Accra Archives
Centralised Boxes. For Mail.
Nov 28, 2009
Central post office in downtown Accra - always interesting to understand fixed points of reference in an otherwise fluid world, and the factors that go into framing peoples perception of what those fixed points can be used for: sufficiently secure; sufficiently convenient to both parties in the exchange; cost effective; a known entity supporting standardised sizes.
Ergo, it's not actually a mail box, but rather a way of sufficiently securely/conveniently time shifting the exchange of tangible objects between two or more parties. The trends to watch in this space include: infrastructure that supports remote access - Japan leads in this respect in part driven by people working long hours and living in single occupancy apartments; the mainstream adoption of tools/mobile phones that enable remote access and notification; and new services that take advantage of the prevalent infrastructure.
Related: how location-shifting meals will make super-chefs the power-brokers of the future.
Genetically Modified Utensils
Mar 05, 2009 | 17 Comments
My London design studio colleague, Younghee using a coconut shell chip to scoop out the soft flesh, from Accra. Similar to the practice of using a folded joghurt pot lid as a scoop. What is currently the best fruit or vegetable with built-in/grown-in eating utensil?
Given our ability to (genetically) modify foods what would make the ultimate fruit/vegetable for resource efficient growing + nutrition + quality assurance + shipping + display + carrying + consumption + disposal?
What other factors should be included?
Job Opportunity: Accra
Jan 16, 2009 | 6 Comments
A heads-up on the job front : BusyLab - the well established Accra based software company that is active in the mobile service space is looking to expand their team with a talented software developer.
As many future perfect readers already realise - Africa is on the cutting edge of what's possible in mobile - and BusyLab is at the epicenter of the development in Ghana - its projects span a number of countries. More on the position here.
And related: career options here.
Motivations for Revealing/Hiding Processes
Jan 13, 2009 | 6 Comments
The mechanisms and motivations for revealing or hiding the process: a tray is handed to this Niseko kitchen assistant with no opportunity for eye contact and limited opportunity to see what goes on in the kitchen, above; and a bottle of malt is opened in front of the customer in this Accra street bar.
Grab, Clutch, Bird, Snap
Nov 19, 2007
The grab, clutch, bird and snap. Subtle local nuances are making it tricky to sense which variant of tha’ shake to use when.
By the end of the trip most of us have the snap down to a t.
A Hard, Core
Nov 19, 2007
The number of equipment fatalities this trip are mounting - a cross between a year's worth of heavy-heavy use, rough handling by ground staff, and sub-optimal conditions. The equipment left in our Buduburam studio for a week comes back with year's worth of dust. Add double-clean-up to a long list of to-dos.
The gent with fixin' skillz? That'll be our LA design studio colleague in town with a rather natty design research agenda.
Lifeguard Body Language Norms
Nov 18, 2007
At the end of the beach day, punters called out of the surf.
Apt
Nov 18, 2007
Twisted (But Not Bitter)
Nov 18, 2007
Nail Colour Norms
Nov 17, 2007
Beach services include havin' your nails done. Colour variations - compared to your culture.
Lottery Norms
Nov 17, 2007
An Accra resident scans the lottery numbers for 'lucky' combinations - above; a booth for buying lottery tickets; and the 'newspapers' that list the available options - below.
Related: the display of lottery numbers in Gulangyu China.
Tools of the Trade
Nov 17, 2007
Our ongoing evolution of how best to capture and communicate a day in the life?
Thinking for Future
Nov 17, 2007
Water Pouring / Foot Washing Norms
Nov 17, 2007
A Simple Tension
Nov 16, 2007
Service/Gender Differentiation Costs
Nov 15, 2007
The financial cost for men and women using this Accra WC are listed as 500 Ghana cedis (about 3 Euro cents) to use the urinal and 1500 cedis for use of the toilet. For males the distinction and act associated with either standing or sitting are clear. But given the uniformity of posture and the level of privacy how does the toilet attendant know whether a woman is merely saying she needs to pee to qualify for the lower rate? For any given service - to what extent can the usage of that service be accurately tracked? What is an acceptable level of tracking from a moral, legal, cultural and in this instance practical stand point?
Fast forward to a future perfect world of where, for the sake of efficiency public services such as WCs are tracked, analysed in real time, access to those services is authenticated through pseudo-anonymous identities, and where payment is driven by subscription or per use. Could this world exist? To some extent it already does in neighbourhoods with limited or no sewage such as Dharavi - where the queues in the morning are local residents using public facilities.
Going back to the question of whether it is always possible to differentiate service pricing based on gender - what are the cultural or contextual exceptions? In Iran where sitting and squatting are the government mandated positions of choice - so that you won’t (or are unlikely to) find a urinal in a male toilet. Or to flip it, the occasional use of female urinals in large public events like the Glastonbury festival.
Update: Reader Ethan kindly clarifies the following: "If you're "paying your water bill", you won't be given toilet paper, whereas you will if you are "making a deposit". The paper is carefully cut squares of newsprint, often from Chinese newspapers. Why Chinese? I have no idea, but there are corners of Makola market where the newspaper is sold in bundles, or precut into squares for this purpose."
Supporting Churn
Nov 13, 2007
Look carefully at the top left hand corner of the display to see two signal strength indicators. But why? This product has two SIM card slots in a single phone - primarily to support price sensitive/prudent consumers who wish to optimise their call costs by maintaining SIM cards from two different phone operators. As in many countries - calls to a customer using a different Ghanaian operator cost slightly more than those on the same network.
Why are you unlikely to see this product on the shelves of your local London/NYC/Tokyo operator phone store? What would motivate a service provider to make it easier for their customers to switch to a competitor? The addition of the well-known Finnish brand to the front and back covers seems like a marketing department after-thought.
Security
Nov 12, 2007
If you're passing through Accra's Kotoka Airport check out the picket fence made of straightened strips of razor wire between the domestic and international terminals - a cross between twee domestic and prison outer wall. The sign above - part of rich Ghanaian heritage of hand painted signs.
Spider vs Pirate Varient
Nov 11, 2007
“Broadcast time is 1900 minutes” and DVD-9 quality, apparently.
16 DVDs on one disk - from Pirates of the Carribbean, Spiderman & Taxi varients plus Ong Bak, Yom Yum Goong and Khon Fai Bin. 50 Euro cents.
Packaging as Utensil
Nov 10, 2007
Razor - utilizing from the packaging of the blade.
Sharp. Bloody.
Three Days In
Nov 10, 2007
It’s been three days since the bulk of the team touched down in Accra. Day+ travel times take their toll and we’re relieved to sail through immigration and customs. It’s not always so smooth - our two pelican cases stuffed with recording equipment tend to attract attention and we know exactly how long it takes to double check the serial numbers of each and every item. The closer we are to a shower and a cold beer the bigger the multiplier.
For some of the team - it’s their first time in Africa. We’re all new to Ghana. The first time someone arrives in a continent they often refer to the continent name, and not that of the country. Even on this global study we need to be thinking at the level of the city, community, family and individual. Plenty of time for abstraction later.
Three clocks hang over the reception - displaying the time for Europe, Ghana and America. Someone unilaterally decided to standardize the time zone for two continents. Is this just another form of asymmetric warfare?
The rooster outside my window has been going at it since 4am. Somewhere along the corridor a team member stirs, time to start the working day.
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