Blessed Transactions

Sep 10, 2009

A relatively new addition to Lhasa's old city urban infrastructure an ATM machine - including the red pasted duilian - effectively blessing every transaction that passes through this machine. If you're a believer of course.

To what extent are our service expectations defined and shaped by urban infrastructure such as the physical presence of ATM machines, or the more mobile brethren? And what if ATM machines were designed, not as secure portcullised windows to the bank's soul, but as spaces for two way dialog? What about in the context of financial/textual/device illiteracy? And how does the shifting of financial services to, and through mobile devices challenges the existing norms?

Kinda related: this stream on luck and this presentation on literacy.

Next time you're in Tokyo duck into a Japanese convenience store and you'll find far more two-way ATM interaction between the consumer and the service supplier, but not from a portal/ATM that faces directly onto the street.

Location:
 China »  Tibet »  Lhasa Keywords:
 ATM | blessing | Nokia Money | transactions