Copycat Behaviours
Copycat behaviour of two friends riding the Xiamen to Gyulangyu Island ferry.
To what extent are our own behaviours rooted by the behaviour of our peers? Or, bearing in mind they are not all equal, to what extent are our behaviours rooted by the behaviour of strangers?
Writing from Tokyo | July 27, 2006 | Permalink
Copycat Behaviours
Futons aired on only one floor of a housing estate in Higashi Yama, below.
For the Tokyophiles amongst you Higashi Yama is an interesting mix of Japanese social, company and private apartment blocks in area that is somewhat of a no-mans-land. Distinctly and pleasantly different.
Writing from Higashi Yama | June 10, 2006 | Comments (2) | Permalink
Feedback Loop
When you walk into a bank how do you know which teller will offer the best service?
Device for obtaining feedback from customers spotted in the Gulangyu branch of the Bank of China. Once the transaction is complete the customer selects satisfactory, average or dissatisfied, and the number of stars updates to reflect the service level.
Putting aside the issue of how the number of stars is calculated, how does a high or low number of stars affect how the quality of service is perceived? If the only option when you walk in the bank is a teller with 2 stars what are your service expectations? And armed with this knowledge how does it affect how the bank calculates the number of stars?
Whilst this system is crude, in situations where service is poor it provides a simple mechanism to let customers voice their anger (the customers in this branch were however, pleasantly vocal in providing negative feedback). I'd expect to find this kind of up-front feedback mechanism in a culture where people are less likely to want to be seen to be angry or losing face. Japan could be such a culture but in five years its almost impossible to think of an example of bad service in five years of being here.
Writing from Tokyo | June 1, 2006 | Permalink
Pay-As-You-Go
Interesting to see mainstream PC software adopt the pay-as-you-go model.
What people are able and willing to pay for. Why does it not cost money every time you access your phone's address book? Or switch the phone on? Or for that matter to switch your phone off?
Writing from Fujian Province, Lost in | May 22, 2006 | Permalink
Advertising Touch
Ferry commuters support themselves by grabbing ceiling mounted handles. If the body beomes a network capable of sending and receiving data, will we need to be more selective about what we touch? Will gloves be sold on their data blocking properties - a firewall or woolwall?
In contexts where information flows to and from the body network, who will want to de-stabilise a user's balance to trigger tactile interaction? In the case of advertising what form of interaction counts as opting-in? If the handle design included small displays rather than the current paper adverts, how might the information on the handle display change according to who is holding it?
Writing from Hukeng | May 21, 2006 | Permalink
Motivations For Failure
A public call box and private IP telephone kiosk in close proximity.
Which customers would have a preference to use which service? How do the services differ? Are there any postive effects for one another from them being so close together? Whilst the owner of this shop has not damaged the kiosk (below) the phone simply isn't installed yet, does the IP kiosk receive more business if the public infrastructure be vandalised?
Writing from Gulangyu Island | May 19, 2006 | Permalink
Blended
Writing from Gulangyu Island | | Permalink
Waiting For the Storm (To Pass)
What role can stories play in selling research? Not just to communicate the results but to stir interest the methods, the personalities, the stories behind the data. I have an Indian colleague who rides around rural India on his Enfield motorbike collecting field data. I know when I get his email I'll learn something new, and in part I can appreciate his effort in getting out there.
Today's story is of the research team riding out a typhoon sitting in the guesthouse on an island in the South China Sea - mopping up streams of water that made it through the blinds and mosquito nets. Telephone coversations accompanied to the sound of broken glass communicate enough of the details themselves, though from recent experience earthquakes require a running commentary to make sense (we had an unusually long day-time quake in Tokyo recently). But for tonight I'm not yet sure how this story ends - its still being written. Time to waterproof the camera and play around outside.
And the photo above? A flash picking up a moment in the life of a rain drop taken on the rather blustery guesthouse roof. A chance to try new stuff whilst waiting for the storm to pass.
Writing from Xiamen | May 17, 2006 | Permalink
Apartment, Typhoon
An advertisement close to Xiamen University (below) for an apartment with 2 bedrooms, kitchen and washroom space for1500 RMB (150 Euro) a month. I've not managed to get a photo of it yet but looking at the larger apartment blocks you know what apartment is for rent because a large banner with a phone number is draped over the balcony. The presence of the banner is enough to know the basic service that is offered (an apartment being rented), and the location of the apartment, the background colour indicates the company doing the renting, and the telephone number provides the contact information. The whose thing is stands out from the road below.
It's a simple, direct, highly efficient form of advertising with limited downsides: the banner is a micro eyesore; and in cultures where squatting is common (not sure if China applies) and seen as a problem it identifies the exact apartment that can be squatted.
Meanwhile we've spending then next two days on data analysis. Outside its already raining heavily and getting heavier - there's a chance that Typhoon Chanchu will hit our island. If it changes direction to Taiwan, we're in its path. Update: more info here.
Writing from Gulangyu Island | | Permalink
How A Poster Gets From Here To There
On the theme of trains a poster in a dis-used shop in Shanghai (above) and a noticeboard in a back alley in Gulangyu Island (below). The gentleman figured in the picture is wanted in connection with planning train station bombings in China.
For all our assumptions about 24/7 connectivity how to reach the people who either prefer to spend time offline or don't have online access? At what stage does information swtich from digital to physical? And who does the conversion?
Writing from Gulangyu Island | May 15, 2006 | Permalink
Office Hours, Sounds and Daily Rhythm
This week's office is a weathered 1930's guesthouse on a Gulangyu Island situated off the coast of the South China. Sail a junk south west and you'ed soon arrive in Hong Kong. Taiwan is literally across the straits and the city Xiamen, where most of the field research is taking place, a mere five minutes commute by ferry. It takes 10 minutes to walk from the guesthouse through the maze of high walled back alleys that criss-cross Gulangyu Island to get to the ferry docks. The general ambience of the island is tropical colonial splendor let to stew in the sea air for a good few years and the villas and mansions that dot the island are in need of some serious maintainence. 75 years ago this was the foriegn enclave and in that respect its kind of fitting that its now our home and office base.
The guesthouse is spread over three stories and has sufficient space to accommodate the 5-strong research team, two live-in residents and a Chinese housekeeper. I'm occupying one of the two bedrooms on the top floor, typing this sitting in a mosquito netted four poster Chinese double bed. The room's furniture is much like the rest of the house - tiled floors, lots of dark wood, and a thread of red running through the blankets, blinds and many of the posters. Outside my door lies an expansive balcony with views over a large school, neighbouring villas and in the distance across the sea, Xiamen. The rainy season which was due to hit last week seems to have passed us by, though Tokyo seems to be getting its fair share this week.
Despite getting up at 5am this morning, I suspect I was not the earliest riser. Colleagues have travelled from very different time zones and I doubt their body clock's have properly recalibrated. Based on the last few days I'd guess in my absence that: by 6 am the birdsong would be in full swing; by 7:30 the the workmen renovating the massive and run down mansion next door would start drifting into work (though they are polite enough to avoid using the power tools until later; by 8 breakfast will be served on the balcony by the housekeeper - the event of which will coincide with an alarm clock sounding in the next room; by 8:30 am the next-door school would broadcast a jingle signaling to students that the morning exercise were about to start, the students then line up on the playing field and start to perform leg shakes, arm rotations and body twists to the sound of annotated music - a Chinese equivilent to swing-two-three-four, bend-two-three-four; and that during the rest of the day the rhythm of the school (or possibly the piano museum which is reputedly nearby) is signaled with short bursts of pre-recorded piano. The frequency and nature of the broadcast alert reminds me of home: the 5 o'clock alarm sounded at a factory somewhere near the apartment in Sakura Shin Machi; and the rhythm of three minutes of workout and one minute's rest at the kick-boxing dojo in Daikanyama.
But for now, enough with the writing, time to get some rest before the afternoon shift starts.
Writing from Gulangyu Island | May 13, 2006 | Permalink
A Very Simple Question
A little busy this week in Xiamen on a field study, so over to you to answer the friday pop-quiz.
Despite him being so open, friendly and photogenic why did I not interview him?
All the clues are in the photo, and the answer in the comments.
Writing from Gulangyu Island | May 12, 2006 | Comments (8) | Permalink
CCTV to Print
A local entrepreneur has hacked close circuit T.V. equipment to capture poor quality photos which are then printed and laminated. The prevalance of cheap used printing equipment and the means to grey-market refill ink cartridges supports this kind of micro-service.
Discussion about CCTV in China can get confusing - CCTV is state run television.
Writing from Gulangyu Island | | Permalink
Prior Winners in Chinese Lottery
Lady sits in front of winning numbers from previous lotteries - offering a value added service to compliment the sale of lottery tickets and another example of prior results influencing or 'predicting' future purchasing behaviours.
Is this a prime candidate for delivery over a mobile device? Or are there important aspects of this service that cannot be replicated on a mobile device user interface?
Writing from Gulangyu Island | | Permalink
Preparing For Next Use
The process by which objects are cleaned and prepared for next use or next user.
Whether its plates being washed up and set on a draining board or dust bins emptied, placed on the ground and surrounded by anti-bug powder (above) or a removeable hard disk being securely wiped. To what extent is the act of preparing driven by practical or social needs?
Gulangyu Island seems to have a inordinate amount of ants, frogs and cats.
Writing from Gulangyu Island | May 11, 2006 | Permalink
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