Funding Awarded for Front End Development
The Project Team have been awarded just under £10,000 by the Research and Knowledge Exchange fund at Edinburgh Napier University to build the front end of the ‘Freelance Advisor’ app and conduct a user evalulation. This award recognises the significant work that went into developing the design prototype for the app (funded by Creative Informatics) and scaffolds the development of this prototype into a fully functional system.
In this stage, the existing research team of Patrick-Thomson, Lapok and Lawson will be joined by Research Assistant Heidi Koikkalainen. The objectives of this stage are to:
Build the front end of the app (i.e. the user interface)
Develop a user recruitment strategy
Establish an expert panel to guide the project
By the conclusion of this stage we will be able to demonstrate proof of concept with a functioning front end, and we will have the user evaluation data needed to enable back end development of the app. We will also have established a community of industry experts via the expert panel which will help us to ensure that the full development of the app is done in a user-centric and sustainable manner.
This project supports the strategic ambitions of ENU, by advancing knowledge regarding the employment of freelancers, who despite being a key element of the creative workforce, are not well mapped or understood (Paneels et al, 2022). It also presents an opportunity to grow networks with third sector and industry bodies, such as Creative Scotland and BECTU, and directly supports building [the] careers of freelancers across Scotland (and beyond).
Stage 2 funding has been granted by ENU’s Research Innovation and Enterprise Office