Real Mindings user "Marion"
Mindings Calendar.
Mindings Sender App.
The Problem
Social isolation and loneliness is one of our great social challenges. Of the ten million people in the UK over the age of 65, one third live alone and one in ten describe themself as chronically lonely. The vision of Mindings was to create a kind and respectful way of supporting and caring for this growing population.
The Product
Mindings began as a personal project to enable me to share captioned pictures of my newborn daughter with my disabled, housebound, and technology-shy father. The first version ran as a web application on an old laptop, displaying a carousel of pictures, text messages, and a simple calendar To-Do list. One simple on-screen "GotIt!" button send a read receipt to the sender, letting them know their loved one was alive, well and interactive with the world.
Recognising the potential impact on a larger scale, I evolved the concept into a scalable "light-touch telecare" platform with a Mindings app running on iPad and Android tablets on stands.
After winning a Cambridge University innovation competition, press coverage lead to people reaching out to me to trial Mindings with their own family members. Those early adopters provided valuable insights for improving and creating new features.
Mindings found a home with families caring for people with dementia. On-going focus groups and one-on-one meetings with users, their families and carers informed new features such as a Sender App; multi-user support; customisable multiple responses; and integration with social media platforms.
The Original Mindings
Mindings on laptop.
Mindings Text Message.
Mindings Calendar.
Mindings Evolved
Mindings App - with captioned photos, text messages, social media, and calendar.
User with Mindings App running on an iPad.
My Role
I was Product Lead and Co-Founder with my Technical Director Ian Pleasance.
Throughout the product development process, we prioritised user feedback and continuously iterated on the platform to meet the needs of our users. I conducted focus groups and one-on-one meetings with users and their families and carers to gather insights, which informed our product roadmap.
I forged relationships with organisations such as social care providers, charities and care homes, as well as funding bodies, technology companies. I presented Mindings at many conferences and participated in panel discussions and care industry events.
Results
• Won several international awards, securing £135,000 in grant funding.
• Participated in two successful trials demonstrating wellbeing benefits:
- A study with recovering brain-injured adults revealed improved insight, mood, and communication, concluding Mindings could be adopted as a therapeutic intervention.
- 30 socially isolated residents over-70 indicated that Mindings helped them stay connected with family, increased confidence, and reduced feelings of loneliness. 43% of users were "measurably happier" at trial-end.
• Trialed across three East of England local authorities.
• Kent council-commissioned "Groupings" service, connecting users with distant family, carers, and AgeUK befrienders.
• Mentored on a FutureGov business accelerator and secured development funding.
• c. 300 end-users benefitted from the service.
• Participated in two successful trials demonstrating wellbeing benefits:
- A study with recovering brain-injured adults revealed improved insight, mood, and communication, concluding Mindings could be adopted as a therapeutic intervention.
- 30 socially isolated residents over-70 indicated that Mindings helped them stay connected with family, increased confidence, and reduced feelings of loneliness. 43% of users were "measurably happier" at trial-end.
• Trialed across three East of England local authorities.
• Kent council-commissioned "Groupings" service, connecting users with distant family, carers, and AgeUK befrienders.
• Mentored on a FutureGov business accelerator and secured development funding.
• c. 300 end-users benefitted from the service.
Footnote...
Mindings was always limited by the number of users it could responsibly support. Despite being validated and receiving much acclaim, in an underfunded social care sector we never managed to secure the necessary investment to scale the service. After nearly finalising a £5 million pound partnership with a major European health-tech company, Mindings wound down in 2018.
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Appendix 1: Mindings Concept Video
I produced a video to explain the Mindings concept. This proved to be useful as a simple and powerful method of introducing people to what Mindings was, and could be. It was a perfect keynote speech opener, could be embedded in any online press coverage, and generated a lot of publicity for us.
Appendix 2: Testimonial Videos
For marketing and training purposes we filmed testimonials with real users. Susan and Sue were two of our "power users" with whom we co-designed new features, and they beta-tested them for us.
Appendix 3: Clinical Trials
Mindings has participated in two positive trials demonstrating wellbeing benefits for users.
Trial 1 - Memory and Memories...
The first trial, undertaken by an MSc student in 2011, tested memory and mood in recovering brain-injured adults in a hospital setting. The study revealed that Mindings had a clear psycho-social effect on the user, with insight, mood and communication all improved. It concluded that Mindings could be adopted as a therapeutic intervention for brain injured adults.
"Overall, there was a therapeutic effect on patients and relatives. Social isolation is a common consequence of brain injury and can be linked to poor cognitive ability. Improving social function of the patient by involving relatives at the core of their rehabilitation could reduce adjustment times and produce a better overall outcome in a patient’s participation in occupation. Mindings could be adopted as a therapeutic intervention for brain injured adults."
Memory and Memories: an exploratory mixed method case series study with brain injured adults and their families, using PhotoFrame Therapy and wireless digital photo frame technology (Author: Abigail Harding)
Memory and Memories: an exploratory mixed method case series study with brain injured adults and their families, using PhotoFrame Therapy and wireless digital photo frame technology (Author: Abigail Harding)
“Memory and Memories” – A clinical trial based as Homerton University Hospital, London.
Stuart Arnott presenting the Mindings’ “Memory and Memories” clinical trial results at the Kings Fund Annual Congress 2012.
“Memory and Memories” – Poster presentation for The Kings Fund Annual Congress on Telehealth and Telecare 2012.
Trial 2 - Mindings Pilot Study – Bedfordshire & Cambridgeshire
In 2013/2014 Mindings underwent a pilot study across Cambridgeshire and Central Bedfordshire by the EELGA, to test the use of digital technology in improving the quality of life of older people.
The study, funded by NHS Midlands and East, involved giving Mindings to 30 local residents over 70 years old who had been identified as being socially isolated. The aim was to see whether the ability to stay in touch with family and friends through social media and digital technology worked in increasing confidence and quality of life.
Initial indications suggest that Mindings helped users stay in regular contact with their families, increased their confidence and reduced their feelings of loneliness. It was found that 38% of users reported an increase in quality of life during the trial, with 43% saying it had an impact on their happiness when content was received regularly. On the whole users said they felt more ‘in the loop’ with family news thanks to Mindings.
Mindings trialist Marion using her device.
Happy trialist Mary Walklate with her Mindings frame.
“I was excited to take part in the trial and my grand-daughter is sending me messages and pictures of my great grand-daughter every day. I’m also getting messages from my daughter in the USA and my son said he’ll start sending me pictures from the Philippines too!”
Mary Walklate, a Cambridgeshire trial participant
Mary Walklate, a Cambridgeshire trial participant
“the Mindings service is a great way for people to stay in contact with their loved ones in a really simple but meaningful way. The beauty of it is, that as well as sharing lovely photos and messages, it is also a great way of sending reminders about important things like doctors appointments”.
Councillor Carole Hegley, Central Bedfordshire’s Executive Member for Social Care, Health and Housing
Councillor Carole Hegley, Central Bedfordshire’s Executive Member for Social Care, Health and Housing
Appendix 4: Sender App Development
During the course of the two trials we received constant feedback from users, and we actively encouraged this by arranging focus groups with users, and one-to-one meetings in order to get feedback.
During the scoping of the EELGA trial it was mutually decided by that pictures and texts should be sent to the Mindings devices via SMS/MMS. The concern was around the complexities of getting users to download and install a new app, teaching them how to use it, then the users creating a new habit of using the app. Instead users would simply enter a number into their mobile phone address book then send pictures and texts as if they were sending it to a regular mobile number. However the feedback from many users was immediate that they didn't want to send pictures via MMS as they were on Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) plans and MMS was not included (and cost as much as 50p per MMS), whereas sending via an App (such as WhatsApp or iMessage) was free. However WhatsApp and iMessage do not have APIs that would enable us to send and receive content.
So, within a one week design sprint we designed a cross-platform web-app that would allow users to have an app-like experience of sending pictures and texts, but it only used data in the PAYG plan (so, in effect, Mindings became free to use). We designed a PDF leaflet to instruct people how to set up the web-app on their mobile device and distributed it to users.
The impact was immediate with a usage spike within a couple of days, and feedback that now that Mindings was an app grandchildren, in particular, became enthusiastic about using it.
The Sender App then enabled us to develop more sophisticated features like sending content to multiple users (particularly useful for use in care home-style environments) and "Multi-Response" adding additional flexibility for the platform.
Mindings Sender App.
Multi Response.
Text Message with Multi-Response.
Appendix 5: Groupings - Mindings for users with no community
Mindings has been demonstrated to be a powerful service to connect socially isolated seniors to family, friends, and their community. As we learned more about social isolation and loneliness we became aware that there are many people in the social care system who have no family and their social connection may be limited to their carers. Whilst on the Public Service LaunchPad business accelerator programme we developed Groupings as a service that could build a community for an individual by reconnecting them to far-away family, their carers and community of befrienders. This video, produced for a Nominet Trust-sponsored Social Tech Seed project explains the concept.
The project was piloted in Kent with Age UK Tunbridge Wells, sponsored by Kent County Council with five users over a period of three months.
Due to the extreme vulnerabilities of the participants, assessment of the success of the trial was limited to anecdotal feedback from the Age UK staff. There were three specific outputs that were deemed successful and worthy of additional research (but unfortunately no funding was available to do so):
1. Befriending
One Age UK carer who looked after a particularly vulnerable user with no family or friends, used Mindings to send him a daily picture of a social nature. These pictures made him very happy - as is often reported receiving a picture or text on Mindings is meaningful simply because it indicates that someone in the world is currently thinking about them. The carer felt that Mindings could be a great way of connecting befriending volunteers to Age UK service users.
2. Activity Promotion
The Age UK office experimented with sending pictures promoting daily activities. They believed that by sending pictures of people they recognised participating in an activity it might encourage them to attend. Users reportedly responded positively to these "nudges" and if the trial had continued Age UK would have continued using this feature.
3. Day Centre Lunch Booking
A new "multi-response" feature was added to Mindings that enabled up to four sender-definable responses to be added to a picture or text message. One experiment was carried out using this feature, inviting four people to lunch. Two responded positively, but they were users who were likely to have come anyway. In mapping out how the service would work in practice, however it was deemed too complex (over simply quickly phoning people) but it was considered to be a particularly interesting feature worthy of further experiment, and something that could be used for information and feedback gathering at scale.
Social picture send by a carer to help alleviate his loneliness.
Invitation to user to attend a day centre social activity.
Using a "multi-response" feature to invite service users to lunch.
Appendix 6: Awards
Mindings has won several international awards, recognising the service as an innovation in social care.
Connected Society (Finalist)
BT Infinity Lab – July 2014
The third round of the BT Infinity Lab competition – the ‘Connected Society’ competition – focused on social innovation. Start-ups and entrepreneurs were invited to submit innovative solutions to tackle issues in society. This supports and complements BT’s ambition to use the power of digital connections to improve society globally.
The third round of the BT Infinity Lab competition – the ‘Connected Society’ competition – focused on social innovation. Start-ups and entrepreneurs were invited to submit innovative solutions to tackle issues in society. This supports and complements BT’s ambition to use the power of digital connections to improve society globally.
BT Infinity Lab – Connected Society Finalist 2014
European Innovation in Assistive Technology (Winner)
CURA-B – November 2013
Mindings was announced as the winner of a European ‘assistive technology’ competition. Entitled “CURA-B“, the initiative is a three-year project formed by ten partners from France, Belgium, the UK and the Netherlands. Organisations as varied as local authorities, health care organisations and academia joined forces to share knowledge and experience in order to improve the wellbeing of seniors and people living with long-term conditions.
Mindings was announced as the winner of a European ‘assistive technology’ competition. Entitled “CURA-B“, the initiative is a three-year project formed by ten partners from France, Belgium, the UK and the Netherlands. Organisations as varied as local authorities, health care organisations and academia joined forces to share knowledge and experience in order to improve the wellbeing of seniors and people living with long-term conditions.
Supported by the Alzheimer Society, one of the main aims of the project was to exploring ways for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to work with health and social care professionals – particularly those caring for people living with dementia – and to find ways to use technology to aid independence and enable people to live at home.
Mindings is a credit to Stuart’s ingenuity and attitude to delivering innovative solutions.
Martin Owen, Project Manager, CURA-B
Martin Owen, Project Manager, CURA-B
CURA-B European Innovation in Social Care 2012 Winner.
Innovation in Adult Social Care (Winner)
East of England Local Government Association – December 2012
The East of England Local Government Association held this competition, in partnership with NHS Midlands and East, to find innovative new products and services that will keep older people out of long-term care, where it’s not necessary or what that individual actually wants.
The East of England Local Government Association held this competition, in partnership with NHS Midlands and East, to find innovative new products and services that will keep older people out of long-term care, where it’s not necessary or what that individual actually wants.
The prize was £100,000 of funding to pilot Mindings within a local integrated health and social care system in the Midlands and East of England.
Cllr Colin Noble, Suffolk County Council, commented that it was Mindings innovative approach to combatting social isolation that won it the prize.
Mindings has the potential to be a powerful tool in addressing loneliness, one of our biggest social challenges going forward.
Cllr Colin Noble, Suffolk County Council
Cllr Colin Noble, Suffolk County Council
East of England Local Government Association – Innovation in Social Care 2012.
Top 20 Hottest British Start-Ups
TechRadar – June 2012
Techradar, the parent company of Gizmodo and T3 magazines chose Mindings as one of their 20 hottest start-ups in the UK, alongside Crowdcube, and Raspberry Pi.
Techradar, the parent company of Gizmodo and T3 magazines chose Mindings as one of their 20 hottest start-ups in the UK, alongside Crowdcube, and Raspberry Pi.
TechRadar – Top 20 British Tech Start-Ups 2012.
The Guardian Apps Blog Best of 2011
The Guardian – December 2011
The Guardian Apps Blog debuted in February 2011 with the aim of covering the apps space, from innovative new applications for smartphones and tablets to the startups and developers that were making them.
The Guardian Apps Blog debuted in February 2011 with the aim of covering the apps space, from innovative new applications for smartphones and tablets to the startups and developers that were making them.
Technology Editor Stuart Dredge chose his favourite interviews from 2011 and included Mindings in the company of Facebook, Zynga, Rovio Mobile, and Instagram.
The Guardian Apps Blog Best of 2011
Discovering Startups 2011 (Winner)
Cambridge Wireless – December 2011
Mindings was one of five tech start-ups who emerged as winners of the Cambridge Wireless Discovering Start-Ups 2011 competition tonight!
Mindings was one of five tech start-ups who emerged as winners of the Cambridge Wireless Discovering Start-Ups 2011 competition tonight!
At the final pitching event twenty competitors presented in front of a packed Cambridge University Queens College theatre, judged by senior representatives from companies including Microsoft, RIM, Nokia, Qualcomm Ventures, Innovacom, Broadcom, Orange, O2 Telefonica and ARM.
In the press coverage, much was made of the quality of the businesses presented at the event, with Business Weekly in particular highlighting the powerful Mindings presentation.
The quality of entrants shows that innovation and entrepreneurship is clearly very much alive. We are confident that Mindings and many of the other finalists will go on to make important contributions to the wireless industry.
Clennell Collingwood, Investment Director, TTP Ventures (Judge)
Clennell Collingwood, Investment Director, TTP Ventures (Judge)
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