Friday, September 22, 2006

Observation Pt I: General notes

During a typical day, what kinds of digital devices act as a means to an end for us? What are they, and how do we use them?

These are the questions my group and I considered when beginning our observation project, which is divided into two parts. The first part is dealt with in this blog entry.

We spent a couple hours on a Tuesday afternoon, watching people on the streets and in the cafes, pet stores, and shops of new york, hoping to observe their interaction with digital devices.

Links to individual blogs:
Sinan
Maria

Our observations:

Place: McDonald's on Broadway and Waverly Pl.
Time: 1:30p
Device: cash register
Number of Participants: 1
Process: Tap out a sequence of buttons on the screen. If the customer is paying with cash, go to printing a receipt. Otherwise, customer uses pinpad to swipe plastic card, and on approval, receipt is printed.

cashier
Originally uploaded by 0x000000.




Place: McDonald's on Broadway and Waverly Pl.
Time: 1:30p
Device: pinpad/atm swipe
Number of Participants: 1
Process: Swipe plastic card along side of machine with magnetic strip facing down. Choose if paying with debit or credit. It then shows the amount that will be charged to your card. If debit, enter your pin number on keypad, and hit the green key. Cancel by hitting the red key, and correct a mistake by hitting the yellow key. You are taken through a series of steps, all of which require you to either hit the yellow key for correction, red key for cancel, green key for ok/enter.

card_swiper
Originally uploaded by 0x000000.




Place: NQRW subway station @ Broadway and 8th Street
Time: 1:38p
Device: metrocard swipe
Number of Participants: 1
Process: Push card through card reader with one movement, away from you. Stripe must be facing down and to the right. Green arrow/red 'X' indicates success or failure. If it's a success, you can enter the turnstyle and be on your way.

subway
Originally uploaded by 0x000000.




Place: Street at 3rd Avenue and 8th Street
Time: 1:45p
Device: parking meter
Number of Participants: 1
Process: Parking meter has a slot for coins on the front side, and on the back side, displays an indicator color, red or green, to show whether or not time is still on the meter or not.

parking meter: front
Originally uploaded by 0x000000.



parking meter: back
Originally uploaded by 0x000000.




Place: Bamn! Automat on 10th Street between 2nd and 3rd Ave
Time: 2:11p
Device: change maker
Number of Participants: 1
Process: A change maker at a restaurant, provides $1 coins in exchange for paper money and smaller coins. You put your paper money or coins into the appropriate slot, and at the bottom of the machine, dollar coins are dropped according to how much money you originally put in.

change maker
Originally uploaded by 0x000000.




Place: Bamn! Automat on 10th Street between 2nd and 3rd Ave
Time: 2:13p
Device: vending machine unit
Number of Participants: 1
Process: Each vending machine unit has a slot to receive money, and a slot to return money. There is also a white button that will return your money to you, if you push it. Above the coin slots is a screen which displays how much money you have put in so far. To the left of the display and the coin slots, is a glass door, which opens from pull down, after enough money has been put in to pay for the item. At this point, you remove the food from the space behind the door, and release the door after you have taken it out.

vending machine
Originally uploaded by 0x000000.




vending machine
Originally uploaded by 0x000000.




vending machine
Originally uploaded by 0x000000.




Place: Whisker's Pet Store on 10th Street between 1st and 2nd Ave
Time: 2:29p
Device: electronic stapler
Number of Participants: 1
Process: Put whatever you are trying to staple, into the device, as you would with a non-electrical stapler. Some kind of sensor detects the paper there, and drives a staple through the sheets. Takes about a quarter second to complete the action.

electronic stapler
Originally uploaded by 0x000000.




Place: Starbuck's Cafe on 2nd Avenue
Time: 2:43p
Device: cell phone
Number of Participants: 1
Process: Pick up phone, dial a number using the keypad. Hold phone up to your ear to listen and talk.


Place: Starbuck's Cafe on 2nd Avenue
Time: 2:43p
Device: laptop
Number of Participants: 2
Process: Two people were leaning over one laptop. Most of the time was spent gazing at the screen, with a track pad button clicks, and finger tracings around the pad itself.


Place: Outside Starbuck's Cafe on 2nd Avenue
Time: 3:00p
Device: bluetooth wireless device - goes in ear
Number of Participants: 1
Process: Bluetooth hands-free device hooks into ear. Apparently, you can answer phone calls, and hear and be heard over this thing. Not much is involved in the process, other than talking and listening.

No comments: