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#Every Kid in a Park

##Introduction

This is the home for the Every Kid in a Park wiki. These pages provide additional documentation to the Every Kid in a Park readme file. You should visit the main repository if you're looking for installation instructions and more information of a technical nature.

To browse the various sections of this wiki, use the Pages menu to the right.

##Background

Technical development for this project began as a joint effort between the U.S. Department of the Interior, the Presidential Innovation Fellows, and 18F. Early discussions in December 2014 and January 2015 identified a need to better understand how to create a solution towards satisfying the goal of getting more 4th graders into national lands and waters. The Every Kid in a Park Initiative was formally announced on February 19, 2015.

Early ideas from agency partners and others had focused on the creation of a digital passport app (something that would run on a mobile device)- a digital version of the well-known National Parks passport program. Early discussions focused on identifying the most feasible solution given both the audience (4th graders, parents, and educators) and technological constraints of the various sites (limited internet connectivity in some areas, different point of sales systems, etc.).

In February of 2015 agency partners and CEQ participated in a Design Studio led by Presidential Innovation Fellow Ashley Jablow. The Design Studio was helpful in both uncovering challenges and solutions. In March 2015 the Presidential Innovation Fellows held a mini-hackathon to further expand on technological solutions, and it was through this event that the concept of a paper pass was solidified. Throughout the coming months the team held a number of kid's team sessions with the University of Maryland. Early discussions focused on early design concepts, voucher designs and activity ideas. We wanted to better understand how kids would approach this challenge.

In May of 2015 agency partners and CEQ convened another kid's team testing at the White House. During this time we further expanded on ideas and designs for the project. Development on the system began in June of 2015. The development team at 18F grew over the next few weeks to include a product lead / developer, a couple designers, a front-end developer, a content writer and a Presidential Innovation Fellow. Over the next few months through the launch the team worked to further develop, design, test and implement the system. The site was officially launched on September 1st, 2015.

  • February 2015 - PIF Design Studio
  • March 2015 - Mini-Hackathon
  • May 2015 - UMD Kid's Team Testing at White House
  • June 2015 - 18F began work on the project
  • July 2015 - Ticketing Application Demo
  • September 1, 2015 - Site Launch

##A Few Random Bits

A few things seemed important to note but didn't have an obvious home in the technical notes. In the spirit of openness, here are a few interesting bits, notes and facts about the website.

The Quote

The main landing page includes a quote from President Obama. The quote was taken from remarks by the President on the impacts of climate change on April 22, 2015. You can read the remarks, including the quote here.

The Photos

The various land management agencies have a number of really fantastic photo repositories, and contribute a lot to the visibility of our nations lands and waters. Some great resources can be found here, but there are many, many more. A list of the photos used on the website can also be found here.

Kid Team Testing

Getting input from kids was an important part of the design and development process. Through the National Park Service we worked with the University of Maryland's HCIL Kid's Team to test early designs and prototypes. The feedback helped us refine the site in many ways, including removing "walls of text" from the site, encouraging a streamlined and fun experience through better user experience, using words and explanations that 4th graders would be more likely to understand, and writing as much of the site at a 4th grade level as possible.

The feedback also provided early input into the design and colors used in the site. Suggestions for types of games and educational activities were also very valuable, and contributed to the process of better understanding and reaching our audience.