Day Care Centre Photo and Video Diary Project June 19, 2006, Pauliina Smeds

1. Pauliina Smeds, FVH Day Care Centre Photo and Video Diary ProjectJune 19, 2006, Pauliina Smeds

2. Pauliina Smeds, FVH Photo and video diary project: what is it all about? The day care centres take photographs and videos of the day’s events with multimedia devices supplied for pilot use and send them for parents to see. The pictures are transferred to the day care centres’ picture folders, protected by passwords, via an Internet service called Kuvaboxi (www.kuvaboxi.fi). The day care centre staff and the parents have user codes for accessing the picture folders. In addition to photos and videos the folder offers a chance to exchange messages. The experimental service was launched in four day care centres in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area on May 19th 2006. Central idea: parents can participate in the events of the day care centre in a new way.

3. Pauliina Smeds, FVH Feedback collected from day care centres and parents Personal interviews in two day care centres Online questionnaire to the parents of three day care centres (one centre introduced the service slightly later than the others: the questionnaire is to be sent to parents of the fourth day care centre later in the autumn) The study aimed to find answers to the following questions: General impressions of the service: what are the best features and what is best liked about the service, what kind of suggestions do the users have for developing the service? General views of the user friendliness of the service (a more in-depth study of user friendliness will be conducted in the next phase of the project) Data collected in the study is used for developing the service, finding suitable operating environments for its expansion and new areas of application. Further studies involving the users will be carried out in the autumn: interviews and a questionnaire.

4. Pauliina Smeds, FVH Early collection of feedback is central to all Forum Virium Helsinki’s projects The Day Care Centre Photo and Video Diary Project is an excellent example of a fast innovation process carried out jointly by companies participating in FVH: the concept was put together in mid- February and the service was ready for experimental implementation with the first user groups in May: from rapid ideation to implementation in just a few months. Overall coordination was handled by Forum Virium Helsinki. All Forum Virium Helsinki projects aim at collecting user feedback from the very early stages on Truly customer driven service development “Early failure is cheap”: introducing new concepts to users for evaluation as early as possible saves companies money: unnecessary product development costs are avoided, go/no go decisions can be made as early as possible and adjustments are made correctly during concept development.

5. Pauliina Smeds, FVH Day care centre photo and video diary: first weeks provide promising results Staff have been enthusiastic about taking photos and videos and parents have been active in using the service The day care centres that have started to use the service most actively have sent out as many as 300 photographs or videos to parents during the first few weeks of use. The three day care centres participating in the study have sent out an average of 20 photos or videos per day to parents. In terms of individual files: photos 74% , videos 26%. Data traffic: percentages are reversed. Most parents use the service at least once a week and the day care centres have received very positive feedback from parents. The day care centres and parents both hope the service will be continued after the pilot.

6. Pauliina Smeds, FVH Exceptionally high overall rating As a whole, the service has been rated exceptionally high: on a 1–7 scale parents have given the service an average rating of 6.47. Almost two thirds (62%) of the parents participating in the study view the pictures at least once a week. 57% of the respondents would like to see new images added to the service more than once a week, 16% would like to see more added daily. Images are viewed throughout the day, with emphasis on afternoons and evenings, but also during working hours. 63% of the respondents viewed the images at work, 78% at home. Most viewed photos and videos at home, also with their kids.

7. Pauliina Smeds, FVH

8. Pauliina Smeds, FVH Parents interested in day-to-day events Most parents (84%) are particularly interested in photos and videos of the centre’s day-to-day routines and events “As a parent I’m very happy to see what my own little one is doing in the day care centre during the day. It’s like being a fly on the ceiling watching the everyday activities of the centre.” “All material, photos and videos are wonderful; they are the day-to-day activity and events that we normally do not get to see.” The day care staff, too, see familiar things in a new light: the special importance of everyday life. “Now I pay attention to children’s activities in a different way – it’s nice to discover a fun situation and capture it.” “My first reaction was ‘Oh no’, this is going to bring so much more work – I ll be tied to the computer for long periods to develop a program so that we can get pictures on the Internet.” “Now I’ve noticed that the ordinary events of everyday life are interesting.”

9. Pauliina Smeds, FVH Ease of use is a key feature Trouble-free operation, speed and ease of use are crucial in taking photographs and videos Photos and videos do not have to be sent on from the mobile phone and there is no need to delete old pictures that take up the phone’s memory space: the technology incorporated in the phones does all this for the user - a feature viewed as being of crucial importance The day care centres have been surprised at how easy the service is to use: in advance some thought that it would be more difficult and that it might require too much work with the fast tempo of the day care centre’s activities. “It’s fun taking the photos.” “It does not feel like an obligation.” Ease of use the key to success: the service either takes off or not - it all depends on the day care centre’s enthusiasm, motivation and keenness: a complicated service would not arouse enthusiasm. The enthusiasm and attitude of the centre’s management plays a central role.

10. Pauliina Smeds, FVH Day care centres have adopted the service with enthusiasm The overall concept has received praise Thoughts of the staff, “I’d like to have the same kind of service in the day care centre where my own kids are.” Taking pictures of kids in day care centres has increased significantly A mobile phone is usually the easiest and most natural way to capture images Videos especially are considered a lively way of capturing life in the day care centre and conveying the atmosphere to parents Kuvaboxi has also been used to distribute pictures taken with a digital camera and some centres take picture with both digital camera and mobile phone. It is hoped that the service will continue even after the pilot.

11. Pauliina Smeds, FVH Picture selection is a feature appreciated by the day care centres THE DAY CARE CENTRES WANT TO TRANSFER PICTURES SEPARATELY TO FOLDERS PROVIDED FOR PARENTS The day care centres want to ensure that the photos or videos distributed to parents contain no sensitive situations The day care centres appreciate that the service enables the controlled selection of images. This makes the shooting of pictures more spontaneous and more pictures are taken. In practice very few pictures end up not being transferred to parents. Thus far only poorer quality or otherwise failed pictures have been deleted. Transferring photos and videos to folders provided for parents was described as being “incredibly easy” and quick, and it can be done flexibly whenever there is time, even at home in the evening.

12. Pauliina Smeds, FVH Service seems to bring day care centres and parents closer together Activities, day-to-day routines and atmosphere are conveyed and made realistic to the parents in an entirely new way. The parent also sees how the child manages and responds in the day care centre in a new way. “Even the gestures and expressions of a child on a video tell the parents a lot.” Communication is more efficient and openness is emphasised. Parents appreciate the day care centre’s commitment to the use of the service. Possibility to make more use of the service for exchanging messages in the future.

13. Pauliina Smeds, FVH Possibilities for expanding the service, challenges and development proposals Parents are interested in possibilities for expanding the service, for example, incorporating an electronic notice board of the day care centre’s activities or the child’s electronic–format development folder in the same service. Parents want have the service continued as the child progresses to preschool Day care centres want camera phone batteries with longer life. More new features wanted for the Kuvaboxi service: possibilities for creating subfolders etc. Cultural or religious issues: all families do not appreciate/allow their children to be photographed. How to keep up the initial enthusiasm?

14. Pauliina Smeds, FVH Implementers and sponsors Forum Virium Helsinki coordinated the entire pilot from concept development to partner sourcing, communication and handling of practical matters Futurice, Fromdistance and Hewlett Packard: technical implementation Nokia, Elisa and TeliaSonera as sponsors City of Helsinki: three day care centres Tenava day care centres The Ministry of Transport and Communications’ Luoti Programme: data security consultancy

15. Pauliina Smeds, FVH Summary The day care centre photo and video diary has succeeded in responding to a real, existing need. Exceptionally high scores in the user study Ease of use and automated transfer of files extremely important for day care centres The use of the service is solidly linked to the day-to-day life of the users: presumably it has a high “stickiness level”, i.e. is a service that is likely to remain in everyday use. The concept can be expanded and adapted to many other applications, interesting possibilities for international distribution.

16. Pauliina Smeds, FVH Further information Pauliina Smeds, Forum Virium Helsinki, tel. +358 40 7173269 Hanno Nevanlinna, Futurice, tel. +358 50 3374037 Jouko Vierumäki, Fromdistance, tel. +372 52 92672

17. Pauliina Smeds, FVH Personal interviews with day care centres and visual material If desired, representatives of the day care centres can be interviewed in person: Auringonpilkku day care centre in Helsinki: Juha Koskelainen, tel +358 50 366 8364. Printable visual material for media use is available in addition to the photo and video diary recordings. Visual material can be obtained by contacting Pauliina Smeds: pauliina.smeds@fvh.fi, tel. + 358 40 7173269

18. Pauliina Smeds, FVH Forum Virium Helsinki Forum Virium Helsinki is a cooperation cluster, a consortium formed by partners, focusing on the development of digital services The cluster was founded on the initiative of significant players in the sector. In addition to private enterprises, the City of Helsinki and other key players in the public sector play a crucial role in the cluster The “engine i.e., anchor companies” of Forum Virium Helsinki include Digita, Elisa, Nokia, TeliaSonera, Finnish Road Enterprise, TietoEnator, Veikkaus, WM-Data, YIT Group and the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE The cluster’s partner companies include Hewlett-Packard, IBM, MTV, Siemens, SOK, Swelcom and publicly administered bodies, including the City of Helsinki, Sitra, Tekes and VTT Forum Virium Helsinki aims at fast, user-friendly innovation and international visibility for Finnish digital services Other ongoing projects of Forum Virium Helsinki include Finnish mobile TV, mobile payment and new traffic services, such as making school journeys safe with the aid of digital services For further information, see: www.forumvirium.fi