Mementoys

Last week I attended an interesting talk by Walid Hassanein, help by the SUPA. Walid's presentation gave an interesting insight into his project, which explored the emotional connection we have with physical objects, and looked at how memories could be stored by the objects themselves, and in particular a child's toy.

By using digital technology, such as audio recording that would be triggered by manipulating the toy, they hoped to capture different memories of childhood, and store them in a way to be accessed in the future.

The Q&A brought up many questions on data storage, but the more interesting topic discussed was how to distinguish between what the toy should store as a 'memory' and what to disregard. The concept of value vs. quantity is relevant in many other devices that we use today.

I wonder if the ability to store large amounts of photos on digital cameras/hard drives has led to less 'quality' pictures e.g. memorable and cherished photos.

Public Space

After doing a bit of initial research into how people might communicate in public space I decided to look a bit further into concepts of space. Something which came up in the discussions was how people interact and move through certain spaces. I stumbled upon this video of a scramble intersection via Picocool, which I love. It's the sort of thing I can just sit and watch, and observe the flux of people's movement. 

I also got talking to my Dad about the area of my project, and as he works as an architect he had some really useful points and has recommended some things for me to look at. He talked about his own desire to design for spaces. Rather than worry about how a building looks on the outside, he wants to create spaces that are meaningful and useful for people. He talked about visiting the Neue Wache in Berlin, designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, and how people behaved when they entered the room with the Käthe Kollwitz sculpture. He said that people didn't just walk straight in and head towards the centre, but would move slowly and quietly around the edge by the walls.

Mother with her Dead Son, sculpture in the Neue Wache

Mobile Social Interaction

I've been having some further thoughts on my essay and third semester project. Generally still looking at possibilities for mobile interactions.

On the nytimes.com I found this article, in which Jan Chipchase discusses how mobile phones could aid in ending global poverty. In the article it explains how through human-centred research they are finding out insights, particularly in regards to how people are adapting phones to suit their needs. In response to the questioning of wide spread technology, he explains how communication is a right, and how some "people once believed that people in other cultures might not benefit from having books either."

I've also looked at Nokia Resarch Africa, or NoRA, the video showing the Music Project in Nairobi. It presents a way of helping to develop opportunities within a fairly disadvantaged community.

I feel Nokia's Data Gathering is a good example of a design solution created through mobile interaction technology. The mobile data collection "helps to improve the operations and service provided by public and private organisations." It appears to have a lot of benefits over other methods, such as laptops, PDA's and paper.

I also briefly looked at other examples of mobile phone projects having an impact on the Third World on textually.org. A particularly interesting piece, was how people in South Africa could use texting to find out information on AIDS, and it became advantageous as it was discreet.

I think what is most appealing to me, and what I hope to try and tackle in the essay, is how the findings and insights from these approaches are or might be considered by such a large company. I suppose this gets back to the idea of how the research could actually inform design.

Also, how a company can help with social and economic issues in a country, in a moral way, when they are predominantly driven by profit?

The web in the world

I had a brief look at a presentation by Timo Arnall called The web in the world. He describes how emerging technologies are impacting on mobile platforms and concentrates on "ideas around presence, location, context awareness, peripheral interaction as well as haptics and tangible interfaces".

Arnall's work can also be seen here and here, with some interesting insights into design and research.