Monthly Archives: March 2017

Scenarios and Personas

Use Case Scenarios

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You can find here the different Use Case Scenarios that describe the main functionalities and interactions of Britizen.  For each scenario, we include the necessary pre-conditions, the steps taken by the user, the results, and the possible alternative paths that can be taken.

  1. User creates an account on mobile without Facebook integration

Pre-requisites:

  • User has a smartphone
  • User is aged 15+
  • User is a British Citizen with a National Insurance Number
  • User has downloaded the app

Process:

  • User opens app on smartphone and is shown the login/create account page
  • User clicks create account
  • User inputs First Name, Last Name, Date of Birth, Address, National Insurance, Email Address
  • User clicks create
  • User is sent confirmation email to very email

Result:

  • The User has created a new account and can access the features of the system from any device.

Alternative Paths:

  • The data introduced by the user is invalid. The user is requested to repeat the process inputting valid data.

 

  1. User creates an account on desktop/laptop without Facebook integration

Pre-requisites:

  • User has access to a desktop/laptop
  • User is aged 15+
  • User is a British Citizen with a National Insurance Number

Process:

  • User navigates to Britizen home page
  • User clicks create an account
  • User inputs First Name, Last Name, Date of Birth, Address, National Insurance, Email Address
  • User clicks create
  • User is sent confirmation email to very email

Result:

  • The User has created a new account and can access the features of the system from any device

Alternative Paths:

  • The data introduced by the user is invalid. The user is requested to repeat the process inputting valid data

 

  1. User checks Britizen Score on Mobile

Pre-requisites:

  • User owns a smartphone with Britizen app downloaded
  • User has a Britizen account
  • User is not currently logged in

Process:

  • User opens application and is shown the home page
  • User either logs in via facebook or enters their email address and password
  • User presses “My Britizen Score” page and is shown their score page

Result:

  • The user has successfully checked his/her Britizen score

Alternative Paths:

  • The data introduced by the user to Log In is invalid. The user is requested to repeat the process inputting valid data

 

  1. User checks Britizen Score on desktop/laptop

Pre-requisites:

  • User has access to a desktop/laptop
  • User has a Britizen account
  • User is not currently logged in

Process:

  • User navigates to Britizen website
  • User logs in via facebook or entering their email and password
  • User is shown their news feed
  • User selects “My Britizen Score” and is shown their score

Result:

  • The user has successfully checked his/her Britizen score

Alternative Paths:

  • The data introduced by the user to Log In is invalid. The user is requested to repeat the process inputting valid data

 

  1. User joins a group

Pre-requisites:

  • User has a Britizen account
  • User is logged in and on the home page

Process:

  • User navigates to the group’s page by searching
  • User clicks request to join
  • Group admin is notified of request and makes a decision about it

Result:

  • The admin of the group accepts the request and the user has successfully joined the group. User is notified

Alternative Paths:

  • The admin of the group declines the request to join. User is notified

 

  1. User sends a friend request

Pre-Requisites:

  • User has a britizen account
  • User is logged in and on the home page
  • User has a friend they want to send a request to

Process:

  • User searches for their friend
  • User finds their friend’s profile
  • User clicks send a friend request button
  • Potential friend is notified of request and makes a decision about it

Result:

  • The potential friend accepts the request and the user is now his friend. User is notified

Alternative Paths:

  • The potential friend declines the friend request. User is not notified about this for privacy reasons

 

  1. User checks friends score

Pre-requisites:

  • User has a Britizen Account
  • User has a friend on Britizen

Process:

  • User searches for their friend on Britizen
  • User views their friend’s profile which includes their score

Result:

  • User has successfully checked his friends score.

Alternative Paths:

  • No alternative paths as scores will be public for any friend.

 

  1. User writes and shares a post

Pre-requisites:

  • User has a Britizen Account
  • User has logged in to the system.

Process:

  • User writes the contents of the new post in the correspondent text box. The user can include references and links to other websites or videos.
  • User clicks on the Post button.

Result:

  • User has created a new post and now it is available for all his friends.

Alternative Paths:

  • User decides to not create the post and clicks the Cancel button. The content of the post is deleted.
Analysis of Similar Systems

Analysis of Similar Systems

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In this post we are going to analyze other similar websites and applications that we can find related to the kind of social network we aim to develop.

We will discuss its main features in order to get a general view of the current state of art, know what has been done, what these applications do, and how they relate to our project.

Facebook

Being one of the biggest social networks [1] , Facebook has all the features this kind of application should include.

current news feed.png

Users can check the last updates of the other users through a responsive and interactive timeline, being able to add comments and share their feelings, videos, articles or any other kind of information.

5589-Screenshot_20141230204856

In order to be included on the contacts network of a user, a “Friend request” must be accepted. The search engine eases the process of making new friends, suggesting new contacts based on the current ones of the user. The site allows to access and navigate across the pictures collection of the users, structured by subfolders. Facebook also stores personal information about the users, used for online advertising purposes (one of its biggest revenue sources).

The use of this third party information led to the introduction of a credit rating service run by Facebook in which users are given a score in order to determine whether they are a trust worthy option when giving financial credits.

In February of 2016, Facebook announced they would stop this project and service due to regulatory and consumer concerns [2].  They also stated that they would put restrictions to the amount of information third parties would be able to get from their databases.

This aspect will be taken into account in our project, and will be more explained in following posts, such as Mining financial and social scores from social network data.

Link: https://facebook.com/

MySpace

MySpace used to be the most important social network before the appearance of the new generation SNS such as Facebook. While Facebook was created to be a private social network for friends and family [3], MySpace followed the approach of being a public portal for people where you can share your tastes, recommendations, and other information you want to share, available for everyone.

Captura de pantalla (171)

MySpace allows user to customize the interface more deeply, changing the colour background, the page layout, or adding plug-ins such as music players.

Right now, after being bought by several parties, MySpace is a portal were people can publicly share their favorite music Playlists, portfolio and personal connections.

It has an attractive interface and includes features to browse to music and videos online from the website, as well as the last news about celebrities.

Captura de pantalla (170)

Link: https://myspace.com/

Sesame Credit

Sesame Credit is the financial wing of Alibaba, the biggest online shopping platform of China.

According to an article by BBC [4], the idea is that by 2020, the use of this platform will be compulsory for all Chinese citizens. This way the Government will have a database with information about their financial statements and other personal data such as the kind of contacts they have, their ideology or the activities they do.

Right now, Sesame Credit is used by Chinese citizens as a platform to obtain a credit score that will be used by banks and other financial entities in order to determine whether a person is suitable and trustworthy for a loan. To calculate this score, aspects such as the time to return previous loans back, general financial condition, number of friends who use the application and their consume are taken into account. Users are encouraged to compare their scores, introducing a gamification component to make it more appealing.

chinese-sesame-credit-score-e1450891637339

The site offers different ways of visualization that allow users understand in which aspects they are stronger and which ones need to be improved.

Britizen is based on the idea that comes with Sesame Credit, taking it to another level, exaggerating this social score and control component, where the application of Government values on the user’s daily lives is translated into higher scores, benefits and rewards.

If you are interesed on Sesame Credit or Credit Scores and want to know more about it, again, refer to the post Mining financial and social scores from social network data.

Link: https://www.xin.xin/#/home

Social Credit System

This is the proposed initiative by the Chinese Government to create a citizen reputation system [5]. Making use of personal, social and financial data, each user will be given a score representing how good citizen he is, focusing on four areas: administrative affairs, commercial activities, social behavior and judicial system.

This system is not finished yet, but it is closely related to Sesame Credit and its credit score system.

Quizzle

Similar to Sesame Credit but with a different approach, this application allows users to obtain a credit score and report. This score can be applied in different perspectives such as Payment History, Age and Type of Credit, % of Credit Limit Used, Total Balances/Debt, Recent Credit Behavior or Available Credit.

Quizzle

This application is justified as experts recommend to check the credit report and score before refinancing a house or buying a new one. The app, available for mobile platforms, includes features to estimate home-value and obtain personalized mortgage recommendations.

Using this app, it is possible to obtain a general view of the current financial state and stablish and manage payment plans easily.

credit-report-score-efx

Link: https://www.quizzle.com/

References

  1. Lifewire. 2017. The Top 25 Social Networking Sites People Are Using. Available at: https://www.lifewire.com/top-social-networking-sites-people-are-using-3486554. [Accessed 11 April 2017].
  2. Zennon Kapron. 2016. Forbes. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/zennonkapron/2016/03/17/measuring-credit-how-baidu-alibaba-and-tencent-may-succeed-where-facebook-failed/. [Accessed 11 April 2017].
  3. Reference. 2017. What is the difference between MySpace and Facebook? | Reference.com. Available at: https://www.reference.com/technology/difference-between-myspace-facebook-d53c1627002a5496. [Accessed 11 April 2017].
  4. BBC. 2017. China ‘social credit’: Beijing sets up huge system – BBC News. Available at: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-34592186. [Accessed 11 April 2017].
  5. Wikipedia. 2017. Social Credit System – Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Credit_System. [Accessed 11 April 2017].
Requirements

Requirements

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In this post we describe the main functional and non-functional requirements of Britizen Project. We generated this list of requirements from our user stories and personas. At the end of the post, we also include some other side ideas that we consider that can be potentially applied in the future, as well as others that we discarded due to ethical or technical reasons.

Functional Requirements:

  • The system must produce a citizen score for each citizen and will be based on:
    • Your friend’s scores and groups scores
    • Normal credit check
    • Criminal Record
    • Post history
    • Employment
  • The system will also produce scores for the groups people join these will be based on
    • Average Score of people within the group
  • The system shall provide suggestions/opportunities to raise your score
  • The system must allow users to share their score with others
  • The system will require a national insurance number needed to create account
  • The system will provide incentives to those at certain scores
    • Tax reduction
    • Government Housing priority
    • Discount vouchers to British services – British Companies/TV license
    • National Rail
    • Other business incentives
  • The system will make use of gamification through:
    • Tiers
    • The score itself
  • The system will provide a news feed with which users can post stories too similar to facebook

 

Non-Functional Requirements:

  • The system must be responsive
  • The system must be able to be used on mobile and PC
  • The system must be intuitive to use
  • The system must require no training
  • The system must be secure
  • The system must have accessibility options
  • A user’s score must be transparent and as close to reality as possible

 

Potential Ideas:

  • Purchase History, if we can figure out how to get the data
  • Facebook integration, probably not due to this being a government system

 

Bad Ideas:

  • Basing off benefits
  • Priority ambulance services
  • Basing off religious background

 

Scenarios and Personas

Personas

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Persona: Young person

Fictional Name: Liam Blake

YoungStudent

Job Title: Student

Demographics:

  • 17 years old
  • Single
  • Doing well in his A-Levels

Goals and tasks:

  • Liam aims to do well in his A-Levels so he can get into a good University
  • Liam enjoys socialising with his friends both in person and online

Technical Competency:

  • Liam is very comfortable using a computer and internet as well as a smartphone

Use Case Story:

Liam has a relatively high Britizen score for someone his age and is a part of his school’s Britizen group. He enjoys comparing his Britizen score with his many friends and the gamification elements of Britizen. He actively takes on many of the suggestions Britizen makes that he could raise his score with such as joining sport teams, choosing to purchase items from British shops, Liam mainly uses his smartphone to use Britizen via the app.

 

Persona: Mother

Fictional Name: Lydia Smith

Mother

Job Title: Nurse

Demographics:

  • 30 years old
  • Married
  • One child
  • Has a BN nursing degree

Goals and Tasks:

  • Raising her daughter
  • Caring for patients including giving them medicine
  • Helping her husband clean the house and cook
  • Saving money for a holiday

Technical Competency:

  • Lydia is good at using a computer and smartphone to access the internet

Use Case Story:

Lydia enjoys using Britizen for the financial rewards such as tesco vouchers to help save money for her family. She checks Britizen daily on a web browser and occasionally reads the articles suggested to her by Britizen. Lydia is only connected to a few friends on Britizen and is not too concerned about other people’s scores.

 

Persona: Digitally Illiterate Older citizen

Fictional Name: Graham Ramsay

RetiredMale

Job Title: Retired

Demographics:

  • 70 Years old
  • Married
  • 2 Children, 3 grandchildren
  • Secondary Education

Goals and Tasks:

  • Assisting raising Grandchildren
  • Socialising with friends

Technical Competency:

  • Has a mild understanding of computers, does not use a smart phone.

Use Case Story:

Graham does not regularly use the internet and so in order to set up his Britizen account he went to the local library and asked for assistance to use one of their computers. He has a medium Britizen score as he does not spend much money on British goods however he wants to raise his score as he understands that his score affects his children’s scores and wants to help them get benefits.

Persona: Young Professional

Fictional Name: Lisa Chun

YoungProfessional

Job Title: Junior Solicitor

Demographics:

  • 24 Years Old
  • Single
  • LLB Bachelor of Law

Goals and Tasks:

  • Advise and assist people on legal matters
  • Conduct research on legal matters
  • Negotiate with agencies
  • Wants to ascend the company ladder

Technical Competency:

  • Lisa is very comfortable using a computer and smartphone, they are a big part of her personal and work life

Use Case Story:

Lisa uses Britizen regularly on both mobile and web and has a high score. She uses Britizen to check her score as well as her friends’ and has in the past unfriended people with low scores. She is seeking a mortgage on a house and thus wants to raise her score as much as possible in order to be eligible for a cheaper mortgage.

 

 

Persona: Digital Inequality

Fictional Name: Richard Ackroyd

digialilliterate

Job Title: Custodian

Demographics:

  • 32 Years Old
  • Secondary Education
  • Single

Goals and Tasks:

  • Clean building floors by mopping and vacuuming
  • Collect and empty rubbish bins
  • Ensure cleaning product stock room is up to date
  • Finish plumbing qualification so he can start his own plumbing business

Technical Competency:

  • Richard has an older phone just for calls and texts, he knows how to use a computer however does not own one

Use Case Story:

  • Richard has a low-medium credit score on Britizen as he occasionally is behind in paying bills. He accesses Britizen via computers provided by the school he works at. Richard wants to raise his Britizen score in order to assist in being approved for a loan to start a plumbing business when he becomes accredited.
Introduction

Welcome to Britizen

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Welcome to our blog for COMP6217 Science of Online Social Networks!

We are Darron Tang, Sue Breeze, Travis Ralph-Donaldson and Luis Cayola PĂ©rez, and together we conform “The Britizens”!

Our project is Britizen, a social network designed to give every UK national a citizen score which reflects how trustworthy of  a citizen they are. It is an exploration into how social networks can be used for propaganda with inspiration from the existing Chinese system Sesame Credit. Sesame Credit is a credit score owned by Alibaba which looks at various aspects of an individual including purchase history, friend network, credit card and bill payment history and household status. Sesame Credit is designed to encourage consumerism in China by providing a social credit score to improve transparency and trust which hopefully improves lending in China. Britizen will focus on what such a system where gamification and network effects affect one’s citizen score would look like in the United Kingdom. Britizen will provide incentives to users to obtain higher scores whilst dictating what affects scores and suggesting to the user ways in which one can raise their score.