Eyes Open

I recently bought the IDEO Eyes Open guidebook for London from Amazon as I was interested in it's concept, which is to explore and experience your surroundings in a different way. It is essentially a guidebook that highlights a number of places not on the traditional tourist trail, but I like the idea of really looking at what is going on around me as I feel that my observational skills may be a bit rusty after becoming desensitised by the bustle of the commute.

I'm keen to check out some of the suggestions that are nearby, especially as I've been here for almost a year and I still feel like I haven't seen all the things that I should have by now. It will also give me an excuse to take a few photos again (another thing which I seem to have neglected since moving here).

Long overdue update

As the title suggests it has been rather a long time since I last updated this blog. I will try to quickly summarise what I've been up to, and hopefully this will instigate more regular postings.

So, I have now begun my career in user research at One to One Insight in London. I'm doing customer experience research and learning more and more every day. London life is hectic but enjoyable and definitely gets a bit more sun than Scotland in the summer!

From now on I will attempt to more frequently document my thoughts and observations on people, design and technology. I am also now the owner of a twitter account, and so may use it to give brief updates.

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.

Project process

Having neglected this blog for a while, I will attempt to summarise what has happened in the last month or so.

Having completed my observations in Edinburgh I returned to Dundee and worked through the observations that I had recorded through my notes and sketches. I found this task at times quite demanding, and it took longer than I had expected to analyse and synthesise the data into something which I was happy with. On reflection I feel that this could have been due to working alone, as I appreciate the value that a team can bring to this stage, particularly when it comes to bouncing ideas around etc. In addition to the fieldwork I consulted a two regular rail commuters through informal interviews, primarily to gain some feedback on my analysis but also to gain a bit more data. I had considered forming a focus group, and using it as a participatory design session, to gain some design ideas. However, lack of numbers combined with a change in decision resulted in the further analysis/data gathering route.

Afterwards, I managed to group my data into some themes, and then was able to merge them into a couple of core ideas - infrastructure and behaviour. Underneath each of these themes I have established a series of issues/topics that are illustrated through my observations.

I am now working on how to communicate these themes and issues effectively, and also in a way that they could be useful in the design of future technologies within transitory spaces. I have almost completed the illustrative report, which will outline the process along with the results, and I have also been working on the online presentation that I will do next week as well.

So it is coming together quite well at the moment. The biggest challenge will be making sure that I get my points across successfully, and hopefully show the value in my work.

The Medium is the Message

Marshall McLuhan - The Medium is the Massage

I found this book again whilst I was in Edinburgh doing a more extended period of observation at Waverly. Not too sure where this idea is going, but maybe just something to mull over for a while.

"All media work us over completely. They are so pervasive in their personal, political, economic, aesthetic, psychological, moral, ethical, and social consequences that they leave no part of us untouched, unaffected, unaltered."

Personal Space

So I've been doing my first round of analysis and some codes/themes have been emerging. One of these was personal space, and particularly how the environment and the individual's actions affects this.

Coincidentally I came across this post by Alan Rapp on the Design Observer blog. It mentions Robert Sommer so I think I will take a look into his book Personal Space: The behavioral basis of design. I've also started finding a few articles on how things such as listening to music can alter people's perception and awareness of the space around them.

Primary Observation

Last week I was down in London beginning my observational fieldwork at St Pancras Station. I was able to spend a couple of days in the space, and get a feeling of how people were acting in the environment. I was most aware of the amount of people still working/communicating whilst on the move. These "mobile workers" came in various forms, from the businessman/woman working on a laptop at any opportunity to someone simply on talking/texting on their mobile phone whilst on the move. It was just something that stood out to me, and something to consider during my analysis. It was also intriguing to see how people adapted the space and objects within the space to suit their needs.

My next step will be to do an initial round of analysis/synthesis to see what stands out.