mobile marketplace, intermediate report part 2

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Mobile services for the rural/urban coMMunities

design research project internal report phase ii - august-noveMber 2011Nokia Research CentreStudio TAOResearch Report Part IImobile services for the rural/urban

communities Research and Design project researchers:Serena PollastriDiego DaliaFrancesca ValsecchiLei Jiong

Shanghai, January 31, 2012

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table of contentsindex

7 1. From personas to scenarios

20 2. Polarities & scenario mapping

23 3. Cases of scenarios solutions

29 4. Target definition. A given step from design research to design concepts

32 5. Evaluation & checklist of inaccesible target

35 6. Concepts introduction

43 7. Concepts developed by students

49 8. Preliminary concept analysis

52 9. Conclusions & future steps

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1. froM personas to scenarios

Persona design falls far short of its potential without scenario design and walkthroughs. Only putting the personas into action bridges the contexts of use and the implementation. The definition of a background in which the user acts and where he has the opportunity to interact with the product or a service, allows us to make sure solutions go where the problems are.A narrative descriptions is made to stimulate and guide the design process. It is used to identify needs, anticipate usability problems, and facilitate communication among different groups involved indesign and development. Scenarios start from several key elements to develop possible sketches of the future.First of all, the design team has to take care of the stakeholders involved in the particular situation they are going to describe. In order to have a more complete picture of the situation is important to understand the position of those who are in direct contact with the subject of the research, and the ones who might not be direct users, but whose lives are affected by various interactions (indirect stakeholders).The scenario acquires a higher value if presents a vision in which the product or the service are widespread, spanning various geographic regions, social positions and other contexts. In this way it is possible to explore the multi- dimensional interactions among technology, psychology, society, culture, and the environment as use of the product -service becomes pervasive over a period of years.

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#2. ZHANG FENG

#5. LIN GANG

#1. LU FU GUI

#3. LIU FANG

#4. WANG FANG

definition of scenarios through personas daily life analysis structure of the analysis

A - Personas geo-mapping and sphere of activity

This is the starting point to define scenarios. Analyzing personas daily activities and the geographic area in which they act, it is possible to understand their needs and figure out related design opportunities.At first we mapped the personas, distinguishing those who live in rural areas, from those one that live in a urban zone. Then we mapped their sphere of activity, in order to visualize in which way they are connected with they place where they live and the one where they come from.

#2. ZHANG FENGCONSTR.SITE

DORM

CONSTR.SITE

coworkerscoworkers

coworkers

coworkers

friends

Places

People with wich they interact Displacements

LEVEL OF INTERACTION

LOW MEDIUM HIGH

FRIE

ND

SVI

LLA

GER

SSH

OP

OW

NER

Means of communication

People with wich they interact

Deepness and frequency of interactions

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PERSONA X

Places

Time schedule

Time spent in a place

B - Personas daily journey: Time WheelWe analized the individual daily routine of each persona, estimating how much time they spend in a certain place during their day, doing some activities.This graph shows in a synthetic way the type of daily routine that can be associated to each persona, where do they go and how much time do they spend thereC - Personas daily journey : Places mapThe following step is mapping the places in which they spend their time, tracing their movements and indicating the people with whom they interact in the specific site.Some personas spend their time in a very small area, moving from a place to another with their bike or through an electric scooter. Some others cover longer distances because of their work or other needs; they mainly use public transportation system.D - Charts of InteractionsFrom these studies, we got enough information to define a chart that represents Personas dailyinteractions with several type of interlocutors. Moreover we show the type of communication theyperform, decribing the means they use to do it, and highlighting the depht and the frequency of these contacts. Scenario Building This data will be useful to build up future scenarios.Each of them will describe a particular situation in which we can identify the several Personas.To narrate this stories we use as criterias:

Time

Activities

Relations

Means of CommunicationThe main aim is to delineate a general frame in which users act and behave in a particular way, in order to understand their needs, find new design opportunities, taking care of their problems and conditions.

#1. lu fu gui / a villager native from chongming

#2. Zhang feng / a migrant who came in town from countryside to find job opportunities

#3. liu fang / a migrant who moved from another rural area

#4. Wang fang / a villager who just know her hometown

#5. lin gang / a rural town inhabitant

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HOME

COOPERATIVE

COMM. CENTER FIELD

FIELD

wife

coworkers

villagers

coworkers

coworkers

villagers

friends

He is very busy during his day. He normally stays at home mainly at night time or few hoursafter lunch for his nap. Despite of his age, he is very active: he spends most of his time working and he is a real pillar of villages community. He prefers to have a direct contact with persons with whom he interacts daily, even if he uses his mobile phone quite frequently to keep in contact with friends and, of course, for his small business.He moves around with his electric scooter, because he finds it is very comfortable to drive in the countrysides small streets. although he is a clever person, he is not interested in learning how to use a computer or any othertechnological devices, but he finds that mobile phone is a very useful tools to communicate during his busy day.

Personas daily journey : Places map#1. LU FU GUI /

A villager native from Chongming

LOW MEDIUM HIGH


WIF

EFR

IEND

SCO

WOR

KER

ACO

WOR

KER

BVI

LLAG

ERS

PERSONA 1

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Fields

Cooperative

Headquarter

Commercial

Center

Home

Daily journey Time Wheel

LOW MEDIUM HIGH


WIF

EFR

IEND

SCO

WOR

KER

ACO

WOR

KER

BVI

LLAG

ERS

PERSONA 1

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Fields

Cooperative

Headquarter

Commercial

Center

Home

Charts of Interactions

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CONSTR.SITE

DORM

CONSTR.SITE

coworkerscoworkers

coworkers

coworkers

friends

He lives in Shanghai, where he work.He does not really enjoy his life in town and he spends the biggest part of his time working, in order to earn more money to send back to his family. In his daily routine he interacts with different kind of people, but their relationship are not very deep and frequent. His mobile phone is the linking bridge with his family that lives in his hometown. Whenever he can, he uses a computer to communicate with them, especially to talk with his daughter. He goes around the city using public transportation system. Sometimes he has some problems incommunication with those people who does not understand his accent. He would like tofind a more interesting way to keep in touch with his family.

Personas daily journey : Places map#2. ZHANG FENG /

A migrant who came in town from countryside to find job opportunities


FAM

ILY

FRIE

NDS

EMPL

OYER

COW

ORKE

R A

COW

ORKE

R B

LOW MEDIUM HIGH

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PERSONA 2

Construction Site

Construction Site 2

Dormitory



FAM

ILY

FRIE

NDS

EMPL

OYER

COW

ORKE

R A

COW

ORKE

R B

LOW MEDIUM HIGH

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PERSONA 2

Construction Site

Construction Site 2

Dormitory


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FACTORY

HOME

villagersmarketsellers

coworkers

friends

son

MARKET

She does not have a lot of spare time and tries to use it in the best way, often staying with her son. She spends most of her time between the house and the factory where she works. Her mobile phone helps her keep in contact with her family, especially with her husband ,who lives in Chongming as well. Since she moved to Chongming, she tried to integrate in the local community, but is not easy if you do not speak properly the local dialect. In spite of this, she is very friendly. She would be more relaxed if she could keep in contact in a easier way with her child, especially when she is on the workplace.

Personas daily journey : Places map

#3. LIU FANG / A migrant who moved from another rural area


SON

HUBA

NDS

GRAN

DMA

FRIE

NDS

COW

ORKE

RSM

ARKE

TSE

LLER

S

LOW MEDIUM HIGH

14

16

1517

1819

1020

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PERSONA 3

Factory

Home

Market



SON

HUBA

NDS

GRAN

DMA

FRIE

NDS

COW

ORKE

RSM

ARKE

TSE

LLER

S

LOW MEDIUM HIGH

14

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PERSONA 3

Factory

Home

Market


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HOME

FRIENDS HOME

villagers

friends

friends

GROCERYS

villagers

Shop owner

Personas daily journey : Places map#4. WANG FANG /

A villager who just know her hometown


LOW MEDIUM HIGH

FRIE

NDS

VILL

AGER

SSH

OPOW

NER

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PERSONA 4

Grocery Store

Friends House

Home

Garden

The village is her main stage: she never leaves from there and concetrates her life around it.When she does not have to take care of her green garden, she loves to spend her time going around, often visiting friends.She moves from a place to another just by walking and she really like to talk with whoever she meets.She has a land line phone at home, but is very hard to keep in contact with her expecially when she is in the garden or around the village.Her friends would like to have more opportunity to communicate with her and check her physical status, if they are not able to meet her.



LOW MEDIUM HIGH

FRIE

NDS

VILL

AGER

SSH

OPOW

NER

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PERSONA 4

Grocery Store

Friends House

Home

Garden


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FRIE

NDS

VILL

AGER

SSH

OPOW

NER

LOW MEDIUM HIGH

14

16

15

1718

19

10

20

9

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PERSONA 5

Market

Mahjiang House Home


FRIE

NDS

VILL

AGER

SSH

OPOW

NER

LOW MEDIUM HIGH

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PERSONA 5

Market

Mahjiang House Home

MARKET

HOME

clients

villagers

villagers

friends

He loves his work and he learnt from his granfather how to do it. He lives mainly between his house/workshop and the market where sells his products. His interaction are mainly based on verbal contacts. His mobile phone is useful to communicate with his family, when he does not have time to visit them, and to keep in contact with his customers whenever he cannot meet them.He goes around with his trycicle, that is full of bamboo baskets when he goes to work. An external help would be useful to enlarge his business, that at the moment is concetrated just in his village.

Personas daily journey : Places map



#5. LIN GANG / A rural town inhabitant

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Personal use

Work

daily life facility social networking tool

Work tool business bridging service

Long distance communicationLocal communication#1

#2

#3

#5

#4

Criteria for polarities definitionThrough ethnography research and the personas definition, we identified different behaviors and opportunities. From these information we set two couples of polarities to build a scenario matrix. One indicates the radius of the network of the user, from local to long distance. The other one identifies the kind of use that is made of the communication device, if it is for personal purpose or business.Then in the four areas of the matrix, we identified four different basic scenarios, and mapped out where we expect our personas to be positioned.This matrix refers mainly to functions, and the situations in which the user would use the device, rather than shape and appearance.

2. polarities & scenario Mapping

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structure of the page

1. Scenario positioning area according to the scenario matrix

2. Atmosphere: moodboard that represents the context and the interaction mode

3. Scenario description

4. Inspiration: collection of interesting case studies

Scenario BuildingIn the following pages we present the overview of the four scenarios detected in the previous matrix. Although not necessarily our final concept will be placed in one specific of these scenarios, such rapresentation is useful to visualize the characteristics of each one of them, understand the differences and have an idea of existing solutions that can be taken es examples.

3. cases of scenarios solutions

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Daily Life FacilityThis Scenario frames a way to use mobile phones or other devices as communication mean to interact with people on a LOCAL SCALE and for PERSONAL/PRIVATE purposes.The users want to reach those persons who are close to them to keep in contact along their daily routine, to inform them about their activities and displacements.In many cases they adopt the tool to organize gathering or private meetings.The level of interaction is usually medium and differs by the persons whith whom the user enter in contact.Higher is the familiarity with technology and the level of education, wider are the possibilities to contact them: for istance, those users who can read and write, may have more opportunities to communicate, using callings and text messages.1.Johns Phone https://www.johnsphones.com/2. Came domotic system3. Polaris robot-phone from KDDI4. Hi Baby from Hi System

1

3

2

4

2

3

1

4

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Daily Life FacilityThis Scenario frames a way to use mobile phones or other devices as communication mean to interact with people on a LOCAL SCALE and for PERSONAL/PRIVATE purposes.Systems and devices in this scenarios allow the user to keep in touch with their contacts during their daily routine, to inform or meet up. The level of interaction is usually medium and differs by the persons with whom the user enters in contact. The higher is the familiarity with technology and the level of education, the wider are the possibilities to contact them: for istance, those users who can read and write, may have more opportunities to communicate, through calls and text messages

Social Networking ToolLiving far from our relatives and friends is not always a choice.Keep in contact with them is often a problem, especially if the person we want to talk to is a tech illiterate.Sharing part of our life, sending pictures or videos would be an interesting way to inform someone about our best moments, feeling them closer and gaining upon distances.Technology could help to replace the missing physical contact and enhance relationship among people.The user can define on which scale he wants to spread his information and, at the same time, the level of interaction with other users.

1.Johns Phone https://www.johnsphones.com/2. Came domotic system3. Polaris robot-phone from KDDI4. Hi Baby from Hi System

1. Oz Mobile social networking solution2. Panasonic Pixi cellphone picture dock 3. Leyio personal sharing device4. LG YouTube Phone with Direct Upload

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3

3

22

4

4

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DescriptionDaily tasks can be made easier through the use of some technology tools. Portability, simplicity of interaction and high usability (particularly related to the specific tasks) are relevant characteristics of devices that are mapped in this area of the diagram.

As a Work Tool

DescriptionDevices and services that can help in reaching markets that are logistically hard to reach otherwise. These tookls allow connectivity, promote local business in a wider net and help exploring.

Business Bridging Service

1: IPad2: Nokia Life Tools3: Fitbit, tracks fitness performances and sleep (fitbit.com)4: Cloud Computer (http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/back-_plan_we_examine_5_cloud-based_services)

1: Layar, Augmented reality software (http://www.layar.com) 2: Shopping through smartphone App3: IPad4: RFID enabled shopping cart (http://www.springwise.com/telecom_mobile/grocery-store-coupons-delivered-real-time-shopping-cart-tablets/)

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4. target definition. a given step froM design research to design conceptsAt this stage of the research a specific summary about the target we are focusing on is needed. In fact, the so called rural target, could include a variety of social type that extend further beyond the characteristics of the farmer. Through the interactive tools of ethnography we were able to better define this rural target and to clarify its role, to orientate next design steps.The data collected show a gap between the technical literacy of the city-based and the countryside based target that reflects also in the lack of information and data related to the rural segments.Ethnography helped us better defining what is generally conceived as rural target.Documenting their tools, tracking their uses of technological devices, exploring their ideas on needs and limits of technology, we identified an homogeneity in the behaviors of farmers, blue collars, temporary employees, street workers, migrants, low-educated young people. They commonly show communication networks that mainly involve their family, short ties relationships and small business-related networks. Very few cases of satisfactory culture or interests based communication have been reported. From the point of view of the technological literacy the main aspects emerged are a diffuse lack of self-confidence for a mature and aware use of technological communication devices; mainstream devices are considered impossible to use tools.

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target definition guidelines

Throughout the first research phase, we have interviewed several people from rural and urban areas to collect information about their lifestyles, their needs and problems.In the following step, some criteria have been defined in order to identify more precisely which users represent the target we are going to design for. Three main categories have been chosen to catalogue and position the several users along a scale of values through the analysis of their behaviors and attitudes.The level of inaccessibility of the target is so defined by the combination of the values of three macro-categories.Personal FieldIn this category are reported information about private life, personal skills and peculiarities.

SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR

TECHNOLOGY ATTITU

DE

PERS

ONAL

FIEL

D

Curiosity on technology

Budget

Dev

ice

owne

d

Soc

ial n

etw

ork

- Den

sity

Educa

tion

Socia

l netw

ork - S

ize

Health/Physical condition

s

Integration in local

Community

Ergonomic constrains

Daily routine

Technology literacy

Age

INACCESIBLETARGET

Ergonomic ConstrainsEven if many products are designed according to ergonomic principles, many users find hard to use those with small sizes or advanced features. These issues could come from their physical condition ) and their relation with technology.WealthThe range of users interviewed is very wide by the point of view of economical wealth, but in general we observed a common trend in preferring cheaper products. Nevertheless, the budget constraint is needed to take into account also because there is a low awareness about the market of mobile services along with the market products. Technology AttitudeThis category describes the relation between users and technology. It describes how much they use tech devices during the day and for which purpose.Technology literacyWe found out diversified answers, depending on user age and lifestyle. young people are able to use computers and mobile phones. Middle age people (40-55) can do it too, but are limited to simple basic functions and dont use them frequently. The oldest ones are just able to use the landline phone.Curiosity on TechnologyUsers interviewed have a low interest in technology. Many of them find think it is something superfluous that could not improve their lives. Their habits and lifestyles dont make them feel the necessity to discover in which way they could use technology and, at the moment they dont have any specific need that could be satisfied by technologyassistance. The opportunity to have usability friendly product will enhance their interest and improve their activities.Device ownedBecause of the scarce interest in technology, many users own just few basic devices, such as landline phone or mobile phones. The quantity and typology of devices owned is also influenced by their budget.

Social BehaviourIn this section we evaluated social relations and roles in order to understand the networks in which people are involved, and the kind of communication and information they produce.

EducationThe level of education affects peoples behavior and attitudes. The majority of peopleinterviewed have a medium-low level of education. Many of them are totally illiterate, or they can just read, but not write.. From the interviews we elicited that some of our users are able to speak only the local dialect . The migrants who moved from other parts of China have a similar problem; in this case, as consequence, they have problem of intgration in local community, too.AgeAge helps to frame the target because represents needs related to lifestyle, and also cultural orimmaterial constraints. Our target is represented by people with age between 50 and 70 years.Health/physical conditionsAlthough our focus is not design for disabilities, we learnt during the ethnography research that some of our users might have some phisical impediments due to their age. Some of the users interviewed have health problems like difficulty with eyesight or impairment of hearing. Small parts and tiny keyboards might also be difficult to manipulate.

Density of Social NetworkThe more a user is connected to the others, the more his social network is dense. This information indicates how social a person is; in this case, most of the people we interviewed do not isolate themlselves, but are in good relationship with neighbours, families (even if they are far away), friends and coworkers.Social Network - SizeThe size of a personal social network is defined by the distances between the main user and his contacts. To different sizes correspond different needs. Some users interviewed had moved from other parts of China and need to keep in contact with far relatives and friends. Some others just need to communicate with people that live relatively far from them, like in rural areas/urban districts. Most of them, though, have a very localized social network, and very seldomly contact someone who lives far away, especially if it is not a relative.Integration in local communityThe integration in the local community might be difficult for migrant workers, who dont speak the local dialect and do not have much spare time to get to know the new environment. On the other end, some of our users have been living their whole life in the same place (this is normally true for farmers and people we interviewed in Chongming); in this case there are no problems of integration; people living in the same village normally all know each other, and rely on the community for most of their needs.Daily routineFinally we should take care about their daily lives, in order to understand how much they are active and try to figure out how technology could bear on their routine, may be improving it.Most of the people we interviewed keep a relatively active daily routine, even the ones that are retired.

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Education

Health/phisical conditions

Ergonomic Constrains

Age

Budget

Technological literacy

Curiosity on technology

Device owned

Social network - density

Social network - size

Integration in local community

Daily routine

personal field

social behaviour

target positioning

technology attitude

inaccessible target definition checklist

Illiteratebadhigholdlowlowlownonelowlocallowinactive

high educ.good

lowyoung

highhighhigh

manyhigh

broadhigh

active

The initial assignment, as expressed in the research plan as proposed by Nokia was Design communication devices for inaccessible target.One part of the research work has been dedicated to define, understand and explain what do we mean by inaccessible target, and which criteria did we use to evaluate inaccessibility. Design Harvests aim is to find ways to bridge rural and urban communities through design actions. Our focus is mainly on social factors rather than physical ones. At the end of the ethnographic research process, we reviewed the transcripts and videos from the interviews to verify which characteristics can provide a coherent description of the target group in the rural community. This helped us create a checklist that clarifies the criteria that can be used to map the target, using selected classifiers to describe inaccessibility.The first step has been to determine the macro-areas that have been explored in our research: personal sphere, technological behavior and social behavior. Then, for each area, we specified different parameters, that we used to describe our target. This has been done by choosing relevant sub-categories, create a polarity axis for each of them, and visually representing the distribution of the target along the axis. To provide an even more synthetic evaluation of the inaccessibility of the target, one more axis has been created, that collects on one line the previous parameters. The far-left extreme of the axis represents a totally inaccessible

target (from the physical, social and technological literacy point of view), and the far-right extremity is where the main stream one is located. The evaluation of the distribution of the target along the bar, shows how people interviewed are typically not to be considered totally inaccessible. This step has been preliminary to the concept definition. The main reason for providing an accurate description of the concept has been to understand which kind of product-service systems can be designed for the expected users.Knowing that we are not going to design specifically for high disability, extreme levels of social isolation, or complete technological illiteracy, we can focus on engaging the user in some sort of collaborative systems. The Inaccessible Target Definition Checklist can be used also at the end of the design process, to map real users and their characteristics, to test and evaluate prototypes.

5. evaluation & checklist of inaccesible target

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At the moment of writing, the research team has produced several device and service concepts. The evaluation and discussion of the concepts among the whole team and the Nokia partners is still ongoing, so we are unable to anticipate future comments and improvements.We split the activity within two main generation task: an analytic way, developed internally by the research group; and a more envisioning and explorative one, developed with a wider design group through didactic workshops.In the following pages you will find the description of the concepts.

Personal use

Work

Long distance communicationLocal communication

daily life facility

Work tools

business

bridging

services

social networking

tools

2

1

4

5

6

3

7

6. concepts introduction

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glowing light

*

Enter

ring

Screen

NFC Sensor (Poken A)

NFC Sensor (Poken B)

concept 1- smart food supply-demand interactionLocal producers of food and crafts do not normally consider expanding their market, because they do not know how to reach new customers, and how to keep the relationship. In this system, producers can subscribe to a professional service, have their profile uploaded on a website, and receives a device with a screen, a button and a gear. When a product is ready he just select it with the gear, and then push the button. The subscriber in the city receives a notification, and the electronic card of the farmer, that he keeps on his desk, lightens up. Both business card and device include a Poken sensor, so when the urban user visits the coutryside (or specialized events), he can add subscriptions to new producers just touching with his card their devices.

Position:Scenario #3Business Bridging Service

concept 2 - 2buttons phoneDevice with just two functions: call or write.The interface is a touch screen and two buttons for pick up and hang up calls. the user can write on the screen characters with his finger, so there is no need to use pinyin. In this way short notes can be sent easily.


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concept 3 - digital community cardMembers of the village cooperative have a personal digital card on which they can write short messages, that will appear on a board located in the cooperative common space. This board also includes information on price of vegetables at the market, weather forecasts and public announcements. The common space is where weekly meetings take place, and it is situated in the local government center.

Position:Scenario #3Working Tools

concept 4 - remote urban gardening alertThis device is high technology based. It can be used both from rural and urban citizens to control the state of their garden / field when it is not possible for them to do it in person. The device is installed directly in the ground and, through a sensors, it provides information about conditions of soil and plants. It is connected to users mobile phone and automatically sends updates and pictures, whenever your field needs your attention.


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farmer

farmer

concept 5 - online csa It is a system built around a community supported agriculture that includes three different devices and a web platform. Those citizens who are interested in buying organic products and farm, but do not have space or time to do it, can rent a part of the CSAs fields to grow their plants. when they do not have time for farming, they can manage it using a web platform (1). The three devices allow farmers to improve their work making their communication easier. The chief of the village will manage the whole system using a tablet(2). through this device he can control the conditions of the fields and send messages to the farmers, giving instructions about the work they should do. The farmers can reply through their device (3) in real time and take care of citizens fields and of those reserved to the massive production. Those farmers who are technophobes instead of having a personal device, can follow all the activites from a big screen (4) located in the community centre. Every month, city farmers receive a part of the harvest quantified on the time they invested in CSA activities.


farmer

farmer

concept 6 - smart dock phoneYoung generation are more tech-friendly, unlike their parents that are not able to use some basic devices. Simplifying the interaction, improving the usability and extending the functions are the goal to design a product that can be easily used by any kind of user. The smart dock works as a receiver that allows technophobe users to make video-callings and receive pictures easily. A basic mobile phone is combined to the dock and can be used to make simple calls or text sms.

Position:Scenario 2Social Networking Tool

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concept 7 - garden city MarketThis device allows enhance the communication between citizens and farmers and it is based on a service for selling healthy food. Farmers can send a timely message to citizens to inform through pictures, hand-writing or voice massage about the harvest and manage their orders. Those information would be send to the web platform for transpotation arrangement.It can be also used as normal phone.

city communities

online selling platformfarms

rice 50kg

rice 30kg

rice 100kg

rice 50kg

rice 30kg

rice 100kg

SEND

order

sending message

Position:Scenario #3Business Bridging Service One of the partners in the research project is Tongji University in Shanghai; for this reason it has been possible for us to involve students in a more explorative concept generation activity.The first experience has been a Summer Camp, organized during the Summer of 2011, that involved, together with Tongji, international Universities that offer social innovation related courses and are partners in the DESIS network. We asked students to design mobile services for rural users to enhance the communication between the rural and urban areas. In a relatively short time, the group involved in this topic developed a conceptual prototype for a device and the related interface that can translate local dialect in mandarin or english, facilitating the communication between locals and visitors.

7. concepts developed by students

From October 2011 to January 2012, then a second group of students has been involved in the research project. During the Product-service system design course in Tongji University, an international class was assigned the design of a comunication system for the inaccessible target. In this case we allowed them to define themselves their target, without necessarily concentrating on the rural-urban topic.One of the group chose to investigate the daily life of migrant workers in construction sites, and developed a platform to facilitate the communication between them and their children, living far away. Another group explored old Shanghaiese lane-houses, where mainly old people live, and proposed some inexpensive, easy way for communication and community building in the evolving city. The third group had the chance to enter a school for deaf kids, and focused on the problem of translating sign language in every-day conversations. Their concept is a necklace with a camera that can read movements of the hands and arms and translate signs into words.The workshops have specific design outcomes, but beside the finalization of fully-reliable design concepts, what is mainly important in short term research based activity is the possibility to involve critique numbers of creative minds and enlarge the perspective on consolidated, fully explored, documented contexts, to catch breakthrough solutions that are not inspired by daily immersive work, and could rather be inspired by local-global contamination.

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concept 8 - keep in touchTarget: Migrant workers and their familiesAim of the project is to find alternative ways than the classic phone call, to create a daily connection between miogrant workers and their kids. Keep in Touch is a platform that encourages the kids to share with their parents that live far away drawings, pictures, messages. The interface, that is customized on kids and parents needs and habits is optimized both for computer and mobile phone.

concept 9 - hearoTarget: Deaf kids and schools.After a research phase in which students involved deaf kids from a special school in Shanghai in several activities, the team decided to solve the communication problems between deaf kids and teachers, relatives and friends who do not understand sign language. A camera in the necklace can read hand gesture, and convert them into voice or text written on a wristband.A website helps parents and teacher with some translations and a database of signs.

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concept 10 - beeconnectedTarget: Elders living in shikumen housesAn interactive platform that makes it easy to call friends and relatives is designed to be used on TV and controlled with a remote, tools that elder people are familiar with.A system of subscription allows users to create group activity amongst members of the community.

concept 11 - WeiTarget: elders living in Shikumen houses This PSS is made to enable users of an inaccesible target to communicate easily. Simple devices allow Shikumens inhabitants to interact with each others and to organize the internal life of the community.Moreover, a service connected and based on Groupon strategy permits users with a low accessibility to purchase products at a convenient price, improving, at the same time, the business of the shopkeepers around the area of the Shikumen.

PHONE

1 2 31 2 3

7 8 94 5 64 5 67 8 9

00

WEIfunction

pocket withshikumen

map

RFID READER

SCREEN

S Y S T E M

MAP

Dealers

Pub

lish

Prov

ide

s

In teracts

SCREEN

Sta User

G R O U P O N

Enables

Pro

duc

es

Admin

istra

tes

Produces Produ

ces

PHONE MAP

Purch

ases

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concept 12 - blaslatorThe goal of this concept is to permit tourist to communicate with Chonming Island inhabitants.The gap between people who speak different language can be easily solved through a Vocal translator that reports the meaning of their speaking.This product is part of a larger system made up to improve tourism in less visited areas; visitor can rent the product on site and receive information about the place like maps, sightseeing and other connected services.8. preliMinary concept analysisIn this final paragraph we describe the preliminary analysis we are making to prepare the discussion about the concept and future directions. In this way we expect to clarify the purpose of this prototype oriented design action. As we anticipated the aim of our research is to find solutions that can impact not only on the daily life of the single user, but that can modify and improve in a creative way, the communication in and among different communities, and across already existing information needs; the analysis takes into account these factors.technology modelsConcepts are diverse by the technology adopted and implemented, and present different models of type of connection and information diffusion. Following a list of possible technological structures within the concepts. automatic transmisson of context-based information // proximity sensors + rfid

personal communication channel // gsm network and messaging

broadcasting information channel // traditional gsm network + 3g network

prosumership behaviour // web-based platforms

solution for physcal and intellectual costraints, inclusive design artifacts // physical sensors and automatic information gate collector

enterteinment // contents based services, apps, etc.

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If we focus the priority output of design intervention to foster the bridging between the rural communities and the urban ones, then it becomes particularly relevant to intervene in the direction of small-scale local business enhancement; main contribution will be to make visible the hidden values of countryside activities and resources, to give strenght to local markets and short distances between supplier and clients. We evaluate that the major communication gaps occur within long distance communication.Local communication within neighborhood, villages community centres, working cooperative is assured and provided by a complex system of immaterial networks that refer to tacit knowledge, traditional habits, sharing spontaneous attitudes, reference persons, roles in the community, short distances and easy-to-solve communication gaps. These not-designed communication processes currently represent the strongest tightness within social ties, and, as a local key asset, have eventually to be improved through cultural actions more than technological interventions.Instead, on the long distance communication more design opportunities emerge because no existing device could really satisfy our targets needs. We evaluated design limits in current mobile technology for people that have simple structured communication tasks, as well the lack of interaction systems based on spontaneous emotion and real scale visual communication (personal communication); also, existing solutions can effectively manage complex networks based on generic sharing of personal information and news, but are too difficult and not adaptable to our targets needs (public communication).The concepts we are designing cover both the area of social networking and business bridging services. Both these scenarios involve the user in a more direct and self-engaging communication, to revitalize the users network and find new opportunities. Users are involved in easy personal relational processes, that solves distance barrier making emotion pass through.Designed solutions are meant to cover the lack of personal value and satisfaction that is currently perceived in daily-based communication and contribute to the development of small business local initiatives by improving existing communication networks.In this final section follows an analysis of the concepts provided, according to factors previously considered.

communication abilityConcepts enable different typologies of users to interact differently. Some of them improve existing communication (generally personal), others enhance new type of interaction with previously not existing interlocutors, some are devoted to collective users within heterogeneous community more then a strictly personal use.We depict some of these features in the following diagrams.

wider extensionof communication

abilities

improved managementof communication

networks

tools for community and shared networks

tools for personal communication and networks

tools for community and shared networks

tools for personal communication and networks

asymmetrical users interface

inaccessible targetsegment

urban targetsegment

information space

multiple devices +

interaction & communication space

monofunctiontools

multifunctiontools

communication among homogeneous group of users// function based

extension of communication network capacity and variety// contents based

interaction modelsBesides the specificity of the technology adopted in each single concept, the devices provide to users different kind of interaction according to their capabilities, information background and communication attitudes. Therefore some of the concepts require multiple devices within the same service solutions, that differs in ergonomics, interfaces and uses; moreover we are interest to underline that these devices represent different users behaves and interaction models and take into account the users capability. In the diagram we represented the correspondance between reduced, simplified interaction devices for the inaccessible target on one side of the communication process, and devices that allow more rich, contents based and complex interaction for the urban segment of the target.

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Personal use

Work

Long distance communicationLocal communication

daily life facility

Work tools

business

bridging

services

social networking

tools

3

1

7

4

5

6

Concepts_

2

DesignDirection

In this intermediate report we wanted to mainly discuss the methodology and finalize the efforts of the first research phases into more accurate service design tools. The main effort of the research has been to create a strategic use of tools and methodologies to understand a target group and its internal variations of technology literacy, interaction requirements and knowledge capability. Moreover, the purpose of our design is to connect different groups through reciprocal effective and positive communication activities that are not isolated, but inserted in an already existing framework of information and communication networks. In this sense we believe that a relevant contribution in apply intense methodology of ethnographic studies is in the capacity to understand and return the complexity of processes and transformations within the given context. Working with locals, we learnt once more that this deep knowledge is needed, to generate design interventions (that by definition are systemic) that are not disruptive. Reducing the scale of intervention can also give better localized tangible benefits.For these reasons, we work closely with the villagers of the island, respecting existing social ties, without relying too much on our capacity of a full understanding, and reflecting on the impact of our design act on the local context. This knowledge, learnt in the research process is the first content to be disseminated.The main future outcomes will be the technological and design details of a chosen device concept, a prototype, user interaction assessment, and a road-map for mobile based services.

9. conclusions & future steps

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urban areas countrysideservice

info

rmation space

space for the exchange

of product and values

intera

ction

devices device

urban areas countryside

service

info

rmation space

space for the exchange

of product and values

intera

ction

devices device

design of information architecture

design of service

platform

design of users

interfaces

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next step: concept developMent .

mobile marketplace, intermediate report part 2

Documents

scenario design

scenariospersona design

design team

design process

design project researchers

related design opportunities

personas daily activities

product service