Insights curated by Experientia, the UX research and design consultancy
Insights curated by Experientia, the UX research and design consultancy
The January 2007 issue of ‘new value by One Design’ (what’s up with that name?), the quarterly magazine of Philips Design, is devoted to articles on sustainability and the virtual world. Some highlights: Helping 400 million people give up smoking…
Mobile Communication and Society: A Global Perspective Manuel Castells, Mireia Fernandez-Ardevol, Jack Linchuan Qiu and Araba Sey Published by the MIT Press How wireless technology is redefining the relationship of communication, technology, and society around the world–in everyday work and…
Due to travelling, it took me a few days to write up my summary of the Tuesday presentations at the European Market Research Event, but here we are. In this write-up I will concentrate on five speakers: James Surowiecki, Roula…
“Mobile telecommunications have had a dramatic effect in many regions, but perhaps nowhere more than for low-income populations in countries such as Jamaica, where in the last few years many people have moved from no phone to cell phone. This…
“Most South Africans do not have bank accounts. But most do have mobile phones,” writes The Economist today in a story about mobile telephony and banking with a particular focus on Africa. “About half a million South Africans now use…
“A new book—an outgrowth of a popular Web site—focuses on simple and complex innovations that could solve global crises,” writes Reena Jana in Business Week. “The three-year-old Web site Worldchanging.com has quickly established itself as a source for original, sophisticated…
In a reflective and insightful paper, Dr. Genevieve Bell, a highly respected anthropologist and director of user experience at Intel, analyses the use of technology to support religious practices. Bell argues that “the ways in which new technologies are delivering…
Fab Labs are different than the myriad other nonprofit programs working to introduce technology to disadvantaged communities. The MIT professors who came up with the Fab Lab concept believed that rural villagers in India, sheep herders in Norway, and impoverished…
“What do a featherless chicken, Wal-Mart’s (WMT) logistics system, and an economic theory on homeownership have in common? To Bruce Mau, they all demonstrate the power of design-oriented thinking in the innovation process,” writes Robert Berner in Business Week. “These…
Africa, in particular Nigeria, is dominating international mobile phone access to the BBC’s website. According to July’s statistics, 61% of the BBC’s international Wap users came from Nigeria and 19% from South Africa. Africa is the world’s largest-growing mobile phone…
“Cellphones have long been considered status symbols in developing countries, Iraq included. But in an environment [like Iraq] where hanging out is potentially life threatening, cellphones are also a window into dreams and terrors, the macabre local sense of humor…
David Gyimah, a video journalist and the director of the Broadcast Journalism Training Council (BJTC), has written a thought-provoking article on the future of diversity in the rapidly developing world of the net and connected mobile devices. “If the net…
Rwanda’s Vision 2020 project aims to rapidly transform a depressed agricultural economy into one driven by information communications and technology (ICT). If it works, the percentage of Rwanda’s workforce involved in farming will drop from 90% to 50% in 15…
The latest newsletter of the Indian Design for All Institute is devoted to anthropology and design. It features the articles “Cultural dimensions and global user-interface development” by Aaron Marcus, and “Sampling in design research: toward ethnographic segments” by Ken C.…
The Sino European Systems Usability Network (SESUN) is an EU funded project developing active and sustainable links between the Chinese and European IT communities, as well as promoting HCI / usability within China and facilitating the design of a new…
The Washington Post has a long story about innovation in China and what the Chinese leadership is doing to stimulate it. “Instead of millions of Chinese youths assembling somebody else’s inventions, the party leadership has concluded, the time is right…
The latest edition of Nokia’s online magazine Culture of Mobility is devoted to Mobility and Development, exploring how mobility can make a difference to the environment, society and the way we live. The magazine features an introductory report on how…
The new core competency is ethnography. Companies use it to gain insights into the culture and behavior of their customers. But the demands of business are different from those of an anthropologist doing field research. The most obvious is speed.…
This afternoon Nokia’s Design Director Marko Ahtisaari talked about “Mobile 2.0: Social Renaissance†at Reboot 8.0 in Copenhagen, Denmark. In his talk, which is summarised by Nicolas Nova on Pasta & Vinegar, Ahtisaari described the second stage of mobile communication.…
Computers and technology are blurring the line between what we think of as traditional education – that is, going to school and sitting in classrooms; and what we think of as homework – that is, reading textbooks and studying for…