Carlie Porterfield

For my final project, I’d like to write about the effect poverty has on various aspects of life in San Marcos. While the town has been named the fastest-growing mid-sized city for three consecutive years, the poverty rate is still well-above the state average.

Poverty can have devastating consequences: health, education, economic opportunities and overall quality of life are compromised when an individual struggles financially.

I’d like to examine these facets, especially as they pertain to the San Marcos area, and hopefully shed some light on possible solutions.

One technological feature I think (and hope) will really take off in the next few years is mobile payment. While several high-profile companies have rolled out payment options, no platform or business model has taken off yet, as Qoura points out. Considering the advertising opportunities and the advancement of mobile phones and their applications, I think it will only be a matter of time before we’re relying on our phones to pay for our everyday purchases. One thing that could be very popular is spending tracking and classifying. An app that would track purchases and give the consumer easily understood visual data about what they spend their money on and when would be huge among almost every demographic. Virtually everyone is trying to cut down on spending in this economy. A simple, easy-to-use and free app could quickly join the ranks of the Facebook, YouTube and Google Play apps and be almost universal if marketed right. The advertisement opportunities would also be a good incentive: brands or companies could offer app users a small discount on purchases if the customer uses the app to pay, therefore encouraging consumers to both download the app and spend their money on products.

One website I’ve only been browsing recently but am still very impressed with is airbnb.com.

Airbnb serves as a tool to connect homeowners who wish to rent out their houses to customers who would otherwise be staying in oftentimes more expensive hotels. The service has revolutionized the tourism industry.

I’m studying abroad next semester, and often browse the site with my parents, who are looking for apartments to rent in the neighborhood of London I’ll be staying in when they come to visit me.

My favorite thing about Airbnb is how user-friendly it is. As discussed in 10 Principals of Effective Web Design, I really don’t need to think to use the site. The navigation is simple and intuitive. I’ve never had to search for a link on Airbnb; everything I could ever want from the site seems to be at my fingertips. Even my parents, who aren’t as tech-savvy as I am, are able to navigate the site without my help.

I’m also a huge fan of the aesthetics of the site. Airbnb utilizes large pictures and simple text to elicit an emotional response from visitors. Seeing the artsy photographs of cities across the world makes me excited to travel and more likely to use Airbnb, which I’m sure is intentional.

It was hard to decide on anything I didn’t like about the site, but I did find some broken links in their Austin travel guide. I like they way they utilize writing and other content like photography to promote their service, so it was disappointing to find that some of their content wasn’t as seamless as the rest of their site.