Our mindset has radically shifted
The social purpose we have cultivated at EiQ (external link) is to use technology in responsible and engaging ways to empower people to better understand their mental health by situating our emotions in the contexts of lived experience. With the support of the Design Fabrication Zone, we are doing this through developing software that pairs with off-the-shelf wearable hardware (i.e., a smart watch or chest strap) to collect readings of users’ Heart Rate Variability (HRV). This biodata is then converted into a unique emotional output that gives people a sense of where and when they were feeling a certain way to aid in isolating the causal triggers for negative (and positive) emotional states.
What is truly unique and socially engaged about EiQ’s approach to entrepreneurship is our unique form of data collection we term ‘little data.’ Whereas big data emotion-AI tends to aggregate the data of millions of people and then evaluate an individual’s emotions against the standards of the data aggregate, which has been shown to produce both racial and gendered biases (external link) , our human-centred little data approach only ever compares a person’s data with their previous data.
Instead of falling into the big data fallacy that more data points are always better, little data centres equity, inclusion, privacy, and accessibility by pioneering a new data paradigm that reflects the diversity of different bodies, biorhythms, and mental health challenges.
Instead of falling into the big data fallacy that more data points are always better, little data centres equity, inclusion, privacy, and accessibility by pioneering a new data paradigm that reflects the diversity of different bodies, biorhythms, and mental health challenges.
At first, we were overwhelmed by what seemed like endless possible uses for our little data approach to building emotion-AI. It could be used to track the effects of commuting on workers, the role of social media in affecting the mental health of users, or even emotional states elicited by watching a favourite film.
Unsure of our next steps, the guidance we received from the Design Fabrication Zone mentors and staff, coupled with our own post-secondary teaching experiences, helped us to pinpoint how best to fulfil our social purpose at a time when the direct impacts of climate change, socio-economic instability and the COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately burden young people as they are developing psychologically, physically, socially, and emotionally.
While youth mental health is clearly on the decline (external link) , finding treatments that are engaging, effective and accessible can be really challenging. Young people tend to lack the emotional literacy needed to accurately describe how they are feeling to a therapist and are often hesitant to discuss their problems among friends due to the culture of shame and stigma around mental illness. Thanks in large part to the new perspectives and ideas we were exposed to through our Zone’s programming, we have pivoted towards developing an emotional assistance app that can provide a much-needed outlet for support by utilising our software to help young people cultivate more robust mental health through the utilisation of games and play (think like a ‘Tamagotchi’ meets ‘Pokémon GO’ for your emotional state, but with rigorous scientific backing).
Emerging evidence suggests (external link) young people are more burdened by the indirect impacts of technology use, for example social media platforms, which affects mental health and wellbeing, and may exacerbate pre-existing mental health problems in some youths. By realising that we could turn screen time from the cause of burden into a useful mobile tool, our new app “Zmoji”, which will be launching in early 2022, can expand youth emotional literacy through gaming, which has shown to increase prevention through early-stage mobile mental health intervention that can lead to improvements in resilience which can be sustained over the long term.
Our mindset towards entrepreneurship has radically shifted.
EiQ has been an active member of the Zone Learning community since joining in Spring of 2020. During that time, what has really stuck out as an unexpected benefit to membership are all the ways we have been able to expand and share our expertise around mental health, human-centered computing, youth outreach initiatives, and the importance of open-source technology on panels, showcases, and in promotional materials. Thanks to all this experiential learning, our mindset towards entrepreneurship has radically shifted.
Far from a weakness, we have come to understand that our interdisciplinary emphasis on problem-solving puts EiQ in an exciting position to take a huge leap in delivering engaging and accessible mental health tools and support to thousands of Canadians, particularly young people, who are often most at risk.
Our project has been able to grow exponentially at the Design Fabrication Zone — from a rough sketch of aspirations to a tangible offering for improving people’s mental health in inclusive and ethical ways. Across this growth, our focus on not just developing a product, but cultivating a community where people can discuss their emotional and mental health in safe, non-judgemental, less isolating spaces has blossomed and we are more excited than ever about the future of our work.