Innovation Proposal

            As an adult you naturally have to be attentive to the world around you. To survive, you need to watch your surroundings and be mindful of who you are around.  As a child you parents teach you not to talk to strangers and that everyone you come into contact with is not your friend. Parents do this to ensure their kids have the best chance to prevent contact you with the wrong person who’s intentions may not be pure. Unfortunately kids do not make up one hundred percent of the population that can be considered “vulnerable”. Among the children that may know not to talk to strangers or adults they don’t know there are, teenagers, young adults, women, members of the LGBTQ community, and minorities to say the least. The list of people grows on and in reality everyone is at risk and can fall victim to a crime committed by  a person of ill will. Hate crimes, rape, abduction (kidnapping), assault, and harassment are a few violent crimes among others that I feel people should have quick access to knowing. I propose the creation of an mobile application that can be used to quickly run people’s names and be notified of any violent crimes that one may have been committed in the past. .

This problem stems from the lack of accessible information for people who may not be computer literate or simple need the information for immediate use. While public records are there for anyone to access and view crucial information for persons of interest, one must possess a certain level of computer skills. An adult with children may want to know if a person with an previous abduction conviction is going to be near the child. The problem currently is that violent criminals could be anywhere and look like anyone, for instance a friendly neighbor or individual that frequently runs on a common trail near elementary schools. Currently there is the possibility that a child could very well go to their friends house and the parent would have no clue whether or not the mother or father has had history with assault and battery charges. With the new information the parent has on the adult in the household, there is a possibility that a new crime could be prevented by simple not allowing the child to be in the presence of an individual with abusive tendencies. The Parent can now make the educated decision for themselves with all the information at their disposal. In a different situation, there is a young women or man who is using a dating app to meet a significant other, friends, or perhaps a networking event. Often times there are situations where a person may have been reported for things such as domestic violence incidents, or have assault chargers and still live on as freed civilians. The problem with this situation is that the man or women they may be talking to on the receiving end may not know about this violent history. The knowledge in which a person can obtain moments before meeting with a complete stranger has the potential to save many lives and at the very least prohibit traumatic experiences from taking place to begin with.

The production mobile application where a name can be entered and public records of violent crimes are produced. This particular app will not be a forum, for people to discuss personal stories or events. It will be strictly for official documentation and updated periodically to give users the best and most up to date results of their person of choice. Ideally the app would be very simplistic and easy to manage to be able to include those who lack computer literacy and have limited computer skills to work with. In addition to violent criminals I would also like to include a neighborhood research tool that allows for all sex offender that have been registered to appear.  The reason and need for this is too further protect those who are vulnerable, including children by giving each user knowledge and power over their lives. Allowing for most people the option to choose whether or not they would like to live in specific neighborhoods. This allows for the prevention of incidents that once again could cost lives and/ or traumatic experiences. The application would likely be available on all platforms as to included the total population and not fall victim to discrimination based on economic class. The app would allow for results to be viewed and shared among other individuals.  When looking into the app functionality and features, as previously stated it is meant to be as minimalistic as possible.  The use of YouTube , Vimeo, or other similar platforms is not necessary. Chats and forums will not be allowed as the information being presented is enough for each user to make their own educated decisions on how to proceed with their new found knowledge. The authorization of push notification to each users devices will be encouraged for changes that were mad to their person of interest. Changes can include anything from added charges or on the optimistic side, the case was an awful misunderstanding and charges have been dropped. While the lack of certain features may bring down the value of the application I feel as though it only contributes to the complexity of keeping the information as factual as possible. Once the functionalities and objectives have been finalized I plan to then start building the foundation using wireframing to assist in visual representation. Once the foundation is in place the time to test  the mobile application’s flow and determination of how a user will react to using the app will take place. This is the prime opportunity to question the ease of use and fix any unforeseen frustrations.

As with anything form of technology there are many possibilities for technical errors and hiccups along the way, however I feel as though the biggest problem this application will face is that from the very people with a record. I feel as though it may cause many difficult conversations being had and as a result backlash. With the backlash and negative comments that may come from the very people who would like to hide their history I am confident that those who wish to protect themselves of loved will overpower the negativity. Finding credible sources who are willing to feed intel into the app may be another barrier that could be faced in the development of this particular application. I can also foresee advertisements for this app to be that of a barrier. The information being provided in the app while being that of public record is still sensitive information none the less.

In order to measure the success of the application, the app store will allow for review to be done. There we will be able to see first hand what users have to say about the app and the services it provides. In that space we will also encourage users to discuss the ease of use and whether they valued being able to have the choice to know the violent history of the very people they are or have the potential to associate with. Another form of assessment that will be allowed for the users will be an email in which they can utilize to voice their concerns or suggestions to improve the ease of use.

My proposal for the creation of a mobile application  is to shed light on the dark areas on the history of people with violent crimes. In any such case where a person is in a vulnerable position or will be in a vulnerable position the immediate information of such a crime could prevent  traumatic experiences of loss of life from happening. The ease of use allows everyone to use the app and not be blindsided simply because of lack in computer skills. The availability across all platforms including Apple and Android ensures that while there will be barriers along the way one of economic status will not be of problem. The success of this application is determined by the users and the feedback provided is crucial to its survival.