Milestone 1 🚀
Proposed level of achievement: Artemis.
Motivation
For a country of approximately 5.7 million people, the 75,655 donors in 2019—approx. 1.33%—was particularly low.1 In fact, in 2019, the Singapore Red Cross and Health Sciences Authority appealed for blood donors as stocks in blood banks reached low levels.2 Approximately 3,000 donors of any types were needed to restore the stocks to a healthy level. This shortage was grave as the blood group with the greatest extent of shortage was O, the universal group used in emergencies, particulary when the blood identity of the patient was unknown. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that the number of young donors is declining at a steady rate, from about 23,000 in 2008 to 18,000 in 2019.1,3 As the population is being increasingly dominated by senior citizens, and the current COVID-19 pandemic progresses, blood donors are needed more than ever.
When there is a lack of supply for a particular blood type in blood banks or hospital inventories, patients and families turn to social media to look for blood donors. While this method may reach a myriad of potential donors, it is not always deterministic. There is also no guarantee that the potential donors are reachable, and this weakness in this method may be crucial in times of crisis. The Singapore Red Cross and HSA have a database of blood donors which are contactable when blood supplies are needed. However, this system limits the coverage to only the regular registered donors. Hence, we propose the development of a platform, BloodConnect, to connect blood donors and donees whenever, wherever. BloodConnect allows users to create blood requests, which are viewable by other users as potential donors. Nearby users will also be notified. If a user decides to donate to a request, they will be connected to the requester and arrange a meeting at the hospital of request. Through this platform, we aim to bridge the gap between donors and donees and decrease the waiting time to find blood, particularly in emergencies.
Aim of project
To ensure consistent healthy supply of blood at bloodbanks and bridge the gap between blood donors and blood seekers, we aim to develop a platform to provide information on blood requests and notify nearby potential donors to reduce the waiting time for blood donations in emergency situations and encourage young donors through a relevant, digital platform with the ease to search avenues for blood donations.
User stories
- As a blood donor, I want to be able to see blood requests to which I can donate my blood.
- As a blood donor, I want to be notified when blood donation is required near my location.
- As a blood seeker, I want to be able to create a blood request with my contact details and connect with an eligible donor fast.
- As a blood bank administrator, I want to be able to create a blood request when the blood stocks are running low.
- As a hospital or health institution staff, I want to be able to create a blood request when blood stocks are running low or my patients requires direct blood transfusion.
- As a research institution staff, I want to be able to create a blood request when I need donors for research purposes (e.g. recovered COVID-19 donors for vaccine research, etc).
- As an blood donation event organiser, I want to be able to create a blood request inform of my event and increase participation.
Scope of project
The platform utilises mobile (for Android and iOS) and web applications as the front-end interfaces for blood donors to view and respond to blood requests and blood seekers to create blood requests. The mobile app is being developed with React Native and the web app will be developed with React.
A set of back-end APIs will be developed for authentication, database, push notifications, and pairing algorithms. This will be developed with Node.js and Firebase cloud functions.
In addition of the algorithm to pair donors and donees, these are the several features to be completed by mid June.
Mobile application
This app is the main BloodConnect app which enables users to create, view, and respond to blood requests. Registered users will be able to view their donations/requests history and be notified of nearby blood donations. Users can also share blood requests to their friends.
Maps
BloodConnect will make use of the Google Maps API (for Android) and Apple Maps (for iOS). The blood requests will appear on the map and users will be able to tap on the markers to see the details for each requests.
Authentication
Using Firebase, BloodConnect allows for user accounts creation. In addition, OAuth will also be implemented to allow users to create account with existing services, e.g. Google or Facebook accounts.
Smart search
The search function in BloodConnect will be developed to allow searches based on blood type, types of venues, emergency, time, descriptions, and venue names. In addition, voice search will also be implemented.
Push notifications
Nearby donors (registered users) will be notified when a blood request is made requiring their blood type. Users can opt to be notified of all blood requests, only emergency ones, those coming from specific venues (hospitals or blood banks), etc.
These are the several features to be completed by mid July.
Web application
To increase accessibility, a web app version of BloodConnect, accessible from mobile and desktop browsers, will also be developed.
OTP verification
OTP verification for users' mobile phone or email verifications.
Custom protocol handler
Since users can share blood requests, we plan to share the blood requests in a form of a link which will be able to redirect users to the web or mobile app. To redirect to the latter, a custom protocol handler is needed.
Expression of gratitude
After a successful blood donation, an animation will be displayed to thank donors for their heroic and selfless contribution.
Open API
We plan to develop an open API for developers alike to build upon our platform. Although we believe that these APIs will be useful, as of now, it is still a tentative milestone.
Other platforms
We did a literature review and there have been similar platforms developed, such as Simply Blood, Donor2Donor, Blood4Life.ID, and Red Cross Connection.
Simply Blood, developed in 2017
Simply Blood is an Android and web app developed as a platform to connect blood donors with blood seekers to alleviate blood shortage, wastage, and transfusion waiting time. After inspecting the app, we saw that it requires all users (donors and seekers) to create an account with their mobile phone number, which is verified by an SMS OTP. The app also requires blood requesters to provide their full name, which may be considered a privacy concern, as some users may not want to disclose the fact that they have medical conditions which require blood transfusion. With BloodConnect, we will design a more intuitive UI which not only looks modern and recent, but also easy to use. BloodConnect will only require blood seekers to register and verify their email address to prevent illegal activities, but allow blood donors to use the app without registration. However, blood donors can create an account to view their donation history, save their fitness survey for a set period of time (TBC), and be notified of any nearby blood requests. BloodConnect will not require users' full name for privacy reasons.Donor2Donor, developed in 2016
This app takes a different approach towards finding blood donations. First of all, this app also allows for organ donations, not only blood donations. Secondly, this app allows blood seekers to find available blood donors with maximum radius of 50 km. This approach is different from BloodConnect's, as donors will have to publish their availability in the platform and blood seekers will choose from a list of available donors. Donor2Donor, despite having their website written in English, seems to focus on the Indian community, as their ads are mainly in Hindi. We aim to enable connections in any parts of the world.Blood4Life.ID, developed in 2009
In 2009, Blood4Life.ID used mailing lists, and shifted to Twitter and Facebook in 2010. In 2019, they developed the web application as a more systematic platform. It appears that Blood4Life.ID takes a more social approach, as their web app contains a lot of posts, events, news, community collaterals, and blood requests map in between. Also, this platform is only available for the Indonesian community. Its blood donation search function only "posts" request and donors will have to search and contact the requester directly. With BloodConnect, it will notify nearby users and there is a call-to-action for donors to connect with the requester.Red Cross Connection, developed in 2014
This platform was developed by the Singapore Red Cross as a campaign, and was officially announced in January 2014.4 It shared similarities with BloodConnect, however, it is no longer operational. The app allows users to post the "number of lives they have saved" and view the "number of blood donations made by their peers".5 We believe that this feature does not value-add into the problem that the platform was aiming to tackle: amplifying the search for donors.4 Instead, this feature may make blood donation seemed competitive and users can showcase the "number of lives they have saved". As a reward, blood donors may scan a QR code at donation sites to view an AR animation an an appreciation for their "selfless and heroic acts".6 While we agree with the campaign's message that donating blood is a heroic act, the aim of BloodConnect's development is not as a campaign, but as a tool to solve the problem with finding blood. That being said, as of now, we do not plan to take a gamified approach towards blood donation.
Program flow
Progress video
If you cannot view the video in the frame below, click here to watch it on YouTube.
Project poster
Click here to view the poster.
Project Log
| No | Task | Date | Phillmont (hours) | Ivan (hours) | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Project preparation | See remarks | 20 | 6 | Phillmont learnt the fundamentals of React Native, Redux, Firebase, Cloud Functions, continuous integrations, Node.js, and serverless RESTful APIs (May 11-18). Ivan learnt the fundamentals of JavaScript and React (May 18-22). |
| 2 | Preparing poster, video, and proposal for mentor matching | May 13 | 6 | Click here for poster. Click here for video. Click here for proposal. | |
| 3 | Team Meeting 1: Briefing | May 18 | 4 | 4 | Ideation and discussion to solidify project proposal before meeting mentors. Also delegated roles for the project. |
| 4 | Meeting with Robin Loh | May 19 | 3 | 3 | Mentor matching. Discussed about the fundamentals of software development, documentation, testing, and project proposal. |
| 5 | Meeting with Leslie Ho | May 20 | 1 | 1 | Mentor matching. Discussed about project proposal and features. Also planned for expectations by Milestones 1 to 3. |
| 6 | Team Meeting 2: Thoughts | May 20 | 1 | 1 | Discussed about thoughts after meeting and exchanging emails with several mentors. We chose to continue with Leslie Ho. |
| 7 | Wireframing | May 23 | 7 | 2 | Click here for the wireframes designed so far. |
| 8 | Continuous integration | May 25 | 3 | Integrated CircleCI and Jest to the front-end app with temporary sample tests. | |
| 9 | Team Meeting 3: Milestone | May 26 | 1 | 1 | Discussed about Milestone 1 submission and development roles. |
| 10 | Development: Intro screen | May 26 | 7 | Designed the assets (in SVG) and developed the intro page (see wireframe PDF page 1-3). | |
| 11 | Development: Login screen | May 27 | 10 | Developed the login screen and relevant components (e.g. buttons, text boxes, etc.). | |
| 12 | Development: Create account screen | May 28 | 5 | Developed the create account screen and fixed platform-specific problems with the components (e.g. keyboard pushing up view on Android, shadows not appearing on iOS, etc). | |
| 13 | Development: Explore screen (Part 1) | May 28 | 7 | Developed the bottom bar with inlet floating action button and integration a scrollable animated bottom sheet. | |
| 14 | Development: Explore screen (Part 2) | May 29 | 10 | Integrated Google Maps (on Android) and Apple Maps (on iOS), added my-location and user profile buttons, requests list view, and debugged weird bottom sheet layout and shadow issues. | |
| 15 | Mission Control 3 | May 30 | 2 | 2 | UI/UX Workshop Part 1. Ivan also watched the recording of the session. The recording was only made for our team only, will never be shared with anyone. |
| 16 | Team Meeting 4: Features | May 30 | 3 | 3 | Discussed about project scope, specific features, and BloodConnect's unique selling points. Also compared UI designs from other apps (e.g. Netflix, Gojek, Uber, etc.) with BloodConnect. |
| 17 | Deployed BloodConnect Docs (this site!) | May 31 | 2 | 2 | Developed this site as a developers' documentation and project stories. |
| Total hours | 92 | 25 |
Total hours spent by both Orbitees: 92 + 25 = 117 hours.
See you in Milestone 2 👋!
- https://www.hsa.gov.sg/blood-donation/blood-facts-and-figures↩
- https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/3000-blood-donors-needed-as-stocks-run-low↩
- https://www.tnp.sg/news/singapore/singapore-red-cross-concerned-over-lack-young-blood-donors↩
- https://www.campaignasia.com/agencyportfolio/casestudy/200,red-cross-connection.aspx#.XtIaHjoza00↩
- https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/singapore-red-cross-launches-mobile-app-blood-donation↩
- https://www.techinasia.com/singapore-red-cross-gamifies-blood-donations-app↩