[lookit-research] Lookit update, summer 2018

[Kim Scott]

Hi folks,

Having skipped the spring update, there is now lots of exciting news to
share about Lookit.

*The news:*

- We're deploying a new WebRTC-based solution for *webcam recording* - no
more Flash - today! This should make the participant experience much
smoother, in turn making recruitment easier.

- Our *NSF grant* was recommended for funding and should start in
September! Thanks to a few other solid leads, we're funded through mid-2020
and will at least be able to launch the platform. (We're still looking to
raise about another $1.1M total so we're not initially dependent on a fee
structure, so additional leads or ideas for collaborations are always
welcome.)

- MIT's Office of General Counsel has approved our privacy policy
<https://lookit.mit.edu/privacy/> and terms of use
<https://lookit.mit.edu/termsofuse/> for Lookit. From now on, researchers
using Lookit will sign an *institutional agreement* governing acceptable
use of the platform, and apply *only to their own IRBs* for approval of
their studies. (MIT decided that our own access to the data to run the
platform does not constitute research, so there's no protocol needed here!)

- We finally got *official permission* (...forgiveness) from MIT's tech
licensing office to keep all our code *open-source*. (They eventually
decided they didn't need to review all >100 hand-entered dependencies that
we don't redistribute.)

- Our alpha testers are trying out compensating participants with *gift
cards*, to see how that changes recruitment! (Eventually, we plan to have a
more centralized system for compensation, where participants earn points
they can pool across kids and studies and then exchange for gift cards,
donations to charity, or gear.)

- Speaking of the *alpha testers*, testing for Molly Dillon's study Baby
Euclid is (tentatively) complete. We still have three studies up and
running - Flurps and Zazzes (Yarrow Dunham/Lisa Chalik), Mind and Manners
(Mike Frank/Erica Yoon), & Your Baby, the Physicist. I'm excited to have
Melissa Kline & Liz Spelke taking over the physics study (dense
longitudinal sampling of infant preferential looking) while I focus more on
the platform itself. We already have 12 participants who've completed at
least 10 sessions!

- The documentation <http://lookit.readthedocs.io/en/current-docs/> remains
up-to-date. Wait, does that belong here? Is that exciting news? BUT OF
COURSE.

- Our undergrad Rianna got us started trying out *social media* outreach -
we now have Instagram <https://www.instagram.com/babiesoflookit/> and more
active Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/lookit.mit.edu> pages. (FYI,
though, directly recruiting 7-month-olds on Instagram did not work even
though it sounded kind of brilliant.)

*What's next:*

- I'm working on hiring a full-time developer to get started on all the
functionality we've planned to complete before launch. In the meantime
(i.e., while MIT deliberates on whether it's really appropriate for me to
pay a developer more than a postdoc...) I'm chipping away at it myself.

- The administrivia continues. One exciting current challenge: navigating a
path to accepting payment for services and then *not* paying 59% overhead
on it.

- The best place to find up-to-date links to all the planning docs is still
here
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CnZicMJH_s7Uc_cgdOgvV6MumXcRDTrF6cn_iI0UzmY/edit?usp=sharing>.
In particular we now have a 3-year plan
<https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1b2u4NE75IdbNBVRnh6wQgrZmXVPTNlKv-IazUOWUp5Q/edit?usp=sharing>
!

- If you're interested in getting yourself or your students (more)
involved, take a look at the list of ways to help here
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CnZicMJH_s7Uc_cgdOgvV6MumXcRDTrF6cn_iI0UzmY/edit#heading=h.u9fg0biey83t>.
If you haven't already, you can fill out a survey
<https://goo.gl/forms/cGpQNPHXSsZmc75W2> to let us know what you want to
*do* with Lookit. (Thanks to everyone who's responded!)

- Let me know if you want to be a guinea pig and get the ball rolling at
your own institution on getting the access agreement signed. Then you'll be
ready to use Lookit, and I'll have some advance warning on snags in the
process.

Thanks for all your support and patience!

Kim

---
Kim Scott
Research scientist | Early Childhood Cognition Lab | MIT
W: www.mit.edu/~kimscott | Participate: lookit.mit.edu
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