SWICApp
Prototype of the SWICApp application – Social Work Inclusive & Communication App
Phase 2
Type of project: Prototype
Disability concerned: Hearing impairment, Mental disability, Motor disability, Psychic disability, Visual impairment
Topics : Digital accessibility, Services and communication
Status: Completed
This prototype is part of a project to design a socio- digital communication and support solution for the Alfaset Foundation, which employs people with disabilities. The aim of this prototype was to refine the concept of this solution, based on its use, and its development will require a more substantial research project funded by InnoSuisse.
The Alfaset Foundation is located in the canton of Neuchâtel and its main mission is to manage protected workshops in 15 different areas of activity. These workshops are spread over 5 production sites, some of which are integrated directly into the premises of customers such as Felco, Horotec, Nivarox, Philipp Moris and Von Bergen.
This socio-industrial activity employs 250 people, including 50 Socio-Professional Teachers (MSP) and a few educators. Alfaset employs a total of 550 people with disabilities (mostly part-time) on IV or social assistance (ISP contracts).
The diversity of the activities on offer, and the fact that they are spread across several sites in the canton of Neuchâtel, means that communication is very difficult from an institutional point of view. In order to maintain a strong link with its beneficiaries, Alfaset is looking for a digital solution that will enable effective communication between all its stakeholders, while respecting the specific needs of its beneficiaries’ disability situations and in line with the support dynamics that need to be strengthened.
After a research project (during which the overall specifications were drawn up), the prototype made it possible to go into detail about certain important aspects of this socio-digital tool. Four modules of this tool were worked on as part of this project: 1. the application as a whole (visualisation of the various functions), 2. top-down communication (from management to employees), 3. tools to help with socio-professional and socio-educational support, 4. an interactive terminal useful for using the tool at the foundation’s various sites.
The prototype, a non-functional interactive mock-up, enabled a consensus to be reached between the various stakeholders on the tool’s various functions and thus detailed the specifications.
Alfaset is a complex institution comprising industrial, socio-professional and socio-educational activities. Some activities take place outside the walls of the foundation (in particular in workshops integrated into companies in the region).
In this context, building a suitable solution (consensus) is not easy. Prototyping enabled us to sketch out the basis of a solution in response to the needs and constraints of the Alfaset Foundation. In doing so, the participation of the various stakeholders (and more particularly people with disabilities, the foundation’s beneficiaries) was ever more important. Their role was essential in the construction of the “ideal compromise”. The organisation of the final phases of the prototype’s development and the various underlying work sessions were carried out by the beneficiaries and the workshop leaders accompanying them.
In parallel with this prototyping project, a partnership was established with the Haute Ecole de Gesion Arc and its research institute in Organisational Digitalisation. It was through this collaboration that an innosuisse cheque was obtained. It is currently being used to assess the scientific relevance of the project. The aim is to apply for innosuisse funding for further research into this social, digital and technological innovation.
