Design Challenge
#2: How might we encourage our community to support one another and look out for those who are socially isolated?
Project Description
The social strain from the COVID-19 crisis, which experts categorise as a Social Recession, will lead to many other non COVID related health effects, alongside with loneliness as a result of social isolation.
During this period of time, there is a group of people who are the most susceptible to the adverse impact of social isolation. We hope to be able to minimise the impact of social isolation for them. Help them keep updated of the situation, engaged their minds through game play and online activities, in the hope to ease them into possible ways of social interaction done without physical interaction.
Criteria #1: Value
Our proposal is anchored heavily on creating a programme to cultivate community watchfulness and accountability with the help of smart technologies. Our aim is to build platform (SG Home Assist) that bridges connection; make everyday communication easy with a simple tab on the screen, keep people entertained and occupied with daily challenges and activities like keeping a pet or a plant. We aim to create a safe and secure offline to online environment for everyone to do their part in looking out for each other.
Criteria #2: Inspiration
Inspired by the good old Kampong Spirit where neighbours leave their doors open, mingle and chat with each other along the corridor. There is just so much interactions going on along the corridors. We want to revive the neighbourly corridor talks, just that coffee is on us and we will bring our own chairs/stools. We want to bring back that neighbourhood watch spirit to help look out for one another.
Criteria #3: Impact
Quick access to people online. The platform is programmed with games and online content that will help enrich their daily lives. The more they engage with the device, the better we can analyse what is helpful for them. We are also able to make use of AI and machine learning to help us pick up possible signs of dangers or irregularity to flag out an alert.
Criteria #4: Timeliness
With the extended circuit breaker in placed, we are able to utilised the month for lead sourcing and app development and programme awareness on social media platforms. Following which it will be a series of “Corridor” activities for the volunteers to understand how their Carees are doing. We hope to use this Corridor activities to change the mindset of socialising while maintaining physical distancing – we want to show that physical distancing is not social distancing. Progressively over time, more neighbours will be robed in to be help watch over each other.
Criteria #5: Systems Thinking
Currently, even though activities at the centres are halted, organizations liThere are currently many social initiatives set up to help the community during this period of time. We hope to be able to leverage on them to provide us with more information and reach to those in need. One social enterprise that really stood out is SG Assist. Like us, they are advocates for the Kampong Spirit. We hope to be able to leverage and collaborate with then and expand on their current mobile platform into one that can be extended into the homes of our target group as a smart home device, with activity tracker.
