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Story Telling Data Sharing ML Experience Applications Ethics
Define your scope or domain where the use case is relevant or prevalent?
This use case relates to accessibility to education resources, and the broader issue of inequality in education.
What is your main story?
The main story is about how parents decide and choose spring break camps for their kids.
Who are the characters or people in the main story?
Using a role-playing approach, you can create a persona by using first person pronouns:
“I am a 40 years’ old Chinese mom. I have a stable job as a college professor and earn a moderate salary that is slightly above the local average in Kansas. Growing up in the Chinese culture, education is very important to me, and my family. Working in higher education, I have seen a lot of disconnections between primary and secondary education and higher education. I am worried that my kids are not able to keep up with the rapidly changing world of technology.
I have two boys. Ben, 12-years old, is a six-grader. He likes robotics, music, and visual arts. He is not the smartest but definitely the most curious. Eric, 9-years old, is a fourth-grader. He is good at math, but enjoys video games much more than reading books. He also likes coding, but does not want to learn the basics.
What happens?
“This year’s spring break is only three weeks away. Two energetic young boys’ staying at home for 11 days is definitely a disaster. I need to find a spring break camp for them so they will enjoy and learn, and I can relax and enjoy. The camp should also work for my schedule.”
Where?
“I am looking for a spring camp that is less than 5 miles away from where I am living, or on UMKC’s campus.”
When?
“The camp has to be from 3/13 to 3/23. Half-day camps will not work. Only full-day camps work since I work full time. The camp has to start at 9a or earlier, and be over at 3p or later.”
Why?
“Keeping the boys at home for the entire break is not good for their learning. I want them to learn some coding language, but I am worried that spending too much time on computer is bad for their health. I want a camp that is long enough so I have enough time to drop off, pick up and go to work. The camp should start at least 1 hour before my work begins and 1 hour after my work. I do not have to transport them from one location to another during the day. Ideally, it is a combination of tech education and sports. Sports can get some energy out of the boys, and tech education can make them interested in computer science. However, when having both components are not possible, I prefer a full-day tech camp.”
How?
“I check the spring camp offerings from the closest community center. I also do Google search. I trust the local community center the most and they offer all sorts of camps at one location. I could do a morning swimming camp and an afternoon tech camp. However, my boys have done all the tech camps offered there. I have found a few full-day tech camps, but I do not know whether these camps are educational. Consumers’ reviews of spring camps are so limited online. I have trouble to verify the information I have found online.”
Exercise if you can break a big story to several smaller stories
• What kind of camps will be available during the spring break?
• What do Ben and Eric like?
• How much can I afford for the camp?
• Shall I send them to the same camp or different camps?
• Will it be worth of sending them to camps?
• What kind of camp schedule would be best for my work schedule?
• How long would it take to commute between camps, work, and home?
• Do I have to prepare lunch for them?
Exercise if you can put the smaller stories into a sequence of stories, or in other words, a sequence of decision-making process.
Step 1: What kind of camps will be available during the spring break?
Step 2: What do Ben and Eric like?
Step 3: How long would it take to commute between camps, work, and home?
Step 4: What kind of camp schedule would be best for my work schedule?
Step 5: Shall I send them to the same camp or different camps?
Step 6: Do I have to prepare lunch for them?
Step 7: How much can I afford for the camp?
Step 8: Will it be worth of sending them to camps?
Exercise if you can extract the important information (age, ethnicity, grade, preference, etc.) from 5W 1H of your main stories.
• Age of the kid
• Number of kids in the household
• Gender of the kid
• The starting date of the spring break
• The ending date of the spring break
• Gender requirements of the camp
• Age requirements of the camp
• Half- or full-day camps
• Starting time of the camp
• Ending time of the camp
• Location of the camp
• The distance of the camp location to my home
• The distance of the camp location to UMKC
• Requiring supplies or not
• Indoor or outdoor
• Rain-out policy
• Weather line
• Preferences of the kid
• Actives
• Topics
• Teachers’ experiences
Explain what you expect from ML applications for each small story (for example, prediction, recommendation, analysis, visualization, search, topic, modeling).
“I expect the ML can search all available spring break camps.
I expect the ML can recommend the most suitable spring break camps (ranking) for me.
I expect the ML can visualize the locations of all available spring break camps.
I expect the ML can show the topics from the spring break camps ads or websites.
I expect the ML can predict the cost for spring break camps for my kids.
I expect the ML can predict the times that my kids spend in spring break camps.
I expect the ML can predict how much my kids would enjoy the spring break camps.
I expect the ML can show the topics the parents or kids talk about the spring break camps.”
Story By:
Ye Wang
Photo by Andy Kelly on Unsplash
