Closure Report
Project Summary
WhatsApp@Edinburgh? was designed to be a creative pilot to use WhatsApp as a space to engage students to convey important information and contribute to the sense of community, connectedness, and excitement, as well as the unique Edinburgh Offer.
The concept was to create a piece of WhatsApp-based fiction featuring key challenges and available support across the University. During this project, a Content Producer investigated demand, needs, and support and used this work to inform the design of a new piece of fiction, including designing characters and storylines that could be deployed in a pilot.
Some technical aspects were considered and challenges regarding privacy identified. A pilot has not been run but drafted materials have been passed onto the IS Change Programme Communication and Branding group for potential future use.
Outcome
During the project, the Content Producer Bryan Tan (student intern) undertook research into the demand for student support and the types of resources available. This work included reviewing NSS information, student surveys, and public for support including the EUSA and Student Room discussion boards. Research was also undertaken to identify all of the diverse student support services across the university and how these might be effectively signposted. One key aspect of both student questions and the available support services research was that there is a wide and confusing range of places to ask for help, highlighting the usefulness of contextualising this information in a format like our proposed fictional narrative.
The Content Producer undertook interviews with a number of representatives from student support services, from EUSA, and other stakeholders across the University. This provided insights into student challenges and feedback on this concept. Generally, the concept was well received though the scale of work required to manage, publicise and provide associated support for students engaging with the campaign was highlighted and suggested that a larger scale project might be required for any significant pilot or campaign.
Research into needs and support informed the design of a piece of innovative digital fiction in which the student engaging with the project would join a WhatsApp group in which they would follow the updates from a group of fictional students, essentially “listening in” to characters who would be revealed as the story progressed. Initial storyboarding led to a soap opera like structure, with characters designed to be diverse in their backgrounds and challenges so that they could be used in a pilot or expanded, added to, or developed for future iterations or an ongoing story. This aligns well with the long-standing practice of highlighting social issues through soap opera storytelling, as a way to create empathy, visibility, and reflect the audience.
Character sketch “biographies”, and draft scripts were completed and are available for review or use. Some longer-term storyboarding work was also done to indicate possible future development of the story. As WhatsApp is a multimodal environment some use of emojis, gifs etc. is indicated but further image and video resources would be needed for a full rollout of the campaign. The Content Producer did discuss the campaign as a whole, including potential use of openly licensed content with Stephanie (Charlie) Farley (Open Educational Resources, LTW). Resources and a short report summarising all of the creative work to 31st July 2018 is available on request through the IS Change – Communications and Branding Group.
In addition to the creative work undertaken a technical review of WhatsApp was undertaken by Eliisabet Hein, a student developer working with EDINA over the spring of 2018. Technical options for delivery reviewed included:
1. API (unofficial)
Given the overhead of posting new content, any possible automated routes were considered. WhatsApp does not have an API, though unofficial (risky to use) approaches exist. It appears that the original South African marketing campaign that inspired this project may have used unofficial (technically against the terms and conditions which could result in blocked access) means to deliver their content. This approach is not recommended for the University given the importance of maintaining trust and credibility.
2. WhatsApp Business
WhatsApp Business was launched in 2018 and allows the use of chatbots and auto replies so would be suitable for a more interactive piece of fiction, and might enable characters to be voiced through pre-loaded chatbots. This would require some developer time, particularly to represent different users as separate posters within WhatsApp so that it mirrors a normal chat group experience.
3. WhatsApp Broadcast lists
This approach is the most straightforward to deliver and has been used by Channel 4 during the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum [1], and, more recently, by the Edinburgh International Book Festival-commissioned WhatsApp digital fiction work, The Right Kind of Chaos [2], premiered in August 2018. This approach requires a single mobile number for updates to be deployed, and in this set up one user posts whilst all following that user take a passive role – better for privacy and time overheads. The disadvantage of this approach is that all messages appear to come from one individual – suitable in a fiction or news context where one perspective is taken, but not really appropriate in a fictional “listening in” concept.
4. Closed WhatsApp Group with Group Admins
The preferred approach identified, though labour intensive, would be to set up a Closed WhatsApp Group with several group admins. In this scenarios several mobile numbers/sim cards would be required so that each character could post their own content in an authentic and recognisable chat group. Settings released in July 2018 should enable some users to have a viewing only role [3], as making such a campaign interactive would present substantial manual work but would provide the best experience for students.
Privacy issues
WhatsApp uses end to end encryption, however, users are identified by mobile phone numbers. Any group created in WhatsApp potentially risks users identifying each other. Whilst WhatsApp users can restrict access to their information [4], the University has a duty of care that must be carefully considered, especially given that issues addressed by the fictional narrative might be sensitive and triggering for some students. Any pilot would need to undergo GDPR-related Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) and for users to consent (!) for the University to have their mobile number to deliver the campaign and potentially (2) for other pilot users to potentially identify them. Piloting might best be done in a very small carefully managed context.
Alternative Spaces
When announced there was significant interest in the project, including questions about other similar platforms where this kind of campaign could run. The team were contacted by Abdul Majothi (ISG) about the possibility of taking this type of approach in WeeChat [5], which he noted is very heavily used by our Chinese students and which the University does not currently engage with. Anecdotally there are mixed attitudes towards official engagement in the space but if a pilot worked well, WeeChat should be considered as a possible expansion space or space for alternative campaigns taking a similar form. WeeChat has more flexible technical affordances but most student discourse is in Chinese which may create different challenges for delivery and require a re-contextualised or even significantly adapted and rethought script.
[2] http://davidleddy.com/shows/the-right-kind-of-chaos
[4] https://faq.whatsapp.com/21197244/
Explanation for variance
Original estimates for the project were based on two student interns - one for content production, one for development of automation - being appointed at an earlier date. The project start was delayed for a number of reasons and, at that point, no student developer candidates came forward. We were fortunate to have access to some time from another student developer to undertake some initial assessment but this still resulted in less time used against this activity. Having the Content Producer in post for fewer months also reduced the total time worked.
The original project included the running of a pilot, however, timing within the academic year is crucial for delivery of even a pilot project. In addition, a number of technical and privacy challenges presented a potential challenge in terms of available resources and other priority work. The proposed date for piloting – and rolled overspend on student support for running the campaign – was to be November 2018. Unfortunately, the project manager was on Shared Parental Leave from August to December 2018 and no suitable cover (given the unique and specialist nature of the project) was identified. By mutual agreement with the approver, Jeremy Upton, this project is drawing to a close in semi-complete state with assets retained for potential follow up if appropriate.
Key Learning Points
Feedback from our Content Producer noted that for any creative and experimental student intern project like this it would be helpful to have at least 2 interns working together to enable peer review, idea development, and experimentation with ideas. In addition he noted the challenge of longer usual lead times for University campaigns – this is a complex challenge as some of the spaces that provide edgy and authentic engagement change rapidly, and relevant content certainly changes alongside news, current affairs, and local UoE developments making any longer lead time for campaigns, or indeed sign off process for scripts, problematic.
There are significant creative opportunities available for a campaign using WhatsApp but, especially with the University’s trusted status and duty of care, there are significant and interwoven technical and privacy challenges to delivery. It is recommended that any campaign in this type of space be planned with a longer lead time to allow ongoing engagement with EUSA to ensure buy in and student welfare is well reviewed and supported. However, there is appetite for innovative and creative approaches to engaging with students in these types of spaces and there is potential for using less ambitious and more privacy-preserving mechanisms (WhatsApp Broadcast Lists being less challenging for instance) to reach students.
Outstanding Issues
There is no work outstanding but, as noted above, the assets are available for anyone interested in learning from our experience and fictional narratives approach.