Every household can be so different, it is difficult to prescribe just one way to use FamTiVi. Some kids will have the ability to stay off of certain devices and other kids will be running away from FamTiVi quickly if they have another option for the full YouTube experience.
Because there can be such a large range of scenarious across different homes, I will describe the most extreme case (the case of my two boys), and how we managed to get FamTiVi to work for them. The more experience your kids already have with YouTube, the more difficult it could be to implement FamTiVi in the home. It is best to introduce it early, and set it as an expectation that there are 1) specific day/times when TV is available, 2) there are specific channels that are available, and 3) that there are specific videos that are available.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR INSTALLING FAMTIVI IN THE HOME
First, assess all possible devices that have YouTube on them - which ones do my kids have free access? For those devices, you will need to find a way to put them in a safe place where they cannot be accessed without your permission.
Second, if you are tech saavy or have access to a tech saavy person, you may want to install another router in your house especially for the kids. This router can have YouTube blocked. Give your kids the wi-fi password only to this wi-fi router and change the wi-fi passwords on other wi-fi routers in the home. (Tutorial on this coming soon)
Third, choose 1 device to use with FamTiVi (iPad, iPhone, Android Phone, Android Tablet). If you have a spare device that is just laying around, this is the best option – wipe that device completely clean, and install only FamTiVi on that device. On whichever device you chose, utilize parental controls to
1) allow only FamTiVi to be the only app accessible to your child
2) block new apps from being installed
3) disable any additional apps that may trigger a browser to be opened
Your child/children will help you debug your configuration and you will absolutely know if you left any gaps in the parental controls! (Tutorial on this coming soon)
Fourth, get a piece of paper or open a document, and list out all the interests that your child has ... music, sports, video games, magic tricks, whatever.
When you log into FamTiVi, you want to start making Topics according to what they like. Then for each Topic, you will start to add playlists of videos to populate the Topic.
After you have setup the Topics, you can start scheduling the showtimes in the calendar. Some Topics can be available all the time, if you don't mind them watching it at all times – for example Biographies of famous people or Travel Documentaries or National Geographic. Some Topics could be for 30 minutes at a time - for example, videos related to gaming or cats doing funny things. Use recurrence to set the showtime to repeat everyday or the same day every week or even monthly.
To allow a child to see the scheduled Topic, the last step is to make sure you have a Team that contains your child and all the Topics that have been created for them - that way the child can see and view the Topics in their respective user profile (under learner).
Fifth, once you have setup your profile, go to the FamTiVi app on your mobile device, log in, and then choose the child's profile. They should see all the shows you have scheduled. They should be able to select channels that you created and see the videos change.
General Advice, start slow with just a couple channels and 30 min to 3 hours of programming each day.
Start to develop an understanding of a couple key categories 1) pure enjoyment for your child, 2) what you want them to watch, and 3) what everyone in the household or team enjoys watching.
Understand that it is very difficult for even the best algorithms in the world to know which directions your child is growing, interest-wise and ability-wise, and you will know this best. Because of this, you may need to put in some effort from time-to-time to adjust the Topics and Video content in the direction of your child's growth. (see Tips for Managing Topics and Playlists).
FamTiVi is an attempt to bring structure to a largely on-demand type of world. It can help synchronize TV watching in your family, and across groups of friends. Ultimately, it is an attempt to give families a tool that is flexible-yet-powerful to meet their very own needs.