« Monitored , Monitoring | Main | A Slightly More Universal Remote? »
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 | March 11, 2006 | Permalink
Comments
My question would be to what extent can visible/constant monitoring distract the user from participating in the activity being monitored? In this case, are those 2 guys really supposed to be doing something else, or are they getting paid to watch the numbers?
Glib (but possibly relevant) reply to your question: I don't wonder about the accuracy of my speedometer--as long as there is another car nearby going faster than I am, I can break the legal limit without concern. Infringement is relative. You could replace the speedometer with a two-way green/red output. Green=no problem, red=time to look for an "excuse"...
I suspect there is something simliar going on here. Is anyone interested in the difference between 68 and 70 dB? Would the fellow in the pic be staring at a similar device that merely indicated "OK", "Questionable", and "Too Loud" states?
Posted by: Andrew at March 13, 2006 2:57 AM
One guy is directs pedestrian traffic past the site, the other is a site worker. I don't think they are interested in the sound meter, which is targetted more at neighbours (there is a block of flats opposite) but it is more likely to show that the work is within legal noise limits. As with signage, it's easier to say you are within the law if there is something to point to.
I was wondering whether the machine has any memory capacity - so show noise levels over the course of the weeks that the construction occurs.
Posted by: Jan at March 13, 2006 7:49 AM
The machine itself doesn't really need memory: an ambitious developer (who was confident of staying mostly in line with sound regulations) could easily send the sound info to a website with other info and PR on the development. Nice easy auto-generated noise charts.
Posted by: Andrew at March 13, 2006 8:42 PM
OK. But for the benefit of whom?
Posted by: Jan at March 13, 2006 10:07 PM
For the benefit of:
-the aforementioned neighbors who aren't satisfied with just the realtime meter (which probably can't be seen from most of the flats anyway)
-the developer, who can show on his project web site (which all mid+ sized developments seem to have prominently displayed these days) just how socially and legally conscientious he is. Similar to public display of enviromental impact statements. This is admittedly for the more "green" developers out there...
I'm not of the "if it can be done, do it" mindset, but I do think that web-accessible information should reward deep digging for those who are so inclined. There is presumably a law, regulation, or strong social convention against excessive noise here, so why not make the measured data mineable? I still think that the realtime meter might be better as a green/yellow/red light: how many laymen know the decibel value at which they should be concerned? But display online offers more affordances.
Perhaps Nokia can better capture the industrial laborer market with a handset with a built in decibel meter... :)
Posted by: Andrew at March 14, 2006 7:56 AM