Day care centre photo and video diary

The photo and video diary produced by Forum Virium Helsinki and its cooperation partners provided parents a new opportunity to take part in the everyday lives of their children in day care. The day care staff recorded the children’s daily activities and made the material securely available to parents online.

In 2006, Forum Virium Helsinki together with its cooperation partners carried out a Photo and Video Diary pilot project in four Finnish day care centres. The secure online service was developed to create a new communication channel between day care centres and homes and to increase parental awareness of their children’s development and experiences. The day care staff took digital photographs and videos of children’s activities and other daily events which the children’s parents could then view conveniently online.

Fromdistance, Futurice and Hewlett-Packard were responsible for the technical implementation of the service. The digital pictures and videos were taken with Nokia N70 multimedia devices sponsored by Nokia while the mobile phone connections for uploading the digital content were supplied by Elisa and TeliaSonera Finland. Information security for the service was developed in collaboration with the Finnish Ministry of Transport and Communications’ Development Programme on Trust and Information Security in Electronic Services (LUOTI).  

Easy-to-use, automated service

Usability and automated functions were key practical concerns in the pilot project’s development. The service’s user interface on the Nokia N70 multimedia devices was designed for easy uploading of photos and videos taken by the day care centre staff. In user surveys, the project received very positive feedback from the day care centres as well as from the children and their parents.

Connecting children and parents in many countries

After the pilot project’s completion, the day care centre blog was commercialised by the same actors under the name ConnectedDay.com. Two years later, the ConnectedDay.com service was already in use by more than 300 day care centres in Finland, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States. By that time, more than 10,000 parents were following their children’s activities online by means of the photo and video diary service.

www.connectedday.com