Imagine a leisurely drive through the winding Adelaide Hills in Autumn.  A couple chatting together with no distractions, as their baby sleeps peacefully in the back seat.  This was the scene when James and I first started talking about how much potential there was for apps to be used in health promotion and public health.

Granted, not all couples would have conversations like this.  But this was a conversation between a health promotion practitioner and a software developer.   I imagine the conversations between a butcher and a teacher, or an artist and a mechanic would be quite different.  I digress.

In my day job, I had been working on a report looking at how social media could be used in youth health promotion as this was an area of interest of mine, not just youth, but much broader application of thinking about social media as a setting and a tool for health promotion practitioners.

Between us we knew that there was a need to combine our unique skills and knowledge together to offer services focused on using technology to improve health.  We knew there was so much potential, from specialised social media consulting, training and strategy development, through to app development itself.  This is how Zockmelon was born.

The name Zockmelon did not come until a few months later.  We knew we wanted a name for our business that was new and innovative, and most importantly not cliched.  We wanted a name that sounded ‘techy’ and ‘health-y’ at the same time, and one that could stand alone in the App Store.  We came up with nothing.

 One morning we realised, our 18 month old had been telling us every breakfast: “Zock”.  He was going through a one-melon-a-week epic rock melon phase.  He pointed to the counter at the cut up fruit, “zock!”.

Zockmelon it was!

OK it’s technically honey dew melon not rockmelon. But you get the idea.
Bites by toddler are real, and very cute.

We are focused on how technology can be used to improve health, and we invite you to contact us to hear how we can help you and your organisation to develop your strategy, train staff and if you so desire, develop software.

 This blog is a space where we will share our thoughts and professional opinions on all things tech and health promotion.

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We look forward to hearing from you, working with you and staying connected.

Kristy Schirmer, Principal Consultant

The Zockmelon family:  Kristy, Campbell and Jimmy (September 2012).