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Office Away From The Office
My office for the next two weeks is a townhouse /guesthouse close to Delhi's CP. The house is owned by an English couple who now spend most of their time on an estate just outside Delhi, and its current occupants are the 5 members of our research team plus the Nepali housekeeper and her family. It is welcoming, comfortable and coincidentally very, very English (including little touches like afternoon tea).
It's 5am as I write this and the first strains of sun light are peeking through the expansive mosquito screen and beyond that the canopy of a tree on the front lawn of the house. My body clock is halfway between Tokyo and New Delhi which according to the Windows time zone application puts me somewhere near Krasnoyarsk. The fresh morning air drifts through the house accompanied by bird-song and the distant but frequent sound of trains shunting along to Old Delhi station.
So what are we doing here? The fixed part of the plan is to run a series of focus groups to understand the pros and cons of various concepts. As with a lot of these studies the contextual work that happens around the edges is expected to also yield rich data - observing and documenting the contexts in which the concepts will be used, contextual interviews, and exploring themes such as rituals, customisation, repair cultures, coping with dust and dirt as well as generally trying to understand what both unique and the same about the Indian (communications) context.
The guesthouse is a conducive space to running this kind of study: the expansive and airy lounge can comfortably cope with the team and our 5 assistants (and at night a mattress is rolled out in one corner's it becomes my bedroom). A researcher from Hyderabad is asleep in the master bedroom which is now doubling up as mission control and the mobile office is unpacked and the walls are starting to be covered with data, schedules, photos and sketches of new design iterations. Further along the corridor are the sleeping bodies of a Canadian concept designer living in Helsinki and a Chinese colleague from, um, China whilst the final member of the team - an Indian studying in Helsinki is housed in a room on the roof of this one story building. In a choice between a regular corporate hotel with all mod-cons and this guesthouse with shared living quarters I'd take this any day. There are numerous benefits from having the entire team stay in one space - the net result of which is that we live, eat and sleep the research topic for the duration of our stay (and having access to a housekeeper makes life easier too).
6:30, the newspapers have just landed on the path and the house begins to wake.
Writing from Connaught Place | March 30, 2006 | Permalink
Game Play
The range of motion of hands shown by the dirt-scraped clean areas.
Is it possible to conduct accurate, longitudinal hand-placement usability tests using dirt as a boundary marker?
The weight of the TV is a counter balance to the pressure exerted on the buttons and joystick.
Writing from South Delhi | | Comments (1) | Permalink
Custom
Repeatedly self-customised phone by Fiza Khan a student at NIFT Delhi's Department of Fashion and Lifestyle Accessories.
To what extent does the customisation of a product or service facilitate or become a barrier to and ongoing customisation?
Writing from Haus Kaas | | Permalink
Wear and Tear
Supple skin on the hands of a South Delhi barber. The shaving process included a face massage and the liberal application of raw aloe.
Dead skin on the hand of a rickshaw driver - his other hand was similarly worn in the same place.
Writing from South Delhi | March 29, 2006 | Comments (0) | Permalink
Not in Here, But Out There
Thursday's presentation about field research to the Department of Fashion & Lifestyle Accessories at the New Delhi Institiute for Fashion Technology. Hosted by Associate Professor Bhawna Vij Katyal. Slides can be downloaded from here [3MB]. Update: link to the presentation now works
A summary?
Get out the lab.
Keep your eyes peeled.
Question eveything, including why you need to be out of the lab.
Stay warm.
Writing from Haus Kaas | | Comments (2) | Permalink
On Getting There
Can't think of a city that isn't beautiful to cruise around at night. Window down, non-spoken communication with the driver and the night-air blowing away hours of jet-fug.
From Delhi Airport to deep sleep in the guesthouse in less than an hour.
Writing from New Delhi | March 28, 2006 | Permalink
One-Way Conversation
Sign in Narita airport's Terminal 2 reads "We accept US$. But we can do the only bills (no coins). And change will be Japanese Yen"
Are there any benefits for the provider of (digital) services in offering two way conversions? (In this case offering change in either currency)
Writing from Narita | March 27, 2006 | Comments (0) | Permalink
Secrets (But Not Lies)
I know you have a secret.
But don't worry I won't tell, but I just wanted to let you know that I know. That's enough.
During in-depth interviews into what people carry a sub-theme that sometimes emerges is the issue of privacy and secrecy - the things people carry that they don't want to reveal to others. They can be physical objects but increasingly they come in the form of electronic data.
Why would anyone tell a researcher about the secret things they carry? In the street interview context participants consider themselves anonymous (and we preserve this anonymity); they may not think through the consequences of what they are saying - which might be fine for an investigative journalist but can put a corporate researcher on the spot; it may be that the reward for revealing this information now is greater that the perceived consequences of having revealed it to the wrong person later (we work hard not to put people in this situation but it has been done); sometimes people don't know what they've revealed or reveal by accident; but more often than not the risk of revealing information to me, that is someone who is 'neutral' and not an authority figure, is low.
There are different levels of privacy and secrecy - a medical condition may be considered secret from everyone including close family; but other things that are only secret within the work context. I expect to see more human behaviours shielding secrets from the sensors that surround us. A kind-of example of this arose in a study a couple of yeas ago. A participant knew that by default a particular communication channel was being recorded, and being about to do something that was not strictly adhering to the rules (but not necessarily breaking them either) pushed some of her communication through alternative channels. Which raises a number of questions on one side regarding legal obligations and on the other the obligation to say whether the alternatives themselves are being recorded.
How does all this affect how people carry what they carry? In subtle ways. Frequent use objects such as bicycle keys during a day shopping in town are more likely to be carried in a separate pocket to secret objects. Every time a person fishes into a pocket to take out the keys the [xx secret xx] object carried in the same pocket risks falling to the floor. Some of these issues map to the digital user interface realm: a device may contain personal information but supports tasks that involve shared use outside the immediate peer group. Watching a sports event on a Mobile Phone TV for example.
There are other ways to scope secret things that people carry. Our summer intern from last year carried out a series of interviews with organisations such as hotels, department stores and the police asking about: what people lose; with what frequency; how long it takes to discover they are lost; the triggers for losing; and the steps and barriers to recover the objects. Items turning up in lost and found included balistic weapons and large sums of money all of which require different levels of privacy and secrecy depending on the context in which they are carried. Mobile phones are relatively easy to recover because people tend to notice they are missing quite quickly, they can be called by the owner, and even if switched off they include a call log. However even if the ability to track down the owner is easy, recovery is not necessarily straight forward if people don't want to be identified with having been in a particular place and/or location at a particular time.
You look at a group of people and see a group of people. I look at the same thing and wonder what their secrets are and what I can do to keep their secrets well, secret.
And the photo above? Nothing to do with secrecy research - just a random shot taken in an elevator.
Writing from Tokyo | March 26, 2006 | Comments (2) | Permalink
Turns Towards
About 7 minutes spent watching the body language of a telephone conversation on a Tokyo side-street. The conversationalist spent most of his time turned to the wall, or more accurately turned to the 'corner' afforded by the pipe and the wall (the lady looking up the street was not with him and quicky moved on). But why?
It's an extreme example of not wanting to disturb other people with details of the call. It is more usual to see Japanese people to move to take a call out of earshot and/or to cup the hand around the mouthpiece and speak quietly.
What devices are associated with carrying out what anti-social activities? Anti-social to whom and in what contexts? Mobile phone's and talking loudly, electric batons and torture. Does taking out an object imply intent to carry out a particular task? And how does the perception of devices/services and their associated tasks evolve as the majority of users switch from early adopters (with their inherent behaviours) to more mainstream users? How does this perception change as the range of features offered by that device changes? How would people react to a stun gun that is mostly used to kills bugs?
Can and should we create a feedback loop to help user's better understand the social reaction to utilizing technologies? Can we demystify technologies to lessen the social reaction in the first place?
Writing from Tokyo | | Comments (1) | Permalink
Well Hung
Properties of the lock conducive for carrying around neck. Too long and it increases the risk of getting snagged, too short and it just doesn't fit. This lock is notable for how flimsy it it compared to the value of the bike.
After a few consecutive days of good weather the bicycle messengers are coming out in force. Tokyo's got a relatively high percentage of tricked out rides. Just need a good excuse to study communication practices of bike couriers.
Writing from Shibuya, back of | | Permalink
Wanting Some, Wanting To Avoid Some
Trend spotter out in Shibuya on a friday evening, above. Self caught in reflection of motorbike mirror documenting street life in Ho Chi Minh City, below. Tele Atlas van recording street data in Brighton, bottom photo. Satellite photography.
What right to record what data? The obviousness by which it is done? The practical ease at which people can opt out of data collection? Who has what right to view the data?
Writing from Shibuya | March 25, 2006 | Permalink
Notifications
Notification of bike parking violations. Tokyo above, Chengdu, below. Which is more practical? efficient? noticed by the violator? noticed by the other membes of society? noticed by the peson who enforces violations?
Writing from Tokyo | March 24, 2006 | Comments (3) | Permalink
Bling Customisation
Writing from Shibuya, back of | | Comments (0) | Permalink
What You Take, When You Go Where You Go
There is s a corner of the office that is forever collecting materials for the next field study. The process of piling things up starts anywhere from 3 weeks before departure and usually reaches its conclusion the eve before heading out. Making sure everyone brings the equipment they are supposed to is not especially difficult, but neither is it straight forward given that team members arrive from different home cities.
So what to bring and what to leave?
The minimal kit is a decent camera, three fully charged batteries (doing away with the need for a bulky charger), spare memory, a paper notebook and a wad of cash.
The maximal kit includes: printers + inks; diary kits (cameras, chargers, spare batteries); a wide variety of camera, video and audio bits and pieces; spare laptops for secure data entry (e.g. hiring students in China) or for running specialist software; print-outs of all forms needed for the first few days; and a med kit. Some things like white boards & bicycles are bought on arrival but when time is tight, and it often is, it is easier to bring most things oneself. (Yes the running of the whole study can and frequently is subcontracted, but the pros and cons of subcontracting are another issue).
Shipping everything in advance? It's sometimes feasible when there are no international customs for packages to get stopped at: too many times electronics-heavy research kit is held up in customs or heavily taxed or both. It's funny how importing 6 identical cameras (for user diaries) can be considered suspect. Even with customs out of the equation and regardless of what the courier companies want you to believe, if it absolutely, definitely has to get there on time you need to take it yourself.
Off on another study next week with a research team arriving from different corners of the globe. Will they bring everything? Let's see.
Writing from Tokyo | March 23, 2006 | Permalink
Street Fill
iMac dumped on Tokyo back street. Land-fill. Street-fill.
Writing from Shibuya, back of | March 22, 2006 | Permalink
Mobile Essentials
Presentation by Per Persson, Mikko Aarras, Petri Piippo & Tetsuya Yamamoto & myself to last year's Designing the User Experience conference can now be downloaded from here [2MB].
Slides include photo examples of how to think about carrying behaviours including Center of Gravity, Point of Reflection and the Range of Distribution. A conclusion? The easiest way to have nothing to forget is to have nothing to remember. Whilst you might be tempted to enterpret this as a form of Zen philosophy, it is actually more about the art of delegation.
Related research here and here.
Writing from Tokyo | | Comments (1) | Permalink
Don't Do As I Do
2 sets of apartment blocks in Ho Chi Minh City. One literally overflowing, the other externally more ordered and possibly sterile.
Which would you prefer to look at?
And which would you prefer to live in?
Writing from Tokyo | March 19, 2006 | Permalink
When Understanding Doesn't Matter
"Please refrain from the following acts in the store"
Many of the Japanese customers to this store will be unable to read with understanding this text, so what's its purpose?
Writing from Harajuku, back of | | Comments (5) | Permalink
Unexpecting the Expected
Close to midnight, after giving up on me being a customer, 3 rick-shaw drivers are fine to just hang out around Barkhor Square, Lhasa, chat about the day's events and and smoke heavy Chinese cigarettes. Somewhere a phone rings and one driver unexpectedly pulls a RAZR phone out of his trouser pocket and takes a call from his wife.
It was the middle of winter and there were relatively few passengers. The cost of this device related to his income? My perceived cost vs. his actual cost. A practical design choice in his line of work? Does it matter?
Writing from Tokyo | March 18, 2006 | Permalink
Learning From Extreme Products
These photos, taken last year on a private trip to Chengdu, are from a shop selling equipment for the emergency services. As with the PLA store it was open to the public - so uniforms, accessories, ID badges and flashing lights to stick on the roof of your car were all for sale to whomever was able to stump up the cash.
Two police officers (or possibly private security guards, I'm not especially china-uniform-literate) were standing next to me checking out various electric shock devices and in the spirit of try-before-you-buy they decided to, well, try-before-they-bought. Since this was a small shop the electric current crackled a couple of feet from my face for each of the 3 models they tried. The guards appeared to be discussing the merits of each device before picking one out then moving on to negotiate the price with the owner.
The unique selling points appeared to be their size and whether the case was metal or plastic. The packaging advertised that they could shock to 35,000 Watts of power, a fact which I was not interested in validating. They had already succumbed to feature creep - the most feature rich included a torch, siren and electric shock button with the design making it possible to multi-task... see who you're electrocuting as they hold their hands up to cover their ears. I picked out a large plastic model which from the perspective of someone trying to subdue an assailant has the potential additional benefit of being usable as a cosh, it costs 100 RMB (8 Euro).
The three buttons on the device were identical so the only way to know which button belonged to which feature was trial and error. The design was not particularly smart given that people are prone to forget the details of infrequently carried out tasks. The electric shock feature did not work unless a plug, otherwise dangling from a short strap, was inserted in a socket on the base of the device. At least that's the theory - what is the quality assurance of a device that costs 100 RMB?
This shop happened to be in China, but I'm pretty sure I would have similar legal or grey-market consumer choices from Colombia to Canada, the UK to the US.
Designers often talk about learning from lead users or extreme users. What merits are there for looking at and learning from extreme products both in terms of their design, and in the moral/ethical/commercial/legal reaction of society to those products?
Writing from Tokyo | March 16, 2006 | Comments (1) | Permalink
Notice, Notification
Discouraging the anti-social behaviours of dog owners through actions that many other people would consider anti-social, even if it involves graffiting one's own wall. The close proximity of the words to where the dog-defecation takes place is a nice touch and shows the effort of the writer.
Signage typically includes information about the authority of the sign-poster e.g. 'the park is locked after 6pm' 'by order of the mayor of Brighton'. Who has what 'right' to post what infrormation where? By whose social/legal/moral authority? How is this information perceived by the signage readers? (How) are behaviours affected? And how can affects be multiplied through other factors - such as the presense of a remote control camera?
Writing from Tokyo | | Comments (2) | Permalink
Double Wrap
The smallest example range of distribution of objects that I've come across during behavioural research was interviewing a vice-squad policeman in Berlin. He discussed drug dealers double-wrapping their product in clingfilm which was then carried in the mouth. At the point of sale one item is taken from the mouth and handed over. If the police tried to bust them they swallow the produce and since the drugs take time to clear the digestive tract it meant putting dealers behind bars at least overnight for what often amounted to a small bust.
The range of distribution more affected the consequence of discover by the wrong person (in this instance the police), rather than risk of theft per se.
Do I know the origin of the Double Wrap shop name (half way between Harajuku and Shibuya photo above)? I do not.
Writing from Tokyo | March 15, 2006 | Comments (1) | Permalink
Slip, Grip
Deck mats as stair grips - leading up to skate shop.
Writing from Harajuku | March 13, 2006 | Permalink
Knowing When Something is Worn
What are the circumstances that trigger knowing when something is overly worn and no longer useful for its intended purpose? Things wear unevenly. And since the context of use varies so do definitions of 'overly worn'.
Writing from | | Comments (0) | Permalink
Pointer, Sent
Following a request for pointers to papers and articles, I particularly enjoyed Paul Dourish writing about the evaluation of ethnographic research papers in HCI - paper online here and his related research here. He ends with:
"Frankly, I doubt that this is the last CHI paper on ethnographic work that will find itself forced to end with "implications for design" ... but it is certainly nice to think that this is a possibility"
Which in a round-about way leads me to the question - what motivates you to do what you do? And how far are you willing to go to communicate this to others? Coming from a corporate research lab - my starting assumption is that none of the research or design we do is by default relevant for anything or anyone. The relevance comes from all the communication that occurs around the edges of the actual research from observing, listening and debating, anticipating other people's next steps whether it is 15 months or 15 years from now, and trying to figure out the smart questions in that space before they get there (whether we are successful at doing this is another matter entirely).
And, bringing it back to the closing statement of Paul's paper - where do conferences fit in with all of this? Like researchers, conferences need to fight to first gain relevance, and then continue to fight to maintain relevance.
Thanks VT for the link - the book is on its way.
Writing from Tokyo | | Comments (4) | Permalink
Localised Design
An example of a localised seat design for an airline in China (Sichuan Air or Air China if I recall correctly). The cup holder can support the almost ubitquitously carried green tea/hot water containers (above) without having to lower the main tray (below).
Writing from Tokyo | March 12, 2006 | Permalink
A Slightly More Universal Remote?
Photo of a remote controller taken in a room of a short-stay hotel in Seoul. It controls the TV, DVD, air conditioner and lights. Whilst people are prone to complain about having too many remote controls cluttering up the living room cramming everything on one remote controller is a far from optimal solution (though perhaps better in a hotel context).
Every so often someone pushes the mobile phone as a remote controller for anything from slide show presentations to toy cars and robots (via Bluetooth) to TV (via IR) to topping up parking meters (via SMS) to setting PVRs (via the net). By and large the mobile phone user interface offers a very poor and limited remote control experience - just about OK as an emergency backup but not something you want to use every day.
Which is why the Nintendo Revolution controller could be interesting. Take a generation of people who are adept at navigating and moving and thinking in 3D (though they most likely wouldn't describe it those terms), add the convenience of having a controller lying around and what do you have?
The real revolution may come from what happens away from the Revolution.
Thanks Younghee for the sunday Korean to English UI translation services.
Writing from Tokyo | March 11, 2006 | Permalink
Anti-Social Sensors
Sensor and display showing noise levels on building site (shown in center-right of photo).
How do the behaviour and activities of the builders change according to the feedback displayed on the noise meter? At what point, and to whom is the information on the noise meter no longer relevant - because stakeholders are adept at judging noise levels? What exceptions are there to this? What are the consequences of going over limits? Does a greater degree of accuracy encourage behaviours that push things to the the social, anti-social and/or legal limits?
Same questions, but this time for a speedometer in a car...
Writing from Tokyo | | Comments (5) | Permalink
Monitored , Monitoring
This afternoon's office of sorts is a waiting room in a health clinic. I've just spent half an hour lying on my side whilst getting an ultrasound scan of my heart. I was in here yesterday too and in the intervening 24 hours had the pleasure of walking around with a number of heart monitors strapped to my chest and an event monitor designed to log heart-related activities. So now the monitors are removed, the scans are done and I've got 45 minutes to kill before the doctor can talk me through the results.
The waiting room is empty other than a lady who has just arrived and is seated to my right. She keeps looking just above my head, but never making eye contact suggesting that either she is in here for a condition akin to having (vertically) lazy eyes, or more likely, something is occurring just above my head. She gets called by a consultant and leaves. Somewhere to my left, behind a frosted glass screen I can hear a receptionist ever-so ever-so-politely field calls and direct the odd incoming patient to the appropriate room in the clinic. Mus(ic/ak), is being piped through speakers in the ceiling - a mixture of piano sprinkled with acoustic guitar. The blandest of bland magazines sit in rack at my feet and tone of room is comfortable and muted. I suspect these are all deliberate design choices - little things that keep patients calm and collected as they wait to be tested or wait for test results. It's a comfortable environment and now is as good an opportunity as any to catch up on emails and write.
I'm usually in the position of collecting data and asking questions of study participants, but today the view is from the other side of the fence. The doctor is young but appears to have a bedside manner and level of experience that somehow belies his age. New experiences are fun and this is no exception: warmed gel on the tip of the ultrasound; a lying posture which i guess is optimised for reading the patients heart and minimising spoken interaction; listening to the sound of blood being pushed around the body; and, over my shoulder watching as the doctor makes constant one-handed re-adjustments on an intricate control panel to bring up different views of the same data. To the untrained eye it all looks pretty complex. What exactly is he looking for, and once he's found it how will he communicate it?
During the recent presentation in Seattle Ian Smith raised the issue of biases in self documentation techniques such as photo-diaries or everything-I-touch-diaries - for example choosing what to frame or not frame in a photo. A related issue is how monitoring changes behaviours.
If say, we could monitor everything you do for 24 hours - from what you consume to what you say what would you do differently? And perhaps more interestingly what are you motivations for doing things differently?
Writing from Akasaka | March 10, 2006 | Comments (4) | Permalink
Consumer Options
Four batteries for sale in China.
Covering a gamut of real consumer options: official Nokia; fake Nokia; premium non-Nokia - costs just below the official Nokia price but doesn't pretend to be official; and generic no-brand. Getting what you pay for? Getting what you perceive you pay for? Quality assurance? Risks?
Writing from Tokyo | March 9, 2006 | Comments (3) | Permalink
Research Presentation, Seattle
Presentation on Exploratory User Field Research at Nokia's Mobile HCI Group which I gave in Seattle last week at an event hosted by Wendy March. The PowerPoint presentation can be downloaded from here [3MB].
Executive summary? Keep re-assessing the value long after the project is finished.
That, plus - conducting research outside the lab means dealing with everything that life can throw at you. Photo below? Part of street research in Berlin into what people carry and why - during an interview in a park with his alcoholic owner, trying to avoid being bitten and, naturally getting the data we were after. Bless.
Writing from Tokyo | | Comments (4) | Permalink
Identity, Memory
A simple and expressive example of how a restaurant overcomes the problem of guests forgetting their coats - an issue probably caused by the coats being located out of the line of sight when people leave. This restaurant is well warmed by the sun, and a number of guests arrive by car (relatively unusual for Tokyo) so remembering a coat may not be a high priority.
Our paper submitted to DUX last year proposed the concept of the range of distribution to describe how far people allows allow objects to stray from their person. Range of distribution is not just about distance, but also location in relation the body such as out of the line of sight and/or out of the range of reach.
Understanding the range of distribution for objects is interesting primarily because objects that are placed out of sight are more likely to be forgotten - and objects that are forgotten are less likely to be used, and people tend to value and eventually pay for things that they use. Another non-trivial issue is that the performance of wireless devices may be affected by how far objects stray from one another - some RFID readers have a range of millimeter's, Bluetooth has a range of meters. Its not just about data transmission but can also affect battery life as devices scan to relocate one another.
Back to the restaurant cloakroom... guests are given a toy (shown in the box below) that matches the one on the hanger (photo above). When leaving the restaurant the toy acts as a reminder that the coat needs to be taken, and perhaps more obviously acts as a ticket to identify the right coat. Simple, fun and elegant very much keeping with style the restaurant itself.
Writing from Tokyo | March 8, 2006 | Comments (1) | Permalink
Things That Are Spoken
In China a number of VOIP phone, such as a phone in Beijing above, speak the cost of the call once the call is completed. Audio feedback in the context of the shop is a potentially useful feature in a number of ways: it projects to others the services that are available in store - enabling sales; the audio feedback provides an additional layer of transparency (yes - an oxymoron, indeed) since it is more difficult to inflate the cost of a call to a customer or between customers if the price is announced; the shop owner can attend to other things without having to keep an eye on the customer - the end of the call signals the need to collect payment (assuming the call is completed); and in places where illiteracy is an issue it supports users who are less equipped to comprehend the alternative visual feedback.
Examples of spoken features on mobile phones? The Nokia 1110 and 1600 targetted at emerging economies provide speaking alarm and clock functionality - the latter provided through a long key press on a dedicated button. Related research here and here.
There are of course potential drawbacks to providing audio feedback not least annoyance. But being the cultural tourist that I am, the sounds are part and parcel of being in China.
Writing from Tokyo | March 7, 2006 | Comments (2) | Permalink
Mobile Phone Kiosks
This is technically a mobile phone. But if I'm completely accurately its actually a mobile phone kiosk - part of a service offered by local entrepreneurs in Ulan Bataar.
The first time I ventured onto the street of UB I encountered an individual on the street holding what appeared to be a white landline, shifting from foot to foot in the intense cold (similar to the three ladies in the photo below). My first hunch was that they were selling used phones. As the day wore on, and more sellers were encountered it became apparent that they weren't selling phones, but rather telephony.
A number of the so-called white phone sellers offer infrastructure akin to a traditional phone kiosk to support making a call - and this ranged from a wooden stand to hold the phone to a cushioned seat. Cigarettes and chewing tobacco were also for sale. To be frank it was a little unnerving, to see a white phone customer walking along the street with the white phone seller walking along side them holding the body of the phone, the cable dangling between them. Mobile, yet tethered to one another.
MobiTel, the primary mobile carrier in Mongolia rents wireless battery powered white phones for around 100,000 Tughriks (70 Euro) for 3 years. The seller of the service must make a 10,000 Tughrik deposit to be able to make and take domestic calls from the phone, and a 100,000 Tughrik deposit is required for international calls. The price of the service for consumers fluctuates according to where the phone is located - generally the more competition the cheaper the cost.
For me this is an interesting example of a largely public service (telephony) offered by private individuals. Unlike fixed line phones, of which there appeared to be few in UB, the seller of the service is able to relocate to where there is most demand for the service. As with many street vendors - the location of a pitch once obtained is closely guarded - so there is not true mobility in the sense that anyone can conduct business anywhere without concequences, but when there is an event for example a bout at the Wrestling Palace, then the more white phone sellers can gather to offer sufficient service to an increased number of punters. Just like any other vendor be it a hot-dog stand or to stay within the Mongolian context a Mongolia Booz seller.
The major benefits of mobile phones come from being tools that offer personal, convenient, synchronous and asynchronous communication (possibly also the time and location shifting of experiences but lets save that for another day). Fixed line phone kiosks offer a degree of privacy and typically more shelter and the white phone kiosk users forsake privacy for convenience.
As more services go mobile a new challenge arises - how to notify customers that a service is offered in a particular location?
Writing from Tokyo | March 4, 2006 | Comments (0) | Permalink
Public Charging Facilities
Electricity sockets in Vancouver Airport targeted at laptop users but also widely used to charge mobile phones. Infrastructure extending the feasibility of power hungry tasks such as watching video.
More adhoc charging at Narita Airport, below.
Writing from Vancouver | March 3, 2006 | Comments (0) | Permalink
Bottlenecks
The possibilities for social proximity applications perhaps enhanced from a human bottleneck (Vancouver immigration, above). How might bottlenecks, or other group dividing or clustering behaviours be manipulated to enable applications? Who gains and who loses in these situations?
Writing from Vancouver | | Permalink
Activities That
Activities that are either illegal or considered by many to be anti-social. What are the risks and concequences of discovery? What happens to the physical (or digital) objects once the activity is complete? How are they disposed of?
The day after tomorrow you are able to carry everything you've ever watched in your pocket. Is the digital equivalent to this simply deleting anti-social or illegal content? Or is there something more?
Writing from Seattle | | Comments (1) | Permalink
Checking Out, Checking You Out
In the departure lounge of Seattle Tacoma Airport, visitors flying out of the US are supposed to 'self check-out' using a US-VISIT homeland security machine (its appearance is not dissimilar to a US style free standing ATM). Whilst it did not yet appear to be obligatory a staffer informed me that not checking out would delay my next entry into the country by 'an hour or two'.
The process for checking out is: insert a machine readable passport into the slot of the security kiosk to be read; place the left index finger on the scanner; then the right finger; then have a photo recorded by a camera. If there are no problems a receipt is produced (shown above). I didn't observe anyone else using the machine and I'm not sure exactly what happens if there is a problem.
On the surface this is a good idea - speeding up the exit and subsequent re-entry of visitors by delegating some of the leaving-authentification-task to the user and technology. Sovereign countries have the right to have set the rules for people entering and leaving their country. However the self-checkout process left me feeling uneasy. Being finger printed is still strongly associated with being arrested, nor do I trust what happens with the data once it is collected. The system itself may have inherent demographic biases, though automating the process may reduce the risk of negative profiling. Ultimately the unease was a result of being an active participant in one's own verification, for a task that so often was handled by a human. I get to steady the gun to help someone else shoot me through the leg. Of course only the guilty have something to hide - as someone who is frequently pulled aside for additional checks I'm aware of the biases of data of meeting somebody's definition of some profile. Maybe it just tiredness or may be something more?
We have a choice about where to travel. This was a productive and enjoyable trip, but first and last impressions count.
Writing from Seattle | | Permalink
(Lack of) Trust
Sticker on the cash register in a sandwich restaurant - 'If you don't get a receipt, your meal is free'.
It's likely that this restaurant chain has a problem with staff theft. A staff member sells items on the menu, the order is not run through the cash register, and the money is pocketed (stolen). Although the sign faces customers it actually meant for the staff - they know that customers might pick them up on having a receipt they are less likely to steal.
Seen another more obvious version of this at Singapore Airport - 'if you don't get a receipt please call this number...'
Update: chatted with one of the store workers - turns out that as this is a franchise the head office insists upon these stickers to avoid the manager of this store and his/her workers from not running purchases through the cash register. It's an issue of trust, but between whom?
Writing from Seattle | | Comments (3) | Permalink
Crayola
Part of the task of ordering a sandwich delegated to the consumer.
A desire to speed up the ordering process and reduce errors? Supporting people speaking english as a second language? But is a concequence of too many choices?
Writing from Seattle | March 2, 2006 | Comments (0) | Permalink
Sterile Environments
Sterilisation pad for phone handset. Some what surprising to find in the USA but similar bacteria killing tools common in Korea and to a lesser extent, China.
How much does this meet a need? And with which users will this create a need?
Writing from Seattle | | Comments (4) | Permalink
Please & Thank-you
A slightly unusual sentiment in this graffiti - someone has added 'please' and 'thank-you' to the sign above right to the ATM.
Please 'no loitering, customers only' thank-you
Writing from Seattle | | Comments (0) | Permalink
Delivery Mechanism Trade-offs
Newspaper delivery mechanism = value of what is delivered vs risk of theft vs risk of damage vs effort taken to deliver. Digital equivilents?
Writing from Seattle | | Comments (6) | Permalink
Update Cycles
Personalized parking lots, above and parking lot with corrected text, below.
Using names to personalise parking lots implies extra work to re/de-personalise them when that person leaves. But does it? Do Del and Sandy still work there? Does it matter?
Writing from Seattle | March 1, 2006 | Comments (0) | Permalink
Unlikely Solutions
Do the opposite of what I say, to correct what I say.
Writing from Seattle | | Comments (0) | Permalink
Grace Periods
Who enforces the rules? What are their motivations?
Writing from Seattle | | Comments (0) | Permalink
Urban Frames
From the backstreets of Seattle - grafitti painted over with a patchwork of colours. The destruction of graffiti becoming a street art-form in itself.
Writing from Seattle | | Comments (2) | Permalink
Accidental & Deliberate Exposure
An interesting challenge in interface design is about finding the right balance of what to present to the user when. But what happens when elements of the underlying system are exposed? In what situations could exposing the underlying system benefit users?
In what situations does the perceived exposure of the underlying system encourage particular behaviours? A topical example might include 'leaks' of new products. The email that you are guaranteed to read is the one that the author is trying to recall.
Writing from Seattle | | Permalink
Physical Phone Books
Will physical phone books still be with us in 5 years time?
Writing from Seattle | | Comments (2) | Permalink
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