Jan Chipchase - Future Perfect: Lhasa Archives

April 22, 2006

Unlikely Symbols of Power

Pilgrims on their circuit of the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa walking past an innocent looking plastic table.

Why a symbol of power? This is where the police sit.

Posted by Jan at 12:09 PM | Comments (0)

April 19, 2006

Coping With Shared Use

Shop owner in South Delhi limits employee access to his land line phone. Similar solution used at a security checkpoint in Lhasa.

For devices that are shared, hold private information and can incur costs for use, like um, mobile phones how to restict access to features?

Posted by Jan at 08:47 PM | Comments (0)

March 18, 2006

Unexpecting the Expected

Close to midnight, after giving up on me being a customer, 3 rick-shaw drivers are fine to just hang out around Barkhor Square, Lhasa, chat about the day's events and and smoke heavy chinese cigarettes. Somewhere a phone rings and one driver unexpectedly pulls a Razr phone out of his trouser pocket and takes a call from his wife.

It was the middle of winter and there were relatively few passengers. The cost of this device related to his income? My perceived cost vs. his actual cost. A practical design choice in his line of work? Does it matter?

Posted by Jan at 08:15 PM | Comments (0)

December 28, 2005

Snap Shot Photo Studios

One thing to spare a little time for during user studies is visiting the neighbourhood photo studio. I rarely go to have a photos taken but the space offers insights into local cultural norms and in some areas - adoption of technologies. Some studios, especially those which offer 'print club' photo stickers are adorned with photos of customers and give a pleasant sense of the volume of people, time passing and personal preferences. Most urban spaces have somewhere where locals, with the help of a studio assistant can create then pose for a scene which is then documented. But why pose in front of a painted canvas of the Potala Palace, when the original is just around the corner? Why pose in front of a beach scene?

With the tools to capture rich experiences be they photos, audio, video, location data, whaterver, in the hands of more and more individuals what value added do studios offer?

Star Shot photo studios in Seoul are a good example of value added services. Geared up to making the punter look very much the star - the results typically involve over-saturated colours, heavily patterns backdrops, the removal of any blemishes, and a fine haze of soft focus - in other words your typical magazine star treatment.

Photos above from Lhasa whilst photo below is from New Orleans, mostly gay and lesbian night club. For 8 US dollars (6+ Euro) or whatever the clubbers could negociate - and they did try to negociate. Photos printed on a mobile (HP) photo printer. The spray painted sheet includes a tombstone with the engraving 'Chronic - get high, take a ride, then die".

This temporary studio tucked inside the entrance of the club was moderately busy, and run by a real gent.

Photos taken from street and club research during 2005.

Update: You may also enjoy [correction] these photos from a studio in Tibet and others by the same gentleman.

Posted by Jan at 08:21 PM | Comments (3)

December 22, 2005

Unexpected Behaviours

Cycling in Chinese cities I was frequently surprised by electric bicyles - the driver seated often with feet resting on pedals, but not pedalling, nor the sound of a motor, yet faster, silently and effortlessly drifting by.

What makes a bicycle a bicycle? Or a motorbike a motorbike? At what point do objects outgrow their original names? To what extent are new features, or the way we use an object constrained by its legacy features, expectations of how it should be used?

Posted by Jan at 11:49 PM | Comments (0)

Scale of Repair Cultures

Formal and highly organised mobile phone repair culture in Chengdu, above and more disorganised and smaller scale TV and other electronics repair in Lhasa below. What are the pre-requisites for informal repair cultures? What are the repair volumes for TVs vs mobile phones? Diversity of stocks? Size of components?

Posted by Jan at 11:38 PM | Comments (0)

December 16, 2005

Oversight

Internet cafe appears to be used for online gaming 99% of the time, 1% for communication related tasks.

Posted by Jan at 11:25 PM

Protector

Shoe polisher's customer's sock protected by card board.

Posted by Jan at 09:17 PM | Comments (0)

Solar Heaters

First time I laid eyes on one of these from a passing vehicle thought it was some kind of satellite dish. Can be found dotted around Lhasa. Heats the water, but not hot enough to boil water. A small handle underneath the dish allows the user to adjust the angle of the dish.

Can the infrastructure be put to other uses?

Posted by Jan at 01:23 PM | Comments (1)

Communicating That Features Are Disabled

Security gate at entrance of gated community somewhere along Beijing Xin Lu. Calling out feature temporarily disabled through use of a metal box. Whilst it is possible to disable the calling out feature using software this solutions is easy to understand, can be adapted without referring to an authority, doesn't require literacy, and also sends a signal to people in proximity that a feature is not available.

Under what circumstances would a physical mobile phone lock/chastity belt be valid? Apart from disabling calling out, what other features would benefit from this kind of physical solution?

Posted by Jan at 01:17 PM | Comments (0)

Net Presence

It's 10am and I'm today's first arrival in this internet cafe. It is however far from empty - half a dozen bodies are slumped dozing into red armchairs covered by blankets, and another half-dozen are still online half-heartedly playing a first person shooter - these are the remnants of last nights online gaming session. The place smells like an ashtray and somewhere a toilet has overflowed.

Posted by Jan at 12:49 PM | Comments (0)

Very Worn

Posted by Jan at 12:10 PM | Comments (0)

Brand Ownership

Most common 'faked' branded jackets in Lhasa were: Ecko (by a wide margin), North Face and Mountain Hardware. Beanies with Nike logos were omnipresent and its costs the same or more to by one without any logo on. It would makes sense if the logo subsidised the cost of the garment.

Posted by Jan at 11:06 AM | Comments (0)

December 15, 2005

What Is Communicated

A comment book in a cafe popular with back-packers.

Most of the entries are written in Japanese, with a smattering of English, Korean, Polish and French. Is it that Japanese are more inclined to write comments, or is it an accurate reflection of the cultural background of the visitors to this place? The entries detail places to visit, stay, travel tips 'the guides tend to under-estimate the travel times for fear of frightening you off', and occasionally longer posts about the how Tibetan culture is changing over time.

According to the cover this is their fourth book.