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BC Personalized Digital Service was a service design project to research how personalized digital service defines inside B.C province. I led user research, synthesized methods research findings, strategy and prototypes for the Personalized Digital Service (GDX) team in Victoria. 

BACKGROUND

Our tem (KB&A) began the project working on Personalized Government Digital Services. The team’s first insights began by following the industry-wide shifts in Interaction Design from design for visual perceptions (graphic design) to design for user experiences (UX) in various international governments.

MY ROLE

I was hired by Katherine Benjamin, and Professor Eugenia Bertulis as a sole service / UX UI designer in the team. I led user research session related to BC Online, Court Technology and innovation team, Small Business BC, BC Transplant, and BC citizens. As working with Katherine Benjamin, a scrum master, I was exposed by agile work environment by participating in weekly check- in calls, JIRA tickets, and sprint planning. This government project gave me first-hand experience working on innovation in BC digital government.

INTERNATIONAL PRECEDENT RESEARCH

Our team (KB&A) began the project working on Personalized Government Digital Services. The team’s first insights began by following the industry-wide shifts in Interaction Design from design for visual perceptions (graphic design) to design for user experiences (UX) in various international governments.

IDENTITY & TRUST

Issues around designing for trust and privacy issues is particularly important in government digital service design. Westin (1970) and Schmitt (2017) developed this schematic that illustrates a spectrum approach in privacy criteria, as well. The design insight here is to allow citizens to engage with government services anonymously or pseudonomously as appropriate. 

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Westin, A. (1970). Privacy and freedom. London: Bodley Head.

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In this schematic developed by Schmitt, we see another configuration in current user engagement with digital services. Citizens today curate their internet presences. This human-centred design approach can be helpful in building trust with government services by allowing appropriate contextual design choices. For example, a parking ticket payment service might allow for payment without log-in. 

States of Identity & Pseudonymity by Lutz Schmitt,

Extended by K.Benjamin, E.Bertulis, R.Kim

HIERARCHY OF DESIGN

For Personalized Government Digital Service

This diagram illustrates an initial conceptualization for stages of progressive personalization. Starting at the left, the point of entry is highlighted. As highlighted earlier, it is necessary to consider where the user is coming from, and how they might find a service. 

From that point, a service could be “neutral” in nature, meaning that there is no element of customization or personalization, it appears the same to everyone who uses it.  For instance, a one-stop-shop landing page or portal without login function would be an identical experience for all users.

GOVERNMENT AS A PLATFORM

Government as a Platform (GaaP) is another precedent framework. GaaP is the idea that components, data, hosting, platforms, tools and other services ought to be built once, and used in a range of different combinations.

Government as a Platform challenges the notion that there should be “one single front door” to digital services, and instead proposes that their may be a multitude of doors, based on the user’s own preference. 

CITIZEN INTERVIEW​

One important principle of design research, especially generative human-centred research methods, is to have the designers and UX specialists listen for insights in the interviews and participatory research activities for insights, 

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PROTOTYPE

Developed a prototype to user test, to collaborate on the end to end user journey, and align various consideration around maximizing citizen engagement and experience.

"What would a good personalized digital government service feel like?"

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