The Sharing Economy with Heart: Developing a Peer-to-Peer Marketplace for Patients and Their Families Traveling for Medical Care

Author/Creator

Author/Creator ORCID

Date

2018-05

Type of Work

Department

University of Baltimore. School of Information Arts and Technologies

Program

University of Baltimore. Master of Science in Interaction Design and Information Architecture

Citation of Original Publication

Rights

This item may be protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. It is made available by the University of Baltimore for non-commercial research and educational purposes.

Abstract

Hosts for Humanity is a non-profit organization that connects patients and their families traveling for medical care with volunteers willing to host them. Currently, patients and hosts are matched manually; however, for the organization to expand, a web interface must be developed that can be used by both guests and hosts. The interface must be designed to both mitigate the extreme stress that some users may be experiencing and cultivate philanthropic feelings to encourage more users to volunteer as hosts. To design the interface, a literature review of peer-to-peer marketplaces and hotel websites was conducted to reveal that all three parties—guests, hosts, and Hosts for Humanity—must appear trustworthy and credible to each other for the platform to be successful. Then, interviews with hosts and guests uncovered the motivations users had for becoming hosts; hosts’ concerns; and the importance of convenience, cost, and location for guests. Discovery from the interviews was used to create a prototype, which was tested with both hosts and guests. During the test, users were given a series of tasks to accomplish with the prototype. Pain points were recorded, and if necessary, the prototype was iterated before the next test. The host testing revealed the importance of finding a balance between providing enough and too much contact information for both guests and hosts. The guest testing revealed the importance of simplicity and prompts to reduce user stress. The prototype is ready for development.