United Kingdom Archives
Consequences of Actions
Apr 30, 2008
The obese kid says "Stay away from sweets", muralled atop of our Soho design studio vending machine. (Given the high volume of decent food joints within a sharpies throw of the studio and the disproportionate number of colleagues cycling to work I can't see a huge amount of vending action happening).
"No Dumping - only water down the drain" in San Francisco, below.
For every (potentially harmful) action, the mechanism through which the consequences of actions occur. The ability to introduce more reflective moments into the design process. And the the future perfect of consequences.
Kstm Designer Laptop
Apr 30, 2008
This designer specifically. Yeah, his other one's a thin slice of fruit.
Sign of the Economy/Economy of the Sign
Apr 30, 2008
From the corridors of power.
English Caff Condiment Norms
Apr 29, 2008
Today's office starts early ends late.
When we walk in at half five in the morning - the only other punters are a couple of road sweepers their hands wrapped around hot and heavily sugared tea. Our orders arrive - my Korean eating companion being introduced to the culinary tomfoolery of bubble and squeak, and we spend the next 90 minutes working through breakfast and a presentation that in an perfect parallel universe would have been finished days ago. A few hours from now we'll be standing and delivering to 6-score journalists from around the world, invited to a 'behind the scenes look at our new London design studio. No pressure then.
It occurs to me that time travel is made for moments like this to either rewind back a day or two and work on the presentation or fast forward to the muted post-delivery applause.
Bringing work conversations into this place of full-English worship is passable when most of the seats are empty, but grows increasingly unacceptable to this author as the tables fill. That's not strictly true - its not the conversation that's an issue as much as the presence of an opened laptop.
I'm reminded of an interview with a cafe manager in Brighton who talked about the different ways that laptop wielding customers would be 'encouraged' to leave - through repeated cleaning of the table around the customer, asking whether they wanted to order anything else, then under the customer's plate, then (jokingly) that he would clean the table with bleach. From tutting to bleaching. Part of the issue with laptops being perceived as anti-social is that it is a black box - you could be engaged in a task that takes 5 minutes or 5 hours, an uncertainty that creates tension. What is it that makes using a mobile phone or reading a newspaper acceptable, but using a laptop not?
Back out on the street we realise we have no idea where our new London design studio is. In the rain and in a hurry is not the time to piss around with a newly installed map application. The GPS equipped phone is parked in the back pocket and we ask a friendly cabbie for directions.
Some days are bigger than others, apparently.
Luckily we both pack a decent supply of adrenaline.
Today's Office
Apr 08, 2008
Today's office will last a good eight hours longer than normal so I'm settling in for the long haul. Seat 6F on United 955 to San Francisco to be precise.
A presentation on Street Hacks to sort through, an opportunity to reflect on the pleasantly tactile Remade. And until airlines start subsidising ticket prices with in-flight cellular coverage - no interruptions from people talking on their mobiles. There are (at least) two ways to make money from mobile phones on planes: charge an arm and a leg for connectivity; charge a premium for customers wanting to be out of listening range of anyone with cellular connectivity. What price sanity? Especially in the veritable goulash of cultural mobile phone usage norms that is a transatlantic flight.
A body that hasn't yet arrived in London, a mind that's trying to work through a half-week to be spent in the valley (Silicon not San Fernando), and a heart recalibrating the quickest route home to Tokyo. See you on the other side.
A Girl, Played
Apr 08, 2008
Donation, Trust
Apr 08, 2008
The extent that the format of what is donated affects the level of trust that the donation will reach the intended recipient. Given the traceability of the owner and the routes traveled by this Oyster travel-card - whether the donation is anonymous? From Liverpool Street Station above, and as a comparison from the streets of Tehran, below, with the future perfect of donations discussed here.
Due Warning
Apr 08, 2008
From outside the offices of W&K, London, purveyors of creativity.
Yeah, a. brief. stopover in London.
In the Name of the/a Father
Jan 12, 2008
What is revealed with new and widespread access to more granular data?
Guardian article about twins separated at birth, put up for adoption, who meet later in life unaware of their biological origins and marry. The money quote from Dr Allan Pacey, secretary of the British Fertility Society at the University of Sheffield "about 3.5% of children are not their father's children, with the number rising to as much as 20% in socio-economically deprived areas."
With a rise in DNA testing - the increased likelihood that the paternally misled will discover their biological origins. The extent that increased awareness challenges/re-enforces social norms such as monogamy, marriage. The extent that the increased awareness affects males (who have taken it for granted they are the paternal father) vs females (who have an inkling that it might be otherwise). Extrapolate a generation's access to this data. Start backdating.
Speed of Change
Jan 10, 2008
For any thing associated with a spatial position, how to notify users/customers of a new location? In a world of rapidly duplicable products (think 3D copiers) and services the ability to redirect to multiple new locations. In a world where time is a negotiable variable, the ability to redirect to different moments in time.
Clustering, Sorting, Obscuring
Sep 03, 2007
The extent that humans cluster objects below a certain size and of a similar purpose; the means of personalisation. Given that these are house keys and this is in the UK where breaking and entering is not uncommon - to what extent will the owner want to disguise which key belongs to which property? Move all this over into the digital domain where links are that much more apparent - how will the owner of the keys create sufficiently obscure references that mentally link the key with the corresponding key hole?
Related: personal cultural radar.
Acceptable Boundaries of Change
Sep 03, 2007
How does our appreciation and the 'value' of colour coordination change when objects and surfaces that can change colour, shape or texture? In what contexts will the door owner wish to maintain a blue door? What are the advantages to temporarily changing it to something else? Given the role of shapes and colours in helping us orientate the world around us, to what extent will extreme shifts in either be governed by local laws? How will the scale of acceptable shifts differ according the culture? Or neighbourhood? This is door is located in the North Laines Conservation Area - with its own rules for acceptable changes.
Related: cultural sense of scale from the security guard strike in South Africa.
Behaviours Encouraging Behaviours
Sep 02, 2007
Related: the future of reflective toilet moments in Tokyo; supporting different modes of use in Taipei and the consequences of walking through the wrong toilet door in Iran.
Sshit
Sep 02, 2007
Yes It Is
Sep 01, 2007
What is in the Carton
Aug 28, 2007
So many hotels fail to get the basics right. Like? A minibar that contains fresh milk, the room includes a decent sized mug and a tea you might actually want to brew. Ta HH.
Cultural equivalents?
Ah, time to catch the city waking up.
What is Says on the Box
Aug 28, 2007
The level of vandalism in London has reached truly shocking proportions.
Indeed
Apr 11, 2007
Context is Everything
Apr 06, 2007 
A skate shop ad sticker using the b-word. The context? Heathrow's terminal 1.
Signs warning against bomb-related jokes can be found in a number of airports, LAX springs to mind. When does placing a advertisement become an arrestable 'act of terror'?
And taken to the nth degree by WK Interactive, and now viewable in Neo-Tokyo (ta David).
Predictability, Margins of Error, Quality of Life
Apr 05, 2007
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?
Gaps Minded
Apr 04, 2007
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.
Jarring Intrusions
Apr 03, 2007
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.
Lions Den
Mar 30, 2007
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.
You Are. Are You?
Mar 30, 2007
Anti-Social By-Products of Use
Mar 28, 2007
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.
Positioning and Support for Asychronous Communication
Mar 28, 2007
Office entrance, Mayfair.
Not the liveliest of neighbourhoods if you're jetlagged at 4am .
Phone Box Advertising Norms
Mar 28, 2007
The visual richness of escort service advertising in this London Mayfair phone booth above, and the more text based equivilent in Sao Paolo below. And the complete absence of escort ads in Bangkok - bottom photo.
Why interesting? The richness and cost to produce the advertising; the degree to which it can be (re)moved by potential customers and/or cleaners; the position of the advertising within the phone booth itself; the social acceptability (or otherwise) of using soft-core pornography in a public space; the legal status of prostitution in the society and the fact that illicit advertising is deemed necessary in the first place.
The keen eyed amongst you will no-doubt be chuckling to the appropriate nature of text in the Mastercard advertising in the top photo. Click to, enlarge.
Infrastructure, Discoverability & Speed of Adoption
Feb 05, 2007
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?
Perceived Ownership of Rentable Spaces
Feb 03, 2007
Digital equivalents?
Continuity
Feb 02, 2007
Granularlity, Accuracy, Timing of Delivery of Data
Feb 01, 2007
Complimentary hotel newspaper adorned with weather forecast sticker.
Backwards, Looking Forwards
Feb 01, 2007
Three days of workshops with people who specialise in topics I don't - always a rich opportunity for learning. The discussions? The world 20 years from now. The setting? A 16th century mansion in Egham.
To what extent can being surrounded by 'the past' provide direction to thoughts about the future? And given the richness of experiences we are able to capture now, to what extent will future-guessing workshops 400 years from now rely on immersed 'past experiences'?
Micro Breaks, Macro Breaks
Apr 19, 2006 | 1 Comment
A security guard settling into another hour seated in front of a closed store in South Delhi (above), motorcyclist checking text messages whilst smoking a cigarette in Tokyo (below) and a bus stop indicating how long before the next bus arrives, Brighton (end photo).
Micro and macro breaks are the time we have between defined tasks: waiting for a bus to arrive; for a traffic light to change; for friends to turn up; to smoke a cigarette (assuming the act of smoking is not seen as a primary task). If you design mobile devices, applications or services you should be interested in micro and macro breaks - as a commonly carried mobile essential there is a fair chance that the mobile phone will be used during that break.
Not all all breaks are equal: some are planned, some not; the ability to predict how long a break will last affects how the time is used and whether tasks are started; some we have degree of control over how long they last; and the contexts in which breaks occur can vary considerably - just think of the range of situations you find yourself in.
What are the characteristics of micro or macro breaks? How do they differ between cultures? For that matter, how does the pace of life, the perception of time and how it 'should' be filled differ between cultures? How long do these breaks last compared the time it takes to complete a task such as sending a text message, locating information on a mobile web site or to go to a more topical application - tuning into signal for a mobile TV station?
And why the bus stop? Quite simply - knowing when the break will finish affects what tasks will be started.
Don't Do As I Do
Mar 19, 2006
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?
Notice, Notification
Mar 16, 2006 | 2 Comments
Discouraging the anti-social behaviours of dog owners through actions that many other people would consider anti-social, even if it involves graffiting one's own wall. The close proximity of the words to where the dog-defecation takes place is a nice touch and shows the effort of the writer.
Signage typically includes information about the authority of the sign-poster e.g. 'the park is locked after 6pm' 'by order of the mayor of Brighton'. Who has what 'right' to post what infrormation where? By whose social/legal/moral authority? How is this information perceived by the signage readers? (How) are behaviours affected? And how can affects be multiplied through other factors - such as the presense of a remote control camera?
How Real-Time is Real-Time?
Feb 27, 2006 | 6 Comments
Bus stop in Brighton, showing the time it will take for the number 1 bus to Whitehawk - 45 minutes.
Knowing how long something will take can make the time passing shorter not least because it allows a person to focus attention on other activities - reading a magazine, watching Mobile TV or text messaging for example. But just how accurate is this information? Time estimates can vary considerably according to different traffic conditions so the amount of time a bus takes to arrive may rise as well as fall.
What granularity of information is sufficient to be useful? Just how real-time does real-time need to be?
Used > Mail Out > Re-Use
Feb 23, 2006 | 11 Comments
At home nursing a rather nasty head cold today but at least managed to catch up on some reading.
In the spirit of recycling and re-use I'll ship this copy of Banksy's Wall and Piece to the first person that can point me to an online research paper or web site that best inspires and informs Future Perfect.
Post your answers to the comments.
Yes its subjective.
Maximum of one submission per person.
Deadline: Monday 27th February.
UPDATE: travelling on from the 27th to the 3rd - will mail the book out on my return!
Rights To Use Public Infrastructure
Feb 22, 2006 | 1 Comment
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?
Affect of Traces on Recycling
Feb 20, 2006
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?
Available, Unavailable Surfaces
Feb 18, 2006 | 2 Comments
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.
Urban Interfaces
Feb 16, 2006
London, above.
Tokyo, below.
Public Convenience
Feb 13, 2006
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?
Removing, Supplementing Core Features
Feb 12, 2006 | 2 Comments
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.
Extreme Customisation II
Feb 12, 2006 | 1 Comment
Street Annotation
Feb 12, 2006 | 0 Comments
Sorting, Ignored
Feb 12, 2006
Instructions and guidance for type, size and shape of rubbish above and below. Largely ignored, above.
Phone Recharging
Feb 12, 2006 | 2 Comments
Public phone recharging in London - with an emphasis on security.
Extreme Customisation
Feb 11, 2006
Status Indicators
Feb 11, 2006
Consistency Affecting Experiences
Feb 11, 2006
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?
Hotel Experiences
Feb 10, 2006
Occasionally research study hotels are a little different. A variety of experiences available in the Hotel Pelirocco - each room having a different theme.
Speed Camera Avoidance
Feb 10, 2006
Advertising targetted at taxi drivers. "Tom Tom One with Free Speed Camera Locater Loaded"
Observation(s)
Feb 10, 2006 | 1 Comment
Somewhat unnerving to have local council security cameras rotating and appearing to obseve the research observations.
Who watches the watchmen? Indeed.
What level of transparency in what we do? In what they do?
Tea and Buttered Crumpets, To Take Away
Feb 09, 2006
This morning's office is a cafe overlooking a fairly ordinary street in Brighton, a small city on the South coast of England. I've been sitting here, perched on a raised stool at the window since it opened at 7:30 am, in an effort to warm up - having been pacing the streets for a couple of hours already. To view the street I'm required to wipe condensation away the window every 5 minutes or so. There is a constant stream of teas, coffees, buttered toast and crumpets* being served to the morning rush-hour commuters.
I'm here to research something out there, but it's cold and the draw of toast and crumpets is enough to bring me in here. And anyway there things that can be learnt from being on either side of the glass. The time between ordering and the arrival of food and drink is long enough to be considered a micro break - enough time to take out a mobile phone check messages, perhaps send one or two. But no-one does. Why should they?
A 3 minute walk uphill from here is Brighton station. A 60 minute or so train ride and the passengers will dis-gorging from London Victoria and London Thameslink stations to join the fun that is London's rush-hour. I can't imagine anyone going from home to office in less than 90 minutes which means 15 hours a week spent on the activity known as commuting. Commuting to work in central London from London's suburbs can easily take an hour so for many of these people Brighton is a practical alternative.
Commuting habits are of interest to anyone who provides content or builds devices that are used to access content - whether it's web based, radio or mobile TV. These commuters have 90 minutes or commuting boredom to kill, enough time to listen to a lot of music, watch a feature length movie, read a newspaper from cover to cover, read a novelette. It's probably enough to write the first draft of novel. But how much of those 90 minutes do they really have? What does it mean to commute? How does commuting differ between cultures? And how will the commuting experience evolve with the availability of a wider variety of devices and content formats?
When the 90 minute journey is broken down to sub-tasks - leaving the home space, walking to the station, finding a seat on the train, the train journey itself, negotiating the station at the other end, using pubic transport at the destination and the eventual walk to the building. The longest uninterrupted part of the journey is likely to be the long distance train journey, and actually that's far from uninterrupted. Announcements occur every time the train pulls into a station, pulls out of the station, and when one is available - to notify passengers of the buffet car. We can't assume the commuter automatically finds a seat - many people spend part of their journey keeping an eye out for seating and in some contexts to relocate to better seating. Every time people get on and off lighting conditions, ambient temperatures and noise levels will vary - not optimal conditions for watching a movie if one is available.
How does a commuter differ from one-off travelers? They have in-depth understanding of the nuances of the journey they are taking - knowing which exit can shave a few steps off the journey time, where they are most likely to get a good seat, being able to prepare a ticket or card sufficiently prior to reach a ticket barrier.
The commuting experience varies significantly between cultures - whether its a single person driving a car in Las Vegas, a motorbike seating a family of four in Ho Chi Minh City or standing on the Yamanote subway Line in Tokyo. Is the culture one of early risers? Getting up early in Jakarta or Delhi provides an opportunity for avoiding the heat. Japan has more of a culture of (starting and then) working late.
[The cultural connoisseurs amongst you may enjoy the subtle but important difference between buttered crumpets and, well, buttered crumpet]
Flexibility, Adaptability
Feb 07, 2006 | 6 Comments
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?
Overt
Feb 07, 2006 | 2 Comments
Seating projecting what goods are available for sale in the shop. Can surrounding shops take advantage of this advertising space in some way?
Mobile Infrastructure
Feb 07, 2006
Van for monitoring and catching congestion charging offenders. Mobile infrastructure introduces a random element (location) into the monitoring process.
Do congestion charging vehicles pay congestion charges?
Adapted
Feb 06, 2006
Traces Of Events
Feb 05, 2006 | 4 Comments
Ambient traces of travel from someone who travels a lot, or at least travels on airlines and to destinations where security stickers are commonly used.
In our perfect future we can accurately track everything - the exact location, temperature, who and what is in proximity for how long, the information that was exchanged - every last minute detail. Some of this data could help ensure that your luggage arrives in tip-top condition, in the right place and on time. Or not. You land in a new country and immigration doesn't only check your luggage, it checks the history of your luggage.
It's 2012- your luggage in the hold of the plane and can communicate with the other luggage. What would they say to one another? Would they even speak the same language?
Status Indicators
Feb 05, 2006
Guilt Trips
Feb 03, 2006
"Do you really need to use this lift? Please think of others that do"
How future consumption and use is affected by feedback given during current consumption and use. Photo from a a relatively slow elevator situated in an art college.
Status Updates
Feb 03, 2006 | 0 Comments
'Press bell for immediate(ish) assistance" A door bell and signage from the back entrance of a shop.
It's possible to provide real-time status updates for the whole ascertain-status-of-person-at-the-door/door-opening processes. In what range of situations does the person inside the building wish to keep the person outside the building informed of his/her current status? And in what contexts is this information considered private and confidential?
Coping with Sizes in Death
Feb 02, 2006 | 3 Comments
Infrastructure inside a hearse - the position of the rollers are adjustable to cope with different coffin sizes.
Different ways humans are sized up: shoes, socks, waist, headband, sleeve, check, bust, inside leg and so on. In life and in death. Whether the hearse default sizes from yester-year can cope with today's shifting body shapes and sizes?
Do we shrink after death?
If so, by how much, over what period of time?
Affordances
Feb 01, 2006
Linked In
Jul 28, 2005
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 surprised 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?
Mobile Free Zones
Jul 16, 2005 | 2 Comments
The way technology is used changes spaces. Ever walked into a coffee shop where the tapping of laptop keyboards outweighed chatter? What what the atmosphere 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?
Current Status Indicators
Jul 15, 2005
The temperature of an oven. Today's pollen count. When the bus arrives. How long before your next subway stop. Your heart rate. The heart rate of your loved one. Best before dates. Todays date. The time left before your boiled egg is ready. Knowing when a book is available for collection. When an album has been released. Whether a file has downloaded. How much battery power you have left. How long the battery will take to recharge. How much cash you have in your wallet. Your savings account. Monthly outgoings. How much call time is still available. How long before the traffic lights turn green. Whether your friends are in proximity.
Just a few examples of everyday status information. As life increasingly becomes digital the volume and granularity of what is available will continue to grow. The mobile phone is in a strong position to generate, collect, filter, sort and present a lot of this stuff to us. The trick, naturally is to deliver it to the right person(s) at the right time(s) in the right format(s).
The pole is a flood indicator, taken from a place called Maisemore, near Gloucester in the UK. The area is prone to flooding from the River Severn, so the sign marks off the water depth. Theres something rather 'if you can read this its already too late' about it. Incidentally, its possible to surf 30km up the the River Severn following the surge of the bore.
Conversion
May 17, 2005
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?
Emailing From Public Terminals
May 11, 2005 | 2 CommentsPublic email kiosks + free email accounts =
This has evolved very quickly. Photo from London's Victoria station.
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