first steps- project part 1

A System for Tracking Early Childhood Development for Parents, Family, and Pediatricians.

Part 1:Understanding the Problem

! February 10th, 2012

Aaron GreenwoodDavid Jensen

Nate OsbornePratik Zaveri

Contents

Introduction 2

Current User Interfaces 3

Total Baby, “What to Expect,” and the General Market

Web MD Baby

Requirements Gathering, Methods, and Results 5

Interviews

Questionnaire

User Characteristics 9

Constraints 16

Implications 16

Functional Requirements Summary 17

Functional Requirements and Task Analysis 19

Hierarchical Task Decomposition

Environment

Critical Use Cases 21

Usability Goals 22

Reflections and Future Directions 23

Appendix A: Interview Questions & Responses 24

Appendix B: Survey Questions & Responses 31

Introduction

It’s hard to keep up with your children’s development. It seems like everything happens so quickly, and then they’re all grown up. For generations, parents and grandparents have been trying to record their children and grandchildren’s growth to come back to when they’ve grown up. We want to know, can this process be made easier, especially with today’s hectic lifestyles? Through our analysis, we’re developing a system called First Steps to help parents save information about their children’s lives to share with family and friends and to track development milestones.

Through surveys and interviews, we concluded that parents want to keep good records of their children’s development, but are often too busy to keep track of records. We’ve broken down the steps it takes to take a photo or jot down a note in a baby book and are developing an application that can automate that process, decreasing the time it would take to record events manually. To abate concerns by parents and caretakers that they are too busy, we have also identified that the system must be robust enough to hold photos, videos, or notes until there is time to input contextual information.

Another important aspect of raising a child is keeping the people in your child’s life up to date. Our surveys showed that parents were not always comfortable sharing personal information and photos of their children on the Internet, so First Steps focuses more on person-to-person sharing while also allowing for export to social networks. We also found that some individuals were still interested in having a printed baby book, so we are moving forward with a system that supports export to print media.

While we initially focused on recording all aspects of a child’s health, our surveys and interviews showed that was neither desirable to parents nor very helpful to pediatricians. By focusing on developmental milestones, we can keep from overwhelming parents who may otherwise feel obligated to over-record, while simultaneously tracking the information that’s most useful to doctors. Further, the health aspect of First Steps can work to keep parents reassured that their child is developing at a reasonable pace, or flag a development milestone where the child is lagging so it can be discussed with a pediatrician.

Our research showed that people were generally receptive to the idea of an electronic baby book, but the environment in which it would be used offers no room for a difficult interface. As the project progresses, it will be pivotal to design and implement a user interface that young, busy parents don’t find to be anything less than quick and easy. By implementing the combination of an easily usable interface with its saving, sharing, and health features, First Steps will have a winning package.

Part 1 - Understanding the Problem

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Current User Interfaces

We surveyed a large number of applications in both the Apple iOS App Store and the Android Market that were targeted at some of the problems that we are trying to address through our application. Ultimately, we looked at Total Baby and the “What to Expect” series of online books before focusing on WebMD Baby as our comparator system.

Total Baby, “What to Expect,” and the General MarketTotal Baby is an iOS app dedicated to monitoring child development milestones and Total is a staff pick for being one of the most effective baby tracking apps on the market. Total baby has a wide array of features to help track milestones, timers to track everything from sleeping and feeding to growth patterns. Total Baby is also marketed as a host of individual applications, for feeding, nursing, scheduling, etc. for the baby.

Another popular application in the space is a mobile version of the “What to Expect” book series. The app allows parents to log activities like sleeping, feeding, diaper changes and vaccinations.

There are a slew of other applications on the store, some targeted at a specific baby activity and other more generic applications. However, applications that help parents build and maintain a baby book and also simultaneously help track development milestones are few in number. A survey of the activity-tracker applications on online forums and discussion groups reveals that few parents keep tracking these behaviors over an extended period of time.

Also very few applications currently present a clear integrated timeline of both developmental milestones and other life events in a single view. These two functions are usually separate. Our contention is that the motivation to record events in a child's life can encourage parents to also keep an eye out for what developmental milestones their child has or has not achieved. A clever UI that supports this behavior is likely to be used more often.

Web MD BabyWeb MD baby is an app available free of charge in the Apple App Store. The team downloaded the app on a 3rd generation iPod Touch music player.

First Impressions:

The Web MD Baby app requires the user to create a Web MD account that is password protected. After the account is created the user can then ‘add’ the baby to the application and start monitoring the baby’s progress.

Web MD Baby, like its ‘adult’ counterpart, is a beautifully designed application which is comprehensive in categories and data provided for each category. All categories related to baby’s development are covered. The data provided is trustworthy with the sources enlisted for each article or snippet of information.


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Some features of the application are especially noteworthy; the Emergencies section has a great UI–displaying only the most relevant information and with categories like “Call the doctor if…” and “Step by Step Information” and also the ability to make a call to 911 from within the application. Other sections like “Baby week-by-week” and “Baby doctor visits” are also useful giving relevant information from week 1 up to 24 months.

The baby book is also intuitive and well categorized; like the ‘firsts’ (e.g. first word or first haircut), unforgettable moments are well-organized and useful. It allows for easy capture and storage of all media in an intuitive way. There are also in built apps to track sleeping, feeding, and diaper patterns and a nice growth chart option to track height and weight. There are, however, some areas where the the app could have better functionality and improve the interface.

Improvements:

Most of the data in WebMD Baby is text; there is very little pictorial representation of any of the conditions or steps that the application talks about. This may have been done to reduce the amount needed to download each time but more visual information would be an improvement.

Also, the app provides the ability to keep a height/weight growth chart but there is no central ‘timeline’ running through the application which keeps a track of all of the baby’s information in one place. A visually appealing timeline that in one glance provides the parent with all bits of information (development milestones [achieved/upcoming], growth, and important moments) would be ideal.

There is very little data visualization; parents might like to see graphs of their child's development against the national average or simply the rate of growth per month. Presence of graphical data makes the application more interesting and fun to use.

There are not enough check-lists that the parents can refer to; parents would like to have a check-list handy where they can mark out what their 3 month was supposed to do and achieved. The ability to check items off a checklist can also be a great tool during doctor visits when the doctor asks specifically what milestones the baby has achieved.

There is no in-built system reminder for baby check-ups and doctor visits; the parent would have to maintain a separate schedule for that and keep all the other baby related information on this app.

There is also no option to share any of this information except on Facebook and Twitter (and email in some cases). Parents would like to have a feature to export this an HTML page or to a Facebook app where they can view the complete baby ‘timeline’ on a larger screen. It would also be beneficial to allow parents the ability to print a paper copy of their digital baby book.


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Requirements Gathering, Methods, and Results

In order to effectively evaluate the needs and desires of the users of the proposed App, the team utilized two requirements gathering methods. First, several interviews were conducted with parents of young children (0 to 5 years) aimed at evaluating different aspects of how they monitor and record their child’s behavior and growth. In addition, a pediatrician was interviewed to determine what aspects of childhood development a professional considered to be important to monitor. The responses to these interviews were used to develop a brief questionnaire that was distributed on a wider basis to new and expecting parents that was used to quantitatively document the interest in different potential features of the application and directly address the needs of the users. Using the responses from the questionnaire, monitoring developmental milestones and building a digital baby book were identified as the most important features to the target user group.

InterviewsTwo parents and one pediatrician were asked to participate in individual structured interviews. The interview questions for parents and the pediatricians are documented in Appendices A-1 and A-2, respectively, and the full responses for each participant can be found in Appendices A-3 to A-5.

Both parents interviewed were mothers that have a child in the 2-3 year age range; one mother also has a child in the 0-1 month age range. One mother indicated that she had initially used a baby book, but found that many milestones did not correspond with her child’s individual development, making it more difficult and irritating to use. This indicates that a digital baby book, which can be edited by the user, may be valuable to some users.

In many instances, interview responses were used to enumerate the potential responses available on the questionnaire. Interview responses indicated that social media websites such as Facebook, Picasa, and YouTube are used to share images and video of children. A similar question was used to determine the sources that parents may go to when looking for health/developmental information about their child. These include the “What to Expect” book series and other books, online web sites, mothers groups, and the pediatrician and other baby professionals. Additionally, interview subjects indicated that their friends and family ask them about how much the child is talking, how they are doing developmentally, for anecdotal stories, how much/often they are sleeping, eating, and how fussy they are, among other things. This information led to questionnaire questions related to information sharing about the child. Another important question asked the parents what they had tracked or wished they had tracked for their own child’s development. These answers included height, weight, physical development milestones (first steps), cognitive development milestone (first words), sleeping duration and patterns, eating, and diaper patterns. All of these responses were included on the questionnaire as well.


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The interview questions for the pediatrician consisted of primarily health and developmental related issues. The responses indicate that parents are often overly concerned about whether or not their child is developing appropriately fast or if what their child is doing is “normal.” Associated with this, the pediatrician responded that parents should begin to look for signs of Autism in children about one year of age. Some of the information that doctors would like parents to be more attentive to are nutrition, exercise, and reading. Parents should be reading to their children even before they are able to speak. The pediatrician responded positively to the use of photos or videos when diagnosing problems with the children, saying that having images of the environment can be useful for identifying what problems might be occurring, such as where the baby sleeps and how well the home is childproofed. Similarly, diagnoses could be made remotely and medical advice could be given without physically being present at the doctor’s office.

QuestionnaireA questionnaire was developed based on the responses from the interviews and distributed via social networking websites and e-mail. The questionnaire was based in a Google Docs Form and a direct link was posted to Facebook and e-mailed among friends. From there, the link was re-shared multiple times, and there were 28 total respondents after six days. A detailed summary of the results of the questionnaire can be found in Appendix B-2.

Roughly half of the respondents were in the 30-39 year old age group, and 26 of the 28 were female. The “baby status” of the respondents is shown in Figure 1. This graph indicates a relatively uniform distribution of child age ranges, corresponding to parental experience.

FIGURE 1. Most respondents had children or were expecting a child.

Grandparent/Friend/Relative

11+ years

6 to 10 years

3 to 5 years

0 to 2 years

Expecting

Planning

0 2 4 5 7

Respondent Child Status


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Of those with a child, two-thirds either work part-time or do not work outside of the home, the majority of whom do not send their child to daycare. These responses indicate that many parents are with their child throughout the day and are in a position to record many aspects of the child’s development. Over 75 percent of the respondents say they own a smart phone, indicating this to be a plausible platform for development.

Apart from demographics information, the main categories of questions asked were related to where people get information regarding child health and development, interest in different features of a baby-tracking App, and how people use baby books. Responses show that the most commonly accessed resources for parents with questions about their child’s health are friends and family. Sixteen of the 18 respondents with children go to friends and family on a monthly or more frequent basis. The other most commonly accessed resources are online: health websites and online discussion forums. Parenting groups and books are also used somewhat frequently, with 7 and 8 respondents each, respectively, using them at least monthly. Out of the remaining options provided, pediatricians were used “Rarely” or “Monthly,” which is expected based on visit schedules, and TV/Videos were used “Never” by two thirds of the respondents, and “Rarely” by the rest. These results indicate that a parent with a health-related question is likely to first approach a friend or relative, and if they are unable to get an answer there, they will use online resources.

Based on the interview responses, features from competing Apps, and general knowledge, a list of different activities associated with childhood growth, health, and development was presented in the questionnaire, and respondents were asked to select all of those that they had an interest in tracking. The results are shown in Figure 2 below.

FIGURE 2. Respondents were most interested in tracking things that changed over time.

HeightWeight

SleepingEating

Breast-Feeding ScheduleTantrumsHeadsize

TV WatchingComputer/Technology Use

BathsDiaper Changes

Bottle-Feeding ScheduleOther

0% 23% 45% 68% 90%

Respondent Interest in Tracking


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These results indicate that parents are primarily interested in monitoring their child’s long-term growth via height and weight, as well as their immediate health via sleeping, eating, and breast-feeding. The most popular items, height and weight, can also serve as mementos for parents and are commonly included in many baby books, indicating that a design which favors these items should be important. Similarly, tracking immediate health items is found to be important enough that a useful app should include at least the most popular of these.

Of the 28 respondents, 18 currently have a child, 9 are planning or expecting a child, and 1 is a grandparent or close friend of a child. Both current and expecting/planning parents were asked about their interest in using an App to track/monitor their child’s development and what features they thought would be most useful. Of those with a child already, only one had used an App similar for any type of child monitoring. The average interest ratings in using an app are 3.3/5 and 3.7/5 for current parents and planning/expecting parents, respectively, with 5 representing “Very Interested.” Figure 3 shows the interest level for each group for a variety of proposed features. The values represent the percentage of members from that group who selected that they were either “Likely” or “Very Likely” to use a particular feature.

FIGURE 3. Respondents were similarly interested in sharing, but parents had different ideas about health and recording daily activities.

Respondents were also asked if there were any other features that they would like to see as part of an App like this. Responses included movie capture, timelines, dental chart, storing photos with events, integration with Facebook and other social media websites, fun child activities and child recipes, and pre-birth (pregnancy term) information. A common link that can be drawn

Planning/Expecting a childHave a child

Printing a physical baby book from stored info

Developing a digital baby book

Keeping a contact list (doctors, teachers, friends)

Keeping a calendar for your child (check-ups, playdates, etc.)

Keeping a list of questions for the pediatrician

Finding answers to health questions

Communicating with health professionals online

Sharing daily activities

Tracking daily activities

Sharing life milestones

Sharing pictures/video

0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

89%

83%

28%

33%

28%

78%

89%

67%

78%

72%

78%

89%

78%

22%

11%

67%

100%

78%

78%

89%

89%

67%


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between many of the popular features presented in the questionnaire and those suggested in the responses is the sense of monitoring and sharing long-term changes and development as well as media associated with them.

The results of the requirements gathering process indicate that there is interest in the App proposed for development and that people are interested in sharing and monitoring the development of their children. This type of information would fit well in a timeline representation for parents. From this, parents could easily create digital baby books that are personalized, and there is significant interest in the ability to print out such a baby book, to create a physical memento as well. Most respondents are not as interested in tracking daily activities, although some would find this utility useful. In general, the parents are concerned with the amount of personal information about their child that is stored electronically on an unsecured device. In practice, security issues can be handled through the use of passwords and encryption. It may also be of interest to develop the App in such a way that identifiable or personal information is not used. In practice, security issues can be handled through the use of passwords.

User Characteristics

In order to better understand the users in our system, we developed five potential groups of users who would be interacting with our system. Characteristics for these users can be seen below in Table 1. In addition, we have developed several personas to aid in interface design by personifying our user groups. These persona sheets can be seen below.


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Profile Name Expecting Parent First time parent Experienced ParentProfessional

Caregiver

Family Caregiver (other than the

parents)

Age18-45 18-45 20-45 20-50 30-70

SexM or F M or F M or F M or F M or F

Physical Limitations

Expectant mothers may have flagging energy and nausea. In general, they may be fully able-bodied, or may have some physical limitations, for example in relation to sight or hearing.

First time parents will likely have limited sleep. Mothers may experience post-partum depression.In general, they may be fully able-bodied, or may have some physical limitations, for example in relation to sight or hearing.

Experienced parents will likely have limited sleep. Mothers may experience post-partum depression.In general, they may be fully able-bodied, or may have some physical limitations, for example in relation to sight or hearing.

In general, may be fully able-bodied, or may have some physical limitations, for example in relation to sight or hearing.

Older caregivers will likely have somewhat decreased hearing and vision capabilities. In general, they may be fully able-bodied, or may have some physical limitations, for example in relation to sight, hearing, mobility, or use of hands.

Educational Background

High school or greater





Computer / Technology use

Likely have some computer/technology experience



Older caregivers in this group may have less computer/IT experience. In general, though, they are likely to have some computer/technology experience

May have little to no computer/technology experience

Motivation

Likely highly motivated to keep track of baby info, can't wait to meet and learn more about their baby

Likely highly motivated to keep track of baby info, can't wait to meet and learn more about their baby

Likely somewhat less motivated to keep track of baby info in general. May feel guilty about not tracking thoroughly the first time around. Or may be motivated to find a system to help keep from failing to track the non-first born child

Perhaps motivated by job requirements. Parents may compel caregiver to record info in their absence

Likely significantly less motivated to keep track of baby info details, but highly motivated to share updates with family and friends. May feel some obligation to record info in parents' absence.

Attitude

Attitude to use may vary. Likely excited to keep track of baby info, but may want to try a traditional baby book.

Attitude to use may vary. Likely excited to keep track of baby info, but may want to try a traditional baby book.

Attitude to use may vary. Likely a bit less excited to keep track of baby info, but perhaps eager to try a system that works better than a physical baby book did for the first born.

Attitude to use may vary. May be resentful of such a system if they are not intrinsically motivated to use it.

Attitude to use may vary. May think such a system is unnecessary


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TABLE 1. User group characteristics.

Back Story

Lucy has been married for two years and is very excited to be starting a family with her husband Mark. Their son Knox was born two weeks ago and is already adding lots of joy (and complexity) to their lives. Mark works full-time at a construction company while Lucy stays home with Knox. Lucy has joined a neighborhood Mom’s group, and is looking forward to future play-dates with friends who also recently had kids.

Motivations

• Ease of use - wants an easy way to document Knox’s early years• Convenience - wants something that makes it easy to share with others• Expense - has a modest income, wants something inexpensive Goals

• Ensure Knox’s development is normal / healthy• Share pictures and stories with her parents, who live in Korea• Record events for posterity during this exciting time

Pain Points / Frustrations

• Uses technology fairly frequently, but doesn’t have the patience to try figure out complicated applications or systems

• Is skeptical that a mobile app could replace a traditional baby book• Worries that she might not know how to be a good parent• Worries that Knox will be happy and healthy

image: duron123 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net


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First-Time ParentLucy Williams • Age 23• Stay-at-home Mom• Indianapolis, IN• Frequent social technology user. Posts to

Facebook from phone, sends text messages with friends often, uses email and web daily.

Back Story

Kathy built a successful career in the consulting industry before deciding to have kids at age 30. She is working hard to maintain a balance of work and home life as her family continues to grow. Daughter Eva was born two weeks ago and joins Ella, 3, and Simon, 5. Kathy is a confident Mom of Simon and Ella, and is pleased with the addition of her third and final child to the family.

Motivations

• Convenience - tried a baby book with Simon, but found it too hard to take the time to fill it out. Never started a book for Ella.

• Health - Eva was born premature. As a result, Kathy wants to watch Eva’s early development closely.

• Ease of use - Kathy is a frequent user of technology, but doesn’t have time or patience for systems that are cumbersome.

Goals

• Ensure Eva’s development is normal / healthy• Record events for posterity, knowing that later kids often get left out• Share pictures and stories with family and friends


• Technology systems can be cumbersome• Time management is a challenge• Worries that Eva will get left out, won’t have enough pictures

image:http://www.flickr.com/photos/papazimouris/438040729


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Experienced ParentKathy Gilbert • Age 36• Project Manager, Consulting Firm• Chicago, IL• Frequent business technology user. Checks

work email on her iPhone, has numerous business and personal apps installed.

Back Story

Beth and Jeremy met while teaching at the same high school. Their students roll their eyes over how affectionate Jeremy has been with Beth since she’s gotten pregnant. They are thrilled to learn that their first child, expected to arrive in eight more weeks, is a girl. Jeremy has been comparison shopping for digital video cameras to document the upcoming events. Beth’s parents recently helped paint the baby room they are preparing for the new grand-daughter.

Motivations

• Ease of use - Beth and Jeremy want an easy way to share pictures and videos with students, fellow teachers, family and friends

• Education - They want to learn what to expect when their daughter arrives• Convenience - They’ve heard that parents have a hard time filling out baby books, so

they are open to trying something that makes this process more convenient Goals

• Prepare for their daughter’s arrival• Share pictures and stories with students, family and friends• Record events for posterity during this exciting time


• Worry that their daughter will be happy and healthy• Worry that they will remember to track all the important milestones

image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nonamenumber3/4479737255


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Expecting ParentsBeth and Jeremy Walsh• Age 26 and 27• High school teachers (Journalism, Physics)• Urbana, IL• Frequent technology users. Beth uses Facebook

and is loving Pinterest. Jeremy has Facebook and Twitter accounts but never uses them, but recently has gotten in to digital photography.

Back Story

Elena moved to New York after college to pursue a singing career. While she waits for her big break, she works as a Nanny for a family in Manhattan. Elena spends much of the day strolling newborn Ethan around the block and through Central Park. She’s convinced that she can put any baby to sleep with her comforting lullaby singing voice.

Motivations

• Financial - Ethan’s parents are obsessed with his well-being and have asked Elena to document his developmental milestones as part of her job

• Reassurance - Elena wants reassurance that the things she sees Ethan do are within the normal ranges of behavior

• Social - Elena likes sharing her life in real-time with friends online Goals

• Record events for Ethan’s parents in their absence• Share pictures and stories with friends• Compare Ethan’s behavior with developmental norms/guidelines


• Feels like Ethan’s parents can be over-bearing• Doesn’t want ~another~ mobile app to have to keep up with• Doesn’t really want to be a full-time care-giver

image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/criminalintent/2269403571


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Professional CaregiverElena Graves• Age 24• Nanny• New York, NY• Frequent technology user. On Facebook and

Twitter much of the day. Blogs about her nanny adventures.

Back Story

Mike and Dorothy are loving their newfound retirement. After a relaxing Summer of cross-country RV travel, they are back home in Georgia caring for their first grandchild, Noah. Mike and Dorothy spend weekdays watching Noah until his parents, their daughter and son-in-law, return from work.

Motivations

• Social - Mike and Dorothy are proud grandparents and want an easy way to share photos and videos

• Curiosity - Mike and Dorothy are amazed by what their new iPad can do, and curious to see what types of apps and tools they might enjoy trying out

• Reassurance - Mike and Dorothy know that their daughter and son-in-law, like many first-time parents, have many concerns about their son’s development. Mike and Dorothy want to monitor Noah’s progress in order to help reassure his parents that he’s doing fine.

Goals

• Share pictures and stories with family and friends • Record events on behalf of Noah’s parents while they are working


• Sometimes feel left behind by technology advances• Dorothy’s arthritis makes it hard for her to click small buttons• Mike has a hard time reading small phone screens• Both have concerns about privacy

image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/safari_vacation/6055437609


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Family CaregiversMike and Dorothy Hopkins • Age 67 & 66• Both recently retired (sales, nursing)• Sandy Springs, GA• Limited computer use, but interested in

learning more. Have a shared email account, use it to email and send pictures to friends. Recently got an iPad.

Constraints

As with any software development project, constraints exist both in the product environment and within the team. The most pressing constraint is time: we will have around two calendar months to apply the information learned in this phase of the project. Future phases include user interface design, prototyping, testing, and developing a final report, so there is little room for error moving forward. Through the publication of this report, the team has spent roughly 60 person-hours on this project. Care will need to be taken moving forward to distribute workload across time.

The second set of constraints hinges around the user characteristics; these can be broken up into privacy variations and output reader technology. Privacy variations are inherent in any sharing-based technology: some people are simply more comfortable with sharing than others, especially when it comes to information about their children. Any system needs to accommodate users of all comfort levels with sharing. The output reading technology is something that will need to be addressed for individuals to accept shared photos or other information; some older adults especially may not use all of the available social media methods to stay in touch, so the system must be able to accommodate multiple ways of sharing.

Since this is the first version of the software, backwards compatibility issues are significantly reduced. We still must adhere to standard file types for media used within the app, such as audio, video, and images, but the majority of our file types will likely have no standards. However, any mobile app would have to be limited to the platforms with the most market share, specifically iOS and Android applications. While the Android Market has very few restrictions on apps made for Android devices, the iOS App Store requires that the app be pre-screened and approved by Apple to ensure that it meets the standards it has set forward for developers. To ensure access to the App Store market, we will need to use Apple’s development standards as constraints in our development process. Additionally, even though no previous versions of our software exist, it would be wise to maintain backwards compatibility with the most recent generations of iOS and Android, although the changes that may affect our App are likely minimal. Similarly, there are hardware constraints that exist between different smartphones such as memory availability and processor speed, although these will likely not have any impact on our app.

Implications

To summarize the constraints and user characteristics, we have two distinct groups of critical users: younger parents and caretakers and older relatives with whom information is shared. Younger individuals have varied experience with technology, but are all familiar with sharing and social media (all but one survey respondent reported using Facebook). These individuals are incredibly busy as they raise their children and still, in many cases, work full- or part-time. Compounding this stress is a strong sense of worry, both about how their children are


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developing and whether that’s normal and about privacy as they share information about their children online.

The second group of individuals is a group of older adults who are largely interested only in viewing information about their grandchildren, nieces, family friends, etc. They have varying levels of comfort with technology ranging from none at all to being tech savvy. These individuals may want to interact with shared information, but may do it in many ways, including by telephone to the sharer.

The environment in which this system would be used is also unique. The environment can be extremely difficult and cognitively demanding, especially for parents of younger children. There is often no mental workload available for anything other than caring for children. When mental resources are available, any secondary task must be performed with one hand, as the other is busy attending to a child. This environment does, however, have varying workload intensity in that some care-taking activities require every bit of attention, while others require less or none (e.g. when the child is asleep). Lastly, the environment is frequently interrupted by critical needs such as crying, so any activity that can be started should be resumable.

The implications to these user and environmental needs can be summarized with five principles:

1. The system should be quick to learn. Parents have very little time as is. If the system takes too long to learn, it seems likely that they will abandon it.

2. The system should be forgiving. Parents may not always be able to make a milestone update. This should not inhibit use of the system in the future.

3. The system should be editable. Those sharing information should be able to quickly snap a photo or recording and add information later when time frees up.

4. The system should be reassuring. Parents worry about development and privacy, and this system should at worst not intensify those worries and ideally decrease those worries by reassuring parents that their child is safe and developing appropriately.

5. The system should have nearly universally compatible output. Individuals who want to share or view information should be able to do it in whatever way they would like, including email or print.

Functional Requirements Summary

For First Steps™ to be a success, it needs to be an improvement over the existing methods of recording data, sharing events, and tracking milestones. We performed a hierarchical task decomposition and looked at the environment to see if there were clues in how we could improve over the existing systems, such as photo-sharing apps or physical baby books.


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Some trends emerged as a result of the task analysis: access to trusted, relevant information and recording these observations is a process that is not currently streamlined and efficient. We see a lot of scope in improving the entire process of information retrieval and recording. There is also an issue currently to review and share gathered information. There is a great opportunity here to make the system more efficient.

A detailed task analysis of parents creating and maintaining a baby-book currently revealed some interesting points. We identified several pain points here--the basic ones were identifying what recording mediums to use to capture a particular event and locating the medium. More revealing however were the issues in adding context to these captured events so that they make sense at a later date. Review of captured artifacts, organization and publishing are all tasks that are currently not easy to execute and can be improved upon greatly.

The complexity of the environment is illustrated in the system model (Figure 4).

FIGURE 4. The operational environment where First Steps would be used has many actors with different desires.


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Functional Requirements and Task Analysis

In order to better understand the functional requirements and perform a task analysis, we first began by looking at a hierarchical task decomposition to evaluate the steps that would go into performing a basic sharing task and a development tracking task. The results of these tasks can be seen below in Figures 5 and 6. Further, we looked at the environment the system would be used in to look at how we should implement functionality.

Hierarchical Task Decomposition

1. Get Trusted information source

1.1 Identify Available Options

1.1.1 Web Application

1.1.2 Physical Book/reference

1.1.3 Phone application1.2 Identify Most Convenient Option

1.3 Download/Buy selected option

1.4 Start using downloaded option

2. Identify relevant milestones basedon baby age/sex/condition

0. Track Development Milestones

3. Monitor baby behavior

3.1 Keep track of behavioral milestones

3.1.1 Movement

3.1.2 Visual and Hearing

3.1.3 Social and Cognitive

3.1.4 Smell and Touch

3.1.5 Hearing and Language

3.1.6 Social and Emotional

3.1.7 Visual

3.1.8 Language

3.1.9 Motor Skills

3.1.9.1Hand

3.1.9.2 Fine motor-Fingers

4. At relevant time, retrieve milestones list 4.1 Access preferred info source

4.2 Retrieve relevant milestones

5. Identify if baby has achieved milestones

6. Record observed behavior/milestone

6.1 Take notes on paper

6.2 Take a picture

6.4 Record Video

6.5 Cross of checklist

6.3 Record Audio

6.6 ! Make special note of abnormal behavior

7. Review milestones 7.1 See milestones achieved

7.2 See upcoming/future milestones

8. Communicate achieved milestones todoctor / family

8.1 Transfer into format that can be sent

8.2 Send milestone

FIGURE 5. There are many steps to tracking a development milestone


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4. Locate desired recording medium

3. Decide what recording medium to use3.1 Notebook

3.2 Camera

3.3 Recorder

3.4 Video Camera

2. Decide whether you want to record it

1. Identify significant event

5. Record Event5.1 Take notes on paper

5.2 Take a picture

5.3 Record audio clip

5.4 Record Video

9. Organize/Categorize and Filter artifacts9.1 Into pre-defined categories

9.2 Into user-defined categories

10. Publish/Share single artifact or artifact collection

10.1 Transfer into format thatcan be sent

10.2 Send artifact(s)

0. Maintain baby book

8. Review stored artifacts

8.1 Immediately

8.2 At a later date

6. Add Context to recordedartifact

6.1 Time

6.2 Description

7. Store artifact

FIGURE 6. It is no simple task to add an event into a baby book.


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EnvironmentWe referenced the environment above in Implications above, but it bears repeating: the environment in which this system will be used is complex and mentally taxing, with varying workload intensity. It will frequently require that a user operate it one handed, at least for the purposes of capturing media. Any interface developed will also have to be resumable, as it is very likely that there will be interruptions in any task being undertaken by the user.

Critical Use Cases

We identified several critical use cases that we will need to take special care in evaluating in any interface we design for the new system. These critical uses and the user–system interactions are below in Table 2.

TABLE 2. Critical use cases.

User Purpose System Responsibility

TrackingTracking

Enter milestone tracker

View relevant milestonesDisplay relevant milestones according to entered information

Identify/indicate completed milestone

Indicate/mark completed milestone Store completion status

SchedulingScheduling

Set reminders for upcoming milestones/events Add item to calendar/scheduler

Wait for reminder Prompt user for upcoming milestones/events

View/Acknowledge reminder Mark reminder as acknowledged

Creating ArtifactsCreating Artifacts

Add a new artifact Display options for adding artifacts

Select desired mediumSystem enables that mode (camera, text, video, audio)

Capture artifact Save artifact to memory

Categorize captured artifact Store category information

Sharing milestones/artifactsSharing milestones/artifacts

Select artifact/milestone to shareAcknowledge/confirm object and display sharing selected methods

Select preferred sharing method Request artifact context

Add context Save

Deliver Send & display confirmation


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Usability Goals

We outlined several usability goals for this project: Effectiveness, efficiency, safety, utility, learnability, and memorability. Table 3 outlines those goals, their relevant tasks, performance measures, and target goals.

TABLE 3. Usability goals with performance measures.

Goal Tasks Performance Measures Target Score

Effectiveness

SchedulingNumer of users continuing to use this feature

Greater than 50% of users still use scheduling 2 months after initial useEffectiveness

SharingUser rank of process and output in comparison with printed baby book

Higher score than printed baby book

Efficiency

SchedulingLength of time to add an item to schedule

5 seconds or less to get to add an item from anywhere in app (excluding time to enter description, etc)Efficiency

Creating an Artifact

Speed at which user can add media and speed at which user can add contextual information

20 seconds or less for adding media. 2 minutes or less for adding all contextual information

Safety Sharing No unwanted intrusions into personal information

Experienced field testers cannot access information.

Utility

TrackingPercentage of milestones with a relevant user action

Users attend to > 50% of the milestones over an extended period of time

Utility

SchedulingHow many items do users add to their calendar

Two months after initiation, users schedule using this app

Utility

Creating an Artifact How frequently do users create artifacts

One or more artifacts created per month

Utility

Sharing How many users share Percentage sharing > questionnaire response rate

Learnability

SchedulingStandard deviation of new users’ time to schedule an event after 10 trials

Std. deviation less than 1 second, mean less than 5 secondsLearnability


Standard deviation of new users’ time to create an artifact after 5 trials

Std deviation less than 3 seconds, mean of 20 seconds

Memorability

SchedulingDegredation of time required to schedule an event

Mean time degredation less than 5 seconds after 1 week without use. 20 initial trialsMemorability


Degredation of time required to schedule an event

Mean time degredation less than 10 seconds after 1 week without use. 10 initial trials


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Reflections and Future Directions

Gathering the requirements analyzing the tasks for this part of the First Steps project has been very eye-opening. Aspects of the project we thought would be important to doctors, such as tracking daily health aspects, turned out to be less important while new ideas, such as the printed baby book, arose out of discussion. Our team also gained a better understanding of the effort and time that will be necessary to produce a quality product for this project.

While we perhaps expected the survey collection and analysis to be easy, it turned out to be more difficult than was expected. In hindsight, the survey may have been too long, both for the users and for us to analyze. However, we gained excellent insight from the comments on the survey, and that was invaluable to our requirements gathering effort. Further, while we were all able to complete our own individual aspects of the project, bringing the final project together took a bit longer than expected. In the future, we will have to make a better effort to spread out the compilation process at intermediate steps. If more time had been available, however, we would have rather put it into collecting more interviews and survey data than into document compilation.

Tasks were distributed amongst the group with final edits in the end. Mr. Jensen was directly responsible for documenting requirements gathering methods and results, performing interviews, and for developing usability goals and measures. Mr. Osborne was directly responsible for developing user characteristics/personas, performing interviews, and summarizing the functional requirements and task analysis. Mr. Zaveri was responsible for the hierarchical task decomposition and existing UI research and critique. Mr. Greenwood was directly responsible for the introduction, constraints, implications, and report formatting. Mr. Jensen, Mr. Osborne, and Mr. Zaveri collectively developed the critical use cases, and the entire group jointly brainstormed, edited, built, and distributed the questionnaire.

Ultimately, we gained a much better understanding of both the needs of users and the scope of this project through this first phase. As we move forward, we will be able to take the lessons learned here and apply them not only to creating a product that individuals will want to use, but also toward creating a product doesn’t flood users in extra features.


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Appendix A: Interview Questions & Responses

Appendix A-1

Interview Questions for Parents1. In what ways do you currently document your child's development?

1. Do you have a baby book?1. Do you use it?

2. Do you take pictures? When?1. How do you share pictures with family/friends?

3. Are you filling out a height/weight growth chart each month?2. What are the memorable moments of your child's development that you would like to

document?1. Are there milestones that you wish you would have tracked that you haven’t?

3. What is your main source of information regarding your child's health and development?

4. Are you concerned about whether your child's development is on target?1. What sources of information do you use to determine how your child is

developing?5. Are there any questions for which you wish the answers were easier to get?6. Do you have a smartphone (iphone/ipad/ipod/android)?7. What kinds of questions does your family ask about the baby?8. Would you like to have a mobile app for tracking baby milestones/memories?9. Which daily baby activities are you interested in tracking? Feeding/Sleep/Diapers/

tantrums/TV/bath/iPad time10. Child demographics, parent demographics

Appendix A-2

Interview Questions for Pediatricians1. What are the check-up schedules that parents should know about?2. What are the major warning signs that parents should look out for at different points of

their children's development? autism screening - if no eye contact by a year, anticipatory guidance about what expect to be doing. EMR for some offices, upload/check off milestones.

3. What are some of the common questions that parents ask or have concerns about?4. What are some things parents should be more attentive to?5. What information sources do you recommend for parents with questions?6. Do you think the CDC milestones for child development are a good guideline for

parents?7. How strict are child development timelines such as these?


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8. What information about developmental milestones would you like to see parents bring with them to appointments?

9. Are there health issues or developmental milestones for which pictures and/or video would be particularly helpful in diagnosing/tracking?

Appendix A-3

Interview with Parental Subject 1. Female.

David J (DJ): In what way do you currently track your child's development?

Subject 1 (S1): Um. It's more along the lines of comparing his actions and abilities to those of other children, whether they're his same age, older, or younger. I used to write down his milestones in a baby book, but that became tedious and I lost interest in it. He also has an Early Interventionist and a speech therapist who see him once a week, and they give me a better, more formal idea of where he is developmentally.

DJ: What did you not like about using the baby book? And was there anything you DID like about it?

S1: A lot of what I didn't like was that it assumed my child would be doing certain things at a certain age, and with his premature birth, obviously a lot of his milestones were reached significantly later than the book suggested. So I'd have to scratch out parts to write in his age properly. Also, I'm just kind of lazy and easily lose interest in things. It got to a point where I wouldn't even think about when he reached a milestone and would have to go back months later and try to remember when he did what.

I liked that it made for a good momento, though.

DJ: Would you prefer the physical momento to a digital one?

S1: Yes.

DJ: Okay, Do you take pictures? What are they of? and how do you share them with friends/family? With the last one, I'm asking, facebook/social networking, print them out, e-mail, etc

S1: I don't take as many as I used to, but yes. They used to be just of Van doing anything and I'd actually take time to get good shots, like I'm proving he exists in general or something. But now I'll take photos when he does something silly like colour all over his body or make a funny face. More often than not, they go directly to facebook, and that's as far as they go. Sometimes I'll send photos to friends over my phone. But I most prefer to have actual copies made at a drug


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store and keep them in a binder. I like to send some out to people, but normally keep them for myself.

DJ: Are there any memorable moments/milestones from his childhood that you wish you had tracked? Basically, what is important to you, as a parent, to have record of

S1: Not really when it comes to developmental stuff. I've kept a few things from his baby days - things from the NICU, my favourite tiny outfits to put him in, and I probably have a couple of his toys still. I almost wish I had kept track of his height, but in retrospect it doesn't seem to make any difference.

If anything, I wish I could have gotten more videos.

DJ: What is your main source of info for tracking his health and other development?

S1: The rare occasion I take him to the doctor and the EI and speech therapist he sees. That's all. I'm the type to assume he's healthy until I see something that is ACTUALLY wrong. And I don't really care where he is developmentally - I only know because doctors etc. always tell me how behind he is on this and that and whatever else. As far as I'm concerned, if he IS developing and growing, his placement on the spectrum doesn't matter.

DJ: Are you concerned about whether his development is on-target?

S1: Haha. Yeah, no.

DJ: So you don't have any questions about health/development that you wish answers were easier to get?

S1: Not at all. I know what's out there and the internet is easy to get to. If I need questions answered, that's good enough for me.

DJ: okay, do you have a smartphone/ipod touch/ipad?

S1: I have an ipod touch.

DJ: Do you think you would have used an app to track child progress?

S1: No.

DJ: What types of questions do friends/family ask you about your child?

S1: How he's doing in general. I think most of the questions are about how much he's talking, since a lot of people know that's the only thing he's had any sort of significant delay on.


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DJ: Alright, so are there any daily activities that you have interest in monitoring? Feeding/sleep/diapers, etc?

S1: Not personally. I know when it came to doctor's visits, they always wanted to know specifics about those things, like how much he was eating at what times, how often he'd nap, and how many wet diapers in comparison to dirty diapers he'd have. Easy means of keeping up with those things would have been helpful, no doubt.

Brb, I have to change a diaper.

DJ: Sounds good. That was my last question. Do you have any other suggestions for an early childhood development app?

S1: Hmm...I'm not sure. I guess not.

DJ: Alright. Thanks for your help!

Appendix A-4

Interview with Parental Subject 2. Female.1. In what ways do you currently document your child's development? I keep growth

charts of height, weight, and head size for the new baby. I would say photographs and videos are a big one. Parent/teacher conference sheets from day care, artwork for our two yr old. Also started a 1st year scrap book for N. but never finished it. I also have a general file for each child where I stuff important things.

1. Do you have a baby book? No.2. What are the memorable moments of your child's development that you would like to

document? Cognitive development - babbling, first words, eye contact, social smiles. Physical dev side - holding head up by herself, sitting up, crawling, walking. Umbilical cord falling off. Easier to think about N. - (hard to think of..) First time in the water, first bath on her own

3. What is your main source of information regarding your child's health and development? Pediatrician visits, What to Expect book series, Weisbluth book on sleep, online sites are secondary source, especially for immediate health concerns, mother’s group.

4. Are you concerned about whether your child's development is on target? Yes, when N. was an infant, especially about her social interactions. Color names.

5. Are there any questions for which you wish the answers were easier to get? Whenever there is something like spitting up where the development varies widely, it seems that no one is confident enough to give a span of when the earliest and latest is. Development stages that do vary widely - it would be nice to have something like 30% of kids should be doing this by this point. Pediatrician often says “there’s really no way


27

to tell -- it could be awhile it could be soon”. And in general online, some of the top hits are half-assed discussion boards, addressing question exactly, but with horrible answers.

6. Do you have a smartphone (iphone/ipad/ipod/android)? Yes, android7. What kinds of questions does your family ask about the baby? How is she sleeping,

how’s her spitting up? Fussiness? Are you sleeping? Temperament and sleep mostly. With N., it’s what’s her latest development, what’s she saying/doing now since they last saw her. Or, wanting anecdotal stories.

8. Would you like to have a mobile app for tracking baby milestones/memories? Yes. I think I’m much more likely to use it for questions about milestones, but less likely to use it to document milestones. Much more about I have this question now, what’s a good resource to go to. What to Expect books are great, but a bit out-dated.

9. Which daily baby activities are you interested in tracking? Height and Weight definitely. Physical milestones like sitting/crawling/walking. Sleep yes -- naptimes/durations, nighttime sleep patterns. Tantrums are the only other one that appeals to me to track from that list, if it were a big problem.

10. Final thoughts about what this makes you think of for an app like this? I really like reading books for development, but there are two classes of baby books - those that offer a certain program that are biased that this will work for every baby, and those that are a more empirical look at things. Book recommendations, for example, if tantrums are a problem, it may recommend a good unbiased book/online resource for whatever topic I’m concerned about. Or, if there are some really effective methods, recommending those as well.

Appendix A-5

Interview with Pediatrician.1. What are the check-up schedules that parents should know about?

1. What things do you look for / test for at these check-ups?1. Standard developmental guidelines are the main thing. Perhaps an

invitation to bring questions would be helpful2. Well check-ups are largely protocol driven, we use “healthy starts”(?).

Also use EMR, which show development, especially at 2 mo, 4 mo, 6 mo ages.

3. Look for: making eye contact, how many words 4. Office prints “after visit summaries”5. Familiar with mobile app “baby bump”, which sends texts, development

alerts6. Developmental range info could be helpful, but ranges are pretty wide.7. Check-ups 2/4/6 are heavy with shots, would be good to prep parents

for that, framing the importance so parents aren’t surprised or worried about it. Shots slow down after the six mo. visit. They follow the CDC vaccination schedule.


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2. What are the major warning signs that parents should look out for at different points of their children's development?

1. autism signs can start to show up at about a year. if no eye contact by a year, anticipatory guidance about what expect to be doing. EMR for some offices, upload/check off milestones.

2. For ADHD there is a Vanderbilt scale--there are some validated scales out there, but there aren’t really big warning signs for parents to look for--developmental milestones are really key.

3. What are some of the common questions that parents ask or have concerns about?1. Parent’s usually ask “is this normal”? 98% of it is, yes. Mostly, my answer is i

don’t care, as long as it works for you. I also help with discipline training, especially in the twos. teaching corporal punishment doesn’t work -- not effective for behavior change.

2. Parents ask about eating, pooping, peeing, sleeping, nursing. so much of the well-child visit is parental psychotherapy. “you’re doing a good job” -- mom’s don’t get performance reviews. this is hard, you’re doing a great job. having more time to do some of that, if checklist could be done ahead. i focus a lot on temperament - if have a high strung kid with a laid back parent, it will be hard. and that starts coming out within four months.

4. What are some things parents should be more attentive to?1. reading books to kids -- this is the most important developmental thing you can

do. you think, it’s this blob that can’t talk, why should i read to them? but looking at things, pointing and talking to them is really important. this also goes along with less TV. many kids watch 5 hrs a day. it kicks them into beta waves, it’s a cheap babysitter, and socioeconomically-correlated.

2. nutrition - my kid will only eat chips and hot dogs -- is he doing the grocery shopping? Does the child have a credit card? it’s about food choices -- kids don’t have any willpower or guilt, so given the option to eat a bag of doritos they will, and will say, that was awesome, give me another one.

3. more exercise. 5. What information sources do you recommend for parents with questions?

1. trying to build in more ways to get info between appointments - they use “mychart”, a portal, with secure email for asking questions.

2. recommends familydoctor.org - aafp3. print 2 pages of developmental info at each visit, includes what to expect until

next visit6. Do you think the CDC milestones for child development are a good guideline for

parents?1. yes, should be fine

7. How strict are child development timelines such as these?1. wide range of development -- most guidelines include ranges2. What information about developmental milestones would you like to see parents

bring with them to appointments?


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http://familydoctor.org/

http://familydoctor.org/

3. (see above)8. Are there health issues or developmental milestones for which pictures and/or video

would be particularly helpful in diagnosing/tracking?1. yes, pictures of environment could be telling -- e.g. take a picture of where your

baby sleeps,2. for toddlers -- gates, stairs, childproofing indicators.3. staff could be scoring pictures of milestones -- social smiles, etc.4. to answer questions: is this pink eye? does this need stitches? is this rash bad?5. model now is to limit access b/c don’t get paid for it --that’s going to be changing6. “meaningful use” - we use EPIC EMR system, have EPIC analysts who can do

customization, have four positions open, can’t find people to fill spots.7. medication compliance app at MIT. when missing a couple doses, it shows T-cells

getting attacked. visual indicator to help with motivation8. a lot is changing in health care, currently getting paid by number of patients seen

-- that’s changing to support model where paid per number of patients that are healthy, no matter how you keep them that way. asynchronous communication will be important, could see nurses for well visits / vaccinations.

9. Need to encourage patient engagement and health behavior changes - patients take less than half the drugs prescribed. the challenge is to develop highly interactive things that will help you monitor/change things like eating habits/smoking, build in accountability. It’s a challenge of how to find motivation.

10. get paid to ~do~ things now--shift is to accountable care act, to members/month, keep them healthy however you can. starting to hire new types of people for high risk patients, since it can make financial sense when it didn’t used to. being able to support health behavior change is huge.


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Appendix B: Survey Questions & Responses

Appendix B-1

Survey Questions

(Demographics questions)

Do you work outside the home?• No"• Yes, part-time • Yes, full-time

Does your child go to daycare?• Yes• No

How often do you use babysitters?• weekly• monthly• rarely• never

Do you have a smartphone?• Android• iPhone• Other. Please specify:• None

Which of the following technologies do you use?• email• facebook• twitter• flickr• picasa• google plus• other. please specify

Do you have a baby book to track milestones like first steps?If yes, what is it called?Would you recommend it to others?To what extent have you filled it out?Not at all --- very little --- occasionally --- a lotWhat types of things do you include in your baby book now?What types of things would you like to include in your baby book that are difficult for

you to record?


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Which of the following child activities or characteristics would you have interest in tracking regularly?" (Multiple select)

• Height• Weight• Head size• Breast Feeding• Bottle Feeding• Eating• Sleeping• Diaper changes• Baths• Tantrums• TV watching• computer/iPad/technology usage• Other

Please rank the top three sources of information by how often you use them for finding answers to questions about your child’s health?

• Pediatrician• Friends/family• Online discussion forums• Health websites• Parenting groups• Books• TV / Videos• Other

What information about your child does your pediatrician ask for at regular check-ups?

How interested are you in using a mobile application for tracking child development milestones?Not interested -- slightly interested -- moderately interested -- very interested

Have you used a computer or phone application before for tracking child development?" If yes, what did you use? (open ended)" How well did it work? (open ended)

How likely is it that you’d use the following featuresVery unlikely --- unlikely --- likely --- very likely

• Sharing pictures/video• Sharing life milestones (first step, first word, etc.)• Tracking daily activities• Sharing daily activities• Communicating with health professionals online


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• Find answers to health questions• Keeping a list of questions to ask at the next pediatrician visit• Calendar of child events (doctor visits, playdates)• Contact List (doctors, teachers, friends)• Develop a digital “baby book”• Print a physical book from the information collected

What types of things do friends and family ask to see or know about your baby?[open response]

What would keep you from using an app to log and share your baby’s development?[open response]

Are there any other features you would like to see in this type of app?[open response]


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Appendix B-2 Survey Responses Summary


34

30 responses

Summary See complete responses

First, what's your age range?18-23 5 17%

24-29 2 7%

30-39 14 47%

40-49 7 23%

50-59 0 0%

60-69 0 0%

70+ 0 0%

Choose not to answer. 0 0%

What's your sex?Male 2 7%

Female 26 87%

I do not wish to answer 0 0%

Which of the following social media services do you use?Email 28 100%

Facebook 27 96%

Twitter 6 21%

Flickr 3 11%

Picasa 6 21%

Google Plus 10 36%

None 0 0%

Other 4 14%

People may select more than one checkbox, so percentagesmay add up to more than 100%.

What's your "baby status?"I'm expecting a baby. 2 7%

I plan on having a baby. 7 23%

I have a child that's 0-2 years old. 5 17%



I have a child that's older than 10 years old. 4 13%

I'm a grandparent, relative, or close friend of a person with a new baby. 1 3%

So you've got a child...

Please answer a few questions about yourself so we can get a better sense of who might use our system.

Do you work outside the home?Yes, full-time 6 20%

Yes, part-time 6 20%

No 6 20%

Does your child go to daycare?Yes 6 20%

No 12 40%

Do you have a smartphone?Yes, Android. 3 10%

Yes, iPhone. 8 27%

Yes, Blackberry. 0 0%

No. 7 23%

Other 12 40%

How often do you use babysitters?Daily 1 3%

Weekly 4 13%

Monthly 5 17%

Rarely 8 27%

Never 0 0%

Please rank the following sources of information by HOW OFTEN you use them to answer questions about your child's health.- Pediatrician

Never 0 0%

Rarely 11 37%

Monthly 7 23%

Weekly 0 0%

Daily 0 0%

Please rank the following sources of information by HOW OFTEN you use them to answer questions about your child's health.- Family & friends

Never 0 0%

Rarely 2 7%

Monthly 11 37%

Weekly 4 13%

Daily 1 3%

Please rank the following sources of information by HOW OFTEN you use them to answer questions about your child's health.

- Online discussion forumsNever 3 10%

Rarely 7 23%

Monthly 6 20%

Weekly 2 7%

Daily 0 0%

Please rank the following sources of information by HOW OFTEN you use them to answer questions about your child's health.- Health websites

Never 1 3%

Rarely 8 27%

Monthly 6 20%

Weekly 3 10%

Daily 0 0%

Please rank the following sources of information by HOW OFTEN you use them to answer questions about your child's health.- Parenting groups

Never 7 23%

Rarely 4 13%

Monthly 5 17%

Weekly 2 7%

Daily 0 0%

Please rank the following sources of information by HOW OFTEN you use them to answer questions about your child's health.- Books

Never 5 17%

Rarely 5 17%

Monthly 7 23%

Weekly 0 0%

Daily 1 3%

Please rank the following sources of information by HOW OFTEN you use them to answer questions about your child's health.- TV / Videos

Never 12 40%

Rarely 6 20%

Monthly 0 0%

Weekly 0 0%

Daily 0 0%

Now, let's talk about how you record your child's development.

Thanks for the background information. Now a few things about how you keep records about your child.

Do or did you use a baby book to keep track of milestones like first step, first word, etc.?Yes, store-bought book. 8 27%

Yes, home made book. 3 10%

No. 7 23%

Which of the following regular activities would you have interest in tracking?Height 16 89%

Weight 16 89%

Headsize 5 28%

Breast feeding schedule 10 56%

Bottle feeding schedule 3 17%

Eating 12 67%

Sleeping 14 78%

Diaper Changes 3 17%

Baths 3 17%

Tantrums 6 33%

TV Watching 5 28%

Computer and other technology use 5 28%

Other 11 61%

People may select more than one checkbox, so percentagesmay add up to more than 100%.

What types of things do friends and family ask to see or know about your baby?Speech development and personality changes. photos What sorts of things she's saying now, what she's "doing," anecdotal stories

about her daily goings-on How does his behavior, height, weight, personality, eating, sleeping, etc. Compare to my other two children. weight,

height Conversation skills. Art, music/dance/sport performance, bday photos, lost teeth photos, first day if school photos, Santa pics,

pictures! developmental milestones: rolling, sitting, crawling, walking, jumping, running, etc. social/emotional: smiling, tracking, talking,

laughing what he likes to do, what he's able to do Pictur ...

What information about your child does your pediatrician ask for at check-ups?How much he's eating, diapers/potty training, any signs of sickness (coughing, fever, etc). Depends on age Eating habits, sleep,

tantrums, cognitive development Q's Motor skills and other developmental milestones. Eating habits, poop problems, bedtime, behavior

issues vitals, growth chart info, verbal development, car seat status, eating habits, physical development same as above pediatricians ask

basic questions...I wish more asked specific questions that probed about Autism General development--anything worrying? Stools (frequency,

consistency), breast/bottle feeding & appetite (duration, frequen ...

Let's talk about your baby book.

You indicated that you track your child's development in a baby book. Please answer a few questions about your baby book.

If you use a store-bought book, what is it called?"My Baby Book" Don't remember Anne Geddes A Baby Year Can't remember -- Winnie the Poo

theme ? Baby book- tigger and pooh theamed

If you use a store-bought book, would you recommend it to others?Yes 5 17%

No 2 7%

I don't know. 1 3%

To what extent have you filled out your baby book?

Not at all A lot

1 - Not at all 0 0%

2 5 17%

3 2 7%

4 2 7%

5 - A lot 2 7%

What types of things are in your baby book now?Milestones such as when first started crawling, sitting up, first steps, babbling, words, clapping, giving hugs and kisses, etc. When what teeth first

came in, baby's daily schedule, favourite things to do after a period of time, first hair cut [spaces for photos]. Lots and lots and lots of

things..... All the milestone moments, first words, funny things he did and said, photos. pictures, first words, likes/dislikes Birth

story, height weight records, Firsts, bday photos, likes-dislikes, teeth chart, birth/hospital pics, infant milestones, Pictures of birth, story of birth,

personality of baby p ...

What types of things would you like to include in your baby book but are difficult to record?Times spent in NICU - though I understand why the book didn't have that included, it'd be nice if it were available. can't

remember Photos, voice clips, movies, timeline, vacations Favorite people, friends, birthdays baby sounds, smells,

laughs... In 1995-2000, there weren't really smart phones. Today, we can record any event and share with family. It is hard to record typical living

type stuff because it doesn't seem "special". Later, those types of details can be very interesting. My parents daily living was very different my youth and

from my kids. Each generation, at least perhaps until now ...

What about an app to help chart your child's development?

We're working on an electronic system to help parents keep track of and share things about their child's development. Please answer a few questionsabout things you'd like to see in it.

How interested are you in using a mobile application for tracking child development milestones?

Not interested Very interested

1 - Not interested 1 3%

2 4 13%

3 3 10%

4 8 27%

5 - Very interested 2 7%

Have you already used a computer or mobile app for tracking child development?Yes 1 3%

No 17 57%

If yes, what did you use? How well did it work?NA I put all my children's milestones and tooth eruptions in our iCal on my MacBook. worked fine till I lost my

second child's entire first year of entries somehow :(. i couldnt recover the info even from a backup. i still havent gotten over that one, but I'm still using

iCal because I can log things in via my phone when I think of them, and I'm rarely without my phone. I just try to archive my entries as well as backing

them up :).

How likely is it that you'd use the following features? - Sharing pictures/videosVery unlikely 0 0%

Unlikely 0 0%

Not sure 2 7%

Likely 7 23%

Very Likely 9 30%

How likely is it that you'd use the following features? - Sharing life milestones (first step, first word, etc.)Very unlikely 0 0%

Unlikely 1 3%

Not sure 2 7%

Likely 12 40%

Very Likely 3 10%

How likely is it that you'd use the following features? - Tracking daily activitiesVery unlikely 1 3%

Unlikely 2 7%

Not sure 9 30%

Likely 3 10%

Very Likely 2 7%

How likely is it that you'd use the following features? - Sharing daily activitiesVery unlikely 2 7%

Unlikely 5 17%

Not sure 5 17%

Likely 5 17%

Very Likely 1 3%

How likely is it that you'd use the following features? - Communicating with health professionals online, including yourpediatrician

Very unlikely 1 3%

Unlikely 6 20%

Not sure 6 20%

Likely 3 10%

Very Likely 2 7%

How likely is it that you'd use the following features? - Finding answers to health questionsVery unlikely 0 0%

Unlikely 1 3%

Not sure 3 10%

Likely 11 37%

Very Likely 3 10%

How likely is it that you'd use the following features? - Keeping a list of questions to ask at the next pediatrician visitVery unlikely 0 0%

Unlikely 1 3%

Not sure 1 3%

Likely 11 37%

Very Likely 5 17%

How likely is it that you'd use the following features? - Keeping a calendar for your child (with check-ups, playdates, etc.)Very unlikely 0 0%

Unlikely 3 10%

Not sure 3 10%

Likely 9 30%

Very Likely 3 10%

How likely is it that you'd use the following features? - Keeping a contact list (doctors, teachers, friends, etc.)Very unlikely 0 0%

Unlikely 2 7%

Not sure 2 7%

Likely 7 23%

Very Likely 7 23%

How likely is it that you'd use the following features? - Developing a digital baby bookVery unlikely 1 3%

Unlikely 1 3%

Not sure 3 10%

Likely 8 27%

Very Likely 5 17%

How likely is it that you'd use the following features? - Printing a physical baby book from stored informationVery unlikely 2 7%

Unlikely 1 3%

Not sure 1 3%

Likely 6 20%

Very Likely 8 27%

What would keep you from using an app to log and share your child's development?My level of laziness. time, how easy it is to use the app Forgetfulness; lack of time Privacy issues? Convenience.

logging development for my own records would be great and something that I would use for sure. I'm not sure I'd share what I log because there are

only a handful of people who would be interested in knowing about my child's tooth development or potty training successes haha. even pictures and

videos of my kids will have limited appeal unless it is universally funny, and I already have Facebook in place as a platform for sharing those rare

moments. I am also pretty fastidious wh ...

Are there any other features you would like to see in this type of app?Can't think of anything. Can't think of anything Movie capture, timeline, would love for it to include an actual dental

chart that could be filled in and either exported to a digital baby book, or printed out for placement in a physical baby book. and even though I'm not so

interested in the sharing aspect, it would be great to be able to store photos with entries like " first trip to the zoo", etc. also, being able to somehow

integrate with websites I already use, like Facebook, babycenter, flipboard, my pediatrician's website, etc. would be great. video, ways to link

previous posts to curr ...

Having a baby is a big step! What about an app to help chart your child's development?

We're working on an electronic system to help parents keep track of and share things about their child's development. Please answer a few questionsabout things you'd like to see in it.

How interested are you in using a mobile application for tracking child development milestones?



2 0 0%

3 2 7%

4 4 13%


How likely is it that you'd use the following features? - Sharing pictures/videosVery unlikely 0 0%

Unlikely 1 3%

Not sure 0 0%

Likely 2 7%

Very Likely 6 20%

How likely is it that you'd use the following features? - Sharing life milestones (first step, first word, etc.)Very unlikely 1 3%

Unlikely 0 0%

Not sure 1 3%

Likely 5 17%

Very Likely 2 7%

How likely is it that you'd use the following features? - Tracking daily activitiesVery unlikely 1 3%

Unlikely 3 10%

Not sure 3 10%

Likely 1 3%

Very Likely 1 3%

How likely is it that you'd use the following features? - Sharing daily activitiesVery unlikely 1 3%

Unlikely 3 10%

Not sure 4 13%

Likely 1 3%

Very Likely 0 0%

How likely is it that you'd use the following features? - Communicating with health professionals online, including yourpediatrician

Very unlikely 0 0%

Unlikely 0 0%

Not sure 3 10%

Likely 6 20%

Very Likely 0 0%

How likely is it that you'd use the following features? - Finding answers to health questionsVery unlikely 0 0%

Unlikely 0 0%

Not sure 0 0%

Likely 5 17%

Very Likely 4 13%

How likely is it that you'd use the following features? - Keeping a list of questions to ask at the next pediatrician visit

Very unlikely 0 0%Unlikely 0 0%

Not sure 1 3%

Likely 3 10%

Very Likely 4 13%

How likely is it that you'd use the following features? - Keeping a calendar for your child (with check-ups, playdates, etc.)Very unlikely 0 0%

Unlikely 0 0%

Not sure 2 7%

Likely 4 13%

Very Likely 3 10%

How likely is it that you'd use the following features? - Keeping a contact list (doctors, teachers, friends, etc.)Very unlikely 0 0%

Unlikely 0 0%

Not sure 1 3%

Likely 4 13%

Very Likely 4 13%

How likely is it that you'd use the following features? - Developing a digital baby bookVery unlikely 1 3%

Unlikely 0 0%

Not sure 0 0%

Likely 4 13%

Very Likely 4 13%

How likely is it that you'd use the following features? - Printing a physical baby book from stored informationVery unlikely 1 3%

Unlikely 0 0%Not sure 2 7%

Likely 5 17%

Very Likely 1 3%

What would keep you from using an app to log and share your child's development?I would share with doctors, but using an app to share my child's milestones with other people would probably just annoy everyone

else. Privacy concern too expensive, security risks, not user friendly cost Not having a smart phone. Placing too much

information on-line regarding my baby and his health.

Are there any other features you would like to see in this type of app?pregnancy timelines recipes, activity ideas, things to do with/for your baby at his/her age No this covers everything

perfectly. Parenting testing tips.

Don't kids grow up fast? What about an app to help you keep up with them?

We're working on an electronic system to help parents keep track of and share things about their child's development (and help friends and family stayup to date). Please answer a few questions about things you'd like to see in it.

How interested are you in using a mobile application or website to keep track of child development milestones?



2 0 0%

3 0 0%

4 0 0%


How likely is it that you'd use the following features? - Viewing shared pictures/videosVery unlikely 0 0%

Unlikely 0 0%

Not sure 0 0%

Likely 0 0%

Very Likely 1 3%

How likely is it that you'd use the following features? - Viewing shared life milestones (first step, first word, etc.)Very unlikely 0 0%

Unlikely 0 0%

Not sure 0 0%

Likely 0 0%

Very Likely 1 3%

How likely is it that you'd use the following features? - Viewing shared daily activitiesVery unlikely 0 0%

Unlikely 0 0%

Not sure 0 0%

Likely 0 0%

Very Likely 1 3%

How likely is it that you'd use the following features? - Answering health questions from the parentsVery unlikely 0 0%

Unlikely 0 0%

Not sure 0 0%

Likely 0 0%

Very Likely 1 3%

How likely is it that you'd use the following features? - Keeping up with a calendar for the child (with check-ups, playdates,etc.)

Very unlikely 0 0%

Unlikely 0 0%

Not sure 0 0%

Likely 0 0%

Very Likely 1 3%

How likely is it that you'd use the following features? - Viewing a digital baby bookVery unlikely 0 0%

Unlikely 0 0%

Not sure 0 0%

Likely 0 0%

Very Likely 1 3%

How likely is it that you'd use the following features? - Asking the parents questionsVery unlikely 0 0%

Unlikely 0 0%

Not sure 0 0%

Likely 0 0%

Very Likely 1 3%

What would keep you from using an app to keep up with a child's development?

Are there any other features you would like to see in this type of app?

Thanks for taking the survey--Just one more question!

Is there anything else you'd like to tell as before we move forward with an app to help track and share child development?Nope. Nope Good luck it is a great idea! Nothing that I can think of. Maybe a way to connect with parents with similar

concerns, issues. Local forum, playground finder, definitely give it an archive feature so that users have an option to back up the data entered into the

app. printable baby book templates might not be a bad feature, either. Great idea! Want to be able to control background of app. thanks! An

"ask your friends" list :) Or maybe some kind of shared space for friends--a somewhat limited space where you could get advice or share stories with

your friends who are parents and not ...

Number of daily responses

Number of responses without dates: 2

first steps- project part 1

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