

The points and questions above will act almost as a checklist. The result of following what is written will be a strong and friendly design for Crohn'sPromise. It was fun creating this list; reading my pasts posts and seeing the lessons and reflections that I have had thus far!

A last lesson of value to remember is that I must always be thinking about the user. As I looked at other apps, the stand out features occurred when the designers thought outside the box, like GI monitor putting a "Questions for Doc" feature on their home screen or GI Buddy including information not directly related to the apps function but still beneficial. Putting myself in a users shoes, I will always try to design with the user experience in mind. I hope the end product will be a success!

I have spent some time over the past few weeks making my way through the popular website PatientsLikeMe.com The website is a growing networking site in which patients can interact with other patients who are coping with the same disease. There are no medical professionals involved with the information posted on this site. Instead, patients post questions and answers based on their own experiences and provide data on they symptoms they experience and how the medications they are taking effect their quality of life. The goal of PatientsLikeMe is to make information readily available for the site's members as well as the professionals in the healthcare industry. Its value stems from the the data given in real time and in large numbers.

I see PatientsLikeMe serving two purposes. Firstly, the site can answer a patient's small questions that do not justify a doctor visit. Simply acting as a support network, the site helps patients understand what are normal symptoms and side effects and what indicates a more urgent complication. Such information can bring great comfort to patients who now know they are not alone. As I read through the forums I was able to find house-remedies to some of these side effects and symptoms; PatientsLikeMe  creates a collective knowledge of trial-and-error experiences from its patient users.

The second use of this compiled data is for those in the healthcare industry. Researchers, clinicians, pharma companies and more can put the patient provided information to valuable use. The founders of this website have even suggested that new forms of clinical research can be completed through this website and have published over 30 papers. Research on PatientsLikeMe is given in real-time and can be interactive. It can be made to encompass as broad or narrow of a population size as needed. It is relatively cheap to find potential participants. For all of the reasons, PatientsLikeMe has a lot of value to offer the research field.

PatientsLikeMe has compiled a great collection of strategies to communicate information. Even the colored human-like figures above are used by the website to convey data. Below are a few noteworthy examples of how PatientsLikeMe has become so practical. 

For each disease, PatientsLikeMe compiles a list of potential symptoms for users to choose from. As more users input what symptoms they experience, the website begins to rank the most common symptoms and collects data on the severity to which these symptoms are felt. Then, for the most commonly felt symptoms, the site creates the color coded sliding graphs seen on the left and charts this next to your own rating for severity of symptoms (Interesting side point- the site enlarges the diamond depicting your own severity rating as you input a worse rating). As seen in the picture, if you scroll your mouse over sections of the bar, even more information is provided, indicating how many patients can be described by that category, This side-by-side layout makes it easy to compare your own status with others who share your condition.

Well "so far so good," but let's say I am the type of user who likes A LOT of information. Right now you have only given me some information...

In PatientsLikeMe just about everything is click-able. Let's say you want to know more about: Crohn's patients and feeling Anxious. Simply clicking on the symptom "Anxious Mood" brings you to the new webpage seen on the right. The breakdown of severity is now crisply shown in the color coded pie chart. Below, there is a long list of medications organized in a vertical bar graph to show which medications are the most popular among the websites users. Following the same principles, the blue text of both the different medications as well as the number of users is click-able as well and lead to webpages explained below.

Charts are good for research, but let's say I am a simple patient who just wants to know what other simple patents have to say about the drug Clonazepam?

PatientsLikeMe has an additional feature that focuses on the source of all of its information. Whenever data is represented (look at the many screenshots above) you can always "zoom" in to the the patients that were the source of the data. Wherever there is a blue number next to a category (a specific symptom or treatment for example) you can click to get a screen shot like the one shown on the left. This feature gives PatientsLikeMe a personal feel.
Here, patients can read comments written by those that have already gone through the experiences. You can even send other patients a private message and begin a discussion with them about the issues that are bothering you. The hard-data is complimented by this personal component and allows users to find solutions to their particular questions that need human interaction to answer.

A final tool that most relates to the app we are building is what PatientsLikeMe calls their "Doctor Visit Sheet."  The website gives it users the capability to compile all of their inputted data onto a PDF sheet that they can print and email to share with their doctor. The data sheet tracks measurements of QOL, history of symptoms as well as the different labs and tests that a patient has had. Though the data sheet can become lengthy, using similar graphing techniques to those above, it can greatly enhance the communication between a patient and their physician. A noteworthy technique that PatientsLikeMe uses is color coded line graphs. The graphs are able to save space while maintaining the ability to portray progression.

When their brother was diagnosed with ALS, two MIT mechanical engineers along with a close family friend experienced shortcomings within the healthcare system. They did not understand why it should be so difficult to get in touch with other ALS patients and learn from their past experiences. They were frustrated that they were starting from scratch; experimenting with every new treatment instead of moving forward from where a past ALS patient left off. This frustration lead to a vision and the vision has played out as PatientsLikeMe. The goal of the site, as stated by one if its founders Jamie Heywood, is "everyone learns from the experience of everyone else on every meaningful variable that can effect the outcome, in real time, across the whole medical system." PatientsLikeMe is embracing a new healthcare culture in which patients can take control and affect their health outcomes. Creating a forum for patients to interact, enables patient to become their greatest advocate in reaching the best outcome that can be achieved.

I will have to apologize in advance for the incoherent nature in which I expect to be writing this post. I plan on going through the three IBD apps (GI Buddy GImonitor and myIBD) listing features that I find to be valuable, features that need to be fixed, features that should be added and explain where these conclusions are coming from. While doing so will help me develop a better sense of app design, I do not expect it to produce a very coherent blog post. When I finish working with the above apps. I will begin doing the same thing with other apps that serve similar purposes (ex. for patients with a chronic disease and/or their clinicians) and will document the findings that I see as valuable.

Before I start analyzing I think it will be worthwhile to write down some initial impressions of GIbuddy that I had after working with it last week. Opening the app, I immediately liked the home-screen. It was simple to start using it as every important function was just one click away. I felt as if I was thrown into the app, yet it was designed in a way so I knew exactly where I was and how to proceed. My only source of concern was with the "lifestyle" category. Clicking on this box leads to a list of seemingly unrelated options: "IBD Impact" (ambiguous), "stress level,"  "Well-Being Check," "Life events" and "Exercise/Activities." It appeared that the makers of the app wanted to include all of these options but did not want to clutter the home-screen. They settled and threw these options into the category "lifestyle." Doing so, made the home-screen design more aesthetically pleasing, but I found that these five functions, that have important purposes, will be used less because they are hidden within the app. So the home-screen looks nice (YES!), especially with the explanatory logos and attractive color scheme, but if the "lifestyle" options are important, then a change needs to be made (OH :o(  ).

Once using the app, I appreciated how simple the design team made the task of inputting information. Whether logging symptoms, medicine schedules, meals or exercise activities; you are always choosing from a compiled list of choices. The choices are organized in simple and easy to read scroll down menus that speed of the process of finding the correct choice. By organizing the app in this way, the designers accomplished two goals. First, because the process of inputting information is easy and quick, a user will be more likely to stick with the app. Secondly, the responses from all users of the app are now uniform; making it easy for a user to track personal changes on a daily basis or easy for a clinician who sees the same entries by all of his/her patients. The one issue with these compiled lists concerns the diet input. Using the vast USDA Database is cumbersome and difficult. Because recording diet is such an important part of this app, I will continue to brainstorm on how to improve this feature.

No matter how much foresight you have, you cannot think of every possible entry a user might want to input. In fact, even if you do think of the infrequent entries, you do not want to clutter the scroll down list with options that serve little purpose to the majority of users. This is why the "other" option is so important: not everybody fits into the per-determined list! The fact that this "other" option is always last ensures that users will not resort to it and are forced to first see the provided options before creating their own. Next, the constant ability to enhance each entry with a "note" is a crucial feature. There are always underlying details that are related to even the simplest symptoms and there is always a story behind a missed meal. The notes section allows a user to get there whole story down, It makes me okay with saying I "didn't take my medication today" because I can write down why and explain my decision so I do not feel stereotyped. If I could not write down the information, explaining why I have done something wrong/right, then I may decide it is better to not write at all. (A Note on the "Notes" feature is that there appeared to be no auto correct or spell check in the text box. Especially when wanting to write a lengthy note, these lacking features in the already miniscule text box makes writing notes a cumbersome and difficult process).

Another feature that I enjoyed when inputting information is how the process seemed dynamic. For example, when recording a bowel movement under symptoms, new options appear that let me give detail to this symptom. The fact that these options are hidden until they become pertinent allows the app to look clean and simple. Had all of these options appeared from the beginning, the app would be intimidating.

And some other comments on the app. At the bottom of the screen there is a "tool-bar" that makes navigation of the app quick and easy. The activity section for quick review and editing of the information posted in the app is a simple but crucial feature that brings the app together. Logging in different information seems a bit distant until I am able to see the whole picture with this feature. I also enjoyed the additional information that the app has links to and the "community" section. These unnecessary additions make the app feel more friendly. I think that because the app seems to go out of it's way to be helpful, I am more drawn to use it. One big complaint about the app is that is continuously "syncing" which means I am stuck and frustratingly waiting to be able use it.

Overall: solid app and I can't wait to beat it!

The screen shot of GI monitor has some immediate improvements from the GI Buddy home-screen. Using descriptive pictures, more options fit into the home-screen while the high level of aesthetics is maintained. It is important that GI Monitor still uses some level of text to explain each section. Together, the text and the picture, are able to effectively convey the purpose of each option. The increased amount of links on the home-screen will make it easier for patients to utilize all of the options GI Monitor has to offer.

Time for some Devil's Advocate.

While it is easy to see from the GI Monitor home-screen what capabilities the app provides, will this correlate to a proper and fuller use of the app? GI Buddy got to the point! I knew I should fill in my symptoms; in GI Monitor the symptoms are split up and the "custom symptoms" makes me create my own instead of selecting from the compiled list in GI Buddy. I knew I should make an entry about my medication; in GI Monitor that is only one of many options so the importance of doing so may gets diluted within all my other choices (also, you should really be able to add new medications from "missed meds" section! But I digress). I knew I should enter what I have eaten; in GI Monitor my diet has the same presence in the app as bowel movements and stress level! Now maybe I am being too nit-picky. Patients will use the app how they want to use the app... If they think it is important to record their missed meds and diet, then they will. If they want to record their bowel movements, stress level and pain level then it is even easier now!

My conclusion here is that it is really up to the designers. There can even be a compromise where Diet and Meds take a more prominent role while sharing the home-screen with the many different categories that fell under "Lifestyle"
for GI Buddy. Overall, I am more fond of the GI Monitor set-up because the home-screen "command and Control center" feels more complete.

GI Monitor adds perks for it's users that have the potential to build a stronger fan base and leave users with a sense of belonging, Fist is the prominent position on the bottom left hand corner of "Questions for Doc." In GI Buddy this feature is hidden in the "More" tab of the app and I assume is therefore seldom used. Placed where it is, this simple feature accomplishes a lot. First, it enhances communication between a patient and their doctor, the main purpose of the app, by helping patients prepare more effectively for their appointments. Secondly, it shows me that the designers of the application really had the users in mind when deciding what should be offered and how it should be presented. This is a really important lesson to internalize before we begin working on our own application!

The other perk that is so crucial to the success of GI Monitor (it has nearly 850 ratings on the itunes store which means a lot more downloads...) is its "socialize feature." GI Monitor created a community and virtual support network amongst its members. This "Focused Facebook" creates commitment and belonging to the app for its users. The continuous posts on this forum, at about every 10-15 minutes, means users are continuously opening to app to see what's going on. As they feel connected to the app and are opening it more often, they will also use the app for its intended purpose of tracking their disease. Like my post on gamification, when using the app becomes less of a responsibility and more part of an enjoyable routine, the app is successful.

Some other observations when considering GI Monitor design: The app often has the edit button on the bottom left hand corner going against the convention of the usual top right position so I am sure it often missed. Lesson: use conventions! The news section is just another great "let's go out of our way to provide this" perk; it wont appeal to everyone but it will definitely enhance the experience of some and is out of the way so it won't serve as a distraction. The report/graphing function is awesome! while the white box on the bottom of the screen has a bit too much going on to make it a functional summary, The QOL gauge is a really effective display by incorporating colors into the number scale.

myIBD is a great app to review last. On the one hand, the simplicity and design of this app blows the previous two apps out of the water. On the other hand, myIBD seems like an incomplete application in which the developers released a "rough draft" while they are finishing the real final version. For us, this just means there are a lot of "what-to-do" and "what-not-to-do" lessons.

The home-screen. It is clean.

I think it is the black background with the vibrant colored and round edged icons that make this homes-screen so appealing. It is all encompassing but not crowded. It is full with information but only a brief summary, It accomplishes the goal of leave nothing out but include nothing extra. It had set the standards for home screens, making the first step on inputting information intuitive and simple.

Because I can, I would like to complain about one thing. It is a bit depressing that the icon for mood is a rain cloud. I beleive emotions are  contagious and this icon is creating a subliminal message that you are in a downer mood. At a closer look I think there is actually a heart behind the rain cloud, but it really does not come out well and though this is a small critique I think it would improve the app.

The high quality design is not limited to the home screen; clicking on any of these icons leads to a similarly clever design. To the right is a screen shot taken after clicking on mood. Throughout the app, inputting information is as easy as a slide or a click. The convenience this provides makes the app more practical. Additionally, at the bottom of each screen shot there is the same "add a note..." box that protrudes out as if it asking to be clicked. If a user feels restrained from the limited predetermined answers they are given to choose from they can add a note to personalize their response. The system that myIBD has created makes the users task simple and quick while not creating any restrictions.

An issue: myIBD is too dependent on icons and fails to use text to convey a message. In this screen shot, the icons at the top of the screen are supposed to represent the activity tracker, fatigue, stress and General Well-being. The icons are too none descriptive and I see no way to realize and remember which goes to which. Knowing the identities of these options becomes important when you click on "history" from the home-screen to view a summary of your information.

As seen in the screen shot to the left, it is difficult to decipher what information was inputted for the categories of stool, food and mood. This an example of over-reliance on icons and a few descriptive titles would increase the usability of this feature. Too much of a good thing...

Another issue with myIBD is that there is no shortcut within the app that will bring you back to the home screen. GI Buddy and GI Monitor both had a tool bar at the bottom of the app that provided easy access back to the home-screen (as well as other important pages within the app). It was a bit frustrating when playing with the app and having to work my way back to the home screen instead of clicking on a simple shortcut. 

But we really are done! I have learned about the importance of a home-screen. It should be appealing, act as a central point in the app that defines and leads to the important features. Also, there should always be easy access to the home-screen for the user. I learned about building an interface for users to input information. Instructions are bad. Nobody reads them. A descriptive image with one or two explanatory words can suffice as instructions if used effectively. Once the user is inputting information, the task should be easy for them; a result of the designer thinking ahead. Options should be on an easy to scroll list so only a few are seen at a time, and when possible- ranking systems using the established conventions of number rankings works well. Using the conventions of colors when ranking different information is also an effective tool to convey a message and there should always be an options for the user to personalize their response with a note. The user should feel liberated not constrained by your design. In sum, don't just build an app by putting features together. If you think about what the user will be doing on your program, and construct an app with the user in mind, these ideas should come naturally.

I just went down for lunch and decided to watch a TEDtalk as I ate. Searching through different videos, I found one that caught my eye titled: How games make kids smarter. I would not say that I have ever been a huge gamer, but I have enjoyed my fair share of virtual fun and was therefore enticed by the idea of someone else rationalizing that time investment for me. Totally judging the book by its cover, I assumed it would be an entertaining TEDtalk while probably not educational but I asked myself: "why not waste another 15 minutes on the mindlessness of the gaming industry?" - and so I watched on.


And rationalize he did! The presenter, Gabe Zichermann, described a world that revolves around the gamer. He brought examples, which were commonplace like the MPG gauges that are being put in hybrids to incentive efficient driving, showing how products are embracing the gamer mentality, We live in the gamer's world and it is a great advantage to recognize it.

He then brought up a statistic that justifies a blog post here. Brian Burke of Gartner Inc. a leading IT research and advisory consulting firm, predicts that at least 70% of Global 2000 Organizations will have at least one gamified application by 2014. A game like atmosphere within an application produces a loyal customer base because they are are not just users but are fans as well. It makes using an application fun and creates motivation to stay involved by providing rewards. In fact, the GPS app Waze that was discussed in a previous post (after having been purchased by Google for over $1 billion) innovated the navigation industry by becoming interactive, social and game like.

The more you contribute to the application, the more status points you gain within the app. I first thought this was pointless (unintended), as the points are worthless so why bother, but as I was driving with a friend, we had fun putting in the small amount of extra effort to upgrade our account. In fact, we did not look at it as effort-it was FUN.

So where am I going with this?

Gabe Zichermann has inspired me to view the app we are designing in a new light. What if we could make it fun? What if this is not just another responsibility to keep your disease in check and instead is part of the treatment that you look forward to? How will we incorporate fun into an app that has such a serious and important purpose?

I have spent some time this morning playing with Kiosk Pro Lite and constructing my own kiosk. I will have to wait a little longer to use all the tools of Mokimanage, as I am waiting for them to send me my registration code. This was no problem, as Kiosk Pro Lite was able to keep me plenty entertained.

The administration tools of the Kiosk Pro Lite system are incredibly intuitive. The app opens up to a series of options that control the user experience. When you are satisfied with what you have chosen, you simply click on the "Run Kiosk Presentation" and you are in kiosk mode.

I am happy that I was able to play with the app because the kiosk function does not work as I imagined. I thought I would be able to create a "home page"  arrangement for the kiosk with links to the different website and videos for which I was permitting access to. Instead, The Kiosk Pro Lite version of this app had me choose one website as the home page and allowed me to permit access to other websites. I had to allow the URL toolbar to be shown or else there would be no way for me to navigate to permitted sites. I checked, and both upgraded versions of the app let's you create up to six navigation links to fix this problem. If we decide we want more than six links, we can always create a website whose sole purpose is to have links to the other sites that we want and make this new website the kiosk home-page. In fact, doing so would allow us to create an aesthetically pleasing home screen for users to navigate from as they explore the kiosk.

While playing, I was also able to discover a new way to "escape" from the kiosk mode. By pinching my fingers on the iPad I was able to close the app and gain access to the entire tablet. I spent some time trying to find a fix to this hole and discovered I could turn off this function in general settings of the iPad itself. If users are able to discover other loopholes, than the kiosk application serves little purpose. While I could not find any other ways, we will need to be sure that the home button is the only way to get out of the kiosk mode before we decide on using Kiosk Pro Lite as our app.

Overall, I was pleased with the success of the app. By allowing me to control which menu items are hidden when browsing the internet, I can make room for a larger browser screen. Also, I chose Yahoo.com as my homepage because there are many ways to access other website from the site. I was able to explore all of Yahoo, but when I hit a link on the webpage or from a web search that was not under the Yahoo domain, a notification popped up explaining "sorry, this site is not allowed" and I could not access it. Again, the only issue is that the app never lists which sites are in the "YES fly-zone."

In good serendipitous fashion, we are now in the market for a kiosk system that runs on a tablet device. It started when Dr, Atreja and Milan checked out a kiosk system that was being used for a conference in the lobby of the hospital. The kiosks were apple Ipads running the app called eCrisper. Today, I hunted for the best tablet kiosk system available and will summarize some findings below.

Tablets are a real threat to the kiosk industry where buyerzone.com puts the cost of a kiosk between $3,500-$8,000. With the average tablet price hovering around $400, and even the most supped up Apple Ipad at $799, there is a great incentive to replace traditional kiosks with a tablet running a kiosk app, Next, simply purchasing a stand for a few hundred dollars can give you the same great features for $1,000s less (and a tablet to play with when you are not using the kiosk...). The $1,000s incentive was enough for us and below are three of the leading applications that can turn your tablet into a makeshift kiosk,

eCrisper is an app for apple products that allows the administrator to select and restrict the websites allowed to be accessed on a device. For $79 per device, eCrisper can lock an apple Ipad so only specific websites can be browsed and no other app on the device can be opened. While the application cannot run applications on its own, it can run web apps if the administrator decides to include the URL on the "Okay list."

Kiosk Pro comes in three different versions: Kiosk Pro Lite
(free), Kiosk Pro ($4.99) and Kiosk Pro Plus ($39.99). Like eCrisper, this app only services apple products though in addition to creating a kiosk for websites it can also present photos and media. Upgrading to one of the paying versions allows remote access to the app so it can be manged over the internet by another device.

Mokimanage is a kiosk application that can be run both apple and android products. Broken down into two components, MokiTouch restricts website use like the applications above while Mikimanage allows the control of the tablet (home button, 3rd party apps, etc.). For Android products, this means a kiosk center can be set up that allows and restricts both applications and websites. Because the present OS for apple iPad/iPhone only allows one application to run at a time, Mokimanage cannot set up a kiosk that gives options to open applications (this very well may change with the new operating system that is being released). The cost of these services is a monthly fee determined on a sliding scale dependent on how many devices are signed up and is payed based on a 12 month subscription. At four devices, the  monthly fee would be $7 a month and $84 for the year,

This past week I have had some trouble logging into the weebly website and now have quite a bit of material to work with. I will try and limit myself to writing the highlights in an effort to keep this post at a reasonable size. 

I started the week exploring three existing apps created for IBD patients. The apps were "GI Buddy," "GI MONITOR" and "myIBD." Though designed differently, all three of the apps serve a similar purpose. These apps are platforms for IBD patients to record their daily symptoms and provide tools for patients to analyze what they have recorded. Playing around with these apps, I began developing an understanding of how the design of an app ties into the functionality of the app. I compiled conclusions in an excel chart and will highlight some ideas here.

The Home Screen
It is crucial for a "home screen" to exist that can lead to all other capabilities of the app. This one screen makes it simple for a user to find what they are looking for and minimizes the amount of time wasted on searching for different functions. I found myself using features of an app that were not displayed on the home screen much less often.

Pictures Worth 1,000 Words
Following the concepts mentioned earlier for web design, it is important to  include only information that is vital, so a screen does not become cluttered. All of these apps used different diagram and icons to portray information instead of lengthy instructions. Besides for making the screen more aesthetically pleasing, I realized that I would not have read the instructions had they been provided and therefore prefer the use of icons. Some of these icons, however, seemed to hold an ambiguous function and in building our app we will have to be careful about relying to heavily on their use. 

Make It More Fun Than Just Writing In An Answer
Everyone can write in an answer. It's boring. We do it all the time. You put little thought into the response and you may just be too lazy to respond at all. It is so important for the app designer to realize this and to think of innovative ways for users to respond to questions. The use of color coded sliding scales as seen on the right is a prime example. Instead of typing in your weight, you can simply slide your finger to the proper number. If you do need a typed answer, then the use of a search function from a compiled database of potential answers. In some of the apps explored above, when inputting what you had for a meal, you simply had to search through the USDA database of food options. 

Playing with these apps has made me more comfortable with the future task of designing one. I have learned how a user approaches these apps (or at least a user like myself) and what can set an app apart. GI Monitor, for example, has a social networking aspect to their app and I found this to be a really interesting way to draw in users. Sure enough, when I looked at the amount of comments on the itunes store, GI Monitor was by far the most popular of the three apps I observed even though all three serve a relatively similar purpose. Insights such as these will prove to be vital when the designing of our app begins.

The next few days I began reading articles from a publication titled Digital Infrastructure for the Learning Health System. The articles discussed how technology could, should and will be implemented into the healthcare system and what issues may come up as this process takes shape. Certain themes appeared repetitively throughout these articles and understanding them is important for the discussion of what potential technology holds for the healthcare system.


The background is well known. Presently, healthcare costs in the US are about 17% of GDP and these costs are growing at a rate faster than the country's GDP. Comparatively, healthcare costs make up a much larger portion of the United States economy but quality of care is arguably worse than that present in many other first world countries, We are just not getting the bang for our buck!

We can find many reasons that attempt to explain this contradiction of cost and quality. The United States healthcare system is full of what economists term as market failures. There are situations of asymmetric information and risks of moral hazards that yield an imperfect market. The healthcare system is fragmented and communication between different members is severely lacking. With all of these inefficiencies, science is improving and the practice of medicine is becoming more complex everyday. There needs to be more evidenced based care, but with the dis-organization and medical data recorded on paper, much of the innovative tools for analysis are futile.

Technology has the ability to change the status quo. Electronic resources can make data accessible, transferable and usable in real-time. Patients can become more involved in their medical care and disclose "user-generated data" such as fatigue, pain, diet, exercise routine and adherence to their treatment plan. Tools for analyzing data can be used and give feedback in time for a clinician to benefit from their results. This process will cut the cost of implementing evidence based medicine and push for a more organized system in which doctors come together with other service providers to create a multidisciplinary approach to care. By incorporating technology into medicine, we are jumping onto the quick growth "tech bandwagon." We are putting our system in a position for rapid improvement.

Technology is a great tool to improve our healthcare system but there are challenges to overcome if we are to take advantage. We will have to build an infrastructure that can handle this new environment and will have to make the system simple and intuitive for it to be adopted. Standards will have to be set so everyone is "talking in the same language" when inputting information and or else collaboration cannot be achieved. There will need to be a culture shift, in which patients are both willing and welcomed to take an active role in the way their treatment progresses. Implementing technology is a difficult task but it is more than just a fix to our healthcare system. Completing these tasks begins a new era of high quality and personalized care for each patient.

As I mentioned earlier, cloud computing is the future of all computing. The efficiencies and new capabilities provided by the cloud makes this evolution inevitable. As such, I did some research on the three different types of cloud computing and then explored some of the most popular cloud applications on the web. Experimenting with each cloud app was like playing with a toy for the first time. However daunting it is to be using software that is stored in some server far far away, once you see these apps, there is no turning back!

This blue and white "in" logo is synonymous with the professional networking site Linkedin. With over 225 million users from around the world, Linkedin gives its users access to business colleagues and associates from every discipline. As long as you have acess to internet, Linkedin will put you in touch! I personally enjoy a weekly newsletter service that Linkedin sends out with links to top rated articles. This morning I enjoyed reading: www.linkedin.com/today/simple-ways-to-inspire-yourself-at-work           (make sure to watch the videos)

When I saw this app I immediately wanted to go on a vacation solely so I could use it. I forwarded it to friends that are often traveling and know it will make their lives easier. I am an organized person, and there is nothing more difficult than successfully organizing an itineriary of a trip. Tripit compiles information from all different booking websites and compiles an itinerary that you can access from anywhere and share with anyone. The added features of using online mapping, weather, etc... features are just a bonus to this FREE organizational tool!

I was first introduced to Waze by an Israeli friend some years ago. After hearing how great it was, I downloaded it from the app store and, like the many other apps, I never looked at it again. This past weekend, however, I was driving up to Maryland from NY to visit a friend and the $400 GPS in the car wasn't working. I opened this free app and was guided to Maryland as it directed me around traffic and warned me in real time about police and other incidents on the road. Waze takes information from each person who has the app open and create a dynamic map that it used to give directions. The app even produced a specific URL for my trip and I was able to share it with my friend so he could track my trip and prepare for my arrival. It is no wonder that the company was just bought out by Google in a biding war with Apple and Facebook for over $1 billion (online.wsj.com/waze)

While elephants may have peanut sized brains, Evernote is the "remember everything" app. As you serf the web, create documents, record audio notes and discover videos, Evernote let's you save all that you want onto the cloud. Then, as long as you have internet access, Evernotes' powerful search function makes it easy to find memories on any device from anywhere in the world. If you find something you like, you can hang on to it forever.

Asana is an organizational and collaboration tool used for team projects. Tasks and goals are posted for the group to see and each team member can comment and offer assistance on different tasks as they check what their colleagues are up to. Everyone can stay up to date with overall progress of long term goals as they stay in the loop with internet access. With asana, teams can worry less about the the who is doing what with whom planning and more on simply getting the job done! 

Today I finished reading Steve Krug's book "Don't Make Me Think." As I read, I gained first hand experience, surfing popular websites such as Yahoo, Amazon and Barnes and Nobles. It is interesting to visit the web-sites I am already so familiar with and begin analyzing their design. I have seen these web pages many times yet now I can view them in a new lens critiquing and appreciating the effort it took or put them together.

I think it could be a worthwhile highlight so of the key takeaways from this book. 

When building a webpage, there are two goals to keep in mind:

1.  Is it obvious to the user what is on this page and what purpose the page serves? 
2. Does the user know how to proceed to their next step from this page?

The Design advice that follows are tools that continuously strive towards these goals while remembering that website Users are in one of two places. They are either searching for what they want or they have found it. Because this "search" is such a large part of the user experience, making a website browser-friendly is crucial to the websites success. Using the metaphor of 'website=store'; we can find parallels to tools that are useful for a customers search in a store to that of a user on a website.

The fist tool we can give a user is the simple search box. Kruge points out that the search box serves as the store employee who you approach with a question. You will be given directions on where to go, but the you are not sure if you are being directed to the right place or if your phrasing of the question has thrown you off course. Some go directly to the search box, and it is therefore a crucial component to any website, but others would rather search on their own and a website must also cater to these users. 

"The Browser" is a user on a hunt. He or She is independent, full of confidence and has a short attention span. The goal of design is to help this user make it to their intended destination before they give up and switch to a competing site. Using established conventions from everyday life, we are armed with many tools to do just this.  

A crucial way to help a browser find their way is to give them a solid footing. They should have an idea of where they currently are within a site and what they have seen so far. They should have a natural understanding of their options and how they can move forward. Creating this sense of "location" is particularly important on the web, where there is no sense of direction. On the web we can jump from one place to another. To create the potential for navigation, we must create a logical layout that creates the idea of a position.

Steve Krug's book "Don't Make Me Think" has a lot more to offer on design, working in a team and conducting usability tests on the site throughout its development and on completion. The book serves as a foundation to make the internet a better place and I would recommend it to anyone who uses the internet (you if you are reading this...) even if they do not plan on developing a website of their own. After reading this book, surfing the web will never be the same!

Today was full of learning the tools of the trade. Starting out on Weebly, I spent a couple of hours exploring how one with limited computer science knowledge (myself) can still build and personalize their very own website. I was incredibly intrigued by the options and explored the many capabilities that weebly as well as similar services  offer. I found sites that allow you to use your own domain name, some for really cheap like BlueHost. I was just astonished by how accessible this world is and how quickly I feel I am picking up invaluable skills. I hope to spend a night or two in the next week constructing my own free web-site, just to develop the skills that will undoubtedly serve to be useful in the future. 

Part of my education today included some quick searching on "THE CLOUD." Though I have done work with the cloud before, it was a good review and I came up with the following summary. Cloud computing is the centralization of computing power. Using established “server farms” individuals can access the cloud and use it as an additional hard drive. The cloud can hold files, run programs and if it is run through the Internet, any device that can connect to Internet can access the clouds services. The cloud expands access to computing power while achieving efficiencies with greater economies of scale.

The cloud is becoming synonymous with advancement in computer technology and the many opportunities it brings can be helpful for the healthcare system. A common attack on the US healthcare system points to the highly fragmented and disorganized structure. Cloud computing is a natural way to bring these many different pieces together, under one roof.