fab - fabien [at] girardin.org - http://www.girardin.org/fabien/blog
2005-10-18 12:53:22

NTT DoCoMo is sadly missing the point about their self-proclaimed innovative ubiquitous computing. There is a strange feeling of déjà-vu with their "Reserving a table in a italian restaurant via mobile", "where is my kid?", and "let's watch videos together on a pin-size screen".

There is a misconception that ubiquitous systems must introduce into ordinary operations. For each of these scenarios. There are concuancies in adding a layer of technology that for the moment (and still for the years to come) present users with confusion and uncertainty. In most of these engineering-drivent scenarios we are adding possible moments of perplexity and doubts to the user's daily operations.

Roger
2005-10-18 21:20:28

Fab,
You are right here. Most of the stuff doesn't appeal to me either - it's kind of a industrial-military-complex kind of thing. On the other hand NTT DoCoMo has made mobile internet a reality. If you go to Japan, you will see that mobile payment like edy, felica, that lbs is something which is well established now - and that's because ntt docomo's vertical company is a commercial success.

So yes, I think we need alternative scenarios, but on the other hand it's also due to nttdocomo, that we can imagine them today.

ps: quickly checked your weblog and it looks enticing.

thanks for getting in touch

nicolas Nova - nicolas.nova [at] epfl.ch - http://tecfa.unige.ch/perso/staf/nova/blog/
2005-10-18 22:14:08

Fab's in da house :)

First, I would say that technology discrepancies can be overriden but in most of the case they are not taken into account in the LBS design (which lead to recurrent boring scenarios that turns to be not so functional when applied)

Second, yes in Japan people use their keitai for paying / switching off the light but that does not mean that this experience could be replicated in europe. I've read a paper that asserted an interesting fact: in some european cities people fears using their PDA's in public transport (can be stolen), this never happen in Japan.

Finally, to be more optimistic I still believe that location-based services might be effectively used as long as the design take into account:
- technological discrepancies (and how people apply strategy to avoid them)
- users' context / activity
- cultural aspects
- something we're definitely missing here which previously led to SMS for instance

Roger
2005-10-20 00:10:20

Nicolas,
Would be interesting to know in what european cities they fear that their PDA's are stolen;). I neither see that being the case in Switzerland or any scandinavian country.

On the other hand, PDA's didn't work in several projects in Japan (I remember the construction site case, where they started with PDA's to drop them for the workers cell phones), so I guess we can easily take cell phones as granted. And I am pretty sure that a lot of the stuff that is happening in Korea and Japan will be adopted here. We are just not accustomed yet, that Asia is paving the way. It's no longer the US which is the mainstream forerunner, it's Asia (South Korea, Japan etc.). A good example of this are pop songs. More often than not pop bands and songs are tested now in asian markets first.Or look at the Pokemon and Yugioh craze;)

As for the last points, I need some explanation from you, Nicolas.
What do you exactly mean by discrepancies? And what do you think we are missing?

Nicolas - nicolas.nova [at] epfl.ch - http://tecfa.unige.ch/perso/staf/nova/blog/
2005-10-25 13:44:36

True.

Among the discrepancies that might be involved there are: unreliable network, latency and bandwidth issues, not to mention security troubles. This kind of problem fosters uncertainty in the usage of the applications (for the user). Then it should be taken into account in the design of new applications.

Roger
2005-10-25 23:38:24

Then I would be interested to know how you imagine the design of these new applications to counter these discrepancies.

On the other hand, I now use GPRS quite a lot and as you can imagine it is not always working as intended. Still after some time you get pretty used to it. So I think this is the same for other people as well - as long as the "narrative" told has enough appeal.


PS: Didn't have the time to skim the documents through. Will do so soon.

fab - fabien [at] girardin.org - http://www.girardin.org/fabien/blog
2005-10-26 17:34:22

Indeed, we learn and adapt to uncertainties and discrepancies. However, the application needs to provide a real added value or at least must be engaging in order to modify people's habits.

John S - dearden [at] mail333.com - http://www.merging.siteburg.com/zyrtec/
2006-05-11 14:17:46

Buy Zyrtec Online. All about Buy Zyrtec Online and Buy Zyrtec Online
http://www.merging.siteburg.com/zyrtec/

Buy Zyrtec Online. All about Buy Zyrtec Online and Buy Zyrtec Online