1. <3 OkCarl
Experiments in online dating

2. Research
 Current academic research focus
 Individual interviews with users (<50 people)
 Large datasets from real online dating networks (10000+)
 No medium-sized studies
 How to optimize a profile
 Breakdown of behavior based on gender, sexual orientation, race,
etc.

4. Research
Who messages whom?

6. Exploring the
current dating
scene

7. Questions
 What is wrong with online dating sites today?
 How do you measure "success" for a dating network?
 What unique features from special interest (LGBT, kink, religious,
etc.) dating networks could be used in straight ones?
 How do features stack up for different genders and sexual
orientations?

9. Experimental
Platform
 Closed dating site with control set of users
 Capture usage data
 Compare actual vs. shared profile data
 Modular to allow easy swapping of test features
 Surveys to capture perceived UX
 Surveys to determine effectiveness of matches

10. Iterations

11. Demo
https://study.okcarl.com/

12. Study
 Average profiles (control)
 Condensed profiles
 Too-much-info profiles
 Video profiles
 Storytelling profiles: Madlibs
 Location: distance by transit time, multiple locations
 Unlimited vs. limited contact with other users
 Friends build your profile

13. Deliverables
 HCI analysis of features used in dating networks
 Data on comparative effectiveness of features per gender and
sexual orientation
 (post-graduation) Publish academic paper
 (stretch) Dating site distribution for Drupal community

14. Schedule
 Create - 3 weeks total (2/18 - 3/11)
 development - 2.5 weeks
 beta signups - 3 weeks
 launch event - 3 weeks
 Experiment - 4 weeks total (3/11 - 4/8)
 trials - 4 weeks
 5 days is the absolute minimum I want to run one experiment
 5 days/experiment * 14 experiments = 10 weeks
 mitigation options
 combine experiments
 cut experiments
 segregate into different groups to run 2 different experiments simultaneously (requires larger pool of
users)
 continue running experiments into the Analyze period and only include that data in the final written
thesis or post-graduation academic paper
 analyze data simultaneously
 program new experiments simultaneously
 Analyze (4/8 - 4/30)
 crunch data - 1 week
 write thesis summary - Week 11 - 1 week
 SUBMIT THESIS SUMMARIES AND MATERIALS FOR THESIS BOOK BY END OF CLASS APRIL 16
 create presentation - 1 week
 Present:Class 13 -April 30

15. OkDone