Fazal Ahmed for Darden-U “Design Thinking for Innovation” - Learning Launch

I advise research students in my work as a senior high school science teacher. Empathizing with  the COVID-19 situation, a group recently proposed a smartphone-based app to augment the  traditional contact tracing methods used in the Philippines. The research panel is a learning  launch where the students draw insights from the assembled academicians, whose opinion is  collegial yet not fully aligned with the field situation.

One issue that arised from the discussion, is that a large portion of the Philippine population is  unsupportive to, dismissive of the purpose, or misrepresenting information to commissioned  contact tracers. Among these outliers are: (a) 72% prepaid segment of the total mobile phone  users whose identity is not registered with the authorities; (b) indigent sectors of the  community whose mobile communication is based on hand-me-down devices; (c) rural areas  yet to be covered by mobile Internet or if any, is not stable enough to support app bandwidth  requirements; and (d) people who strongly guard their privacy or are untrusting of their data- handling authorities.

To better address the needs of these sectors, the students were instructed to host a focus  group, another learning launch session, where attendees representative of these marginalized  group will evaluate (a) visual process diagrams of the communication protocols; (b) paper- prototypes of the app user interfaces and server software; and (c) role-play of the human  actors in the system.

The focus group, having earlier advised of the purpose of the meeting, was informed of the  minimum requirements said app based on the updated US-CDC guidelines for the  implementation and use of digital tools to augment traditional contact tracing  (https://cdc.gov/coronavirus). A community contact tracer – a panel member – noted that their  paper-based contact tracing method is aligned with that guidelines and that their app-based  system recommends a decision of whether the contact need to isolate or quarantine. According  to her, the official contact-tracing app issued by the Department of Health, StaySafe.ph, (a) is  not yet widely used by the masses being voluntary/opt-in; (b) need data access for upload of  data to the servers; and (c) is prone to misrepresentation of user-entered travel history and  symptoms. At best, the app is usable in generating QR codes for entering establishments.

That significant prepaid segment of the populace is the biggest player because, even though  they might have decent access to mobile Internet, we cannot fully trust their information  because according to a prepaid user attending the session, he preferred it because of the  numbers nature being disposable and anonymous. The privacy pundit avers. The skeptic  millennial in the group cited that the Philippines being dubbed the social media capital of the

world does not jive with this data that privacy is a concern among Filipinos. Based on my  expertise, I remarked, that the Filipino needs educating on this matter.

The student researchers then presented their plan of having a web-based system for primary  use in browsers, which can then be deployed by Apache Cordova (or similar HTML5 wrapper) as  smartphone app. Access requires two-factor authentication and a JSON-based serialization  handles client-server communication. Client retains history and symptom daily data in SQLite  while the server retains 14-day historical contact data for each user. Data is secured through  AES256 public key security.

At this point, privacy concerns prevailed because the users are afraid of the stigma and  restrictions when even if the contact is yet a suspected case. The contact tracer attendee noted  that, indeed, some contacts are hesitant to disclose their travel history, symptoms, and  contacts. At one time, she mentioned that she received threats not to track in a certain  establishment because of it effect to their business. Having reached an impasse, the student- researchers hazarded: “WHAT IF there is a system that assures near complete anonymity to  participants?” The privacy proponent liked this so much but the contact tracer emphasized that  it is still our social obligation to assist in the containment of the pandemic.

Participants concede that they are very much willing to inform their contacts if they themselves  are infected BUT, and this they say is non-negotiable, they identity – or even a hint of who they  are – should not be disclosed in any way. I opined that a server will be redundant in this setup,  and then the technical consultant, who happens to be the very same skeptic, had an idea that  this might work if the server is just an ad-hoc message forwarder, and the apps are Java- based clients.

This became a WOW moment because for the first time the group came to an agreement. The  students’ study objectives will be revised such that, the research: (a) will be a crowd-sourced  system of people informing the community that they are infected; (b) has a client will send to  the server list of mobile numbers of contacts in the last 14 days, via SMS; (c) has an ad-hoc  server that will send messages to a list of mobile numbers passed to it by the Java-clients via  SMS; and (d) that retains no user-data in the server after all messages has been forwarded.

In the end, participants learned that data privacy is a huge consideration in this data-sharing  systems, and that most are willing to eke a portion of their personal space, physical or digital,  if assured security from stigma or social isolation and if the purpose is for the common good.  As this is an on-going project, there are resultant issues such as (a) misuse of the system (data  flooding, misrepresentation), (b) usability and efficiency of the transmissions, and (c) its  interoperability with official contact tracing protocols that, given time and expertise, will be  improved by iterative prototyping and learning launches.


Fazal Ahmed for Darden - U “ Design Thinking for Innovation ” - Learning Launch I advise research students in my work as a senior high school science teacher . Empathizing with the COVID-19 situation , a group recently proposed a smartphone - based app to augment the traditional contact tracing methods used in the Philippines . The research panel is a learning launch where the students draw insights from the assembled academicians , whose opinion is collegial yet not fully aligned with the field situation . One issue that arised from the discussion , is that a large portion of the Philippine population is unsupportive to , dismissive of the purpose , or misrepresenting information to commissioned contact tracers . Among these outliers are : ( a ) 72 % prepaid segment of the total mobile phone users whose identity is not registered with the authorities ; ( b ) indigent sectors of the community whose mobile communication is based on hand - me - down devices ; ( c ) rural areas yet to be covered by mobile Internet or if any , is not stable enough to support app bandwidth requirements ; and ( d ) people who strongly guard their privacy or are untrusting of their data- handling authorities . To better address the needs of these sectors , the students were instructed to host a focus group , another learning launch session , where attendees representative of these marginalized group will evaluate ( a ) visual process diagrams of the communication protocols ; ( b ) paper- prototypes of the app user interfaces and server software ; and ( c ) role - play of the human actors in the system . The focus group , having earlier advised of the purpose of the meeting , was informed of the minimum requirements said app based on the updated US - CDC guidelines for the implementation and use of digital tools to augment traditional contact tracing ( https://cdc.gov/coronavirus ) . A community contact tracer – a panel member – noted that their paper - based contact tracing method is aligned with that guidelines and that their app - based system recommends a decision of whether the contact need to isolate or quarantine . According to her , the official contact - tracing app issued by the Department of Health , StaySafe.ph , ( a ) is not yet widely used by the masses being voluntary / opt - in ; ( b ) need data access for upload of data to the servers ; and ( c ) is prone to misrepresentation of user - entered travel history and symptoms . At best , the app is usable in generating QR codes for entering establishments . That significant prepaid segment of the populace is the biggest player because , even though they might have decent access to mobile Internet , we can not fully trust their information because according to a prepaid user attending the session , he preferred it because of the numbers nature being disposable and anonymous . The privacy pundit avers . The skeptic millennial in the group cited that the Philippines being dubbed the social media capital of the world does not jive with this data that privacy is a concern among Filipinos . Based on my expertise , I remarked , that the Filipino needs educating on this matter . The student researchers then presented their plan of having a web - based system for primary use in browsers , which can then be deployed by Apache Cordova ( or similar HTML5 wrapper ) as smartphone app . Access requires two - factor authentication and a JSON - based serialization handles client - server communication . Client retains history and symptom daily data in SQLite while the server retains 14 - day historical contact data for each user . Data is secured through AES256 public key security . At this point , privacy concerns prevailed because the users are afraid of the stigma and restrictions when even if the contact is yet a suspected case . The contact tracer attendee noted that , indeed , some contacts are hesitant to disclose their travel history , symptoms , and contacts . At one time , she mentioned that she received threats not to track in a certain establishment because of it effect to their business . Having reached an impasse , the student- researchers hazarded : “ WHAT IF there is a system that assures near complete anonymity to participants ? ” The privacy proponent liked this so much but the contact tracer emphasized that it is still our social obligation to assist in the containment of the pandemic . Participants concede that they are very much willing to inform their contacts if they themselves are infected BUT , and this they say is non - negotiable , they identity – or even a hint of who they are – should not be disclosed in any way . I opined that a server will be redundant in this setup , and then the technical consultant , who happens to be the very same skeptic , had an idea that this might work if the server is just an ad - hoc message forwarder , and the apps are Java- based clients . This became a WOW moment because for the first time the group came to an agreement . The students ’ study objectives will be revised such that , the research : ( a ) will be a crowd - sourced system of people informing the community that they are infected ; ( b ) has a client will send to the server list of mobile numbers of contacts in the last 14 days , via SMS ; ( c ) has an ad - hoc server that will send messages to a list of mobile numbers passed to it by the Java - clients via SMS ; and ( d ) that retains no user - data in the server after all messages has been forwarded . In the end , participants learned that data privacy is a huge consideration in this data - sharing systems , and that most are willing to eke a portion of their personal space , physical or digital , if assured security from stigma or social isolation and if the purpose is for the common good . As this is an on - going project , there are resultant issues such as ( a ) misuse of the system ( data flooding , misrepresentation ) , ( b ) usability and efficiency of the transmissions , and ( c ) its interoperability with official contact tracing protocols that , given time and expertise , will be improved by iterative prototyping and learning launches .