apps

The dangers of period-tracking apps with Dr. Maggie Delano

February 5, 2020 — Leave a comment
“The important thing for designing inclusively is thinking ahead of time and . . . making sure that you have many options. Because no matter how great you intend to design something, it won’t necessarily work for everyone, but by having more options you increase the inclusivity for everybody.” -Maggie Delano, Swarthmore Assistant Professor

Overview:

In the season finale of Innovation for All, Maggie Delano, Assistant Professor of Engineering at Swarthmore College, breaks down how period-tracking apps exclude people who are not straight, cis-gendered women without medical conditions. She explains how user design could be more inclusive and introduces us to the benefits of Quantified Self.

In this episode, you will learn:

  • The issues surrounding period-tracking apps
  • What the Quantified Self community consists of
  • How period-tracking apps can be more inclusive of people with medical conditions
  • How user research can think about cases that fall outside of the set target audience
  • Ways to increase inclusivity in the on-boarding process of app design
  • Concerns of data privacy in period-tracking apps
  • How self-tracking can be beneficial
  • Ways that self-tracking is happening organically
  • Ideas on tracking “subjective” experiences such as emotion and mood
  • How to leverage user research to avoid stereotypes and generalizations
  • Examples of queer-inclusive business ideas

Links and mentions:

Connect with Maggie:

How Meal Delivery Apps are Killing Your Favorite Restaurants featuring Chris Webb, CEO of ChowNow

April 10, 2019 — 2 Comments

Food delivery apps like UberEats are putting mom and pop restaurants out of business. In final episode of Season 1 of the Innovation For All podcast, Chris Webb, CEO of ChowNow, shows the actual cost of meal delivery and how ChowNow is trying to mitigate those risks through an alternative business model.

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You’ll learn:

  • How much food marketplaces charge the host restaurant, on top of the fees they charge the customer
  • How his experience at Lehman Brothers in 2008 shapes his current skepticism
  • Why ordering direct from the retailer should always be the consumer’s first option
  • Does the restaurant know who is buying their food when ordered through a delivery app?
  • Why are restaurants willing to use delivery apps even when they are unprofitable?
  • What does a model that puts the restaurant first look like?

Chris has always had an affinity for small and independently owned restaurants. His love of these small businesses and his own family’s small step into the food retail space revealed a passion at the intersection of food and technology.

ChowNow is the leading online ordering and marketing platform for local restaurants. Founded in 2011, ChowNow currently works with 11,000 restaurants nationwide – making it easy for customers to order directly from their websites, ChowNow-built branded mobile apps and third-party websites including Google, Yelp, and Instagram.

Prior to ChowNow, Chris was a founding investor in healthy, fast-casual chain Tender Greens. Chris’ involvement in Tender Greens fueled his mission to put smaller independent restaurants on a level playing field with the national chains when it came to technology solutions, tools, and apps.

Connect with Chris Webb & ChowNow:

  • Learn more about why third-party food delivery apps are unsustainable for independent restaurants at orderbetter.com.
  • ChowNow is available nationwide and can be found online at https://get.chownow.com.
  • You can find Chris on Twitter, and on his .

Others Mentioned:

Stay Tuned for Season 2!

Innovation For All will be returning for Season 2 in May 2019. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcasting platform to listen to great episodes in Season 1 and get alerted as soon as Season 2 begins.