Design with Intent | 2008 February

Mosquito controversy goes high-profile

By Dan Lockton ⋅ February 13, 2008 ⋅ 10 comments

The Mosquito anti-teenager sound device, which we’ve covered on this site a few times, was yesterday heavily criticised by the Children’s Commissioner for England, Sir Albert Aynsley-Green, launching the BUZZ OFF campaign in conjunction with Liberty and the National Youth Agency:
Makers and users of ultra-sonic dispersal devices are being told to “Buzz Off” today [...]

Persuasive 2008

By Dan Lockton ⋅ February 12, 2008 ⋅ 3 comments

I’m pleased to say that I’ll be presenting a short paper, Design With Intent: Persuasive Technology in a Wider Context* at Persuasive 2008, the 3rd International Conference on Persuasive Technology, taking place from June 4th-6th in Oulu, Finland.
The paper’s a (very) brief introductory review of some of the different approaches to ‘Design with Intent‘ [...]

Home-made instant poka-yokes

By Dan Lockton ⋅ February 12, 2008 ⋅ 32 comments

Update: Also known as Useful Landmines in the 43 Folders world – thanks Pantufla!
Mistake-proofing – poka-yoke – can be as simple as encouraging/forcing yourself to do things in a sequence, to avoid forgetting or avoiding intermediate steps. If you’re the sort of person who hangs a jacket or bag on the door handle, so it [...]

1st Ballardian Festival of Home Movies

By Dan Lockton ⋅ February 11, 2008 ⋅ Post a comment

Simon Sellars, proprietor of the endlessly fascinating Ballardian, has organised a ‘Festival of Home Movies’, inviting mobile phone videos on the ‘Ballardian’ theme, including but not limited to “dystopian modernity, bleak man-made landscapes & the psychological effects of technological, social or environmental developments”:
In 1984 J.G. Ballard called for a ‘Festival of Home Movies’ and 24 [...]

Digital control round-up

By Dan Lockton ⋅ February 11, 2008 ⋅ One comment

Mac as a giant dongle
At Coding Horror, Jeff Atwood makes an interesting point about Apple’s lock-in business model:
It’s almost first party only– about as close as you can get to a console platform and still call yourself a computer… when you buy a new Mac, you’re buying a giant hardware dongle that allows you [...]

“It’s a weak society that sees removing them as the solution”

By Dan Lockton ⋅ February 9, 2008 ⋅ 2 comments

Following on from our recent look at the strategic design of public benches, BBC London’s Jimmy Tam let me know about this story in the Camden New Journal:
A public bench has been removed from outside West Hampstead Library [photo from Pashmin@'s Flickr] after it became a magnet for street drinkers.
The Town Hall now plan [...]

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