A day in the life of a mobile phone

Over the last week or so we have been working on a mini project where we have had to develop an account of a day in the life of a mobile phone. As I would be away for a large proportion of the project I really had to manage the project to a fairly strict time schedule.

I decided to attempt a cultural probe, where I gave two participants a notebook and pen and asked them to record their mobile phone usage. I also conducted some observations, primarily in pubic spaces. I also set the research aims, although on reflection I maybe didn't specify these well enough and they could have been more precise.

Once I had collected all the data I used a grounded theory approach to analyse the data, where I went through the information and picked out various concepts. I then grouped these into categories, which I gave titles, and then based my ideas on them. 

For my poster I presented the outcomes through the following narrative account from the perspective of a phone. It was interesting to try and write this way, as usually I would illustrate it through a different means, and I'm not too sure how successful it is. 

This morning I started the day with my alarm. My owner silenced me several times before getting up. I’ve been on all night incase someone wants to get in contact. The first thing my owner does is send a text message to their partner to say good morning. Later they look at my clock and realise how late they are for work. Quickly they put me into my pouch to protect me, and then into their bag for the journey. Once on the train they take me out and check through the messages. They realise they haven't replied to a friend and send an apology. They agree to meet later this evening. They then plug in some earphones and listen to my music for the rest of the journey. At the 11am meeting at work they realise they forgot to put me on silent. Slight embarrassment as their mum phones and the ringtone is loud. During the meeting they text their mum to say they will phone back later. At lunchtime they show a work colleague one of the photos in my albums. It will probably never be seen again. They phone their mum and realise the call was about a trivial matter. They don't reply to the message from their partner, they are annoyed about something. I sit in their bag the rest of the afternoon, they are unaware of the messages I receive. I will let them know the next time they pick me up. It's time to leave work and my owner looks at me and realises the missed correspondences. They get back in touch with them all on the train ride home. I spend the rest of the evening in their pocket. They go out to meet friends. They use me at various times to find out where other people are. On the walk home they check their pocket to make sure I'm there. The alleyway is dark and they're glad I'm there in case anything happens. I do know a taxi number but they don't use it tonight. Back at home they phone their partner. They're no longer annoyed. They say goodnight, and I go back on charge.

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?

Mobile interaction

I've been looking into what I would like to cover for my essay in DE, as well as thinking about areas of interest for my third semester project.

Generally I have been looking at mobile interaction, and I've been trying to look at it from a variety of angles. Jan Chipchase's presentation Where's The Phone? for Nokia was quite useful, as it shows how the research methods produced specific observations. I found the conclusion notable;

"The last 10 years have been about converging more functionality onto a single device - instant messaging, radio, television, music, cameras and so on. Each feature creates new modalities of use and can subtly or drastically change carrying and interaction styles. How does having a camera change how a device is carried? Or access to mobile banking?

We are rapidly moving to the point where, due to miniaturization, flexible components and economies of scale, it maymake sense to de-converge functionality on the phone. Hypothetically, if you took all the features on a phone today and distributed them around the body, clothes and in other carried objects, where might these functions be carried, accessed? And why?"

This notion would seem to contrast to what Intel Research are suggesting with their Carry Small, Live Large Research Program. This says to me that they are proposing that phones will get smaller with more platforms converged within them.

I feel that it could go either way. What I think is important is that they are both looking at how people interact with the devices, as well as looking at contexts and environments.

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.

Gotomedia

Whilst researching into mobile communication I found the Gotomobile blog, which looks at it usability and user experience.

This led me to the company Gotomedia, who create interfaces for mobiles, products and the web. It was interesting to also look at their strategy and process in regards to the My Strategy exercise for the DLPSI module.

Kelly Goto is involved in both the blog and the company, and the blog states that she is "dedicated to understanding how real people integrate products and services into their daily lives". I also found an interview with her here, where she explains the process and project management involved in producing online brands.

I hope to take some of this onboard, as I am interested in people centred research for the creation of new products and ideas.

Everyware

I have been doing a bit of research into ubiquitous technology, and came across a series of papers on the AIGA website.

The first paper I looked at was Mobile Computing in High-End Retail. It shows how an ethnographic study into how managers guided clients through the experience of buying their fashion related products led into the design of a prototype and set of requirements. It was interesting to see how quickly the process was completed, and how valuable they found involving users in the process.

The second paper I looked at was Mobile Essentials: Field Study and Concepting, which looked at the study of"what people consider to be mobile essentials, how those mobile essentials are carried and problems typically encountered." I liked how they looked at the context and situations/places these Mobile Essentials (MEs) were being used in, rather than concentrating on the objects themselves i.e. they looked at the why and how as well as the what. I laughed at the paragraph describing how people remembered their MEs, as I am often seen doing the Phone, Keys, Wallet pat down before I leave the house.

The paper Nokia Sensor: From Research to Product goes into much more detail, providing some insight to the process and decisions made. The product itself can be seen here. Personally I'm not sure on the product's success, however I found an interesting comment here stating that it seemed "like yet another mobile product looking for an application". So I suppose that even when the design is user-centred, and done with all good intentions, the end result can still be ineffective.