Adam Greenfield's Principles of Ubiquitous Computing

Since I was introduced to Adam Greenfield via the July/August issue of Interactions magazine I have been searching for more content from him - essentially, I am trying to catch up on the last few years of Adam's writings regarding ubicomp since he offers unique and informed perspectives on this emergent phenomena. Needless to say, I have a long ways to go because much has been written and said by Mr. Greenfield.

Taking it one step at time, here I am going to focus on a set of principles for the design and implementation of ubiquitous computing that he has developed. These principles were shared back in 2006 in a talk that he gave titled Here, There and Everywhere: Issues in Cross-Cultural Ubiquitous Computing, which was delivered shortly after he wrote his first book.

I suspect that many of these ideas are captured in his book in greater depth, I will confirm that this is the case as soon as I get around to reading Everyware. I came across this information on the We Make Money Not Art blog, here is a direct link to the article.

What is the purpose and role of these principles: now that ubicomp is actually becoming ubiquitous it is important that devices and applications that deliver this type of computation are considerate to a human being's needs, desires, aspirations and dignity. In Adam's own words these "principles are just codifications of common sense and basic neighborly virtues, expressed in language appropriate to the domain of application. The best, smartest and most ethical developers have never needed guidelines to do the right thing."

Without further ado, here they are (please note that these have been taken verbatim from the We Make Money Not Art blog):

1. Default to Harmlessness - in a world where it is possible for a device to broadcast your most intimate details, user's safety (physical, psychic and financial) must be ensured.
2. Be Self-Disclosing - ubiquitous systems should be technically and graphically self-disclosing, so that users are empowered to make informed decisions.
   
3. Be Conservative of Face - ubiquitous systems must not unnecessarily embarass, humiliate, or shame their users.
4. Be Conservative of Time - Ubiquitous systems must not introduce undue complications into ordinary operations and should ba respectful of our time.
5. Be Deniable - Ubiquitous systems must offer users the ability to opt out, always and at any point.

Sixth Sense Mobile Interface

In February of this year I posted a video from Wired regarding a new wearable computing prototype that has been recently dubbed "SixthSense". This device was developed by an MIT Media Lab student named is Pranav Mistry. Recently I came across a video from TED, which was posted in March, that goes a little bit deeper into this invention. Since this is a really cool idea I've decided to share this new (or at least newer) video here.

Adam Greenfield on the Rise of Ubiquitous Computing

In the July issue of Interactions magazine I came across an interview with Adam Greenfield. The article, titled At the End of the World Plant a Tree, featured six questions from a lengthy interview that was conducted by Tish Shute in February of this year. As soon as I finished reading this condensed version I made my way to UgoTrade.com to access the full interview, which is well worth the time.

This interview was my introduction to Greenfield and many of his fascinating and thought-provoking ideas. Adam is currently leading Nokia's design direction for services and user-interface. The

 focus of this piece is on ideas that he explores in his soon to be released book The City is Here for You To Use.

This upcoming release is Adam's second book, he also keeps a blog called Speedbird and has released an interesting pamphlet called "Urban Computing and Its Discontents". All of his publications investigate the potential shape and impact of ubi-comp on modern life. His first book, titled Everyware: The Dawning Age of Ubiquitous Computing, often made it into my amazon cart, though I never choose to purchase it due to my lack of familiarity with Adam (this is something I plan to remedy shortly).

Interesting topics covered in the interview:

• Definition of relevant concepts such as "onto" and "ontomes". Ontomes refer to a global environment of addressable, queryable, scriptable objects (e.g. the class of objects), while onto refers to any given such object that is part of this environment (e.g. an object instance). These terms are closely related to the concept of "spimes" that was created by Bruce Sterling.
  
• Conversations regarding evolving perspectives regarding the nature of ubiquitous systems. From Mark Weiser's vision of computers fading into the background, where they appear when needed and disappear when not in use, to Yvonne Rogers’ vision of computers supporting engaged living, helping people engage more actively in things that they do rather than do things for them.
• Discussion regarding Greenfield's principles of ubiquitous computing. These principles are ultimately "codifications of common sense and basic neighborly virtues, expressed in language appropriate to the domain of application."
• Viewpoints on the potential impact of ubiquitous technologies on our society's ability to instigate the necessary changes to create sustainable living practices and lifestyles. Adam's view on this topic is quite skeptical. "sometime in the next sixty years or so a convergence of Extremely Bad Circumstances is going to put an effective end to our ability to conduct highly ordered and highly energy-intensive civilization on this planet." 
• Concerns regarding how to enable individuals to manage privacy at three distinct levels: secrecy ("data [that] should not be readable by or understandable by anybody except me or people I designate"), anonymity ("data [that] should be seen by anybody but about whom it is should be knowable only by me or people that I designate"), and autonomy ("my right to live under circumstances which reinforce my sense that I am in control of my own fate"). 

[picture taken by Pepe Makkonen]

Data Should Inform But Not Determine

In this entry I will continue to explore the implications of the growing trend related to the creation of measurement and tracking systems for the optimization of life. On my previous post I failed to adress the impact of our decisions regarding what to measure on the way we lead our lives.

As we continue to leverage data to support and guide our actions and decisions, the selection of what to measure will become increasingly important. What we measure will identify what we deem to be most important, and will provide a foundation for our actions and decision making. In other words, the data will serve as a reflection of our world view as well as a basis for the reality that we strive to bring into existence in our life.

As a consequence the information systems that we create, which processes this information, will also grow in importance. It will play an enabling and limiting role in our lives. In the word of Terry Winograd , in "designing information systems we design ways of being." This will be more true than ever before as technology encroaches in the day-to-day lives of most individuals (at least in industrialized nations), no longer relegated to professional organizations and pursuits. Lawrence Lessig shared the same idea in his famous quote "code is law".

What does this all mean to me - it is now more important than ever that the creation of information systems be guided by the interests and active involvement of people that come from all different avenues within our society (rather than merely engineers, developers and programmers). 

Also, echoing a sentiment from my previous post, as individuals we need to remember to empower ourselves rather than data from outside. We can't loose sight that the data we are capturing and processing is ultimately nothing more than a guide posts that we have selected. The choices we make should be informed by data but not determined by it.

Monitoring, Tracking, and Behavior Changing

During the past several months there has been an upsurge in interest about the behavioral changing potential offered by new monitoring and tracking technologies.

The July issue of Wired magazine ran a cover story titled "Living by Numbers: Track your data. Analyze results. Optimize your life. " This piece focused on the emergence of monitoring and tracking technologies that have become available across a wide range of areas. Recent issues of Make and Interactions, respectively titled "Remake America" and "The Waste Manifesto", magazines also focused on possibilities created by these technologies to help us reduce waste and live in more a more sustainable manner.

These technologies enable individuals and communities to generate data regarding various types of activities and the impact of these activities, and then to leverage this data for various purposes ranging from behavioral change (e.g. tracking your runs for performance improvement, as in Nike+ ), to scientific research (e.g. making available personal data for aggregate analysis) and artistic self-expression (e.g. capturing data for lifestreaming, a la Nicholas Feltron).

These various new technologies provide us the opportunity to understand more about, and to impact, our current behavior at individual and community levels. However, the existence of these technologies is not sufficient to drive positive change. we must now design and discover compelling and effective ways to implement these technologies to help individuals and communities to achieve their goals. Articles in both Wired and Make magazines showcase examples where the sharing of data, and the development of games related to this sharing, has helped drive change for individuals and communities.

As we look for opportunities to dissect and analyze our life with these tools we need to be mindful that not everything can be parsed into measurable units for tracking and monitoring.

Life is much more than what can be grasped and measured by our rational mind. We need to remember that all the optimizing in the world is not the solution to make us happier or more fulfilled. If we reduce our experience of life and reality to metrics (in the form of numbers and words) that our mind can easily classify and optimize we will miss out on an important part of the experience of life, which is unmeasurable. At least that is my half-assed new age-y spiritual beliefs lead me to surmise.

Always Addicted to Being Always On

I am spoiled and I can't blame it on my parents. Over the past several years I have become accustomed to having constant access to my own and others' information from anywhere at anytime. More than being spoiled, I am an addict. I am part of a large and growing community of addicts from throughout the United States and other developed countries who have adopted the habit of being "always on".

Actually, we've taken this one step further. We have bought into the belief that being "always on" is an important evolutionary leap for mankind, not to mention a basic human right. I (sorry, I meant we) demand the right to have immediate access to answers for all questions, no matter how useless, and to be able to stream information about our lives, no matter how boring. I became aware of my sorry predicament during a month-long trip through Asia and Europe this summer.

I wish that this insight had surfaced through a moment of stillness and clarity. However, it was actually crystalized through the experience of several moments of techno-rage. This included multiple instances where my wife had to talk me off the proverbial edge. Actually, it was my iPhone that was on the edge of getting smashed against walls, tables, windows and other parts of various hotel rooms.

Everyone of these moments were instigated by my struggle to find and remain connected to the internet. Moments where I asked for nothing more than the ability to exercise what I believed was my inalienable human right to remain "always on." No matter how much I prayed to the techno-gods, or how many Balinese style offerings I conjured up for them, it was all to no avail.

In the end of it all, this experience helped me realize once again that being "always on" is just as bad as it is good. That is not to say that I overcame my addiction. Just like any good addict I love my addiction and have made every effort to remain "always on" since I have arrived in Brazil to visit my parents.

iPhone's Lackluster Performance as Communication Hub for World Tour

The first and longest part of our world tour is now officially finished. During this part of our trip I used a jailbroken first-generation iPhone as my personal communication hub. I chose this device because it is extremelly portable and I believed that it would enable me to capture snapshots, lo-res video, and audio snippets, it would serve as a platform for the posting of journal entries, it would support the tracking of our budget, and it would allow us to take a good amount of our favorite music and videos with us on the trip.

I knew that there were many downsides to selecting the iPhone as my communication platform. The main ones of which I was aware were limited functionality and application availability compared to a laptop or netbook, and small form factor which makes it tiring to use for development of longer form content (I guess the content I developed is more like mid-form content).

So how did the iPhone do? The results were mixed and if I had to do it over again I would definitely bring along a netbook to complement this device as a communication hub.

The shortfalls were many. First and foremost, much of the iPhone's functionality is dependent on the availability of wireless internet connections and does not support connection to online via ethernet ports. This was an issue due to the scarcity of wireless connections (both cell-based and wifi) throughout the trip. Thus, when I would write blog posts using the notes application there was no way for me to transfer this content to computers that had hardline internet connections. This was by far the biggest issue I encountered.

Other inconveniences included the lack of cut and paste functionality, problems with the video application on my phone, and issues related to storage space (which I was eventually able to overcome using the terminal application on the phone).

On the positive side, the iPhone featured applications that met most, though not all, of my requirements - the picture, blogging and financial tracking applications were usable and useful. The jailbroken phone also worked well with local GSM sim cards, enabling me to stay in touch with my friends throughout the trip.

Testing, Testing 1 2 3

This short post is a test of the BlogPress app on my jailbroken iPhone. This is part of my continuing preparations for our World Tour. I am considering using this application to publish blog posts while travelling. Let's see how it works.


This is a test picture to determine how the photo upload functionality works.

*Mobile Post from 2009 World Tour*

Chapter 1 Homework: What is interaction design?

This assignment was taken from the first chapter of the book Interaction Design: Beyond Human-Computer Interactions, written by Helen Sharp, Jenny Preece, and Helen Sharp.

Assignment Overview: Find an everyday handheld device and examine how it has been designed, paying particular attention to how the user is meant to interact with it. Device selected: iPhone (not very original, I know. I'm sure thousands of students from around the world are making this same pick right now).

(a) from your first impression, write down what first comes to mind as to what is good and bad about the way the device works:

The good list:

• easy to learn and use most functionality
• fast access to most important device features
• leverages natural gestures for smooth and fluid interactions
• touch screen interactions are responsive and accurate
• easy to organize and add content and applications
• seamless synch with computer via iLife suite
• flawless great integration of music player and phone
• aesthetically pleasing software transitions (and in general)
• form factor fits well and feels good in-hand
• device is reliable

The bad list:

• inability to run multiple applications at once
• missing cut & paste functionality
• lack of ability to switch battery
• missing tactile feedback from physical device
• limited support of file types
• purchase and activation process
• limited availability and bad customer service (only on AT&T)

(b) Give a description of the user experience resulting from interacting with it:

The best word to sum up the experience of using the iPhone is delightful. Before you even turn on the device you can notice that it is beautiful in both look and feel. From a tactile perspective, the plastic casing of the phone provides a pleasant feel that is soft and warm. Its curved casing helps the device fit ergonomically in one’s palm. All this and I haven't even turned on the device yet. To describe the user experience associated to interacting with the device here is one user scenario and one description:

Scenario 1: Let’s meet up spontaneously
On a chilly Saturday afternoon as Julio wraps up his visit to BAM he calls two good friends who live nearby. He is unable to reach them but leaves them both messages. He then proceeds to turns on the ringer of his iPhone, using the physical switch on the top left corner of the device, to make sure that he doesn’t miss the return calls.

Next, Julio puts on his headphones, takes out his iPod, double clicks on the home button, and then touches the play button that appears on the screen - the iPhone starts playing music where he had left off earlier. After 10 minutes waiting Julio decides to head back to Manhattan. He strolls down to the subway stop shaking his head and enjoying the Presets latest release at his usual ear-busting volume. As he takes his first step down the stairs the music is suddenly interrupted by an incoming call. He checks the caller ID and picks up the phone, once he confirms who is calling.

After a quick exchange of friendly insults and taunts, Abe invites Julio to join him at a nearby bar to get sloshed. Since Julio doesn’t have the slightest clue about how to get to this bar, he takes out his iPhone and opens up the Google Map application. There he inputs the destination and requests directions from his current location. He is also able to determine that the subway is the best way to head over, so after blocking a bunch of impatient fellow New Yorkers for 5 minutes Julio continues heading the down the steps to the subway.

User description: experience using the device
The first thing you notice when you power up the device is the size, vividness and crispness of the screen - images look great. Then you start interacting with the device via the smooth and responsive touch screen display.

The experience of using the touch screen is impressive. Apple has done an amazing job at designing interactions that feel natural. From sliding your finger across the screen to unlock the device, to pinching content to reduce it, or best of all flicking your finger to quickly browse through your phone list or long page of content. Across all of these interactions the device is extremely responsive in a way that makes it feel very natural.

The functionality on the device is also well prioritized. Phone and music player functions are definitely the two most prominent features of the device, unique shortcuts provide quick access to these apps. This helps make the device a pleasure to use. Though I don't like to admit it, a pleasurable part of the experience of using an iPhone is the coolness factor. It is a device that exudes coolness and from a social perspective one feel's cool using this product.

(c) Compile a set of usability and user experience goals that you think are relevant in evaluating the device. Decide which are the most important and explain why:

Usability goals:

• Efficient to use: device supports use of frequent tasks efficiently. Provides fast access to most important applications and functionality. Delivers high level of responsiveness and reliability.
• Good utility: device to product provide an appropriate set of functionality? Supports most common voice and text message protocol, and multimedia content formats. Enables media player functionality where phones not allowed and functionality enhancements/upgrades via software.
• Easy to learn: device is easy for first-time users to learn. Provides an intuitive interface.
• Safe to use: device protects users against common errors? Protects users against calling people in error, entering mis-spelled text into messages, and loosing data when they quit applications.

The most important usability goals for this product are efficiency and utility, here’s my rationale: now-a-days users are very picky about cell phone and portable media players since most have already owned several portable devices. Multi-function mobile phones need to deliver the appropriate set of functionality to succeed (this is the most basic price of entry into the market). Considering the frequency and variety of uses to which people put their mobile devices, it is crucial that these devices supports frequent use in an efficient manner. No one wants a multi-function portable phone that does not allow you to quickly and easily switch between making calls, listening to music, or checking your email.

Experience goals:

• natural feeling gestures
• cool, fun & enjoyable
• enhancement of sociability
• pleasurable & delightful
• aesthetically pleasing

The most important experience goals are natural-feeling gestures, enhancement of sociability and pleasurable interaction, here’s my rationale: Hard to use interfaces have kept people from adopting advanced functionality long offered their devices. That is why multi-function mobile phones need to offer interfaces that are based on gestures that feel natural. Enhancement of sociability is an important goal for this device considering that main function of mobile phones is to help connect people via voice and text messaging capabilities, and that people tend to use these devices in social or public environments. Lastly, since this device is used so often – you spend more time with your phone than with your significant other – it is crucial for users to feel pleasure when interacting with the device.

(d) Translate your set of usability and user experience goals into two or three specific questions. Then use them to assess how your device fares.

Usability goals-related questions:

• Is the product able to provide users with fast access to the most important and commonly used functionality?
• Does the product support the most common communication and entertainment uses (e.g. does it support voice and text message protocols, common media file types, and usage contexts?)
• Can users learn how to use the product without needing to refer to the manual or other types of support?
• Does the product help users avoid, and easily recover from, common errors associated to use of mobile communication and entertainment devices?

The iPhone stacks up well against all of these criteria. First, it provides fast access to all of the most commonly used functionality. This is done via the design of the software application launcher (a.k.a. “home”), and shortcuts using the few hard buttons available on the device. Next, the device does a great job at supporting a wide variety of file formats and messaging protocols. However, this is a area where the device could be improved by adding support for MMS messages and additional music and video file types. From an ease-of-learning perspective the iPhone is unrivaled. You can pick it up and learn how to use the basic features with little help (assuming you have familiarity working with computers, which holds true for most people in developed nations). The iPhone does have some nice features that help users avoid common errors.

Experience goals-related questions

• What is the user’s response to the aesthetics of the device? How does the user feel about the gestures required to operate the device (fluid, natural, awkward, silly)?
• What is the user’s response to his/her interaction with the device (delight, excitement, annoyance, frustration)? How does the initial reaction differ from subsequent ones?
• How does the user’s relationship with, and response to the device evolve over repeated interactions? What types of emotional bonds does the user create with the device (trust, affection, pride, love, hate, admiration)?
• How does the user feel about using his device in different contexts such as social, personal, professional, and public environments?

From an experience perspective, the iPhone delivers the goods once again. The device has the nicest aesthetic of any device in its category (and I mean the entire cell phone category). The gestures required to operate the phone feel natural and are extremely easy to learn as you go (you stumble into learning). From the first time I played with an iPhone I felt a bit of delight – it often brings a smile to my face. That is not to say that I don’t ever experience frustration but, overall, no portable digital device has ever provided me with more delight. I definitely have an emotional bond with my iPod – my wife may even call it an iPhone fetish. I can understand why, considering I am always playing games, surfing the web, using a messaging application or messing around with one of my many applications. The device is cool but not snobby. So you can use pretty much anywhere. I know I sound like a bloody Apple ad.

(e) Compile a set of design principles that you think are relevant in evaluating the device. Decide which are the most important and explain why. Translate your set of usability and user experience goals into two or three specific questions. Then use them to assess how your device fares.

Design Principles:
Though the following five design principles played an important role in the design of this device – visibility, feedback, constraints, consistency, and affordance – affordances and visibility are the most important principles for this design. The importance of visibility is obvious considering that this device packs an unbelievable amount of features in a pocket-sized package. In light of the device’s size, it is extremely challenging to find a solution for making affordances associated with different “modes” accessible to, and understandable by, the user.

Design principle-related questions

• are the most important possible actions clearly visible? Is the prioritization appropriate?
• does the device make affordances visible, easy to recognize, and use?
• does the device provide sufficient feedback to the user throughout the interaction?

The iPhone scores well against the design-principle assessment. The design of the iPhone interface makes the most important possible action clearly visible and accessible. Users are even able to customize menus to ensure buttons and information is organized according to personal preferences and priorities. To make affordances visible to users, applications leverage large buttons on the touchscreen display and provide directions on the screen regarding other potential actions. Feedback is provided through intelligent visual and audio cues that help the user easily interact with the device to carry out a diverse range of activities such as inputting text, playing games, creating music, dialing a phone number or using navigation capabilities.

[questions taken from textbook Interaction Design: Beyond Human-Computer Interaction, link to website here]

Wearable Projection-Based Interface

Earlier today I came across a post on Wired about a new mobile device prototype that has been unveiled at TED. Designed by MIT Media Lab students, this device uses a projector to display the interface that is manipulated using gestures captured by a video camera. Video demos from Wired are featured below.

In many ways this prototype is similar to the Holographic Projection Interface that I wrote about back in October. The main differences about this design include that it uses normal projection technology rather than a holographic one which is not yet available, and that it leverages internet connectivity to provide contextually relevant information above and beyond GPS navigation. It is also impressive that they have managed to create an actual prototype using $350 worth of equipment - though they are far from creating a commercially viable product, it is pretty impressive prototype.





[via Wired]

Reading List: Interactions, January & February 2008

I’ve been meaning to write this post for a few weeks now. The hectic pace of our do-more-with-less, post-financial-crisis, and always-on/always-connected world, has kept me from finding two spare hours to devote to this simple endeavor.

This month's edition of Interactions magazine featured several interesting pieces that are well worth the read. Here is brief overview of the most interesting ones, along with a link to the original article online.

Social Network Sites and Society: Current Trends and Future Possibilities
Written by Nicole Ellison, Cliff Lampe, and Charles Steinfield, this article focuses on exploring how social network sites are transforming society. As this technology becomes adopted by a greater swath of the population, it impact becomes more pronounced. The information available in social networks lowers the barrier to social interaction, helping individuals forge connections that would have otherwise not taken place. Social networks also make it easier for people to manage weak ties by lowering the amount of effort required to keep these relationships alive.

Social networks also help counteract the increasing isolation created by the proliferation of mobile communication and entertainment devices such as iPhones, PDAs, iPods, PSPs and the like. These technologies inhibit opportunities for engagement between people in public spaces. The ability to connect people with similar interests or concerns makes social networks ideal places to assist the coordination and mobilizing of social actions.

Some interesting questions for research are raised by the authors: “how can the power of social network sites be leveraged in other contexts, including formal organizations? How can social network sites support individuals as they make life transitions, such as moving to a new city or starting a new job? How can the mobilizing power of social network sites increase community and political engagement, especially among traditionally disenfranchised groups?” [link to article]

90 Mobiles in 90 Days: A Celebration of Ideas for Mobile User Experience
This article, written by Rachel Hinman, explores a personal project she undertook to come up with a new idea related to mobile design and user experience every day for 90 days. This process, though daunting at first, provided the author with several interesting insights. First, this prolific creation of new design ideas provided a "template for creative practice" by shifting the focus from an attempt to find the right idea to a process of idea generation and exploration, which carried with it a unique momentum.



As part of this shift in perspective, the author had to come face to face with her own inner critic that served as a barrier to the daily idea generation work. The last insight imparted bythe author is how this process of idea generation helped her gain a deeper understanding regarding the source of inspiration, which can come from pretty much anywhere. So now the question is: when will embark in similar project of my own. [link to article]

The Washing Machine That Ate My Sari – Mistakes in Cross-Cultural Design
This article, written by Apala Chavan, Douglas Gorney, Beena Prabhu, Sarit Arora, adresses common mistakes and issues in the design of products for emerging markets. Their main premise is that designers have had to deal with the challenges associated to launching products across markets and cultures for a long time but have only recently begun to adapt their processes and approaches to support the specific challenges related to developing for products for emerging markets. “Successful design for emerging markets requires radical innovation. It demands culturally sensitive and sometimes unorthodox approaches that can throw a designer off balance.”

Designers and marketers are touching the lives of people who a few years ago were not even on the radar. These people from emerging markets have specific needs. First, they demand affordability. However, they are also more cautious than “consumers” in the West because of their limited income. This means that products must be durable, as people will avoid products that seem to be of low quality or disposable. To complicate matters, culture has a large impact on a product’s success on functional and emotional levels. As a consequence, designers need to understand the specific needs of each emerging market in which they plan to launch their product. [link to article]

The Heterogeneous Home


This piece, written by Ryan Aipperspach, Ben Hooker, and Allison Woodruff’s, discusses the homogenization of domestic environments, potential negative effects of this phenomena and interesting design concepts for addressing this trend. The homogenization of our homes is caused in large part by the pervasive technology that provides us access to the same “virtual environment” at home as in the office. This phenomena is extended by time shifting technologies that modify our experience of time, and mobile devices that provide anytime, anywhere access to work and home.

The main negative impact that arises from this increasing homogenization of our domestic environment is that it squeezes out our restorative spaces. The concept of the “Heterogeneous Home” was developed to explore solutions for leveraging design and technology to create environments that are offer variations, and are thus able to provide restorative space. You can download the complete Heterogeneous Home sketchbook. [link to article]

Design Versus Innovation: The Cranbrook / IIT Debate
In this interview, Scott Klinker and Jeremy Alexis explore the two contrasting approaches to design education embodied by the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) and Cranbrook Academy of Art. These oposing perspectives have evolved over the past 20 years into "design" and "design thinking" (also referred to as "innovation"). The former is an experimental and semantic approach, while the latter is methods driven and scientific one. In other words, ITT places stronger emphasis on the importance of observing user needs and behaviors as the basis of design, whereas Cranbrook focuses on the role that artistic inspiration and cultural impulses play in the creation of great design.

Here are some of the interesting questions adresses in this piece: what I'd the role of design in innovation? Or innovation in design? Is design being led astray by too much business thinking? Is design thinking useful without design making? [link to article]

What is Interactions? Are There Different Types?
This was my favorite article from this issue of Interactions. It provides a valuabl overview regarding interactions (including a summary of common interaction models. For my own selfish reasons I am going to provide a slightly more in depth analysis of this piece. There are three different perspectives on interaction that are outlined by the author:

The design-theory view: This is a broad perspective that views all design as design for interaction. It stipulates that all objects created by humans are developed for some type of interaction because to use a product one must interact with it. For example, a chair and a book are designed for interaction, the former for sitting the latter for reading.

The HCI-view This perspective views all interactions as an instance of a feedback loop. "information flows from a system (perhaps a computer or car) through a person and back through the system again." in this view of interaction it is assumed that the person has a goal and that his/her actions are carried out with this goal in mind. Their actions have an impact on the system or environment, which is measured and compared against the goal to determine the next action.

The HCI definition of interaction focuses on dynamic systems only. Static systems such as chairs and books are not considered interactive. There are several variations on the concept of feedback loop. The most well known variation that reflect an HCI perspective are Don Norman's and Bill Verplanks models of interactions.




The Systems-Theory View: simple feedback loop models are useful but somewhat abstract. In these models the person and the system are closely coupled and the nature of the system (and the person) is left unspecified. Once you begin to characterize the system and the person involved in an interaction you can distinguish between various types of systems that emerge. The systems-theory view explores and maps the relationships between these various types of systems.

According to this school of thought, “the process of clicking on a link to summon a new webpage is not “interaction”; it is “reaction.”” In a reaction, the coupling between input and output are fixed. This means that a given action will always produce the same effect. For example, when you click a link on a standard webpage the server acts in pretty much the same way as an automatic door when you walk within the range of its sensors – it reacts. The term interaction only refers to systems where the coupling between output and input is dynamic. There are several other different types of systems explored in this article, including linear, closed-loop, recirculating, self-regulating, first-order, second-order, self-adjusting, and learning. [link to article]

Sensor Citizens and Participatory Sensing

Until recently sensors had been used primarily by governments and businesses to monitor and report on the physical world. For the most part, sensors were fixed devices, often referred to as nodes, under centralized control and requiring special hardware that was both inflexible and expensive.

Steep declines in the cost of mobile devices such as cell phones, and sensor technologies have enabled the emergence of a phenomenon called “participatory sensing’. Coined by UCLA professor Jeff Burke, this term refers to the “ability of individuals to act as sensor nodes and come together with other people in order to form sensor networks.” This approach to urban sensing is decentralized and grassroots in nature and opens up new possibilities for people to participate in both art and science.

As with the advent of any new technology, the rise of the sensor citizen has negative as well as positive aspects. Here is quote from an article written by Anne Galloway and titled The Rise of the Sensor Citizen published in the Vodafone Receiver managazine: “given public concerns around environmental risks and their connections to technological progress, I believe that this kind of active citizenship should promote more critical reflection on the values and goals of the very projects that expect to create such profound changes in these domains, and carefully consider the limits of its own power.” Though this quote specifically refers to environmental uses of these technologies, I find this advice holds true more broadly in relation to the uses of this technology.

A recent publication from Nokia highlights many possibilities created by the addition of sensors to mobile phones. It enables humans to become creators, custodians, actuators, and publishers of the data they and others collect. “A people-centric sensing network would behave much like a self-organizing organic system, with personal data interplaying in fluid and unpredictable ways with environmental, community, and global data.”

Nokia strongly supports the notion that mobile phones are the most sensible devices for making sensor technologies widely available. Current technology already enables these devices to support various types of sensors, including location, barometric, temperature, vibration, sound and light. [via Putting People First blog]

Many of the researchers and projects exploring the emergence of “sensor citizens” and “participatory sensing” focus on how these phenomena create opportunities for community action and science. Here is a short list of projects that share this focus:

Proboscis is a UK-based creative studio that partners with universities to explore how sensors can be used to support public action around environmental issues. Their best-known project, called Social Tapestries, uses remote controlled cars tricked out with sensors and GPS to capture data regarding air quality. The data is then visualized with annotations on a map.

The Common Sense Project is a California-based team that is focused on creating a platforms, including both hardware and software, that provide sensing capabilities to support community action and citizen science. Here is an excerpt from their paper titled Mobile Environmental Sensing Platforms to Support Community Action and Citizen Science:

“To make environmental sensing useful for practical action, one must… produce information artifacts that are “credible enough” to engage with bureaucracy; appealing enough to be useful in community mobilization; and personally relevant enough to maintain interest and motivation. We therefore seek to enable community members to engage in collaborative “citizen science” or “street science” that will be useful in interactions with government agencies and non-government organizations (NGOs). In doing so, we posit that one can go beyond the groundbreaking and inspirational work of electronic artists in using environmental sensor data for awareness-raising and social provocation. “

From a hardware perspective, last year Nokia released a concept phone that can support a number of sensors including environment, wheather, and health. It is so portable that it can be worn as a watch. Pretty cool stuff though I think we are still quite a few years away from this product becoming a reality. [via Wired]. As open source hardware technologies continue to evolve portable sensors are likely to be coupled with other mobile devices such as GPS modules, cameras, MP3 players, laptops (and even cars).

“While there is a lot of talk about using these technologies for socially, politically and environmentally positive ends, they also implicitly support existing consumption practices in the developed world, and hide the role that technological progress has played in creating the very problems they seek to improve… [also] when active citizenship requires access to particular technologies, people without access are effectively excluded from the democratic process.” [quote from Anne Galloway].

Artists have also been exploring the use of portable sensor technology to capture more data regarding more subjective aspects of reality – for example monitoring, visualizing and reporting on people’s emotional states. Currently map-based visualizations are most common; I am certain this will evolve as citizen sensing becomes a more widespread phenomena. The most ambitious project of this type that I’ve been able to locate is the Bio Mapping project. “Since 2004, over 1500 people around the world have participated in the Bio Mapping project to create “emotion maps” of their cities and neighbourhoods.”

The power of emergent sensor networks, created by commonly available mobile devices, is having an impact beyond activists and artists. People have begun to embrace these types of technologies as they are becoming increasingly available for personal uses. This is an important area to consider because this is the first time that sensors have become available to support such personal endeavors. Previously they have been used for environmental monitoring and to support other institutional or business concerns.

Here are some examples of how this technology is being used by individuals:

Storytelling: People love to tell stories about their lives, adventures, trips, parties, triumphs and failures. So it’s only natural that this would be one the main uses for which people have begun to adopt mobile sensing technologies. The most common example is the way in which people are using GPS enabled cameras to capture pictures that can be added to online maps, via popular web services such as Flickr and Google Maps, or to personal picture books, using desktop software such as iPhoto. Sony is about to launch a GPS-enabled camcorder.

Lifestreaming is an interesting storytelling phenomenon that is being impacted by the proliferation of sensing capabilities on mobile devices. This technological progress enables humans to collect, curate and publish new types and volumes of data about their life experience and context. As sensors continue to improve it will be interesting to discover the new possibilities that will be created for storytelling (imagine being able to add scents to your picture slideshow).

Transportation: Transportation and traffic coordination is another area where distributed sensor is in the process of being quickly adopted by consumers. An interesting application available on Android is Ecorio. It estimates your environmental impact by using GPS to determine the type of transportation that you use. Another more powerful use of distributed GPS sensors is mentioned in the Nokia Insights study. A project from UC Berkley explored the use of GPS-enabled mobile phones as sensors for traffic reporting and management. Researchers claim that type of system can provide a cost-effective, and just plain effective, alternative to fixed sensors; best of all it can work when as little as 5% of the drivers on a road have a sensor.

Here is one application that I would personally appreciate: a service that enables bus riders (such as the ones who take the M15 bus in Manhattan) to check real-time location of the bus enabled by GPS of bus riders.

Convenience: In today’s fast paced world we are always looking for opportunities to simplify our lives. That is why people are always looking for products that offer convenience. Locale is a cool android app that definitely fits the bill. It enables you to set-up your phone to perform pre-defined actions based on your location. Now you can set your ringer to vibrate anytime you go to the movie theater near your house (or the office). This application can even communicate with other phones to enable people to keep track of each other (e.g. parents keeping track of their kids).

Public safety: coupling location awareness with messaging, audio and imaging capabilities can also be used to support public safety. The proliferation of messaging and networking tools coupled with the increasing capability of devices to search and contextualize information by location has made it possible for local individuals and communities to better respond to crisis. Ushahidi is an example of a service that was developed with public safety in mind. It “allows anyone to gather distributed data via SMS, email or web and visualize it on a map or timeline. Our [Ushahidi’s] goal is to create the simplest way of aggregating information from the public for use in crisis response.”

While there are many opportunities for using these technologies for personal benefit, there are also a lot of valid issues and concerns that need to be openly discussed and addressed to ensure the proliferation of these technologies is a liberating rather than suffocating phenomena. First and foremost is the issue of privacy. Next is the need for mobile sensor technologies need to be designed to respect and support human social, cultural and emotional (as well as physical) needs with dignity. There is also the issue of ensuring that the spoils of technology are widely distributed so that the benefits can be accrued by as many people as possible.

Linking Physical and Digital Worlds with Microsoft Tag

The recently launched Microsoft Tag provides similar functionality to QRcodes and other 2D barcode technologies. Though this tag does not offer new functionality, it has been optimize for use by cellphones: it is works well with fixed-focus cameras, standard issue on most mobile phones; and it can be read more effectively when the image is blurry, or the tag damaged. The image on the left is a Microsoft Tag that links to this blog.

To use the service the process is akin to that used for QRcodes. First users need to install a reader application on their mobile device. This application is available on many platforms including iPhone, Windows, Java, etc. Once installed, users run the application and "simply snap a picture of a tag using the camera on their internet-enabled phone and they are taken to a page that shares additional information on the associated product or service without the extra step of entering complicated web addresses or texting special codes."

For the moment anyone can generate a tag for free via the Microsoft Tag website - all you need is the URL to which the tag will be linked. However, this product is still beta and Microsoft has not announced whether it will at some point start charging for the service. Now that mobile applications have become mainstream I hope to see more widespread adoption of reader technology by mobile phone users and the increase in application of this type of technology for all types of communication.

[sourced from PSFK article]

Vodafone: Mobile Devices for Emerging Markets

Over the weekend I discovered an online magazine called Vodafone Receiver. This publication recently released an issue focused on emerging markets that features several interesting perspectives about design and innovation.

Similar to Nokia, Vodafone positions emerging markets as places that offer business opportunities for local and global companies; that have large numbers of people with an entrepreneurial spirit; and where companies can make a positive impact on the development of local communities. The article Poor Markets Make Good Cents lays out this perspective with some interesting supporting evidence.

Phones, Finance and Innovation
First and foremost, during the past couple of years mobile phone adoption rates have skyrocketed in emerging markets throughout Asia, Africa and Latin America. A large demand for mobile technology exists in emerging markets. In many of these countries the landline infrastructure was never adequate to support poor communities. Therefore, this is the first time that many people have had the opportunity to own a phone of any type. The same goes for the computing functionality. A mobile phone tends to be the first information device that these people have experienced since computers are out of reach due to their much higher price tags.

On the supply side two important trends are driving the financing of information and communication technologies in emerging markets. First, the appearance of new institutions dedicated to linking financial markets to social entrepreneurs and ventures that use market forces to drive social change. Secondly, the fact that traditional venture capitalists, who had previously written off these markets, are taking a fresh look at them. These trends help create opportunities for local and foreign entrepreneurs to promote innovations that make a positive impact on local markets.

This article also features interesting examples of mobile services that are positively impacting communities in emerging markets. These examples highlight successful services that were developed to address the specific needs and context of emerging market residents.

• In 2007, Reuters launched a service called Market Light that provides weather and market information to farmers in India. This information enables farmers to better tend to their crops and to negotiate the fair prices with middlemen.
• In Bangladesh, a service called CellBazar provides an SMS-based craigslist of sorts. It includes listings for appliances, cars, apartments and even live animals. This service, a spin-off of MIT's Program in Developmental Entrepreneurship, is helping facilitate commerce for individuals and business, and providing both buyers and sellers with access to a much larger marketplace.

The second article of note from this issue of Receiver Magazine is titled Mobile Communication in the Developing World – A Design Challenge. It focuses on human factor insights to help designers create appropriate mobile devices for emerging markets.

Design of Mobile Communications
Development of mobile devices and services has always been, and continues to be, driven primarily by the needs of customers from advanced countries. “Mobile interface design has been aimed at literate, numerate users who follow text-based menus, sometimes read instruction books and have built mental models for how mobiles work based on previous technologies.”

People in emerging markets have significantly different needs, education background and social-cultural perspectives. Most existing mobile interfaces are not appropriate for these markets because they don’t adequately support users who have problems reading and writing, and many native languages. Mobile phones tend to feature functionality that is not relevant for these markets and lacks applications that support specific local needs. So let’s take a look at some important considerations for designing mobile products for the developing world.

The literacy rate is the an important design consideration that is specific to emerging markets. “There are 799 million illiterate people in the world.” Low literacy users are able to make and receive calls but are not able to read text-based menus or take advantage of text-based communication and organization tools. Features such as phone books and asynchronous messaging need to be redesigned for this population. Recently a carrier in India launched a low-cost mobile phone with a voice-based interface and no screen. Called Spice, this device also features a Braille keypad for blind users.

Gaining a deep understanding of social and cultural dynamics is the next important consideration. It is crucial for designers to be able to envision and create relevant products and services. The two services mentioned earlier, and phone banking services are examples of products that were designed with an understanding of local communities and context. They address relevant needs and leverage technologies and interfaces that that are appropriate.

Support for native languages is another consideration that is important, especially in Asia and Africa. Even literate users are unable to read menus written in a language they don’t know how to speak. Therefore, in order for mobile devices to reach their potential handset makers will need to consider development of devices with design hardware and software design features to support additional native languages.

The last, and most obvious, consideration that needs to be kept top-of-mind throughout the design and development process is affordability.

Nokia: Mobile Products for Emerging Markets

During my exploration of design for emerging markets I came across many articles associated to Nokia. These pieces were either written by researchers who had worked for Nokia, or written about projects supported by Nokia. It is obvious that Nokia is one of the technology companies that is most committed to developing solutions for the emerging market. Of course this is not an altruistic-only strategy as great riches await companies that can design products and services that profitably expand the reach of technology to poor communities.

Here is an overview of several interesting and innovative initiatives from Nokia that are related to the design of products and services for emerging market users, and supporting the spread of mobile technology in developing areas.

Nokia Life Tools
“Life Tools” is the first initiative from Nokia that piqued my interest. I learned about it through a post on PSFK in early November. This suite of tools will provide emerging market phone users with access to agriculture and education-related services, helping to connect and ‘empower’ them. Entertainment services will also be available. Soon, many basic Nokia handsets will come with these capabilities pre-loaded, assuming you live in a market where these services are supported. [view an overview about these services from the Nokia website]

This suite of services was designed on an SMS platform to overcome the technological challenges present in rural areas such as the absence of access to the mobile web. This is crucial considering that data services are not available in many of these areas. This solution also enables users to avoid the complexity and high-costs associated to billing of data based services.

It is interesting to see Nokia entering more fully into the services space with this new offering. This is a direction that we have seen some companies pursue on the high-end of the market. For example Apple with its extensive suite of services has for a long time stood for empowerment and freedom. It is interesting to see Nokia leveraging a similar strategy of empowerment that is appropriate for people from the opposite end of the economic continuum. The center of their digital universe is a cell phone rather than a MacBook, iPhone or Blackberry.

According to Ken Banks this initiative from Nokia is “a move that mirrors the company's "developed world" strategy -- a move from out-and-out hardware supplier to one of a more inclusive services-based outfit. As if (very) successfully designing and building low-cost handsets for emerging markets wasn't enough, Nokia will now start offering emerging-market specific data services through its low-cost phones.” [read the full article here]


Nokia Siemens Networks Village Connection
The Networks Village Connection is another interesting and innovative product from Nokia that is designed for emerging markets. This technology was developed to enable mobile networks to extend into rural areas beyond the reach of conventional networks. It uses modular and compact GSM Access Points that can be owned and managed by a local entrepreneur or by an existing mobile provider. [read more about this technology on the Nokia website]

Expanding Horizons
Nokia even publishes a magazine related to opportunities associated to consumer telecommunications in emerging markets, this magazine is called Expanding Horizons. Here is an overview about this magazine from its own site: "Expanding Horizons is a quarterly publication aimed at ICT decision-makers in the private and public sectors. It explores the socio-economic benefits that mobile technology offers as well as best practices from around the world in order to encourage affordable mobile communications and bring Internet to the next billion consumers. It also shows how to create a favorable environment for market growth." [read it online here]

More than anything this magazine demonstrates that Nokia’s focus on emerging markets is driven by business considerations. This is expected and I don’t think it is a bad thing. Nokia is helping to increase the reach of communication technology to a whole new group of people who were previously ignored due to profitability considerations. If they continue to design services that empower people, like Life Tools, then this relationship should benefit both parties: Nokia and other telecom companies, and more importantly, people from emerging markets.

The February issue from this custom publication features an interesting article about bringing the internet to the next billion users. This article demonstrates that Nokia has a solid understanding of business opportunities, economic challenges and social and cultural nuances that impact the design and adoption of technology in emerging markets. [read full article]

In this article they highlight two important aspects distinctions in the way that the internet will be adopted by the next billion people. These differences focus are related to “how” and “why” technology is adopted; both factors that have a large impact on design of appropriate services:

• Internet adoption will be driven via the mobile handset, as opposed to the desktop or laptop computer. “The sheer cost-effectiveness and convenience of mobile technologies will prove decisive. Mobile devices are pervasive, with penetration growing at a rapid pace.”
• The specific needs of people in emerging market will drive creation of new services, not available in advanced markets. “The internet for the next billion consumers will be very different to the services prevalent in advanced markets… The mass of consumers in emerging markets lives in semi-urban and rural areas. Villages are far apart. A trip to the city is a big event in many people’s lives. We need to understand that their context is highly local.”

Closing the Digital Divide
Ken Banks brought up an interesting dilemma related to these prophesies of internet adoption in emerging markets from Nokia and other handset makers. Ken questions the way these companies talk about the mobile phone helping close the digital divide. He points out that mobile phones are relatively cheap devices, provide instant voice communications and SMS functionality, and offer the potential to provide access to the internet. However, many of these functionalities are not available in the handsets available to low-income users in emerging markets. Internet specifically tends to not be accessible on the low-cost phones sold in developing nations.

This issue is caused by the fact that “many people make a huge assumption about the technologies available to users in developing countries.” According to Ken “if we’re serious about using mobile to help close the digital divide, how about diverting international development funding towards providing a subsidised, fully-internet ready handset for developing markets?” Interesting question indeed. [read his full article here]

Design and Adoption of Technology for Emerging Markets

For the past few months I have been thinking about the design and adoption of technologies by people in emerging markets and other under-served communities (a.k.a. Base of Pyramid, "BoP", markets). During this period I've come across several interesting ideas related to this topic. It is clear that many challenges and possibilities have been, and are being, created by technology's continued expansion into the lives of people who just a few years ago were "off the radar".

My interest lies in exploring the common features shared by products and services that have been successful in these markets, and understanding how the process of design can evolve to support innovation focused on creating products and services that are appropriate for these communities.

Perspectives from Emerging Markets
People in emerging markets have particular worldviews that are colored by the specific context in which they live. I am implying not only that numerous differences exist between developed and emerging markets, but also that an equal number of differences can be found between emerging markets alone.

Here I will focus primarily on key characteristics that differentiate most emerging markets from developed ones. First and foremost, consumers from emerging markets tend to be less confident when it comes to making purchases due to their tighter economic situation. According recent article from Interactions magazine written by a team from Human Factors International, consumers in these markets "are more cautious than their counterparts in the West; they would rather pay more for quality than risk product failure". Affordability is important to them but they are not willing to accept products that offer low-quality compromises as "every act of discretionary consumption is an act of sacrificing something essential." [read full article]

On Core77, interesting insights are offered by Niti Bhan about the behavior of people from low-income communities in emerging markets. "Buying behavior and decision-making criteria imply that those in the lower income strata—particularly in the developing world—are not 'consumers' but in fact extremely careful 'money managers' for whom an expense is often an investment whose return must be maximized... The BoP customer has not been bombarded by mainstream consumer culture and all the trappings of 'consumerism' that come with it." [read full article]

This is not to say that the choices of these consumers are not influenced by emotion - emotion plays an important part in determining the "return" that will be delivered from a given purchase. However, the role of emotion is somewhat tempered by the fact that most of their spending choices are focused primarily on meeting basic human needs such as clothing, food, shelter.

When approaching emerging markets most companies take the approach that the same basic value proposition can serve across all markets since people have the same basic needs. Pricing and cosmetics are often considered the only elements that truly need to change. This approach demonstrates a lack of understanding regarding the extent to which the needs of these audiences differ from more affluent markets. Santosh Desai sums up the point nicely: "the need is to develop products that are appropriate rather than merely cheap."

Adoption of Products and Services in Emerging Markets
There are many factors that influence a product's rate of adoption. According to the article from Interaction magazine, these factors include "infrastructure, culture, language and dialect, purchasing power, literacy, urbanism, and terain." Recently on PSFK Allison Mooney shared her perspective about the three fundamental forces that govern the adoption of new services and products. Though her post focused exclusively on the adoption of a clunky service in South East Asian emerging markets, these hold true for all markets. So here are the three fundamentals [read full article on PSFK]:

1. "Discovery: Is there an easy and reliable way for people to learn about it?" (Does their community use it? Can their teenager or friend explain it them? Is it something that people will feel comfortable sharing? If a device is required, is such a device common and easy to acquire and use?)
2. "Utility: Does it enable them to do something they need or want to do?" (Does it fulfill a real need or is it useful? The need can be practical, e.g. banking, entertainment, e.g. games, or something else - but it must offer some utility.)
3. "Motivation: How badly do they need or want to do this?" (How does the utility offered by this product compare to difficult required to learn how to use it, or the costs associated to its use - monetary, cultural and social costs? For hard to use or expensive products and services a lot of motivation is needed.)
   

To examine the value of this framework let's do a high-level analysis of successful products and services from emerging markets. First let's examine mobile-enabled financial services that have quickly gained adoption. In many developing markets, mobile phones have emerged as the communication standard because in large part due to the scarcity and expense of land lines. However. the role that these devices play has expanded far beyond calling; in the Phillipines and India they have evolved into important financial instruments and are often referred to as "wallet phones".

In these countries banks and phone companies have begun to support a wide range of phone-based financial transactions in ways not commonly available in the West. Services offered include checking balances, money transfers and even e-cash capabilities. According to the previously mentioned article from Interactions magazine, a "currency-free future is dawning in these 'developing countries... mobile phone providers like the Philippines' Globe Telecom have become a kind of shadow banking system."

In Mumbai, a start-up called Eko partnered with a local bank to offer these same types of services. Users carry out transactions using USSD messages that feature a complicated syntax consisting of long sequences of numbers, *'s and #'s (thanks to Anupam Varghese for pointing out that this service is provided using USSD as opposed to SMS). USSD enables a transaction to be just 'dialed' as if it were just a longish phone number. Here is an example of a transfer request for 100 rupees: "*543*190123456789*100*1133740274#" (I suspect the service from the Philippines has a similar interface). Despite the seeming "clunkiness" of the user interaciton these services have achieved wide adoption.

So how does it line up against the fundamentals we laid out above? To drive discovery of these services, the bank in Mumbai set-up a network of neighborhood service representatives that promote the service, and sign up and assist customers. The telecom company from Philippines is able to drive discovery via marketing and their existing network of representatives. From a utility perspective boths services are obviously useful, enabling mobile phone users to easily access money. Though the interface seems "clunky" it is easy to use because it leverages a known behavior (dialing numbers), a widely used feature (SMS) of a commonly available technology (cell phones). In Mumbai, neighborhood service reps also provide support so that it’s not necessary for people to know how to do everything themselves.

Design of Products and Services in Emerging Markets
I believe that good design delivers some form of usability, coupled with a pleasurable and meaningful experience. This perspective is based on the consumerist cultural and social context in which I live, my privileged economic situation, and my passion for design and aesthetics. In order to create products that are appropriate for emerging markets designers need be aware of cultural and social blind spots. Understanding the specific cultural, economic and social context is key to designing a successful product. Ken Banks of kiwanja.net recently wrote about what causes many products to fail: "lack of basic reality-checking and a tendency to make major assumptions are lead culprits, yet they are relatively easy to avoid."

The latest issue of Interaction magazine featured a study into the adoption of a mobile service. This piece highlights the importance of leveraging deep cultural and social understandings when designing services. The focus of this study was a project to leverage mobile phones to enhance education for school-age kids. In order to create a solution that was adopted by students the design and research team had to go through several prototypes. During this process they unearthed important social and cultural behaviors and beliefs that guided updates in the design of the user interactions and the way in which the education was developed and delivered. [read full article]

Niti Bhal outlined a human-centered framework for the creation of successful products and businesses for BoP markets. This framework, called 5-D, is comprised of 5 elements: development, design, distribution, demand, dignity. The first four elements roughly align to phases of a process, whereas the final element refers to the philosophy of the approach. Below is a brief outline of these 5 elements. [read the original post]

Development refers to the identification of opportunities for social or economic development that will serve as the basis for the design. Design refers to the creation of a product or service in response to the opportunity for development. Distribution refers to need for ability to make a product or service readily available for customers. Demand refers to the development of an appropriate value proposition that can communicate the benefits of your product or service. Lastly, Dignity refers to the need to create products and services that respect economic, social and cultural needs and with an intent to create a positive impact.

The Design of Interaction with Music for Mobile Devices

Lately a large number of music applications have become available for portable phones and mobile gaming system. A large number of music-related applications have been released for these devices - including software for music listening, playing, producing and sequencing. These offerings range from virtual pianos, guitars, drums, harmonicas, sequencers and many other instruments to innovative interfaces that allow inexperienced users (or professionals) to create music in new ways.

iPhone Music Applications
As would be expected, most of the music-related applications for the iPhone provide listening or informational functionality. There are some pretty interesting applications in these genres (Pandora and Shazam being two of my favorites), however, the focus of this post is on mobile applications that enable users to create music, both directly and indirectly. So here are a few of my favorites:

BeatMaker
This is an example of applications that mimics existing music instruments. This one provides access to a drum machine and a sequencer. It has a pretty cool interfaces that works well for the most part. They've done a good job at integrating the sequencer and drum machine on to this small touchscreen interface. This application provides a decent set of features, some highlights include ability to loop sounds, to record and playback tracks, and to add new sounds for the drums. The drum is really easy to use featuring large virtual drum pads (the sequencer is a little less user friendly).

Priced at almost $20, this application is definitely not for everyone. It is easy to use considering the the functionality it offers. However, it is more complex than more abstract applications such as Ocarina or Bloom. You do not need experience with drum sets or sequencers to play with beatmaker - I had pretty close to none.



Pro Remote
This is the most high-end example of music interaction application on the iPhone. One distinction about this application is that it does not create music, it is a remote control for Pro-Tools running on a Mac. Nonetheless, it is quite impressive. The video below only shows one small feature of this application. Check out this other video, which highlights some other interfaces provided by this application.



Smule Ocarina
This is an example of a simpler but in some ways more innovative music interface designed specifically for the iPhone. Ocarina is an application that turns your iPhone into an wind instrument whose output can be broadcast to a worldwide network of users. The instrument itself is pretty interesting. You create sound by blowing on to the microphone, and you control it by using four different virtual buttons on the touchscreen display. The application is simple, designed to allow inexperienced to quickly and easily make sounds. That said I quickly grew bored of it.

The networking feature is pretty cool. You can broadcast your music continuously on to the network (even when you are logged off). You can also listen to the broadcast of others via a pretty cool interface that shows the location where the broadcast originates and includes a visual representation of the music - some element of this visual representation can even be customized by the person who makes the song.



Bloom
This application provides another example of a simple and innovative interface designed specifically for the iPhone. Similar to Ocarina, this app was designed to be easy to learn and fun to use for people who are not musicians. Created by Brian Eno and Peter Chilvers, this music instrument enables users to produce melodies simply by touching different parts of the touchscreen. The melodies progress in a loop-like fashion and they slowly melt away and disappear after 30 seconds or so. The instrument will also start playing when left idle for over 40 seconds or so. You can choose from a nine different moods to change the sound of the harmonies. Personally, I prefer this app to Ocarina - though it also grew old pretty quickly.



RJDJ Album
Unlike the other applications featured on this list, this one is primarily used for music consumption rather than creation, which is not to say that it does not create music. The concept behind this RJDJ application is that it generates music on-the-fly using live sounds that are captured in real time mashed up with pre-recorded elements. The live sounds surface in the music as samples, and influence the progression of other elements in the song (if you can call it that).

Based on RJDJ's website they are promoting a musical genre called "reactive", where the sounds that people hear are produced that very moment by digital devices. This is definitely a genre in its infance (I had the music world that will see further development as more artists experience in this




Nintendo DS

KORG DS-10 (w/ optional Straw TalkBox)
The iPhone (and other cell phones) are not the only mobile devices that have more advanced and innovative music applications. A few months ago Nintendo released an emulator for Korg's DS-10 synthesizer. This application turns a Nintendo DS into a mini Korg DS-10. Check out this video - it is definitely more advanced than anything I've seen for the iPhone.

Since I don't own a Nintendo DS-2 - I only have an iPhone - I wonder when an app like this will come out on the iPhone? Is it just a question of time? to what extent does the low-average prices of iPhone apps inhibit the release of software of this complexity?



Another cool thing about Korg DS-10 app on the Nintendo DS is that a hacker in Japan has created a simple way to turn this device into a talkbox, using a simple straw. Check out the video below, just beware because it is in Japanese.



For Nintendo DS there are also a number of open source homebrew music applications - here is 24 examples courtesy of synthopia. Most of these applications are for more experienced users (unlike Ocarina and Bloom on the iPhone). Most of them are designed to provide advanced features and to run these apps users have to learn how to install homebrew software on their Nintendo DS. This requires a higher level technical know-how that tends to be limited to heavier user of the device.

[some content sourced via PSFK]