Google Maps mobile, displaying location based on cell tower usage
Keeping people informed with timely, contextually relevant emergency, transportation and other public interest information can prevent people from getting in harm’s way or to plan more accordingly to subway delays, just to list a few. Unfortunately, such information is often posted after the fact or on some obscure website that people need to check to discover if there is an issue. And major news outlets are typically not useful for the more macro information which affects people’s daily lives.
New York City has just begun testing a mobile phone SMS alert system for selected areas, called Notify NYC, similar to San Francisco’s Alert SF.
But there is one problem inherent in these types of systems. They require setting which locations of the city to receive updates about. While people generally have a consistent routine, they are always on the move, and that means these systems leave potential gaps. Undoubtedly, people are at a greater risk in unfamiliar areas in regards to evacuation routes, locations of police and fire stations and hospitals.
Communicating every update regardless of a person’s location will greatly increase communication noise and decrease the effectiveness of the system and people’s perceptions of its quality–likely causing people to disregard updates or opt out of the system all together. To augment the current implementation, location specific messages should be sent to opted in people based on the cell tower which their phone is currently connected to. Thus providing contextual alerts, without any prior configuration of location preference.
12.21.07 — Ideas, New York, User Experience
Earlier I had spoken about what I had thought about the state of current user experience books and that if I am seeking to find new knowledge I would have to look elsewhere. Oddly enough that elsewhere may be in the past. Which as I write this, seems utterly obvious but I think Alex Wright sums it up nicely in his book Glut:
“For all the barrels of ink and billions of pixels spent chronicling the rise of the Internet in recent years, however, surprisingly few writers seem disposed to look in any direction but forward.”
We owe a lot to those who came before us and I’ll be perfectly honest, I cannot say I know a great deal about those who laid down the path, which is the basis for my career today. The work of these visionaries or futurists when looked at today, the hits are amazingly accurate and the misses well, while amazingly interesting have yet to come to fruition.
But this makes me wonder, are we more caught up in the day after today? As opposed to, who is laying the ground work for that true tomorrow? Yes, working day to day is an iterative process and you’ll get anywhere one step at a time. Some of the works of earlier futurists describe ideas which are far beyond anything they ever had, and I’m not talking about looking at a bird and envisioning all humans in flying cars. So where are today’s futurists? I assume it is only negligence on my behalf to find them, hopefully.
09.28.07 — Books, Design, Ideas, Technology, User Experience
My old college roommate, Kevin, sent me a link today about a story of a woman who has started a pet rental service called Flex Petz. While in school Kevin and I, fond users of the ZipCar service, often joked about the idea of creating a company around the same model but with dogs–ZipDog (aptly named for the assumed buyout offer from ZipCar that was surely to come).
The idea was simple; not many people want to own a dog or can’t due to building rules, but do like to play with them. We envisioned package deals with ZipCar for weekend getaways to the beach where you not only rented the car but also a friendly companion to throw the frisbee around with. Most people balked at the idea, citing many reasons as far as people renting dogs simply to abuse them. All issues aside, it certainly was a missed business opportunity.
Word is Flex Petz is expanding to New York City in the fall. This will surely be interesting to see how it pans out. Although I know a fair amount of New Yorkers who would gladly lend their pet for a day or two, especially during the week days.
07.30.07 — Ideas