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Local Insights
One of my favoured activities during stop-overs is buying up local newspapers and spending the rest of the flight poring the contents to figure out local preferences. This flight was an exception - I was out like a light as soon as I sat down. How culturally appropriate is it to put your income in a classified advertisement? Hindustan Times readers think it is.
Writing from Toronto | February 28, 2006 | Comments (1) | Permalink
Technologies Around Spaces
Advertisement for using Suica equipped mobile phone to pass through ticket barrier, above. Vending machine using the same technology to purchase drinks, below. Both photos taken in Shinagawa Station. Japan Rail (JR) has invested heavily in Suica so it makes sense to find use of this technology clustered in and around its properties. A relatively easy way to provide consumers with exposure to a new technology, but will its use spread?
On a side note - the C-Mode DoCoMo/Coca Cola vending machine in Shibuya that supported payments via mobile phone is gone. It had quite possibly the most confusing user interface for any vending machine.
Writing from Shinagawa | February 27, 2006 | Comments (1) | Permalink
How Real-Time is Real-Time?
Bus stop in Brighton, showing the time it will take for the number 1 bus to Whitehawk - 45 minutes.
Knowing how long something will take can make the time passing shorter not least because it allows a person to focus attention on other activities - reading a magazine, watching Mobile TV or text messaging for example. But just how accurate is this information? Time estimates can vary considerably according to different traffic conditions so the amount of time a bus takes to arrive may rise as well as fall.
What granularity of information is sufficient to be useful? Just how real-time does real-time need to be?
Writing from Tokyo | | Comments (6) | Permalink
Resolution, Error Rates
Sewn 2D bar code into beanie. Sufficient resolution to be read, but what level of read-error rates?
Writing from Tokyo | | Permalink
Used > Mail Out > Re-Use
At home nursing a rather nasty head cold today but at least managed to catch up on some reading.
In the spirit of recycling and re-use I'll ship this copy of Banksy's Wall and Piece to the first person that can point me to an online research paper or web site that best inspires and informs Future Perfect.
Post your answers to the comments.
Yes its subjective.
Maximum of one submission per person.
Deadline: Monday 27th February.
UPDATE: travelling on from the 27th to the 3rd - will mail the book out on my return!
Writing from Tokyo | February 23, 2006 | Comments (11) | Permalink
The Traces of Traces
These guides to paint the road markings were first laid down in November 2005 and are still visible 3 months later. Understanding the process of how something is designed and built can raise or lower its perceived value in the minds-eye of its users.
In what contexts is it desireable to include traces of processes? Or fake traces? Is there a point at which traces should disappear?
Writing from Sakura Shinmachi | | Comments (0) | Permalink
Rights To Use Public Infrastructure
Parking spaces in the public domain but not to be used by everyone - doctor, ambulance, residents, VIPs only.
For designers of mobile devices, understanding how public infrastructure is used and abused is important not least because it affects what people decide to carry and the relative importance and positioning of what is carried.
For infrastructure in public spaces - who has what rights to use what resources? How do people understand what those rights are? Who will have have priority over whom? What happens if the rules are broken? And what is the likelyhood of infringements being noticed?
Writing from Tokyo | February 22, 2006 | Comments (1) | Permalink
Getting Here From There
Sometimes it's good to be home and live and breathe with a regular rhythm. My home city is many things - not least of which is looking out from tall buildings and wondering about the stories behind each of the lives that pass ant-like below (Shibuya, above).
When travelling, the first emotional jolt that I may be nearing home comes from boarding a plane and seeing row after row of heads with jet black hair in front of me. That and the gentle ebb and flow of Japanese conversations.
When you've been away, what are the things that make you feel like you are nearing home?
Writing from Tokyo | February 20, 2006 | Comments (5) | Permalink
Affect of Traces on Recycling
College canteen encouraging recycling of CDs, ink cartridges, old phones and batteries.
To what extent do the people putting objects in the boxes understand the cost or profits that can be made from what is recycled? For example phones that are re-furbished and shipped to another country to be re-sold. Can recycling behaviours be affected by communicating the use-flow of the objects? Will knowing what happens to that object after it is placed in the box affect the likelihood of it being placed there?
Writing from Tokyo | | Permalink
Recycle, Resale
The resale of used magazines mined from the waste bins in and around Shibuya station. Mostly thick and cheap weekly manga plus the a small selection of pornographic magazines (near left, back of the table). Stalls similar to this can be found near all the main commuter stations so its somewhat surprising that the infrastructure to recycle is not more sophisticated.
Writing from Shibuya | February 19, 2006 | Permalink
Available, Unavailable Surfaces
An extreme example of the utilisation of available surfaces to place objects.
In many instances this kind of flat surface is an opportunity to dump trash. However these surfaces are also useful for tasks requiring two handed use - available surfaces used to free up hands from other carried objects. Finding a sufficiently clean and supportive surface on which to place objects varies depending on context, individual preferences and cultural norms.
Available surfaces carry the risk that valuable objects will later be left behind. How to provide surfaces in public spaces, whilst minimising the risk of leaving behind valuable objects?
Photos from last week in London's Covent Garden.
Writing from Tokyo | February 18, 2006 | Comments (1) | Permalink
What You Are Offered
Photos taken during an exploration of purchasing experiences in Beijing. This gentleman approaches people exiting a large electronics market offering cheap software. No stall, just a 'come to my office a few minutes away'. The office turned out to be a one room apartment shared with his mother and involved following him at a brisk pace down side-streets and alleys. The selection of software all poor quality pirated material in a suitcase. Presumably he didn't sell this outside the market because his stock would be too easily confiscated during one of the semi-regular crackdowns or possibly from rival sellers who consider that their pitch.
Writing from Tokyo | | Permalink
Urban Interfaces
London, above.
Tokyo, below.
Writing from Tokyo | February 16, 2006 | Permalink
Study Prep
All day workshop to figure out what to focus on in an upcoming concept validation study. Someone was thoughtful enough to bring sweets from China and in the course of a few hours we work through the different flavours. Everyone has something to show and tell and share. Package turns up and are opened and artifacts from far away are passed around the room. (How) can such simple objects excite and inspire?
The project team is preparing for the study from home bases in Tokyo, Helsinki, Beijing, Hyderabad & Calabasas and if it all goes to plan, meeting in 6 weeks time at the research site. Mutual understanding and common goals should make working at a distance a minor inconvenience. The questions to ask is whether there is sufficient mutual understanding and common goals?
Writing from Helsinki | February 14, 2006 | Permalink
Passing Through
This afternoon's desk is in a cafe situated in Oulu airport departures hall. It is slowly filling up with waiting passengers, and most people have chosen seats clustered within viewing distance of a moderately sized plasma screen. The winter Olympics are on and the pace and flow of commentary to the events is well suited to ambient viewing - first snowboarding, then skiing, then curling. The curling is strangely hypnotic and so devoid of stress, that I wonder about its uses in therapy. A short list of departures and arrivals is displayed on two chunky TV screens situated to the right of the plasma display so that an eager passenger wishing to track the Finnish Olympic team and current flights status information can do so with a minimum of eye movement.
To call this building a departures hall is stretching it a little - the space is small and doubles up for arrivals and everything else an airport has to offer. Flights within Finland are generally a pleasant experience and the atmosphere is muted and calm. Outside is crispy white, below freezing. Almost everyone here appears to be traveling alone.
Yesterday's flight to Oulu left Helsinki at one minute to midnight. Would more or less people book this flight than one that departs the next day a mere two minutes later? How important is the departure time in deciding what flight/bus/coach to book? (How) do transport companies massage the departure times e.g. consistently leave later than scheduled to account for this? And how does the relative importance of timing change depending on the user's context?
Remembering that the departure gate for JAL flights from Hokkaido's Chitose Airport to Tokyo Narita passengers can purchase train tickets for use in Tokyo before they depart. A simple example of understanding the flow of tasks of their users, co-ordination and the will-power to make it happen.
Writing from Oulu | February 13, 2006 | Comments (1) | Permalink
Everything Not Quite There
Flight arrives in Oulu 1:15am Monday.
Luggage is in Helsinki (probably).
Long queue for transport to get somewhere warm.
Sub-zero conditions.
No taxis to be seen.
Welcome to Oulu.
Writing from Oulu | | Permalink
Security Cat And Mouse (and Dog)
The degree to which perceived and real levels of security and risk of theft affect behaviours.
Heavy duty bicycle and motorbike locks are frequently sighted left chained to railings in London - in places that are oft visited such as outside a gym (photo above) or close to work. When I lived in London I had one heavy duty lock chained to the railings near work, one in the center of town and one that was carried - locking a bike up for more than a few minutes and out of sight means removing or securing everything that can be - each wheel, saddle, lights and sometimes also pedals, headsets (late at night with a bit of time), or deal with a high risk of theft.
The street signage is a reflection of the need for cyclists to find security and the people and organisations that maintain infrastructure in those locals to support (subsidise?) that security. I wonder how this maps the the digital realm?
And in Tokyo? In 5 years nothing yet stolen.
Writing from London | | Permalink
Public Convenience
Open urinal (to the right of the lamp post) situated on a Soho alleyway within close proximity to a main street and the (frequently long) queues of two night clubs. Ideal for males willing to trade a degree of privacy for a quicker relief. It legitimises passing pedestrians relieving themselves in a public space. Legitimately pissing in public is relatively novel in the UK though much less so in other societies where privacy is less of an issue or less of an option.
Are public conveniences 'convenient' for the user, or for other members of the public not wishing to observe the process?
Writing from Soho | | Permalink
Removing, Supplementing Core Features
Raku Raku 3G phone for sale in Japan - targeted at elderly users. Includes a slider where the owner can write phone book entries instead of using the elecronic address book. Taking core features such as the address book outside the phone can benefit non-literate and elderly users.
The fetching model holding the phone in the top photo? Here.
Writing from London | February 12, 2006 | Comments (2) | Permalink
Extreme Customisation II
Writing from London | | Comments (1) | Permalink
Street Annotation
Writing from Soho | | Comments (0) | Permalink
Sorting, Ignored
Instructions and guidance for type, size and shape of rubbish above and below. Largely ignored, above.
Writing from London | | Permalink
Phone Recharging
Public phone recharging in London - with an emphasis on security.
Writing from London | | Comments (2) | Permalink
Extreme Customisation
Writing from London | February 11, 2006 | Permalink
Status Indicators
Writing from London | | Permalink
Consistency Affecting Experiences
W-LAN offering on the first four carriages of the Brighton to London train. To what extent does a consistent experience affect service adoption? Usage?
Writing from London | | Permalink
Hotel Experiences
Occasionally research study hotels are a little different. A variety of experiences available in the Hotel Pelirocco - each room having a different theme.
Writing from Brighton | February 10, 2006 | Permalink
Speed Camera Avoidance
Advertising targetted at taxi drivers. "Tom Tom One with Free Speed Camera Locater Loaded"
Writing from Brighton | | Permalink
Observation(s)
Somewhat unnerving to have local council security cameras rotating and appearing to obseve the research observations.
Who watches the watchmen? Indeed.
What level of transparency in what we do? In what they do?
Writing from Brighton | | Comments (1) | Permalink
Tea and Buttered Crumpets, To Take Away
This morning's office is a cafe overlooking a fairly ordinary street in Brighton, a small city on the South coast of England. I've been sitting here, perched on a raised stool at the window since it opened at 7:30 am, in an effort to warm up - having been pacing the streets for a couple of hours already. To view the street I'm required to wipe condensation away the window every 5 minutes or so. There is a constant stream of teas, coffees, buttered toast and crumpets* being served to the morning rush-hour commuters.
I'm here to research something out there, but it's cold and the draw of toast and crumpets is enough to bring me in here. And anyway there things that can be learnt from being on either side of the glass. The time between ordering and the arrival of food and drink is long enough to be considered a micro break - enough time to take out a mobile phone check messages, perhaps send one or two. But no-one does. Why should they?
A 3 minute walk uphill from here is Brighton station. A 60 minute or so train ride and the passengers will dis-gorging from London Victoria and London Thameslink stations to join the fun that is London's rush-hour. I can't imagine anyone going from home to office in less than 90 minutes which means 15 hours a week spent on the activity known as commuting. Commuting to work in central London from London's suburbs can easily take an hour so for many of these people Brighton is a practical alternative.
Commuting habits are of interest to anyone who provides content or builds devices that are used to access content - whether it's web based, radio or mobile TV. These commuters have 90 minutes or commuting boredom to kill, enough time to listen to a lot of music, watch a feature length movie, read a newspaper from cover to cover, read a novelette. It's probably enough to write the first draft of novel. But how much of those 90 minutes do they really have? What does it mean to commute? How does commuting differ between cultures? And how will the commuting experience evolve with the availability of a wider variety of devices and content formats?
When the 90 minute journey is broken down to sub-tasks - leaving the home space, walking to the station, finding a seat on the train, the train journey itself, negotiating the station at the other end, using pubic transport at the destination and the eventual walk to the building. The longest uninterrupted part of the journey is likely to be the long distance train journey, and actually that's far from uninterrupted. Announcements occur every time the train pulls into a station, pulls out of the station, and when one is available - to notify passengers of the buffet car. We can't assume the commuter automatically finds a seat - many people spend part of their journey keeping an eye out for seating and in some contexts to relocate to better seating. Every time people get on and off lighting conditions, ambient temperatures and noise levels will vary - not optimal conditions for watching a movie if one is available.
How does a commuter differ from one-off travelers? They have in-depth understanding of the nuances of the journey they are taking - knowing which exit can shave a few steps off the journey time, where they are most likely to get a good seat, being able to prepare a ticket or card sufficiently prior to reach a ticket barrier.
The commuting experience varies significantly between cultures - whether its a single person driving a car in Las Vegas, a motorbike seating a family of four in Ho Chi Minh City or standing on the Yamanote subway Line in Tokyo. Is the culture one of early risers? Getting up early in Jakarta or Delhi provides an opportunity for avoiding the heat. Japan has more of a culture of (starting and then) working late.
[The cultural connoisseurs amongst you may enjoy the subtle but important difference between buttered crumpets and, well, buttered crumpet]
Writing from Brighton | February 9, 2006 | Permalink
Flexibility, Adaptability
Entry buzzers for businesses (Covent Garden, above) and domestic residences (Ho Chi Minh City, below). Both show signs of being updated. If you look closely at the wall above you can see drills holes showing that the intercom has been recently replaced.
How frequently do occupants change? Which solution is more elegant? More flexible? Cost effective?
In a world where everyone has access to a personal communication device what role does the buzzer play?
Writing from Brighton | February 7, 2006 | Comments (6) | Permalink
Out of the Box Experiences
The lady in the photo above on the subway in Seoul, South Korea. Her out of the box experience taking place standing in a moving carriage with harsh lighting and with limits on the amount of two-handed interaction (that this is her first experience is assumed - based on what she was carrying, her interaction with the packaging and the context - but I didn't actually speak with her).
Product designers and marketing departments often talk about the out of the box experience - that unique moment when the consumer first takes their product out of their packaging. The money has been paid and the benefits of owning the product have yet to be realised. The hopes "will I really be able to plug it into my TV?", fears "will it really do what I want it to do?", and aspirations "I'm gonna get fit and lead a healthy lifestyle now I have a Suunto heart monitor" going through the consumer's mind.
To what extent do out of the box experiences happen whilst out and about? On the bus, in the subway, sitting with mates in McDonalds? Is it possible to have multiple or layered out of the box experiences - one on the hoof and one later in the comfort of a home space? And how to design for this?
How will social trends and technologies change the dynamics of future the out of the box experiences? Enhancing the positives? Minimising the negatives?
Writing from Brighton | | Permalink
Overt
Seating projecting what goods are available for sale in the shop. Can surrounding shops take advantage of this advertising space in some way?
Writing from Soho | | Comments (2) | Permalink
Mobile Infrastructure
Van for monitoring and catching congestion charging offenders. Mobile infrastructure introduces a random element (location) into the monitoring process.
Do congestion charging vehicles pay congestion charges?
Writing from Covent Garden | | Permalink
Adapted
Writing from Brighton | February 6, 2006 | Permalink
Traces Of Events
Ambient traces of travel from someone who travels a lot, or at least travels on airlines and to destinations where security stickers are commonly used.
In our perfect future we can accurately track everything - the exact location, temperature, who and what is in proximity for how long, the information that was exchanged - every last minute detail. Some of this data could help ensure that your luggage arrives in tip-top condition, in the right place and on time. Or not. You land in a new country and immigration doesn't only check your luggage, it checks the history of your luggage.
It's 2012- your luggage in the hold of the plane and can communicate with the other luggage. What would they say to one another? Would they even speak the same language?
Writing from Hove | February 5, 2006 | Comments (4) | Permalink
Status Indicators
Writing from Brighton | | Permalink
Guilt Trips
"Do you really need to use this lift? Please think of others that do"
How future consumption and use is affected by feedback given during current consumption and use. Photo from a a relatively slow elevator situated in an art college.
Writing from Brighton | February 3, 2006 | Permalink
Status Updates
'Press bell for immediate(ish) assistance" A door bell and signage from the back entrance of a shop.
It's possible to provide real-time status updates for the whole ascertain-status-of-person-at-the-door/door-opening processes. In what range of situations does the person inside the building wish to keep the person outside the building informed of his/her current status? And in what contexts is this information considered private and confidential?
Writing from Brighton | | Comments (0) | Permalink
Condusive Spaces
Inside of a toilet door situated in an art college supports chalk and wet-finger based doodling, expression, graffiti.
Writing from Kensington | | Permalink
Coping with Sizes in Death
Infrastructure inside a hearse - the position of the rollers are adjustable to cope with different coffin sizes.
Different ways humans are sized up: shoes, socks, waist, headband, sleeve, check, bust, inside leg and so on. In life and in death. Whether the hearse default sizes from yester-year can cope with today's shifting body shapes and sizes?
Do we shrink after death?
If so, by how much, over what period of time?
Writing from Brighton | February 2, 2006 | Comments (3) | Permalink
Affordances
Writing from Brighton | February 1, 2006 | Permalink
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