Modelling users: Pinballs, shortcuts and thoughtfulness

The different approaches to influencing people’s behaviour outlined in the Design with Intent toolkit are pretty diverse. Working out how to apply them to your design problem, and when they might be useful, probably requires you, as a designer, to think of “the user” or “users” in a number of different ways in relation to [...]

Security Lens: The Patterns

Anti-teenager “pink lights to show up acne”

In a similar vein to the Mosquito, intentionally shallow steps (and, superficially at least–though not really–blue lighting in toilets, which Raph d’Amico dissects well here), we now have residents’ associations installing pink lighting to highlight teenagers’ acne and so drive them away from an area:
Residents of a Nottinghamshire housing estate have installed pink lights which [...]

On ‘Design and Behaviour’ this week: Do you own your stuff? And a strange council-run ‘Virtual World for young people’

GPS-aided repo and product-service systems

Ryan Calo of Stanford’s Center for Internet and Society brought up the new phenomenon of GPS-aided car repossession and the implications for the concepts of property and privacy:
A group of car dealers in Oregon apparently attached GPS devices to cars sold to customers with poor credit so as to be able [...]

links for 2008-06-09

Protos – Creative Stuff by Kristian Tørning
(tags: rhetoric design persuasion persuasivetechnology tørning methods)

Digital Productions: Controlling the Flow of Information
Crosbie Fitch explores the “angst about losing control over the flow of information” and how it relates to corporate, state and creators’ engagement with copyright.
(tags: copyright information crosbiefitch flow digital)

Digital Productions: BBC, You’re Fired!
The BBC’s perverse attitude [...]

Best bitter

Bitrex, the world’s most bitter substance, is what’s known as a taste aversive – added to products which might seem tasty to humans (especially children) to persuade them not to drink them, or to spit out what they’ve already drunk. It’s a similar idea to the use of bitter coatings to break a [...]

links for 2008-05-01

Welsh couple cop Mosquito flak – The Register
Discriminatory atmospherics
(tags: mosquito discriminatoryatmospherics atmospherics soundweapon humanrights)

Volvo gearchange indicator light
Some Volvos were offered with an optional gearchange indicator, illuminating at the most efficient moment for the driver to change up a gear, based on engine RPM and throttle position. Good example of kairos.
(tags: kairos suggestion Volvo gearchange efficiency [...]

Mosquito controversy goes high-profile

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 [...]

Welcome, new readers

Thanks to Cory, this site has a lot of new readers today, so I thought I’d try to explain briefly what it’s all about.
‘Architectures of Control’ are features designed into things which intentionally attempt to restrict or enforce certain behaviour on the part of the users. The most prevalent examples are DRM and other attempts [...]

A vein attempt?

Blue lighting is sometimes used in public toilets (restrooms) to make it more difficult for drug users to inject themselves (veins are harder to see). The above implementation is in Edinburgh, next to the Tron Kirk.
It was more difficult to see my veins through my skin, but there was normal-coloured lighting in the street [...]