Pedro Poblete Lasserre

I am a psychologist turned developer, I specialize in helping non-profits with their technologies to increase social good. I can facilitate/design solutions and develop them.

Here are some of the things I have done:

Quilantun

Benatna

FPIC.INFO

Quilantún: Ciencia Ciudadana.

Information portal and georeferenced database for preventing hantavirus.

Quilantún is a research initiative of citizenship science that aims to identify communities affected by the blooming of quila plants, a native species of bamboo in Chile that is associated with an increase in mice that carry the Hantavirus.
The project is partially financed by Corporate Social Responsibility projects and NGO funding, allowing for the coordination of multiple actors.

CMS Wordpress

Custom Code PHP

Database MySQL

Mobile Tech Responsive design

Date: Feb. 2020 - Ongoing.

Main role: Web Developer.

Support roles: Web Designer, Server Administrator, Software Designer.

The Process

The project is currently in its MVP stage, and development has stalled due to COVID-19. The project is set to continue at a later date with dinamic presentation of the information and a PWA to allow for asynchronious upload of pictures.

Scope definition

February

First few weeks of development centred in helping the team to define priorities and choose a technology stack considering the time and budget limitations they had.

It was decided that we would focus on the sensitization and information sharing aspects of the project, with the data-collection working as a initial prototype.

Platform

March

The team decided to use Wordpress, as they were familiar with the platform.

A template was chosen by the client and once the initial setup was finished and secured, the core of my work was training and troubleshooting, supporting the team to develop the pages using the tools provided by the template (i.e. Elementor).

Photo Form

April

The team required was a custom form that could take geotagged pictures and upload them to a database. I developed the form using both PHP and MySQL, technologies powering Wordpress.

First, I worked with the team to simplify the form to improve the user experience. Then, I implemented a system of client-side checks for immediate feedback to the user. Finally, I created server-side security checkups to prevent malicious files and SQL injections.

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Benatna: Between Us.

Peer-to-peer sex education for refugees through a privacy-minded PWA.

Benatna is a a mobile site with a team of young people from different cultures who answer questions from teenagers in Germany about puberty, feelings, identity, and sex.
The project was funded by The Prototype Fund, an initiative by the Open Knowledge Fundation and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research in a six-month funding to carry out the idea from concept to demo.

Front-end Vue.js

Back-end Express.js

Database Non-relational

Mobile Tech Service Workers

Date: Apr. 2018 - Oct. 2018.

Seed Funding: €50,000.

Main role: Tech Lead.

Support roles: User Research, Project Manager, UX Designer.

The Process

Due to time constrains we collapsed the traditional design thinking process into three stages.

User Research

April to June

We approached different stakeholders: NGOs serving youth refugees, academic experts, and refugees themselves.

Due to language restriction I assumed a support role, contributing by providing protocols for collecting inspirational data, created a journaling tool for longitude data collection, and designed and completed out most of the competitive analysis.

Design

June to July

We synthetized the learnings we had from the user research process in low-fidelity prototypes that then were tested with users to contrast our assumptions and verify our understanding of the problem. I prepared one of such prototypes.

After all results from the prototype testing were collected, I lead the organization of the information in a persona and set of possible solutions and carried out the decision making process by designing an online video survey and inviting team members to answer a PUGH decision making matrix.

Development

July to October

During the final stage of the project I assumed the role of lead developer. I first chose the technology stack, which I started developing in Python Django, but then I scratched for Node.js and Express.js.

For the front-end I sticked with Vue.js from the beginning because it always fit the bill for what we needed to do.

Once the code was finalized, I wrote tests (which, yes, I should've done from the start), uploaded everything to our GitHub, and documented as much as I could in the README files.

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FPIC.INFO: The Right to Decide.

Designed for and with Indigenous Peoples, this is the web's largest library of resources about Free, Prior, and Informed Consent.

WWW.FPIC.INFO is a multilingual mobile-first platform that aims to bring knowledge about Indigenous Rights, especially the right to Free, Prior and Informed consent, to communities all over the world.
Part of a research project partially funded by the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the website is a joint effort of the Canadian universities Wilfrid Laurier University, Lakehead University, Université Laval, the Haudenosaunee-owned Six Nations Polytechnic, and Universidad Austral in Chile.

Front-end JQuery

Back-end Django

Database MySQL

Mobile Tech Mobile First Design

Date: Mar. 2016 - Jul. 2018.

Main role: Designer and Developer.

Support roles: Content Team Manager, Project Manager, Presenter, Translator.

The Process

The project had a few setbacks that delayed its implementation, but the end result was worth the trouble: we created a global resource that Indigenous Peoples in all of the Americas can use; the largest indexation of resources about FPIC in the world. A clear example of how technology can promote Human Rights.

User Research

Mar. 2016 - Aug. 2016

The project started without a clear delimitation, so the first step was to interview members of the research network managing the project. I interview academics and indigenous peoples from both North and South America, did observations and carried out a document revision (by analysing communications within the network).

The data analysis resulted in a series of recommendations and three core design principles: Mobile First, Focus in Learning, and Knowledge Transfer.

Design

Aug. 2016 - Sept. 2016

With a clear understanding of what was needed by the community, I proceeded to define the scope of of the website. For doing so, I created five personas that represented possible users and, for each persona, created one user story that represented their journey. Both documents were key for the prioritization of what was going to be build.

With the focus and scope defined, the rest of the design process was straightforward: create ever more complex wireframes and use them to guide the development priorities. At this stage, I started to be integrated to the workflow of the content team (i.e. the people looking for resources).

First development cycle

Sept. 2016 - Jan. 2017

The first development cycle was a failure. We had recruited co-op students to do the job, and they were not experienced enough to carry it out our complex ask. Still, we managed to create the first versions that were presented to Indigenous community members and helped us to redefine our scope.

It was a frustrating time, and it almost meant the failure of the project, but we moved forward and learned from our mistakes.

During this time I presented about the website in the Web of Change gathering in Big Sur, CA. The reaction was positive.

Getting an early win

Jan. 2017 - May 2017

At this moment I stopped my focus on the design aspects of the project and assumed as a full-time full-stack developer. I rewrote all of the code from scratch, redesigned the UI and started looking at copyright issues to create a sustainable system for uploading new resources.

Simultaneously, we recruited Hector Pahaut and Eline Schipperen to assist us with an early win: develop a stand-alone micro-website that explained the basics of what FPIC is, and why it was important for indigenous communities to know about it. The result was what is FPIC, available in both Spanish and English and in booklet format.

Feeding the Database

May 2017 - Dec. 2017

I continued working on the code. The system was built using the Django framework, internationalization was possible by implementing the library django-modeltranslation. I created a link resolver that integrates with several higher education institutions (at the moment, we have partnered with over 20 institutions).

Once the code was solid enough, I shifted gear into content once again, and manually indexed resources based on the work of grad students we had recruited. We created an online spreadsheet for them to easily add resources, and use that as a basis for our database.

Socialization

Dec. 2017 - Dec. 2018

During the first half of 2018 we finalized uploading the last Spanish speaking resources with the help of a contractor, and from that point onward we dedicated ourselves to present the website in multiple conferences. I spoke about the website with people in Germany, Canada, Chile, and Argentina.

After the many presentations, my efforts were into documentation and supporting the project pro bono publico.

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Freelancing: I can help you with your website.

Other than these large projects, I've assisted in very small redesigns of websites over the years. Depending on the complexity of the project, I would either develop it myself or work with you to select a template and personalize it, reducing the development time and your costs.

Mew Nails

Hosting and managing the domain. Content work required. No CMS. Design based on a template by HTML5UP.

Hoc Habet Fencing

Wordpress site. Self-hosted by the client. Content work required. Design based on a template by themeum.

Que Bruto, Póngale Cero

Hosting and managing the domain. Content work required. Grav. Design based in Hotdoy template.

Psyworks

Currently offline. At the time of functioning, hosting and managing the domain. Content work required. Created using Grav CMS.

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