notes
some observations
Observations
TV and UPS
Taken from notes and attempted to make semi readable.
My observations deal with TV’s in public or social spaces and ups package-tracking devices. First the TVs; I watched the interactions that took place between the audience in a laundry mat and the TV that was mounted on the wall. The audience watches the TV as a group, everyone is aware of the reactions that are accruing. As social information comes in off the TV it is gauged and agreed upon by the viewers in the room mostly with the help of laugh tracks. People also look to the TV to deemphasize their own psychic space in the room to turn from being judged to judging. It is not viewed as a machine not even as a surrogate. To change the channel is a bold move.
The specific information might be questioned but the role of the TV in space is solid, it is the center of decisions. It gets an objective placing in the social thought processes, it doesn’t have a personality it is personality. It is seen as a fixture, a unilateral place of reference. The only interaction possible is a change of reference by switching channels, you can’t say what is, but only choose what reference you will listen to from the ones presented. This causes a full emersion with the TVs space, it is hard to use the laundry mats references and the TVs at the same time. Why are people less willing to use the laundry mats reference over the TVs, the shows are not that exiting? You are not in the TV space so you are not required to participate or rather you don’t have the power to change it so you don’t have responsibility to do anything. What if you did have an impact on the physical/ mental space?
Ups package tracking devices. The tracking devices that are used by the ups guys are very interesting. The interface on them is one of the most dynamic that I have seen. I asked to take a quick look at the device last time I was getting a package. The face of the device was very simple but was used for many functions. The interface was based on the doubling up of buttons when performing different functions. Very much like telephone buttons with the letters and numbers. The button functions were very intuitive on the ups device and configured as needed from a general to specific input that automatically changed with the progression of the interaction. The functions I saw were scheduling, location and package data entry, they all were either chosen or ran automatically based on the last entry. The data retrieval was streamlined to take the most pertinent info for the best results first and then if that didn’t generate an answer more specific data could be added to the request. Also the physical layout was very nice in terms of the inputs, it had a lcd read write screen and then a QWERTY input board and four other scroll and search buttons that allowed you to sort and look at information in different ways. It got me thinking about how the functionality of a personal device changes with an adequate interface and cuts down on processing and programming. I think it will be a very large issue with the advent of the “all in one devices” that are becoming what our personal organizers cameras and telephones are now. Physical design is more a representation of idea than the software inside; the thing in terms of what it is to you and what it can do must inform you. A shoe can also hammer in a nail. Lines denote time linear progression with a start and end circles give you a unlimited scroll but no reference points a grouping of buttons denote their function as much as whats on the button. Are you able to be hit two at a time or can they only function individually