Indeed
Solicitor's office, London.
Writing from Tokyo | April 11, 2007 | Permalink
Predictability, Margins of Error, Quality of Life
Think about your daily commute - how accurately can you predict your time of arrival? To the minute? 5 minutes? Within an hour? And in what ways does being able to accurately predict where you will be when effect you and the people around you?
After graduating from college I lived for a number of years in Stoke Newington - a Williamsburgesque neighbourhood in north London made marginally more affordable by not being connected to the Underground network. Transport into central London meant getting on a bike or catching one of the iconic 73 Routemaster busses, with public transport putting the traveler at the mercy of road works and the then frequent IRA bomb scares*. A journey into town might take 35 minutes or then again an hour.
*For a number of years millions of UK citizens were affected IRA transport disruptions and in turn were forced to think about what their government was doing on their behalf outside the cosy confines of the ‘mainland’. In its own little way, changing the predictability of the daily commute bought the war in Northern Ireland home. Flyers in the US may well be experiences a similar pause for thought every time they take their shoes off going through TSA security.
Commuter travel in Tokyo is a very different story - public transport is both frequent and arrives on time (not that I'm unduly affected by it - its a city that is easy to get around on a bicycle). If a train is more than a couple of minutes late Japan Rail issues an apology and on arrival at the destination a queue may form at the station-master’s office to pick up an official late-note. Blaming public transport is not a viable excuse in Tokyo. Predictability encourages just-in-time behaviours and frees up time that can then be put to other uses. The flip side of this - not knowing the time of arrival puts the onus on travelers to maintain awareness of their current surroundings, keep abreast of the ongoing status of the transport as well as juggle destination related parameters - such as keeping colleagues or clients abreast of arrival times. If you have a job where being on time is a necessary component of functioning effectively then the ability to accurately predict where you will be when is also valued. Its a simple proposition - people tend to be willing to pay for stuff they value.
And yes the ability to successfully move millions of passengers, as in the photo of the Tokyo rush hour above, increases the flow of people to the point is literally and figuratively swept along by the crowd.
We are of course in the midst of significant shifts in the way we perceive time, location, and the world around us. Real time status updates are available from an ever wider variety of sources whether its knowing when a bus will arrive to parcel being delivered and yes, the mobile phone is playing an expanding role in supporting both micro-coordination and maintaining awareness of those things we, well, wish to maintain awareness of. Lateness is increasingly relative - when the people and things we coordinate with have sufficient awareness of your whereabouts they are more likely to mitigate the consequences of lateness by using the time for other valued pursuits. For some the concept of being late or early is a twentieth century notion.
But technology is far from neutral and affects us in different ways (the photo above is of a gender segregated queue for a bus in Tehran). What are the implications for being ‘late’ in business or social contexts? Or, bearing in mind societal stereotypes for way finding or map reading - what does it mean if as a woman you turn up late for a meeting compared to a man? Employers or employees? Brazilians or Germans? In the near near future your geo-location is just another parameter to decide to share with others.
Or at least that's the theory. Because many consumers won't fully appreciate what about their location is being shared and with whom - hidden behind deliberately opaque business models or poorly designed interfaces. Or quite simply they won't have a choice about whether to use the technology or not. Which is where the astute and empathic designer comes in - you have the power and with power comes responsibility.
Been playing around with Dopplr these past few days and whilst its too early to judge whether it will become a valued tool for the long distance traveler the signs are there: it requires minimal setup and ongoing maintenance to derive real value, and has a pleasantly neutral weather-forecast approach to informing members who is roughly where and when.
And why these photos from train stations around the world? The photo above is from Seoul Station taken during a study on Mobile TV early adopters [related essay]. Would-be passengers are relaxed and watching a sports event, trains and departure platforms have been announced well in advance of departure so they can switch their attention to other more leisurely activities. The photo below is of passengers in London's Waterloo Station, with only five minutes before the train is scheduled departure the platform has yet to be announced and fellow passengers spend their time intently staring at the screens.
Any (service) design students out there looking for a thesis project? Design a service utilizing mobile devices that helps passengers know where to be when. What would a station or an airport look like if everyone maintained an absolute awareness of their here-now, and there-next?
Writing from Heathrow | April 5, 2007 | Permalink
Gaps Minded
The same message targetted at passengers standing on the platform and those disembarking from the train. Given the semi-random scattering of passengers on a platform versus the limited number of doors on a train there should be more messages facing the train - there were however equal numbers facing both directions.
The role of technology in supporting the delivery of micro-targetted messages. The contexts in which it is likely to be ineffective.
In Helsinki this week - a welcome opportunity to deliver projects, share ideas, fill in the gaps and plan strategies. And the best part? talking though research topics with the team; and figuring out the most appropriate places in the world to conduct the research. Time for something a little more challenging.
Writing from London | April 4, 2007 | Comments (0) | Permalink
Jarring Intrusions
When advertising makes its way into spaces that you'd rather it stays out of.
Like? Like the advertising for mobile phones on the hangers of London's Bond International.
Writing from Hoxton | April 3, 2007 | Permalink
Lions Den
After seven years of living in Tokyo its the first time in the UK that I'm only seeing my home land through the eyes of a stranger - perhaps a side effect of hotel living and mentally not having the opportunity to unpack.
Yesterday evening's office is the Dunhill Den, a post-nostalgic best of British if there is such as thing. An hour to kip on an expansive leather sofa before the arrival of guests a welcome opportunity to delay the onset of the side-effects of permalag. But lions den? Ah, an evening spent in the company of the fouth estate - though in truth more inquisitive cats than lions. Design research communicated, challenged, surviving both jetlag and a mauling. Close to midlnight the assembled disassemble and when everyone is ready to doze off my body tells me its time to wake up.
Breakfast is a 5am walk through the City of London, introducing a Korean colleague the delights of a bacon butty.
Writing from London | March 30, 2007 | Permalink
You Are. Are You?
Writing from City of London | | Permalink
Anti-Social By-Products of Use
The anti social cost of free-papers? - they are more likely to end up littering the streets. Another example of cost, perceived cost affecting usage behaviour.
Writing from London | March 28, 2007 | Permalink
Positioning and Support for Asychronous Communication
Office entrance, Mayfair.
Not the liveliest of neighbourhoods if you're jetlagged at 4am .
Writing from London | | Permalink
Infrastructure, Discoverability & Speed of Adoption
At what point does infrastructure become, well, infrastructure - the stuff you can rely on being out there?
Would you buy an electric driven vehicle when there are only a few public recharging points scattered around your regular stomping ground? To what extent do technologies such as personal access to accurate location positioning and real-time status updates mitigate the need for blanket coverage of infrastructure such as this Elektrobay charging poing in London's Covent Garden? (This charging point is aimed at council workers not the general public so the argument is moot in this exact context).
Knowing a charging point's location, availability, quality and cost can go some way to support early adopters. Being able to reserve it ahead of time takes some risk out of the process - though it could introduce a hedge market for access to that particular power stand. Value added? Self driving vehicles that hook themselves up to the nearest power source will remove the end user hassle of having to remember (in the same way that in the domestic context keeping personal devices charged and otherwise maintained is something that can be delegated to autonamous machines).
And yes you could argue that to maintain a higher degree of consumer environmental awareness you don't want to make the re-charging process seamless. Will we see the fuel equivilent of warning signs on cigarette packets?
Writing from London | February 5, 2007 | Permalink
Perceived Ownership of Rentable Spaces
Digital equivalents?
Writing from London | February 3, 2007 | 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
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
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 | February 20, 2006 | Comments (0) | 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
Urban Interfaces
London, above.
Tokyo, below.
Writing from Tokyo | February 16, 2006 | Comments (0) | 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 | February 13, 2006 | 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
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 | | 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 | | Comments (0) | Permalink
Phone Recharging
Public phone recharging in London - with an emphasis on security.
Writing from London | | Comments (2) | 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
Extreme Customisation
Writing from London | | Permalink
Status Indicators
Writing from London | | Comments (0) | 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 | | Comments (0) | 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
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
Linked In
This photo of Banksy graffiti was taken last week close to the Hackney Road in Bethnal Green, London. During the most recent round of bombs attacks in London one of the bombers left the rucksack containing a bomb on the number 26 bus. Tenuous link to this picture, no?
I was suprised at the amount of people who have said they were close to, or at or on one of the routes taken by the bombers, displaced by time and/or location by some degree. The relative success of terrorism to affect or frighten people is enhanced by peoples ability to assume 'it could have been me', rather than other factors such as sympathy for the victims.
People will increasingly have the ability to track where they have been. Currently on mobile phones this can easily be done through base station triangulation or through GPS. In the future the granularity of information available to users will be enhanced by everyday interactions such as a log of purchases made with their phone (already available through Sony Edy here in Japan) or downloads from nearby content servers. Combined with increased tracking and sensors means that we will assumedly we will be able to trace the route of either the terrorists, or the packages they are carrying after the event. Will the ability to compare your route with that of a bomb and bombers magnify or reduce the affect of terrorists acts?
Writing from Hackney | July 28, 2005 | Permalink
Mobile Free Zones
The way technology is used changes spaces. Ever walked into a coffee shop where the tapping of laptop keyboards outweighed chatter? What what the atmostphere like?
Signs banning mobile phone put up by staff at the delectable Monmouth Coffee shop in Covent Garden. Where else have you seen signs like these?
Writing from London | July 16, 2005 | Comments (2) | Permalink
Conversion
Public phone box in London's Earls Court converted to accommodate an ATM.
British Telecom has been fairly pro-active about finding alternative uses for its high-street public infrastructure. Whilst the rise of mobile phones means there is less demand for public phones the physical structure of the phone box still provides users with shelter, privacy and dampens street noise. And it saves other people from the torture of listening to one side of a conversation.
Should mobile phone carriers/manufacturers be paying for public infrastructure to support mobile phone use? Do they already?
Writing from London | May 17, 2005 | Permalink
Emailing From Public Terminals
Public email kiosks + free email accounts =
This has evolved very quickly. Photo from London's Victoria station.
Writing from London | May 11, 2005 | Comments (2) | Permalink
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