Last Week on October 29 Team of Riga Technical University as part of the Osiris Project organized workshop “The method of design thinking to expand the usage of “Stop Covid” app among the senior population.” The app itself was a non-commercial initiative, that was made possible by the involvement of state agencies, universities, private tech companies and many other actors, driven by the sole goal limiting the spread of COVID-19 by enabling smartphone-based contact tracing in Latvia.
As the user base is key to the success of such platforms, it is essential to expand the user base of the app in the most vulnerable groups. The workshop took place via Zoom and involved representatives of Riga Technical University, Latvian Mobile Telephone, media agency Deep White and the developer MakIT. After presentations regarding the functionality, communication activities and design thinking, structured interviews were held with selected seniors to identify to challenges of effective communication and increasing the awareness of the app, while overcoming mistrust and disinformation, that is actively spreading following the second wave of COVID-19 in Europe.
Both the workshop and the “Stop COVID” initiative is are good examples of the advantages of quadruple helix approach to problem-solving on a bigger scale.
