Stepping Stone, A Passive Tracker
In this project we joined the international team of designers, scientists and researchers trying to solve the world's most elusive problem; a way to track the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic.
When we started this project, we spared little thought to what the rest of the world was doing. Our sole focus was on New Zealand and the issues we faced with the only Covid-19 tracking method available to us; the NZ Covid Tracker App.
As we started the now familiar process of The Double Diamond Framework, we realised the product we seek to design cannot be successful without deference to what already exist in the international community, moreover and more importantly, without consideration of international privacy laws in the digital age. However, designing a product that befits the New Zealand context was always our priority.
Our research was meticulous and rigorous as we examined Covid tracing methods around the world, starting with Australia, then going to Western Europe then Eastern Europe, then America, Africa and ending in Asia. More or less canvassing all the continents but choosing only specific countries to analyse in greater detail. The countries we picked had unique contact tracing methods coupled with the successful eradication of coronavirus or the complete failure of its containment or somewhere in between.
Germany, Singapore, South Korea, France all had methods that were unique and noteworthy. Germany and France had tracing apps that were connected to the health system. In France, if a user tests positive they can choose to share their result with the anonymous close contacts noted by the Bluetooth on their phone. France, like Germany, Australia and many other countries use the Bluetooth on smartphones to exchange IDs with nearby users, Bluetooth will note the length of the exchange as well as the distance that it happened. The nearby user will then become an anonymous close contact. If a user tests positive in France, it is their choice to share their result, if shared, close contacts will be notified with a danger status, if they are classified as in danger, they will have to get tested.
Germany's app is likewise connected to the health system; smartphones will receive tests results and like France, it relies on citizens' sense of civil responsibility to share their result with the anonymous close contacts stored on their phone, by the push of a button. However, Germany's system does not give close contacts' a danger status, instead it warns all close contacts to get tested.
Singapore's unique features are, the tracking tag that accompanies their app to be given to family members without a smartphone and the app feature that saves battery life by allowing the app to run without screen light. Singapore has been quite successful at containing Coronavirus. Their last spike was on August the 5th.
South Korea is even more successful. However their method is one that is unique to their culture. Unlike the countries above, they place greater importance on collective well-being than individual privacy rights. Their method involves a variety of technologies including GPS, credit card transaction as well as surveillance cameras.
We examined our case studies and isolated features that we believe would work in New Zealand's context.
This is our Covid-tracing app, Stepping stone. It is called such due to our belief that it can play only one part in the elimination of Covid-19, a Stepping stone in the system.
Missing from NZ's current tracing app is a language feature, as New Zealand is multicultural this feature would help with outreach and uptake. Uptake is the biggest issue in all tracing products around the world. Uptake for our current Covid-19 tracing app is 0.2%, which means only about 10,000 New Zealanders use the Covid-19 Tracer every time they visit somewhere new. Scientists believe an uptake of 30% is the minimum for a 10-15% reduction in Covid-19 rates.
Users are able to register family members without a smartphone, for instance children or the elder. Stepping stone is accompanied by a tag. This tag is both registered to a member of the family as well as connected to the Stepping Stone app.
How does it work?
Stepping stone is a passive tracker. That means it passively registers your movements and records your steps, creating an automatic travel journal. This is to circumvent the necessity of recalling your steps, which is never 100% accurate. In addition, it bypasses the errors of Bluetooth ID exchange. An exchange will only occur under certain conditions; when users are 1.5m-2m in proximity and in each others' presence for 15minutes or more. This creates many limitations, for instance, it may not exchange IDs with someone who sneezes while walking by.
It has Singapore's battery conserving feature
It includes a daily hotspots feature which alerts the user of places infected individuals have visited in the last 24 hours. This is to placate increasing feelings of anxiety in the population.
As well as a feature that allows the user to know the people density of a destination before they travel there.
Stepping Stone is connected to testing laboratories which delivers results straight onto the app. Once the result is received, if it is positive, everyone which the user was in close proximity to in the past 21 days, will be asked to self-isolate. Unlike France and Germany, this system does not rely on citizen responsibility. The political rhetoric of Covid-19 contains quotes and phrases from ordinary New Zealanders, the most widely heard is the phrase "go hard, go early". It has come to define New Zealand's response to the pandemic. For this reason we decided to deviate from France and Germany's design decision to give citizens the power to withhold their positive result, to the automatic release of this information by the tracing app. We believe this adheres to New Zealanders' determination to protect each other and determination to return to a covidless state as soon as possible.
Stepping Stone also allows users to book tests if they have been identified as a close contact.
To interact with the app: