OpenArchive

During this internship, I developed a product strategy based on UX research for a non-profit organization dedicated to empowering individuals to document human rights abuses. I explored the value proposition of their Save App in the competitive landscape and proposed strategic next steps.

Role: UX Design Intern

Duration: June - August 2023

Team: One UX Research Intern

The Context

The recent conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza highlight the critical role of documentation in holding perpetrators accountable and preserving historical truth. OpenArchive's Save App empowers activists and journalists to capture evidence of human rights violations securely. However, with a growing number of similar tools available, OpenArchive needed to understand its competitive advantage.

⚠️ Critical Point

When I joined OpenArchive, they had already finalized the design for Save App's second iteration. As a result, my focus shifted towards product strategy and analysis, leveraging research to inform business decisions instead of direct design work. This case study highlights my skills in synthesizing research findings into actionable business strategies.

The Challenge

When setting out to approach this issue addressed two key questions:

  1. How does Save App compare to competing tools in terms of features and value proposition?

  2. What is a valid next step for OpenArchive to strengthen its impact?

Research Methodology

The research approach consisted of two parts:

  • Competitive Analysis:

    A comprehensive review of 21 direct and indirect competitors and adjacent products to Save App. This included assessing features like messaging, media upload capabilities, encryption methods, and user data collection practices.

  • Ukraine Interviews Affinity Diagram:

    The staff at OpenArchive had already conducted interviews with individuals in Ukraine when we began the internship. These interviews explored their mobile device usage for documenting events, the challenges they faced with existing tools, and their workflows for managing content. After they were translate, we created an affinity diagram, highlighting key themes.

Research Findings

Key Finding 1: Effortless Integration Sets Save Apart

The competitive landscape for secure file transfer apps is crowded, with diverse tools offering various features. However, Save App shines through with its seamless integration advantage. Unlike their top two competitors (Tella by Horizontal and EyeWitness to Atrocities), which require a complete overhaul of existing workflows, Save integrates effortlessly into the user’s current tech stack. This translates to significant savings in time and energy for users when adopting Save.

Key Finding 2: Unmet Needs in the Human Rights Ecosystem

The Ukraine interviews revealed crucial user needs that existing tools simply don't address. By analyzing interview data through an affinity diagram, I created a basic map visualizing the flow of documented media (photos, videos) within the human rights community. This map highlights a key challenge: different stakeholders have diverse needs and varying levels of technical expertise. Building a single, complex platform might not be the best solution, as it could limit who benefits from it.

For a full breakdown on the different user personas and their respective needs, please feel free to contact me for an interview. 😉 #AlwaysBeClosing

My Solution

Based on the research findings, I developed a strategy booklet with a two-pronged approach:

Double Down on Core Functionality:

Enhance the existing Save App as a best-in-class tool for secure file transfer. This addresses a critical need identified by both the competitive analysis and user interviews.

Developing clearer documentation/processes for how it works (covered in their redesign, but more on using private browsers and increasing tech savvy) 

Explaining (in plain language) how to navigate the process of saving the data and how to get connected to organizations in the human rights space.

Develop a Suite of Products:

Create a series of additional tools that optimize specific tasks within a human rights documentation workflow. By focusing on developing smaller, modular tools, OpenArchive can support the existing tech ecosystem for it’s users and keep the cost for adoption low. On top of that, the organization could potentially unify all of the smaller tools into one larger software if they choose to later down the line.

The Ukraine interviews (as well as previous user research conducted at OpenArchive) revealed a critical need for human rights workers. 70% of their work involves reviewing and validating social media evidence for investigations. To streamline this process, I recommended developing a scraper tool to efficiently collect relevant online content used to corroborate the media and information that they collect.

Insert Images of the Competitive Advantage Booklet Here

Outcomes and Next Steps

The CEO of OpenArchive expressed enthusiasm for the proposed strategy, highlighting the potential to significantly improve the Save App's impact. Future steps would involve:

  • Defining detailed user needs and functionalities for the scraper tool.

  • Exploring legal and ethical considerations related to content scraping.

  • Prioritizing the development of additional tools within the proposed suite such as using blockchain technology to develop secure version histories and access logs.

My Learnings

Human rights advocacy is a challenging but inspiring field. I was proud to interned with a growing organization dedicated to bringing justice to victims of atrocities. Though I didn't directly build a product, my work in product strategy was impactful and really impressed the CEO, which felt great. In just eight weeks, I learned a ton about this complex space and developed a valuable product strategy.