17
Sep 08Physical Computing Observation Assignment
The notes below were taken for a guerilla-style research assignment given last week in Tom Igoe’s Physical Computing class Aly Wolf-Mills and I took a stroll up Broadway and around Union Square and observed some interesting examples of people using mobile devices, ATMs and Metro card vending machines. Fun assignment. See Ally’s blog for the first half of the notes.
Union Square - Midday
- Man looking at (paper) map of Manhattan, then calls someone on cell (Arranging place to meet?)
- Man sitting in Union Square park using Sprint wireless internet service (plugs into USB port)
- Has never tried to use free municipal wifi in Union Square because he doesn’t trust public wifi access points. Concerned that he may be exposed to security risks by using it.
- Also uses this as his primary form of internet access at home because his TWC service is totally unreliable
- Interesting that he doesn’t use this thing that is made freely available because of a purely emotional response (trust).
- Is there any technical merit to this concern?
- Possible to expose cc numbers or emails, but not possible to breach security of users laptop simply by connecting to public wifi network, right?
- New York Film Academy students shooting with digital camera, learning how to use it.
- Primarily use LCD, not viewfinder
- Might be going back and looking at footage they already shot
- Instructor is explaining camera menus/settings
- Trying to set white balance or adjust quality of image in some way. Hard to tell, but it seems that something is not working as it’s supposed to
- Seems that there is a steep learning curve
- Camera is so small that it is almost impossible for all three to look closely at screens/buttons at same time
- Some tools do require a certain degree of complexity
- Yamaha Tenori-On vs. guitar, sax, etc.
- For a skilled musician, a real instrument probably offers more exciting range of possibilities, whereas the Tenori-On may feel constraining.
- At some point though it is possible for the tool to become so complex that the person operating it becomes more of a technician and less of an artist – e.g., the DP/Cinematographer on a film shoot is often implementing a vision laid out by the director.
- Subway - metrocard vending machines
- Saw woman add 50 cents to her card
- Ability to buy a card for any amount - something that might perturb an actual human employee if they had to conduct the transaction
- People failing to complete final screen of transaction (”Do you want a receipt?”)
- Requires the next person to cancel out of this screen in order to begin their own transaction.
- One user was unable to get the machine to read her card. Had to take out wallet again, take out bill.
- First tried to put bill in slot where Metrocard is distributed
- Then put bill in upside down several times before correcting orientation.
- Why required to insert the bill in a certain way? Why required to swipe or insert cards a certain way?
- Why can’t there be two or more reader mechanisms inside the device so that the bill or magnetic strip is legible regardless of how it is inserted?
- People going to window to try to communicate with booth attendant
- Mostly just gesturing and shoving money through the window
- Speakers are terrible, impossible to hear what they are saying from behind the glass. MTA employees seem to like/prefer this barrier, since it prevents them from having to interact with the public. Same as loudspeakers for announcements on trains
- Union Square dog run
- Dog owner did not have her dog fitted with an identity chip
- Had heard vaguely about it, but had found out about it online, not from her vet.
- Couldn’t imagine any circumstances under which the dog would not be with her in NYC. Seemed unlikely to her that her dog would run away or be separated in an urban environment.
September 18th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
[...] The first half of our notes appear on Patrick’s blog here. [...]