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Nokia's Cellphone Anthropologist
holy_calamity writes "New Scientist have an interview with a Nokia researcher who uses anthropological methods to study how people use their phones. His work currently focuses on watching how people in emerging markets like Africa use their devices to inform designs. For example, after finding that in Uganda many people use one handset, they shipped a version with multiple separate address books. There's also a slideshow of Chipchase's research images."
my phone is pretty ancient so perhaps it's a common feature now, but multiple address books sounds like something that would be useful everywhere, not just Uganda. being able to separate work contacts, from social contacts and from old school contacts would be great.
TIAEAE!
Interesting to see the big players noticing the possibilities in the lower end markets. In the so-called third world we often get expensive products that were designed for rich markets that don't even fit our needs (eg, videogames with network support when the actual services are not offered in our country). Hopefully we'll see more companies designing different products for different economic realities, instead of just dumping 5-year old designs here once they get "cheap enough for the third world".
The filesystem is the package manager
One feature I'd like to see on a phone (I don't have one, so I don't know if this exists or not), is a date of last contact field. I hate phoning someone that I haven't spoken to in a while only to find out that their number has changed. If I had a list of who I hadn't contacted in a while, I could either touch base, or wipe their name.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
This sounds like market research at a global company, not anthropology.
For those of you who prefer video, here's Jan Chipchase's TED talk, which covers similar topics.
Perhaps I'm spoiled by my Japanese phone, but since I got my first one 4 years ago, I could specify what "category" a contact falls under and separate them thusly. I always had Work, Foreigners and Japanese for convenience. And, of course Delivery. Is this not the same thing?
I just watched a dozen or so images of Nokia phones.
However, as I'm already a fully-hooked E61 geek, I was able to focus on reading the mildly interesting captions instead.
So there!
Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
Wow, this article just really rubs me the wrong way. Any professional ethnographer worth their salt would see a myriad of problems with this guy and his 'research'. I guess that what happens when you apply for a UI job and end up doing usability research. I am shocked that he finds basic things as multiple SIM card adapters as interesting as he does. These have been around for 10 years and are common in first world countries as well. That plus the bland "phones could be designed to work better" conclusion (taken verbatim from the article) makes it obvious how Nokia have lost their way since their highs of the early 2000s...
That is all.
He has a fantastic photo blog, which contains many pictures from his trips, along with a few choice thought provoking comments. It's a good way to start the day on your RSS feed reader.
http://www.janchipchase.com/
Personally I have only one phone, but I have seen many people with a personal phone and one paid for by an employer. Instead of having to carry (and charge) both phones, it seems to me a useful function would be having the ability to have multiple phone numbers reach the same phone.
It seems like a much better solution would be for Nokia/Symbian to fully open up their O/S and allow 3rd party applications access to the same APIs as the native apps, in the way that Google Android promises to. That way, local developers and vendors could add features relevant to local conditions, and guys like this researcher would hardly be needed.
I am surprised by the amount of people thinking how great it is that Nokia considers the needs of poorer countries. In fact, most companies do this. I remember learning in one of my anthropology courses a detergent company that did field research in a number of the poorer countries it provided goods to. It turns out that almost everyone who used the detergent to wash their clothing did so in small quantities every day, by hand, in the rivers. Their detergent was sold in bulk, was harsh on skin and on the rivers which were used as a water source. They ended up adjusting their product so it was packaged for single uses (small packets) rather than bulk (large bottles), and they changed the chemicals for more gentle ones on skin as well as the environment.
It is in a business's greater interests to research and accommodate.
Since safety and security is my business, the GPS feature is of interest to me as is the Cell Phone Stun Gun which, although does not function as a cell phone, is greatly appreciated if one finds themself in a vulnerable situation. http://officialsafetyandsecurity.com/
So at least Nokia gets it. Question is, why doesn't everybody else? The design of a mobile phone (or any complex gadget for that matter) should START with studies in HCI. All too often gadgets end up being a maze of features stacked haphazardly together, with no thought on ease of use whatsoever.
I bought a very expensive high end cell phone in 1999, just before the Y2K "disaster" was supposed to happen. Then I had to buy a 2nd one because it didn't work in Moscow. I've never had my U.S enabled phone activated because why do I need it? Where is the anthropology about people who have no use for being callable 24/7?
There are such things as email, message recording machines (or telco company equivalent options). Why do people need to be available 24/7? Where is the study about people who have no phone at all? (I.e. no cell, no skype, no Ccomcast, no Verizon, etc.) People that if you want to talk to them you actually have to walk or drive up to their house. Now that would be an interesting study.
I've been to Uganda (and Kenya) a few times, and there are some things I'd like to see in the US.
1. Basically all phones are sold unlocked, from the cheapest to the most full-featured.
2. A SIM card, usually with an hour's service on it, costs about $1. (Pertinent to the article, I have friends who have 1 phone and multiple SIMs - one for work, one for personal use)
3. Reasonably priced prepaid service is widely available.
4. Incoming calls don't cost money.
5. International texts are at most twice the cost of domestic ones.
In Uganda - and a lot of other developing countries - people are a lot more likely to have mobiles than landlines anyway. If you've got electricity, and cell coverage, that mobile is pretty handy, since the telco will want an arm and a leg to actually run wires out to your place.
Village idiot in some extremely smart villages.
It's interesting that Nokia now embraces multiple phonebooks. This was actually thought up about 6 years ago at their Dallas Enterprise Solutions site (now shut down), but we were told their was no interest. Nokia management wanted to sell at least one phone to everyone. Our patent application was rejected internally too.
" My first job out of university was designing software for an economics project, but I realised that I didn't know what I was doing, so ... "
So this guy couldn't understand economics, but he cuts it as a big with designer?
The Christian religion has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world. -- Bertrand Russell
I'd love a phone that supports two sim cards. :(
The Christian religion has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world. -- Bertrand Russell
Great. ... oh, I dunno.. makes a noise like a phone?
Why don't they employ their anthropologist to study how everyone gets irritated by the stupid ringtones - particularly when they go off in public places. How about having one that
I don't think this is what he means. It's not "I have work, home and cell contacts for each person," it's "I have each person filed according to whether they're a work contact or personal contact or another category."
My BlackBerry does this, and I love it. Switching between categories is a bit annoying though; I'd like to have up and down scroll through a list, and side-to-side switch between contact groups. I would also like it if the groups were tags, so a person could appear in more than one group.
Even better would be built-in call screening - "don't ring after 10pm unless it's an immediate family member," or "after 10pm don't ring without first asking the caller if it's an emergency."
By the way, this kind of functionality is what I'm looking forward to in Android phones. It will be great to be able to install my own address book app instead of relying on the manufacturer to do it the way I want, and to post suggestions in forums where people can see them and code them.
They're completely oblivious until you pass them, at which point they'll start honking and/or throw on their high beams (yeah, that's really going to annoy me, mr. i-drive-a-sports-car-and-still-can't-get-laid, when I'm in a 4-wheel drive truck whose bumper is higher than than your windshield). Some asshole did that to me last night on the way home - well, actually, to the bar - from work (after a 13-hour day) last night. I rolled down the window, motioned for him to pull over. He did so. Then panicked and drove off when he got a good look at who he pissed off. Dipshit.
PC moderators can suck my White pierced, tattooed dick. If you think pride == hate, s/dick/Aryan meat mallet/g.
I don't know if this is specific to the Nokia E71, or if its present in all S60 phones, but it not has separate business and personal contacts, it has entire business and personal 'modes' complete with separate home screens.
Let me get this straight: in North America, it's called "Market Research"; in Africa, it's called "Anthropology"?
- RG>
Hey pal, this isn't a pleasantforest, so don't waste my time with pleasantries!