GUANYU

What observations have we made?

What do people usually do in the lift?
1) Talk to their friends
2) Look at the people around them
3) Look at their reflection
4) Look at the digital screen - showing the level the lift is on
5) Space out
6) Fiddle with what they have in their hands - usually looking down for a while
7) Tend to find a “corner” whether it’s an empty lift or full lift

How packed is the life?
Date: 8th July 2009, Tuesday
Time: 07:43PM

The lifts are usually full when heading up. However, once upon reaching the top floor and having to alight the passengers,
it is a lot emptier when you head down. The lift carries about 9 - 10 people when heading up. The passengers were usually students,
teenagers and working adults.
It isn’t exactly so full to an extent that you can’t shift around or feel terribly squashed, having skin to skin contact with everyone else around
you. It was more like wanting to keep a certain extent of distance between you and the rest of the strangers in the lift till you get out.

What was our feedback for the last presentation?
1) Will strangers really interact with one another?
2) Would it be too packed for you to see your feet?

What do we need to do now?
1) Do up our very first user testing :
-Try out by using hands instead of the feet.
- If we can really make these strangers interact with one another
- Find more videos and evidence to support our point (!!!)
- Observe how many percent of people really shuffle their feet and look down when in the lift
- Use projectors (or whatever) for the user testing > if they are attracted by the visualization and the tapping part

Personal Opinion:
To try to ease the tension that is felt within the elevator that is full of strangers.

Engaging the User

29th June 2009; 15:10HRS
Orchard Road MRT Underground Passage Way to Shaw House

The only busker that was found there was a visually handicapped playing music.
There were crowds of people walking through the passageway, however it was as though no one noticed him. Despite it all, the busker continued playing his music, performing for all. He not only attempts to play only one intrument, but also juggles between singing, playing the piano, tapping the tamborine and some bells intrument.

Later on, at the Lido Basement, there was another busker. Unlike the first busker we saw, she looked like she’s perfectly able-bodied. She played the guitar and sung. I approached to ask her for permission to allow us to take a group photo with us, and managed to strike up a conversation with her.

Personally, I feel that as I studied the both buskers, I felt that the latter busker really enjoys what she does. As she sung, I could just somehow feel that she likes performing for people. However, while conversing with her, she did mention that she fears people video recording her performance and up to Youtube.

Type: Fountain
Emotions: Happy, Nostalgic
Thoughts: Maybe it isn’t exactly the fountain itself that evokes those feelings in me, but watching how the kids actually play at the fountain, it makes me miss being a kid! Like, a simple decorative fountain like such can actually allow children to run around happily and play with one another. Something so simple can actually make their day a fun one.

Type: Lights
Emotions: Light hearted, Joyful, Comfort.
Thoughts: I like pretty lights, and sure did this catch my attention. It can be found along Clarke Quay and these lights change colour from time to time. Personally, I think that a good lighting can provide different sort of ambience, and the lighting must not be too bright or too dim, or it’ll cause people to feel discomfort.

Type: Wooden Bench
Emotions: Sad and a little lonely
Thoughts: Spotted this wooden bench whilst walking along Fort Canning. As the trees and their vines surround this wooden bench, somehow, I just find it rather lonesome looking. It feels like it’s being isolated from everything else, even though there are many benches everywhere else, I suppose the fact that the space around it were covered in plants made me feel that way.

Type: Decoratives
Emotion: Relax and a little happy
Thoughts: Strange as it seems, the many colourful circles tied together and hung up by that small round window, looking at it just makes me feel a little happy and relaxed. The pretty colours are probably the reason why there’s that tinge of happiness, and I thought this design was really simple, they are just made up of colourful circular papers!

Type: Fountain
Emotion: Nostalgia
Thoughts: A few years ago, my good friend and I went to the Changi Airport to study, and I remember taking a photo of this very same fountain with my old mobile phone. This fountain somehow just reminds me of days back in Seconday school.

Interview Questionaire

OBJECTIVES:
Finding new services to attract more users to using Yahoo!
To allow Yahoo! stay competitive .

Interview#1
Q1. Do you use Yahoo?
Yes
Q2. Then what alternatives do you use and why so (Any reasons why you don’t use Yahoo?)?
Sometimes I would use google’s search engine as it has better filtration however I feel that google’s layout is very simple and no details is there, therefore for other usage like news, games etc etc. I would use yahoo instead.
Q3. If Yahoo changes to suit your taste, would you use it ?
Yes of course.
Q4. What is it about the services of that site that you enjoy using?
For google, I love the search engine’s quality result.
For Yahoo, I love the news section of the world as it consist of pictures which Google doesn’t have.
Q5. Do you have any dissatisfaction with them? How would you want them to be improved?
Google to me is simple way too simple which I prefer Yahoo with the news engine which can just be found on the first page of yahoo.com

Interview #2
Q1. Do you use Yahoo?
Yes
Q2. How often do you use Yahoo! ?
Everyday
Q3. What are the services/applications that you use more in Yahoo? And any reasons why?
I use the News services everyday to check world and singapore’s news. The news section is simple as it is shown on the first page of yahoo.com
and it can be access within a click.
Q4. Are there any dissatisfaction that you have with Yahoo? Or is there any thing you would like them to change?
Sometimes, the page is overly detail as i only use the news section.
Q5. If there was something you could add on to Yahoo services, what would they be?
There’s nothing that I can think of at the moment, but I do find that there’s too many services being provided on the homepage, making the whole site look cluttered.
Q6. Are there any particular services that you have to visit other Search Engines or websites to use them?
Google - Search engine.
Wikipedia - A defination site for almost everything.
Q7. Would you prefer them all to be available on Yahoo?
No, most likely not because for yahoo and google, the first website that you sure a person or a word for would already be wikipedia. So you can just click on that and go the wikipedia. If wiki is inbuild with Yahoo then it will be more of a defination place than to a search engine.
Q8. Other than Yahoo, do you use any other sites? And why?
Google. Their search engine has better filtration.

Thinking about it, it really din’t occur to me to actually make use of a sensor to approximate the distance of the moving object(or finger in this case) to the screen and gadge the “pressure” it has against it.

Which makes me think, “then if let’s say we want an invsible screen whereby people just draw in the air, would it be possible?” By using the same technique as the one being used in the above video. However, I think with the missing screen, most people would not know/understand how to get about using the installation.

While watching this video, the first thing that came into my head was -

what if this was being used to help those who needs severe visual aids? ( I believe I’ve heard a lecturer talk about this issue before) About actually having a sensor to approximate if there’s any obstruction ahead. Wouldn’t it really help them a lot? To lessen the chances of them bumping into walls or anything in front of them.

However, the question that pops in my head is, this is a robot, it would receive the signal to reverse and change direction, but how would it work for humans? By nudging them where there might be obstructions?