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Problems: This relies on revealing personal information publicly. This may also be a safety concern. This is probably only feasible in a small, trusted community like a church. This also requires going to it's physical location to update. Even though we have more scheduling information, we still don't optimize people's schedules or preferences. We also do not solve the last minute cancellation problem.
Design 2: Profiles and Matching
Every person has an account which keeps track of scheduling priorities. When submitted, it will perform a best matching given the information avalibleavailable
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Priorities:
- Time availability
- Price (might do something like take an average of prices in some range)
- Preference on parent/babysitter
Use: All users fill out availability and preference information. They choose other users they want to work with to link to. The software makes suggested schedules based on information available. People can confirm personally and then put thing
Design 3: Paintable Calender
Editable calender whose events can be shared between people. This allows babysitters to post times they are available and parents to post times they need babysitters.
Input can be paintable with options on the side. This would include preference rating and whether they are editing a weekly schedule. For parents it includes the length of time of the job.
Need to distinguish between times that are 'or' (I need a babysitter for 2 hours on any of these evenings) and different jobs. Also should be able to view different calenders at once. A symbol, like a clock, that dictates the time needed can suffice for that.
Groups of people for preferred or not.
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Problems: Must be updated frequently to be useful. This isn't an optimal solution to the scheduling problem and still has no way to leverage certain private information. This does facilitate joint-babysitting scheduling. This also allows better coordination of flexible schedules.
Storyboards
Design 1: This design will have three main sections organized by tabs: Home, Profile and Jobs. The Home tab will show notifications that the user receives. The profile tab will store useful information about both types of users, and also allow babysitters to store their availability. The Jobs tab will allow parents to create new jobs and allow babysitters to manage the jobs they have been invited to. The major feature of this design is a calendar interface that allows users to quickly display their scheduling preferences by painting over times which work for them.
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