Cancer affects every Canadian. What's your story?

The Canadian Partnership Against Cancer is an independent organization funded by the federal government to accelerate action on cancer control for all Canadians.

In 2015, The Pixel Shop was awarded a contract to create Your Cancer Story, a website that documented the real stories of Canadians who have navigated the cancer system. The strategy of the website was twofold: a vehicle for supporting Canadians through the real stories of cancer survivors, and a grassroots means of information gathering for real experiences in the system.

The project was started with a research phase aimed at user segmentation and needs analysis. Once completed, UX and graphic design were completed and approved as the website and back-end system were built. YouTube was chosen as the video platform for the site, offering additional exposure for content in addition to hosting. An API was created which allowed Your Cancer Story to seamlessly display videos and collect analytic data.

Your Cancer Story provided a novel way to support cancer-affected Canadians while sourcing relevant, real stories.

As a website populated with user-generated content hosted on an external platform, significant work was conducted to ensure a seamless submission and approval process. Users were supported with a series of videos that walked them through the video upload process.

Risk management is an important consideration for CPAC, so mechanisms for content moderation were created, as was an automated system for flagging content that had been changed on YouTube.

Your Cancer Story was positively received by both CPAC and its partners. A change in user outreach strategy subsequently resulted in the decommissioning of the website.