In this work, we describe some of the challenges Black-owned businesses face in the United States, and specifically in the city of Pittsburgh. Taking into account local dynamics and the communicated desires of Black-owned businesses in the Pittsburgh region, we determine that university students represent an under-utilized market for these businesses. We investigate the root causes for this inefficiency and design and implement a platform, 412Connect (https://www.412connect.org/), to increase online support for Pittsburgh Black-owned businesses from students in the Pittsburgh university community. The site operates by coordinating interactions between student users and participating businesses via targeted recommendations. For platform designers, we describe the project from its conception, paying special attention to our motivation and design choices. Our design choices are aided by two simple, novel models for badge design and recommendation systems that may be of theoretical interest. Along the way we highlight challenges and lessons from coordinating a grassroots volunteer project working in conjunction with community partners, and the opportunities and pitfalls of engaged scholarship.
翻译:在这项工作中,我们描述了美国、特别是匹兹堡市黑人所有企业面临的一些挑战。考虑到当地动态和匹兹堡地区黑人所有企业的交流愿望,我们确定大学生代表着这些企业的利用不足的市场。我们调查了这种效率低下的根本原因,设计并实施了412Connect平台(https://www.412connect.org/),以增加匹兹堡大学社区学生对匹兹堡黑人所有企业的在线支持。该网站通过有针对性的建议协调学生用户与参与企业之间的互动。对于平台设计师来说,我们从项目构想中描述项目,特别注意我们的动机和设计选择。我们的设计选择得到两个可能具有理论意义的简单、新颖的徽章设计和推荐系统的支持。与此同时,我们强调在协调与社区伙伴合作的基层志愿者项目方面所面临的挑战和教训,以及参与奖学金的机会和陷阱。