Using Apps To 'Soft Control' People's Movements

pinguin-geek writes "Computer science researchers at Northwestern University have developed a way to exert limited control on how people move, pushing them out of their regular travel patterns. The key: tapping into some of their cell phone applications. The findings could elicit a broader range of user-collected data by driving foot traffic to under-utilized areas."

Comments

This is not about controlling people

[Attila Dimedici]

This is not about controlling people. Even though the guy who did the research refers to it that way. This is about offering people incentives to do something that they otherwise would not do. Part of that may be designing a game to get people to take pictures of places that people rarely, if ever, bother to photograph, but it is still about giving people an incentive to do something you would like them to do.

Re:This is not about controlling people

[Kneo24]

No matter what type of stick you use to dangle those carrots, it's still control even if it is passive.

Re:This is not about controlling people

[MisterMidi]

So you're saying people cannot be controlled by offering incentives? So even though your boss offers you an incentive by paying you for it, he has no control whatsoever over your activities during work hours? Good luck finding a job :)

Re:This is not about controlling people

[khallow]

The term for manipulating something that you don't control is "influence". You don't control the target, you present resources and information that the target may choose to use, changing their behavior indirectly.

Re:This is not about controlling people

[Surt]

What made you sign the contract? Was it an incentive by any chance?

Re:This is not about controlling people

[element-o.p.]

I think you -- and a lot of other people in this thread -- misunderstand the concept of "control." Here's a /. car analogy to help:

When I get in my car and turn on the key, the car has no choice in the matter. If the battery is sufficiently charged, there is gas in the tank, and all of the other systems are in working order, the car WILL start. As I turn the steering wheel, the car follows my directions. When I hit the gas, it speeds up; when I hit the brakes, it slows down. The car gets no say in whether or not it does the things I command.

On the other hand, when I go to work, my boss may give me instructions, and I may be highly motivated to follow those instructions, but I *ALWAYS* have a choice. I can do what my boss says or not -- and there have indeed been times when I have chosen "not" for various reasons (I knew it was a bad idea, I knew he would change his mind when he had additional information, I was busy with higher priorities, etc.).

The first example is "control" -- that which is controlled has no options in the matter. The second example is influence or incentive -- that which is influenced has a choice, and even though the likelihood of choosing something other than what the influencer wants may be minimal, there is a statistically significant chance of something else happening.

Re:This is not about controlling people

[tomhath]

A matter of semantics I suppose. I think of manipulation according to this definition:

2. To influence or manage shrewdly or deviously: He manipulated public opinion in his favor.

Re:This is not about controlling people

[ScrewMaster]

When I get in my car and turn on the key, the car has no choice in the matter.

I've owned cars that would disagree with you on that score.

Privacy

[thereitis]

“Obviously users need to know where their data is going,” he said, “and we take every measure to protect user privacy.”

Yet another phrase that has lost all meaning.

Warning: Article not nearly as cool as it sounds

[TheVelvetFlamebait]

The control exerted is obvious, not particularly forceful, and not particularly new. All the researchers have found is that some people will go a small distance out of their way in order to fulfil an objective in a mobile game. Somewhere, there's a guy in an advertising agency who's laughing his head off at their amateur discoveries.

Covertly transferring images from your phone

[yotto]

I have no problem with a game like this if the makers of the game were up front about it. I'd probably even play. Sounds fun. See new areas, get out in the world, get some sun and exercise, and get some cool pictures and points to boot. All the while, you're helping someone make 3-d models of real world things. Seems like a win all around.

But you secretly snap pictures with my phone and upload them to a server? No way. No fucking way.

Re:Covertly transferring images from your phone

[pinguin-geek]

You have to differentiate between experimentation and use; when you test the idea you need to make sure that your users knowledge of what you are doing is not affecting your results and weakening your conclusion. Of course, if ever deployed, you have to tell people what are they doing.

Re:Avoid Ghetto App

[SEWilco]

Who are these people? They must be hackers, they keep offering to sell me cracks.

Yet another idea from "The Skills of Xanadu"

[Paul Fernhout]

by Theodore Sturegon from the 1950s: http://books.google.com/books?id=wpuJQrxHZXAC&pg=PA51&lpg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false

He also envisioned in that story the internet, wireless mobile computing, a gift economy, groupware, nanotechnology, the open source movement, an abundance outlook on life, and more...