This document proposes a conceptual design for a compassion training program with three main features: 1. A "main quest" featuring 20-minute guided meditation sessions available via smartphone app or mp3 recordings, along with metrics to track users' progress. 2. "Mini quests" consisting of small, achievable acts like posting on social media to encourage practice between main sessions. 3. A blog accessible through the app for posting reflections, responding to others, and announcing mini quests. The goal is to increase student engagement in meditation through gamification and social support features while spreading the practice more broadly. Prototyping would involve an iPhone app, Google spreadsheet, and accompanying blog.

1. compassionIs
Good for You. Good for Me.
Good for Us.
A Conceptual Design for
Compassion Training
Benjamin Raffo Olmsted
olmsted@stanford.edu

2. Practice: it’s good for you
Persuasive Purpose: Meditate using a guided
meditation at least 2 times a week.

3. Target Users
Stanford Students who would like to be less
stressed, anxious, and depressed. They would
also enjoy being happy, and full of love.
They have smart phones and/or browsers

4. Design
Prototype

5. Features
Main “Quest” -
Mini “Quests”
20 minute guided Achievable any time, small
meditations (in app acts that support the practice.
mp3s) Posting to FB/twitter,
Support: sending gratitude to others
days in a row, total hours/ Encouraging other practitioners
times practiced in the last
week Responding to other's
reflections.
How many other people have
meditated today/this week
(The goal with these is to
Others can send reminders/ increase engagement without
encouragement if you don't the larger amount of time
practice for X number of days. needed for the main quest, to
involve practitioners with each
Written reflections on practice other, and ultimately spread the
experience. practice.)

6. Prototyping
The main quest:
iPhone app with the practices, and
metrics
google spreadsheet (accessible through
app)
to see how many others are practicing
Who needs encouragement
how to contact them
Blog (accessible through app)
Post mini-quests
To post reflactions on practice experience
respond to other’s posts

7. Questions
Pitfalls. (Where do you see this
not working/needing a different
approach)?
Approach to prototyping. (Are their
other avenues that you see to
explore? Low hanging fruit that I
am not seeing/exploiting?)
General Suggestions are super
welcome as well