Social design, Industrial Design, Université de Montréal, 2014
OSMOS
tools to simplify volunteering
in collaboration with Nicholas Proulx & Kevin Leclerc
“Osmos” is a software system designed to reduce bureaucracy in the computer systems of a voluntary organisation offering ATMM (medical motivated accompaniment and transport). The distribution of an Open Source system simplifies the arrangement of appointments.
Video only in french available. Password: Osmos
In collaboration with the CRÉ de Montréal (Montreal Regional Environment Council), TCAIM (Montreal Steering Committee on Seniors), Design & Société de l‘UdeM, as well as several voluntary organisations we developed “Osmos”.
This free system contains freeware based on the online tools from Google (Google Drive, Google Docs) in combination with a website and a notebook developed for the special needs of volunteers.
We observed that volunteers in the field lose much of their time swapping from one program to another and coordinating all of these programs, especially when organising a new appointment due to a suboptimal system. This led to multiplication of certain tasks and led to volunteer fatigue and indeed dropoff. Considering the financial limits of those organisation, the urgent need of a free accessible service, including multiple communication tools based on a web platform occurred to us.
This free system contains freeware based on the online tools from Google (Google Drive, Google Docs) in combination with a website and a notebook developed for the special needs of volunteers.
We observed that volunteers in the field lose much of their time swapping from one program to another and coordinating all of these programs, especially when organising a new appointment due to a suboptimal system. This led to multiplication of certain tasks and led to volunteer fatigue and indeed dropoff. Considering the financial limits of those organisation, the urgent need of a free accessible service, including multiple communication tools based on a web platform occurred to us.
Username and password are irrelevant
When receiving information about a new appointment, the desk clerk types the received data into the dedicated array, while the program completes by itself the the recurring data. The program then indicates the available staff based on information the staff themselves have provided earlier, through the same program. Finally through clicking on the Send-button, the program sends an e-mail to the volunteer containing all the necessary information about their next appointment.
They now transfer the data into their notebook, which they can access at all times. The book can include additional functions chosen by the organisation, like a calender, a list of their mileage, emergency numbers or dates the volunteer needs to know.For the organization’s administrative needs the program saves all appointments and data in a special “History” section.
These tools simplify the process of arranging an appointment, as well as reducing the number of tasks the volunteer has to fulfil without weighing down the work of the administrative staff. In this way we can relieve the volunteer from the workload which can overwhelm them and allow them to concentrate on their core role and thereby binding them to the organisation for a longer period of time.
They now transfer the data into their notebook, which they can access at all times. The book can include additional functions chosen by the organisation, like a calender, a list of their mileage, emergency numbers or dates the volunteer needs to know.For the organization’s administrative needs the program saves all appointments and data in a special “History” section.
These tools simplify the process of arranging an appointment, as well as reducing the number of tasks the volunteer has to fulfil without weighing down the work of the administrative staff. In this way we can relieve the volunteer from the workload which can overwhelm them and allow them to concentrate on their core role and thereby binding them to the organisation for a longer period of time.
“Design & Société”, L’École de design industriel de l’Université de Montréal, 2014
