Tokyo Train Observations

As part of our research on mobile phone use in Tokyo, we conducted extensive observations on trains in the greater Tokyo area. The most foundational finding is that people use the non-voice functions of the mobile phone most extensively (email, web). There are limited instances of people receiving voice calls, but the calls are generally ended quickly. There are virtually no instances of people initiating voice calls on trains. In our observations we did not see a single instance of laptop usage on the train.

Train as mobile phone text chatting space

First, I wanted to give you just one example (from one of the our communication diaries research) of an extended mobile phone texting conversation on public transportation.

Female college student, age 20.
22:30 (boards bus)
22:24 (send) Ugh. I just finished (>_<). I’m wasted! It was so busy.
22:28 (receive) Whew. Good job. (>_<)
22:30 (send) I was running around the whole time. Are you okay?
22:30 (Only other passenger leaves. Makes voice call. Hangs up after 2 minutes when other passengers board.)
22:37 (send) Gee I wish I could go see fireworks ( ; _ ; )
22:39 (receive) So let’s go together! I asked you!
22:40 (gets off bus and moves to train platform)
22:42 (send) sniff sniff sniff ( ; _ ; ) Can’t if I have a meeting! I have to stay late!
22:43 (receive) You can’t come if you have to stay late?
22:46 (send) Um, no… I really want to go… ( ; _ ; )
22:47 (receive) Can’t you work it out so you can make it?
22:48 (boards train)
22:52 (send) Oh… I don’t know. If I can finish preparing for my presentation the next day. I really want to see you. (>_<) I am starting to feel bad again. My neck hurts and I feel like I am going to be sick. ( ; _; ) Urg
22:57 (receive) I get to see you tomorrow so I guess I just have to hang in there! (^o^)
23:04 (gets off train)
23:05 (send) Right right. I still have a lot of work tonight. I can’t sleep!

People often see public transport as prime time for email because of the limits on voice communication and because they are killing time, what in Japanese they call “himatsubushi”.

Seeing our interview data, there are a few people who have Personal Handy phone mobile (Air H”), but we did not observe a single person who using a laptop or PDA during our observation. Because of terrible crowds (in the morning), frequent transfers and unstable connectivity, it is more convenient for commuters to use mobile phones than laptops.

Growing sophistication in regulation efforts

Text messaging gets used in relatively unregulated contexts such as the home, but are most characteristic of communication in regulated contexts like public transportation. There is a lot of public outrage in Japan as elsewhere about bad manners in mobile voice communications. Even though surveys have shown that youth do not make voice calls on public transportation very frequently at all, there is still this public perception. According to our observation, the rate of using mobile phone for call is 25.5%. I n contrast, texting usage rate is 57.6%.

There is a growing and increasingly sophisticated set of efforts at regulating mobile media use on public transportation (see below), but this focuses mainly on voice calls.

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The posters inhibiting mobile phone usage

A few years ago, the announcements on trains would simply say please do not use your mobile phone. Now the signage and announcements tend to specify not to use mobile voice communications. On trains, there is not surveillance in each car, but on the bus, the drivers will ask users to hang up before entering the bus, or make an announcement if they see someone talking on the phone. More recently, on one train line in Japan they have introduced a priority mobile-free seating area presumably for people with pace makers that would be off limits to even texting and net surfing.

Email availability check ---Voice as increasingly a secondary modality

In this context, youth generally think the prohibitions are stupid and unnecessarily strict. But when we look at their mobile phone usage, they are acutely aware of manners and the perceptions of others. Often the reasons for using email as opposed to voice even if they are not in a public place is because they are afraid that their friend may be, so that is it more polite to use email. Voice calls are generally a secondary modality in part, because it is more expensive than email (with each short message costing about the equivalent of 2 cents) but also because of the uncertainty as to whether their interlocutor will be in a regulated space. Most heavy users, so most youths do not leave their ringers on when they are out of the home. Manner mode, or silent mode is the default modality because of the fear that the phone will ring on public transportation.

Yokohama Starbucks Observation

There are 27 Starbucks with WiFi in Japan. I selected two stores for my observations. One is Sangenjaya store the other is Yokohama Park store. I started my observations at the Sangenjaya Starbucks, but did not see anyother WiFi users there during my observations. The Sangenjaya store is located in an area with a shopping mall, university, theater, smart restaurants and shops. So most customers are shoppers or young women. Here I will summarize my observations at the Yokohama Park store.

The Yokohama Park store is located in the first floor of a life insurance building and is a five minute walk from the station. City government buildings, a stadium, a beautiful park, many offices and fast-food restaurants surround the shop. There is central business hub in Yokohama City.

The store has an entrance and window facing a pedestrian wralk. You can see the scenery of the Park and the stadium through the window. The store décor is like other Starbucks. It has 10 small round tables with about 25 chairs and 2 wide tables with about 10 chairs. There is terrace with 3 round tables and 12 chairs. Since the store is on a busy street, the chairs are always 70%-80% occupied.

I asked a few brief questions to the shop attendants. They say that approximately 30%-40% customers are salary men in the morning or during/after lunch time. Another 60%-70% customers are housewives, students, elderly people and others. But in the evening, around 5:00pm to 8:00pm, they are many salary men who drop in after work. Most people do not drop in the Starbucks to use WiFi. Mainly, they spend their time reading a book or newspaper, talking with friends, dallying, and communicating by text messaging on their mobile phone. My observations also bear out this picture of a typical day at this Starbucks. It is very rare to see a laptop and WiFi user.

WiFi connectivity is free, if you register online and get a user ID and password from Yahoo BB!. There are, however, no pamphlets or advertising about WiFi in the store. Most people do not know that they can use the WiFi connectivity in the store. (Or as mentioned before, they may not be interested in mobile Internet by laptop.) I ask the shop attendant, “how many people use WiFi connectivity or AirH” card with their laptop.” According to them, they ganerally see 5 laptop users in a day. Ten to one the users are men wearing suits. One shop attendant says that he has never seen 3 or more personal use laptops at a time. In most cases, the users are sitting alone after work.

I grabbed an opportunity to do a very short interview with one young salary man who sat next to me by chance and started using WiFi connectivity (around 4:30pm). Because of sudden interview, he was quite brief. He had a lightweight new “Let’s note” laptop (produced by Panasonic). He works near Sakuragicho station, and he often comes to a company located near the Starbucks Yokohama Park store. He sometimes uses that shop to drink coffee and check his e-mail and browse the web. He mainly receives/sends business e-mails. Less commonly he replies to private e-mail at that café. Of course his office has many desktop computers and he can use Ethernet connectivity there, but it is not easy to check his private e-mails while at his office. So he drops in the Starbucks before he goes back to his office. He sometimes checks out other shops where he can use a WiFi network.

The store I observed may be considered/located a relay spot between the outside and the office, or between the office and the home.

in front of the store

store interior

terrace

Cafe REX Observations (Helsinki)

Insight 1: Physical context: Easily accessible

Café REX is located in the lobby of the Bio REX cinema between the two entrances to the single theatre (hall). There is no entrance or doorway to the café itself. It can be accessed in two ways: through the entrance to Bio REX and up a broad flight of stairs or from Cable Book Library on the first floor.

The lobby in which the café is located has high ceilings. The right wall and part of the front wall are glass: windows extend from floor to ceiling. The back and left walls are solid. Behind the back wall is the movie theatre. Behind the front wall is the Cable Book Library. The bar counter of Café REX is located in the back wall between the two entrances to the theatre. The tables and chairs are on the right side of the bar. There are movie posters on the left wall separating Bio REX from Cable Book Library and rest of Lasipalatsi. The posters are of movies currently showing, coming attractions as well as movie classics from the past (take photo). There is a “storage area” for the summer terrace chairs behind the stairs.

The décor in the lobby reflects the Jugend style architecture of Lasipalatsi. There is lots of light during the summer because of the windows. Sounds echo in this space. Lounge and Cuban music plays constantly. The music is picked by the café workers and played from cds.

During the winters the café seats approximately 40 people. In the summers because of the terrace the number is at least double.

Insight 2: People: Favorite place of library goers

Café REX draws a diverse crowd consisting of creative professionals, students, immigrants, and tourists. Some of the same people also frequent Cable Book Library: being next door it’s easy to come there for a coffee, tea or beer after using the library. Moreover, the creative professionals, and tourists are drawn to the place because of its architecture and history.

Right before a movie starts the lobby is filled with a new group of people: the moviegoers. They are from different professions and levels of society. Some of moviegoers grab something to drink or eat at the café before the film. However, most of these people would not come to the café just to hangout.

During the summers the crowd is more diverse than during the winters because of the summer terrace, one of the most popular in the city. A lot less people go to the café during the winter months. It’s easy to spot the regulars during this time of year.

Insight 3: Activities: Meetings and hanging-out

Café REX is a popular meeting place for African immigrants in Helsinki. Its proximity to the Cable Book Library and relative proximity to the central railway station contribute to its popularity. Furthermore, its location in the lobby of a cinema means that it’s possible to spend time there without having to consume something from the café. This is a bonus for low income and unemployed people in need of a meeting place in the center of Helsinki.

Occasionally private parties are organized in the lobby of Bio REX. On these occasions the café is closed to the public.

Insight 4: Technology: Whose network?

There are 2 free touch-screen Internet kiosks in the lobby of Bio REX. People who have not been able to get on a computer next door in Cable Book Library come to use these kiosks. Also those who like to avoid the lines at the library come directly to the lobby. The kiosks have been designed for short Internet usage sessions: they require the user to stand and use a virtual keyboard.

Café REX is known to have free public wi-fi, however, the café owners have not set up the network. Like in Cable Book Library wi-fi is a service provided by the organization running Lasipalatsi. The bar manager at Café REX was not sure where the base-station was located. He guessed it was inside theatre, which would explain why the signal is the strongest at the bar counter. However, one of people I interviewed believed it to be at Mbar. I believe the manager was right about the location of the base station.

Regardless of where the signal was coming from I was able to connect effortlessly to the network. Indeed the signal is the strongest at the bar counter and it extends to the terrace. The same signal covers the Cable Book Library.

Photos

Entrance from Cable Book Library
Entrance from Bio REX
Bio REX lobby
Internet kiosks
"Storage area" (on left)
Wi-fi user at terrace
Meeting in Cafe REX
Another meeting
Glass walls
Wi-fi user in the "storage area"
Wi-fi user at the bar
Internet kiosk users
Wi-fi user (bar closed)
Terrace

Mbar Observations (Helsinki)

Insight 1: Physical context: Segmented space

Located below the Bio REX cinema, Mbar is the most relaxed and multi-functional space in Lasipalatsi. It’s an easy-going bar, nightlife hotspot and an Internet café all at the same time.

The façade has two entrances and tall windows that extend the whole length of the space. The space is a rectangular and is divided into four sections. The bar-counter is located in the middle of the space; it marks the boundary between the smoking and the non-smoking sections. The computer section along the front windows spanning all three sections. On the left of the counter, in the smoking section, is a dj-booth and behind it are the restrooms. In the smoking section people sit on a sofa that curves along the back-wall and on lounging chairs. The tables are round and small. In the non-smoking section there are sturdy wooden tables, benches and chairs. This section is more suitable for eating and working. The computers in the computer section are on counters of different heights that run along the front wall. The monitors face into the space, the users sitting at the computers can be seen from the outside. Users sit on chairs and bar stools depending on where along the counter they are. During the summers Mbar has a fifth section: the summer terrace. This is common ground for all Mbar clients. It gets packed in the evenings. The terrace is open till midnight and the rest of the bar closes around 2am.

There is always music playing in Mbar. When a dj is not spinning in the evenings, there is background music. Like in any bar it gets noisier and smokier as the evening progresses.

Insight 2: People and activities: Each section has its own crowd

The smoking section draws a clients who are 16-30 years old, dress in a trendy or bohemian clothes and are mainly Finnish. They are there to socialize or kill time. They usually arrive in the late afternoon and some stay until closing. On Friday and Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons this crowd comes to listen to the dj.

The non-smoking section draws an older crowd who comes for lunch or an afternoon snack after work. This crowd is also mostly Finnish. People who have come to do work also prefer to sit in this section.

The computer (Internet) section also has its own crowd mainly made up of foreigners and tourists, although I did see some teens as well. They are in Mbar to use the Internet and read e-mails while having a cup of coffee. Possibly, the reason why not many Finns rent the computers is because they know that next-door both Cable Book and Café REX offer free Internet computers. Moreover, many Finns have Internet access at home and/or at work. During my observations I did not notice a distinct peak time for computer use during a day or week.

Interestingly, immigrants who make up a big part of the clientele at Cable Book Library and Café REX do not come to Mbar.

Insight 3: Business: no business model for wi-fi

There are no signs in Mbar indicating that there is a free public wireless network. I knew that at the time the place used to be Meteor Bookshop it had a wireless network but wasn’t sure whether it was still available after it became Mbar. I decided to ask the barmaid before I tried my laptop. Her surprised answer to my question was "Yes we have… how did you know?"

There is probably a business reason why wi-fi is not promoted. Using the Internet computers costs 5? for half an hour. When I asked her about the costs of using wi-fi the barmaid somewhat embarrassed admitted that wi-fi use was free. She quickly added that she would charge someone if they sat and used it for some hours. I doubt she has ever charged a wi-fi user. Her reply made it obvious that these users posed somewhat of a concern; they take up space in the bar for long periods of time without consuming or paying. It seems Mbar has not figured out whether and how to charge for wi-fi.

If there is a danger that wi-fi cannibalizes some of the Internet access revenue or that users stay for hours without buying something then why does Mbar continue to provide free wi-fi? The answer probably lies in the history of the place: the network could be from the time of the Meteor bookstore. Both Cable Book Library and Café REX offer free wi-fi. Moreover, there are some regular users who have come to expect the service from Mbar.

Insight 4: Technology: Wi-fi users have their own protocols (set by themselves) for the place

When I asked the barmaid if she had noticed anyone using wi-fi she told me about two "regulars". One of the regulars the barmaid referred to is a man in his 50s and the other a man in his 30s. She pointed out that the older man likes to sit in the corners, in both the smoking and non-smoking sections. While the older man is there almost every-day, she told me the younger man comes only on the weekends. She did not know either of them by name.

Later during my observations I found out why the older laptop user, whom I had also seen sitting in the “storage area” of Café REX, likes to sit in the corners. His primary reason for choosing the corners in Mbar and the “storage area” in Café REX was access to power. These where the only places which had power-outlets. Secondarily these areas provided privacy that he needed to do his work but also to eat his own food.

On one occasion I observed the older man sit in Mbar for an hour with an empty coffee cup in front of him. After he returned from getting a fresh cup of coffee he started to dip his hand into his bag pulling out pieces of bread. He was cutting back on costs of staying in Mbar by bringing his own lunch/dinner with him.

On the same occasion I approached him to ask if I could interview him. He accepted and we set a date (see Interview 2: Harri, connected entrepreneur). I then returned to the sofa where I sat with my laptop. A little while afterwards he came to ask me if I could look after his laptop and things while he went to the bathroom. I assumed he trusted me because I had a laptop of my own and more importantly, I had just asked him for an interview. I realized that while it was preferable to sit by oneself when using a laptop in a cafe, having someone whom you could trust to look after your things when you took a break was a big bonus. This is a point Harri stressed in the interview.

Photos

Mbar entrance
Computers from outside
Terrace during the day
Wi-fi user
Non-smoking section
Internet access rates
Computer user
More computer users
DJ and view of smoking section
Terrace at night
View of computers at night
Smoking section
Base station
Smoking section from front

Observations in Basel, Switzerland

In the second half of June I did research at two locations in Basel, Switzerland:
A: the exhibition place Basel (Messe Basel) v. http://www.messe.ch/ca/e/gs/lang/e/ – which is an ensemble of exhibition halls midst in town. I had a look at the ART fair (trade fair for contemporary art) which took place June, 16-23 and which was one of the test cases for the new WiFi hotspot in the fair halls - even if the WLAN service was not actively promoted at this fair and, therefore, not much used. I also talked to two exhibitors that used WLAN and took a look at the use of cell phones and laptops.
B: the Unternehmen Mitte, v. http://www.mitte.ch . The Unternehmen Mitte is a former bank building in the centre of Basel which is today a centre for cultural activities and for small offices as well as a café, a bar and a meeting place. The biggest and most central room is the hall on the ground floor, a room with small round tables and a bar. There is a WiFi server installed in the hall which provides free WLAN access, but as the WLAN service is not advertised there are only a few people using it. I did four observation sessions and conducted two interviews with people that use WLAN in the Unternehmen Mitte.

WLAN in Switzerland
The fact that both of these locations provide WLAN access but are not yet advertised as hotspots is somehow significant for the current situation of public WLAN in Switzerland: the service is still in its infancy, but the number of (commercial) hotspots is growing very fast. Currently there are about 280 active hotspots reported (v. http://www.swiss-hotspots.ch ). The biggest PWLAN provider, Swisscom Mobile Ltd, lists additionally 50 hot-spots that are to commence operation shortly. Most of the commercial hotspots are hotels; i.e. a type of hotspot that addresses a particular target group of business travellers and tourists.

Exhibition place
Exhibition and trade fair places are a particular kind of place and space: They are not only meeting points that bring people together – similar to markets and market sqares – but also close places: the visitors have to buy a ticket to get to them, and the exhibitors do not leave the place most of the day.
Being at the ART I tried to get an impression of the communication patterns at this particular kind of place and of the way wireless and mobile technologies are used.
The general impression was a low use of communication technology at the fair by both, exhibitors as well as visitors. The ART fair is a place where exhibitors obviously spend most of the time interacting face-to-face, typically sitting around the table with their customers or visitors. Although there were laptops on some of the tables, I did not see many of the exhibitors using them nor visitors using or carrying laptops. Mobile phones played a more important role, laying on tables during meetings or being used particularly by visitors who were alone at the fair.
The exhibitors using the WLAN service told me that they use it for communication purposes only, mainly to check their email. Before WLAN service was installed they had used to go to one of the terminals at the exhibitor’s corner to do so - or to wait until they were at the hotel. In particular, WLAN was used for the email communication between the fair and the home gallery.

Unternehmen Mitte
Most of the time last month when I did my research the weather was very hot– it was, in general, the hottest June in Switzerland for more than hundred years with temperatures in the afternoon of nearly 36°C (=96,8°F). This changed the athmosphere of the hall in the Unternehmen Mitte which became also a place where people could escape from the heat.
I went four times to the Unternehmen Mitte, between lunch time and early evening. There were always between 10 and 20 persons in the hall, sitting at different small round tables and usually having a coffee or something else to drink.
I found that the activities in the hall change most between different times of the day – more than between different working days (same finding than in Helsinki). E.g. at lunch time and in the early afternoon there are often people with babies and with children coming to the hall. In the afternoon the place is preferred by students and other people that work together or have meetings. Another activity people do in the afternoon is reading the newspaper, a magazine or a book. In the evenings, there are either cultural events (such as concerts or tango dancing) or the hall is a meeting point for young people.
Each time when I was there I saw (at least) someone working with a laptop, at different times of the afternoon – which is, in fact, not typical of Swiss working style. The people that used their laptop turned out to be either students or persons that have their offices in the same building upstairs and sometimes prefer working in the hall. One of them told me that the hall is a good place to work, because it is a social place which is, at the same time, big enough to stay on your own if you want to. Most of the people that worked with the laptops were sitting alone. However there was also a particular situation when two men were sitting together, one of them working with the laptop and the other having lunch.
Mobile phone use (voice as well as SMS) was not very high – there was never more than one person using the mobile phone at the same time. All the persons using the phone were alone. However a lot of people – sitting alone or together with others – had put their mo-bile phones on the table, i.e. they probably wanted to be reachable.

Reflection: two aspects
There are different ways how communication technology (WLAN, mobile phone) can interact with places and with social face-to-face settings. The question if e.g. a laptop is disturb-ing in a face-to-face situation or if a mobile phone should be switched off in social face-to-face situations can be answered differently. There is no single rule for the relationship be-tween social face-to-face settings and wireless connectivity.

Hotspot is not = Hotspot
Looking at the two locations described it becomes obvious that ‘hotspot’ can mean different things: it can be a place you go to in order to e.g. check your email (such as the Unternehmen Mitte or Starbuck’s). Or it can be an additional service at a place you are anyway, e.g. at an exhibition or a fair which is a closed ‘small world’ in itself. For the exhibitors at the ART WLAN was something nearly ubiquitous, because they had access in the whole hall and did not have to go anywhere in order to access the internet. This kind of hotspot is closer to the experience of the mobile phone – the experience to be always connected and reachable without ‘having to go somewhere’.

More Convenience, Less Fragmentation

My second interview was with Chuck, a man in his late 40s. As someone who “works on vacation,” his interview focused squarely on his work. He is the founder of a strategic advisory firm that consults to high growth information technology companies. Chuck had been a CIO of a large company where he rarely dealt with the customer side. He was responsible for internal management issues. Now he meets with prospects or customers and his work is largely controlled by their schedules. He says that the contrast and need for technology that moves with him is startling: “It really is a convenience issue.” Work “invades all parts of your life and the locales that you’re in.” Continuous connectivity for Chuck has led to a “resegmentation of time,” and the venues are “just the places” where he works.

Two insights emerged from this interview. First, Chuck likes technology that allows him to work as if he were sitting at his personal desktop. Convenience is a major element in his daily life. His ideal is to have everything that one has at home, behind your own firewall, wherever you go. "At home" he says, "you have no security issues, symbolically, not literally.” “Using Wifi gives you only about one-half of this functionality that you’re used to such as security issues.” Away from his personal desktop and access to the data on the desktop, he feels less productive. Second, he notices that social cues or metaphors are mismatched both in his communications over email and the reason for why some technology, such as knowledge management software, is not as effective.

Convenience

Coordinating Family Activities with Client Appointments
Chuck bought the Treo, which is a phone/mobile email/palm device to keep track of the calendaring and coordination of his family’s activities. This is useful because whenever he needs to make an appointment with a client, all he has to do is refer to this calendar to see if his family has already scheduled an activity. He uses an electronic calendar, an exchange server, to coordinate his family’s schedule. He lives with his wife and three children – ages 8, 13, and 15. The house includes a full-time child care person who is not on the exchange server. He attempted to get his parents to use the exchange server but he hasn’t been too successful yet; they live in Chicago.

Being Wired and Productive During Downtime at the Airport
On the road and in the airport, Chuck prefers wired access. He no longer attempts to use the wireless service because it takes too much time to get connected and because these services typically charge fees for longer-term access. He also doesn’t know if he’ll return to that airport on a regular basis: “There isn’t this sign-up rigmarole,” and the “intercarrier relationship isn’t functional.” Instead, he’ll use the Internet service connections for $15 or if he’s at the airport for longer periods, he’ll download email messages and upload later using wired access. Hence, finding an outlet is more important than finding a connection. He may find himself sitting at the gate using the Treo for the mobile mail function. So, he’s seeing “some substitution,” in lieu of his laptop and wired access. With the Treo, he feels he works continuously and immediately sees if he has email to which he must respond. He also works on the Treo in the cab to and from the airport. One caveat is that continuous connectivity produces more anxiety for Chuck because he always checks for urgent email messages. It is rare, he notes, that anything is really that urgent.

Matching Time and Place with Space
When Chuck is “on the road,” his time is dictated by his clients’ schedules. He may go to a breakfast meeting, have downtime until 3pm, and attend a cocktail or dinner event. Sometimes he has two to three hour meetings over a meal with clients. But between meetings he has to ask himself, “Am I killing time or am I having a meal with someone.” Whether he’s “killing time,” or seeking out a venue for a client, he goes to switchboard.com. He uses Starbucks sometimes for meeting clients, while traveling, because there’s some predictability about the product. "The Internet is big for finding places." Regis, he notes, is good if a space is needed and a client’s space is not available.

Work: Office Space
He subleased an office space because his children are home for the summer. He is a “one man company.” While the office is equipped with a LAN line, he is finding that it’s easier to use his cell because giving out two numbers, one for the office and one for his cell, would be disruptive for the client relationship when he moves from the subleased office. He is wondering more and more if he will substitute the cell phone for the wired line. He has also ordered IPTelephony, a find me follow me service. IPTelephony’s service is “disengaged from the geography.” His messages are automatically forwarded to him wherever he travels with IPTelephony. If he forgets to tell his current forwarding service where he is located, he is unable to access his phone messages.

Integrating Fragmentation
This is the heart of the convenience issue. The reason for why Chuck purchased the Treo was because of the “disconnect,” or “fragmentation of the databases which are essentially tied to different technologies.” His former Palm and desktop were integrated, but his cell was not integrated with either the Palm or desktop. Without devices that integrate the fragmentation, he states that his life gets compartmentalized between the differing channels. The “switching costs [to be productive] are high” and it is “a burden.” The IPTelephony allowed him to integrate the fragmentation of forwarding calls.

He was an early adaptor of Next Step. As the CIO of a large corporation, he had access to this type of software 12 years ago. Next Step had ISP driven services and it was integrated with the desktop. “When you sign onto your own computer all your documents are there and filed the way you filed them, and all your applications are set up, . . all those things that you spent time personalizing are there. So if you have a find me follow me desktop, you’re inextricably linked to all the stuff that’s stored on your hard disk and stuff on the central server. You can configure stuff on your hard disk,” or leave it on the server. So when you sign off you always get that same desktop and the same view of the world.

Chuck is “against WiFi and the Starbucks set-up.” He prefers Peet’s [coffee] to Starbucks so he isn’t inclined to sign up with Starbucks. But he also doesn’t want “18 different ISPs” because he thinks this is “too hard to manage.”

Social Cues and Norms and Virtual vs. Physical Spaces

Chuck uses email rather than phone calls because if forces him to think about what he is saying. But he thinks that others, “particularly younger guys,” write email that is too casual because there are no social cues. He categorized email message into three: casual, formal, and composed.

-Casual email expresses personality and it’s not written to “save me time.”
-Formal email can be “stilted but it allows you to get to the bottom line,” and it has attachments or templates.
-Composed email has been rewritten several times and reformatted into paragraphs.

-IM is “the worse” because little thought goes into what is being said.

In contrast to email, the physical environment tells Chuck how formal his pitch will be for a client. He categorized these spaces into three formats: informal, somewhat structured, and structured. In cafes, the meeting is less formal. In restaurants he may only bring his Treo and not his cell because he’ll turn it off. In a conference room he may do a paper pitch. And a structured pitch requires him to bring his laptop, projector, and software to produce mind-maps. In the email environment he thinks these cues don’t exist.

Chuck thinks that people operate in inappropriate ways because they don’t know where they are. He views the hard drive as only existing in the personal space. Each of the workspaces--personal, workgroup, and corporate--has different social metaphors. So cues are needed to say where one is functioning. Chuck believes all of these things are interrelated. For example, knowledge management has failed because the designers of these applications did not integrate the social space of knowledge, which is mostly personal and workgroup related. A combination of the social metaphors and the standards and the technology integration all need to relate to one another in a reasonable manner.

Cable Book Library Observations (Helsinki)

Insight 1: Physical context: hybrid between Internet café and library

When you first walk up the stairs from the first (ground) floor you enter the lobby. During opening hours it contains magazine shelves, reading tables, chairs and by the windows there are 3 high tables with 2 desktop computers on top of each.

A walk through the lobby, which most of the time is bustling with people, brings you to the front doors. Here is where you can see that Cable Book Library is not your ordinary book filled library. Immediately inside to the right is a copying machine and a web-surfer divan (reclining chair fitted with computer). On the left is the library check-out counter behind which stands always 2-3 members of the staff. Behind a couple of short bookshelves are more computers; 12 to be exact. They are in two rows of 6 facing each other. All the way at the back of the narrow and smallish rectangular space is a round table with more computers on it. An empty round table is next to it. Beyond the counter on the left is a cd-rom and dvd shelf and a comic book rack. And beyond them is a wooden bench that runs from mid-way through the space to the end. Magazine shelves run down the middle of the space separating the bench along the left from the computers along the windows on the right.

The arrangement of the space supports quick access to the computers. There is hardly any space for doing written work. Computers take up most of the available table space. Apart from two tables one by entrance and the other at the back, the bench is the only place where you can sit and read and, of course use your laptop.

Insight 2: People: ethnic and economic diversity

Being a public library Cable Book draws a range of different people, most from lower income ranks. Its difficult to tell whether the single biggest user group are students, both university and high-school, or immigrants. Of course its difficult to tell what the overlap is between these groups. The place is also popular with unemployed people and university researchers. All of these social groups have more time to kill than the average employed person. Moreover they also have less money, probably the main motivation for coming to use the computers.

Students and immigrants come and go through out the day. An occasional tourist walks up the stairs from the first floor to see the library. Usually they do not stay for long. At lunch time people who work close stop by to read a magazine or the newspapers. They usually stay in the lobby.

What struck me about Cable Book was the number of foreigners who come there. At any given time a third of the people there are foreigners. This ratio is much higher than in any other public space or place in Helsinki. The most common ethnic groups are African and Arab.

Insight 3: Activities: meetings, entertainment and killing time

Provisioning of free Internet access has transformed Cable Book Library from a traditional library where people read, search for information and borrow books to a popular meeting point and a place to be entertained.

Place for entertainment
During my observation sessions I saw several times people who would sit at the computers in the lobby, downloading and watching movie trailers on the lobby computers with the volume turned up so everyone could hear.

Place to kill time
On one day I observed a bike courier who would surf the web on a computer in the lobby till he got a call on his mobile after which he would rush off, only to return an hour later. This happened three times during the day. For the courier Cable Book Library was a place to kill time between assignments.

Meeting place
Cable Book Library is a popular meeting place for foreigners most of whom are African and Arab males. Both organized and spontaneous meetings take place there.

On one occasion I observed one African male being joined by another at the computer near the entrance of the library. The two Africans then engaged in a heated discussion about Nigerian politics in front of the computer. After a while they moved from the computer to the lobby and sat down at one of the tables to continue their discussion. Soon after other foreigners joined the discussion.

This trend of using the computers and then sitting down in a larger group to discuss occurred often during my observation sessions. I also occasionally observed the opposite pattern. A group would crowd around a computer monitor and then disperse with some members going to sit at the tables and others leaving.

Insight 4: Protocols: Ringtones and spontaneous discussions rather than silence

The common library protocol of silence is not followed or enforced at Cable Book Library. From time to time a mobile phone rings and its owner usually answers and proceeds to talk while inside. The more polite mobile users answer immediately but then walk into the lobby to talk.

Insight 5: Technology

Lots of computers but hardly any laptops
Cable Book Library is equipped with the most common digital publishing tools. There are more than 20 computers connected to the Internet. Some computers have word and image processing software. There are also a film and image scanners.

I did not observe anyone using the scanners and only a few times did I catch someone using word processing on the computers. People mostly used e-mail and the Internet.

I did notice some on-the-spot media consumption. Occasionally someone would use a cd-rom borrowed from the library’s extensive collection. I also spotted one laptop user watching a DVD movie on the bench with headphones on. I assume he had borrowed the movie from the library.

Wi-fi coverage as an after-thought
Lasipalatsi Media Center Ltd, the organization that maintains Lasipalatsi provides the free wi-fi network that is accessible in the Cable Book Library.

The service is not promoted. The signal works only inside the library. The staff I interviewed was aware of the network but was not sure where the base station was located. One of the library workers guessed that that the signal came from Bio REX, and that it was not planned that it would work in the library.
I did not have any problems getting on the network. The signal was strong through out the space.

During the seven observation periods at Cable Book Library I only saw 4 wi-fi users and all of them on a Saturday afternoon at the same time. Two of the users were watching streamed video. I could not tell what the other two were doing.

Insight 6: Rhythms

Cable Book Library
Opening hours:
Mon-Thu: 10-22
Fri: closed
Sat-Sun: 12-18

On Fridays the place is closed. People sit in the lobby that only has tables and chairs. From time to time someone stops by to see if the library is open.

There is a peak of people coming to Cable Book Library after work around 4.30 pm. There is smaller peak during lunchtime when people come to kill time or read their mails.

Photos

Stairs to Cable Book Library
Lobby
Entrance
Panorama of the entrance
Computer users in the lobby
Meeting in the lobby
Lobby when Cable Book is closed
Back of library seen from Cafe REX terrace

Helsinki Observations From Lasipalatsi

I conducted my observations over a period of a month at three places in the Lasipalatsi Film and Media Centre:

Cable Book Library – more than 20 computers with free Internet access, wi-fi and a collection of books on Internet, media, travel as well as comics.
Café REX – located in the lobby of Bio REX cinema the café has wi-fi and the best summer terrace in Helsinki.
Mbar – Internet café that sells access but also offers free wi-fi, djs plays several times a week in the evenings.

Its important to know a little about Lasipalatsi to get an understanding of the overall physical and social context these places are part of.

The Lasipalatsi Film and Media Centre (http://www.lasipalatsi.fi) is a building owned by the City of Helsinki and maintained by the Lasipalatsi Media Centre Ltd. Its mission is to be a center for multimedia business and a European meeting point.

Lasipalatsi is located in the very heart of Helsinki. It lies between the main railway station and what used to be the main bus station but is now the biggest construction site in Finland. To the left is the Forum mall and to the right Kiasma the museum of Contemporary art.

Built in the 1930’s the building’s creators strove for a spirit of openness and modernity. The end result is a Functionalist palace, hence the name Lasipalatsi or Glass Palace. In 1998 the City of Helsinki renovated the building, transforming it into a Film and Media Centre, yet keeping the original architectural style inside and outside. The name, “Glass Palace”, refers to the tall windows on both floors of the building’s facade.

Lasipalatsi houses cafes, a library, a gallery, office space, a cinema, a TV studio and shops. Through the building are Internet kiosks that can be used free of charge. Many cultural events and exhibitions, sponsored by the European Union, have been organized there. More than 20 companies and associations are based in the complex.

The three observation spots are among the most visited in the building. I’ve been going to both Mbar and Café REX for years but have not been using wi-fi until now.

View of Lasipalatsi from the outside
View of Lasipalatsi floor plan
View of Mbar terrace

Road warrior

I snapped these pics with my Clie while at O"Hare airport in Chicago waiting to board a flight. I was amused to see the old phone machines re-invented with nomadic workers tethered not to the phone receiver but to the data line. Note the guy on the left with a nifty special attachment to the suitcase outfitted to allow one a workspace to place a laptop. One of the guys was crouching in front of the laptop placed on a little ledge beneath the phone, while the other was towering above the luggage handle. Both were also on their mobile phones while working on laptops. Please send other pics from your observations of people working in interesting ways/places. Marina

Ring Ring: Can You See Me Now?

I conducted my first interview with a 25-year-old male law/PhD student, “M.” He is currently in a joint JD/PhD program at the University of California, Berkeley (UCB).

There were a few captivating aspects of this interview.
* M uses connectivity and space to create social space that is “fun.”
* A glimpse into what one cafe offers for the socially inclined.
* The PDA: Out of sync?
* M’s sense of being “bounded by battery life” whenever he visits wireless cafes.
* Temporal space and transportation.

His enthusiasm was contagious.

Ring ring: Can You See Me Now?
M uses his cell phone, which has infrared and Bluetooth, to take pictures of friends and scenery and then uses these pictures for the caller ID function. He also changes the background of his phone using the pictures he’s taken. “I take pictures of all my friends and those photos turn out to be the caller ID. So in a sense that’s wireless.” M’s friends and family don’t get the usual caller ID number. Instead, the receiver gets a fun picture of him. For example, M likes to use pictures of his parents and friends on his cell phone rather than phone numbers. “This is fun,” M says with a smile. “When my boyfriend calls I get to see his picture and not just his phone number. Or if my parents call, their picture pops up on my screen. When my friend C called, he grew up on a phone in Minnesota, so he took a picture with a cow, sent it to me, and that’s his caller ID. . .. I receive a picture by email on my computer, and then I beam them to my phone.” M says this makes him smile in the middle of the day because the “pics” he gets and uses are usually funny ones.

He also uses his cell phone as a “gaming function.” He convinced some friends to get the same cell phone because he liked his so much; “It was adorable.” Using Bluetooth, they now share games on their phones. “This is fun,” he said.

Café Zeb
One café that M frequents 2-3x a week is Café Zeb. One side of the café has good food fare. Business students often come to Café Zeb because the food at the business school is apparently less enticing. On the right side of the café are tables, chairs, and a couch. Located on the 2nd floor of the law school, Café Zeb is M’s social hub at UCB. UCB is the “locust” of his “professional life.” Using his laptop and the wireless service, he checks email and the Internet for news and hopes to run into friends and people he knows by “pretending to study.” He reveals that out of two hours in the café, he more realistically studies for about 15 minutes. His primary interest is to socialize and to catch-up with his friends. One drawback of the café is that “there aren’t too many outlets” for his laptop. Students work, eat, study, hold study groups, and swap files by wirelessly emailing one another. Daily newspapers are provided on a stand, although some students like M get their news through the wireless service. Professors and teaching assistants may also hold office hours in the cafe.

Out of Sync?
M notes that the PDA for him has become less useful. When he was living with his parents after college, he would download daily news from websites like CNN and the NY Times onto his PDA and then share the news with his folks at supper. “This was kind of fun. But now that I have wireless access I can get news instantly.” In another instance, M took his PDA to class for note taking because his laptop was cumbersome to carry; students typically bring their laptop for note taking. While synchronizing the class notes with his laptop one day, a full day of class notes was completely lost. After this incident, he decided that using the PDA and losing the information was too risky. M now prefers to use his laptop. The laptop has the original program so he’s no longer interested in trying to synchronize the PDA and potentially losing information. The PDA has become a mere tool for addresses and calendaring.

Bounded by Battery Life
While wireless access is the reason for why M visits cafes, he is also “bounded by battery life.” M tells me that he takes his backpack, an AC adaptor, two batteries--one that has “extra capacity and runs about 3-1/2 to 4 hours,” books, and whatever else he needs for studying. So in a sense, he is always looking for an outlet in cafes. He has to be aware of things like battery life and who is sitting at a table that has an outlet nearby. In a neighborhood café called Jumping Java, M has a favorite table that is located in the middle of the café. This table is also a favorite of a number of patrons and it is almost always taken; it has an outlet and it’s near a window with natural lighting. In other words, M keeps an eye on the table and actively pursues moving to the table whenever the patron leaves to avert using his laptop battery or running out of battery time.

When I asked M how enabled technology would be more useful to him, he replied:
"I would like to see cards that we could carry around which would have our hard drives on them. Then we could plug them in to terminals everywhere, anywhere. Also it would be nice to see engineers work on batteries that could regenerate or charge themselves, without ever having to be plugged in (or, ideally, small <8ounce batteries with 15-20 hour life spans at least, for long flights and airports)."

Transportation and Temporal Space
While reflecting on our interview, M realized that he uses his cell phone to keep in touch with friends and family when he is riding on public transportation or taking the train. Because he doesn’t have a car, and has “dead time” in these transition spaces, he uses this time as social space. This is a useful he notes, because when he gets home after school, for example, he can make dinner, eat, and get back to work.

Observation Insights: Wayne’s Coffee (Kaisaniemi, Helsinki)

Below are my collective insights from all nine or so observation sessions at Wayne’s on 8-31 May 2003. The observation times have ranged from early morning to lunch to late afternoon/early evening mainly during weekdays but also on a Saturday.

It seems that the time of the day has more influence on the rhythm of the place that the day of the week – mornings are pretty quiet, lunchtimes are busy and it really starts buzzing after work. Also there’s more socializing going on after work.

The other manager (there are two) at Wayne’s gave me a permission to hang out at the place and approach their customers for interviews. Still, just like Marina, I did feel compelled to buy something each time I was there.

Insight 1: Setting up a WiFi connection is way too cumbersome
This can defintely serve as a barrier to adopting the technology. My story: In order to understand what being wireless is all about I needed a wlan card and associated software for my laptop. I encountered the first obstacle with our IT department. Apparently there’s a non-WiFi policy in the house largely due to security reasons. I finally got the necessary add-ons and in principle was all set for wireless existence.

I tried the wireless connection at two cafés – Café Carusel and Robert’s Coffee. At the former my connection spotted a Telia HomeRun hotspot and the latter a Sonera wGate one. As Wayne’s is my observation spot, I decided to buy a Telia HomeRun prepaid card (24 h for 15 euros – counting starts at first sign-on) from there. (I consider this very expensive as I’d only be using the connection for two hours or so). Wayne’s had run out of the cards. I asked for them two more times during the same week – no luck! The manager told me that “ordering more cards is a thing one easily forgets to do”. I concluded that demand for the cards cannot be high.

Had I not known before going to Wayne’s that they have a hotspot, nothing in the place would have informed to that effect. There is no Telia HomeRun sign or other indication of the service in sight. I accidentally found brochures advertising the service in a distant corner – a space so hidden that only customers sitting in that specific corner can spot the brochures!

The possibility to borrow WiFi iPAQs is advertised on every table in transparent plastic frames and also on a glossy A4 print above lunch menu on a wall by the counter (I noticed the latter only when I visited the place at lunchtime).

I have used the iPAQ a couple of times before. I borrowed one on my first visit and soon realized that it’s quite ok for checking emails but writing – especially longer – emails is a pain. Furthermore, I’d rather access my company email client rather than web mail. I definitely would not use the device for surfing especially as there is a PC with Internet access at Wayne’s! Using the connection is free of charge and limited to 30 min. per customer (but no one seems to control this.) To add to it all, with the wlan card the iPAQ feels unnecessarily heavy and rather clumsy.

The next time I wanted like to borrow an iPAQ I was told that a customer is using the other device and the other one was charging.

Insight 2: Physical, tangible communication about WiFi is required to promote trial and adoption
The printed material advertising the wireless iPAQ service may not be enough to communicate about and generate interest in the service. Something more concrete, tangible, hands-on may be required. As the manager at Wayne’s told me, the devices should be more easily accessible (now they’re behind the counter, often out of sight) but this is infeasible due to practical reasons. By the latter he refers to the devices being expensive and thus to the need of exercising control over their use.

I discussed the iPAQ & WiFi projects with the Wayne’s manager. He told me that their aim is to provide something extra for their customers but the available technology must not add to the workload of the staff. Also technology can make customers stay longer at Wayne’s per visit but that does not necessarily increase sales.

Insight 3: Technology is just a mediator in human interaction
The PC with Internet access is almost in constant use at Wayne’s. I’ve got to observe several people using it, mainly for (personal) emails. It’s quite amazing to see these persons’ expressions as they non-verbally communicate with the PC screen – just as if it was the person they were communicating with! I’ve seen smiles, puzzled faces… A backpacker seemed to even talk to the machine when typing Hotmail messages. It’s as if the other person is transferred to the same space via the Internet even though s/he may not be there in real time.

Insight 4: Even in places where the use of technology is supported, one can feel too conspicuous when using it
Wayne’s is definitely a place that supports use of technology. However, whenever I’ve been there and used my laptop, I’ve felt conspicuous. I’ve seen only two other people using a laptop there – a man briefly on a morning and a traveller at lunchtime. And the more technology (my tops: laptop, iPAQ, Nokia 9210 Communicator) I’ve had with me, the more I’ve felt I stand out.

Laptops seem to be strongly associated with working. I was having lunch at Wayne’s with two colleagues. Another colleague, now on maternity leave, walked in and did not want to disturb us because she concluded from the closed laptop on the table that we were having a working lunch. In this case, also our party likely served as a cue to associating our activities with work.

After working hours Wayne’s becomes a place for socializing – even more so than earlier during the day. Then using a laptop feels downright inappropriate.

Insight 5: Being in the moment may be of such importance that technology usage is avoided
Most people do seem to have their mobile phones with them at Wayne’s. I’ve only seen one person with his own PDA. (This person became my first interviewee as he uses the PDA wirelessly via his mobile phone and infrared). Phones are used for talking and texting. However, I expected to see more mobile phone usage, texting especially, than actually took place.

It may be that people value person-to-person interaction (those who are here in groups) and therefore perceive using any other forms of communication as intrusive and/or against social protocol.

Those who are at Wayne’s on their own seem to use mobile phones slightly more often than those in groups. Nevertheless, usage is not heavy. Loners may value the moment of solitude and thus avoid anything that would break it.

Insight 6: Using mobile devices can be a sociable activity
(This insight does not contradict insight 5 but relates to the behaviour of a minority of Wayne’s customers).
I haven’t seen many people using the WiFi iPAQs – only two different pairs of teenage girls and a girl who obviously was a staff member off duty. On all these occasions the usage of WiFi was semi-social in that the girls had a conversation when using the device(s). It may be that the small display/size of PDAs contributes to social use in two ways. Firstly, others cannot as easily what’s on the display, i.e. privacy is maintained. Secondly, the device is less intrusive. Furthermore, only one table is equipped with the the fixed Internet access, which limits its social use. I cannot comment on the social vs. solitude usage of WiFi on laptops as I did not observe with certainty such usage occuring. (It may be that either or both laptop users – both working on their own - did have integrated wlan cards in their devices.)

I also saw two young men taking turns talking to their mutual friend on a mobile phone.

Insight 7: True wireless use is place independent
It seems – also on the basis of my interviews – that WiFi is not the determining factor for coming to Wayne’s (or any hotspot) but the place itself. Internet can be accessed from different places but people come here because of the comfortable atmosphere, good coffee and sandwiches. WiFi then, seems to be a value-adding but not a driving factor for a place.

A fixed Internet access, on the other hand, does seem to be a driving force. Some people come in, head straight to the PC, use it for a while and then leave. If the PC is being used, they take a seat elsewhere and the move to the PC once it’s free. As far as I observed, all these customers did buy something.

On one occasion, on a Saturday afternoon, I came to Wayne’s with my boyfriend. The place was packed and we took seats by the PC as they were more or less the only ones available. I felt rather uncomfortable thinking that there may be people around whose main reason for being here is the Internet access. Therefore, we soon moved to another, now free, table.

Insight 8: Information available on the Internet generates communication
I observed quite a few people using the fixed Internet access. The information – I assume most often in the form of emails - these people retrieved via the Internet often generated other activities such as replying to emails, checking one’s calendar and writing things in it, phone calls and texting.

On a couple of occasions I checked the visited URLs on the PC. These are
· web mails (Hotmail)
· portals that also offer web mail (MTV3.fi, suomi24.fi)
· search engines (Google)
· educational institutions (webmail.hut.fi, evtek.fi)
· digital imaging (pixmania.com, dpreview.com)
· music (koneisto.com, rogerpeople.com, valentinerecords.co.uk,
kissonline.com)
· an operator site (elisa.fi)

Insight 9: Space can mold behaviour by giving cues and enabling certain activities
The physical cues – books, magazines, sofas – seem to communicate that one can linger here. And this is indeed what happens at Wayne’s.

The available baby chairs convey that it’s ok to come here with your baby. Indeed, I’ve seen quite a few mothers with their babies here. Most of them tend to stay by the door not only because the baby chairs are piled there but also because there is more floor space than elsewhere, i.e. the space is convenient for prams.

On the other hand, although the space enables and even promotes the use of technology, it is not widely used (Insight 5). It thus seems as if social cues were also needed in addition to physical ones to convey that an activity is fully acceptable (see Insight 4).

Tables are bolted to the floor, which may render the space not entirely suitable for larger groups of people. The space can be modified only by moving chairs.

There are different types of spaces within Wayne’s. The corner beyond the PC is a hidden nest and therefore suitable for a longer stay. Also the sofas by the long wall are also suitable for this purpose although do not provide as much privacy. The table by the windows and in the central area are for a short stay like having a quick cup of coffee or using the place as a meeting point before going somewhere else.

Insight 10: A place can take on several roles
It’s the people who determine what those roles are but the place facilitates their formation. In addition to the available artefacts such as magazines and books, personal belongings help render the space a certain role.

Wayne’s seems to take on several roles judging from the activities that take place there:
· Meeting point – mostly arranged but also spontaneous (accidentally meeting
someone) meetings, mostly private but also business
· Library/home for learning or revising for exams (a girl with a text book)
· Office/place of work
- a youngish woman, most probably a teacher, was reviewing exam papers
- loners with printouts, photocopied articles, etc., highlighters, calendars…
- a couple of times I’ve seen a group of people working on something
together, checking and writing down notes on papers in front of them
- a middle-aged man (most likely out of town) taking care of business on his
mobile phone
- two men (not in suits) working on their laptops; the other one with luggage
· Extension of home
- a young woman organizing (non-digital) photographs in an album
- a young boy playing online games with parents present and having a
conversation with each other (not involved in playing)
- reading magazines and newspapers, books rather rarely
· Another third place/home
- using the Internet
- drinking, eating
- socializing with friends/acquaintances/family members/…

Introduction to observation location: WAYNE’S COFFEE (Kaisaniemi, Helsinki)

I’ve now been to Wayne’s nine times, mostly to observe but also to conduct an interview and have lunch.

Wayne’s Coffee is a originally Swedish franchise chain of coffee shops (alcohol is not served here, which rare for cafés in Helsinki). Wayne’s is currently located in six places in Finland, four of which are in the greater Helsinki area (Yrjönkatu and Kaisaniemi in the city centre, Itäkeskus shopping centre in easter Helsinki and Iso Omena shopping centre in Espoo). My observation spot is Wayne’s in Kaisaniemi.

“My” Wayne’s is located almost in the heart of Helsinki city centre and the surroundings are urban. The central railway station, the main business, shopping & bar/restaurant streets, the university and some hotels are in close proximity. There is a lot of outbound(one-way street) by-passing traffic (cars, trams, buses…) just outside of Wayne’s. Right beneath Wayne’s there is an underground station. Due to the central location there is a lot of also pedestrian traffic in the immediate surroundings.

The closest businesses on street level located around Wayne’s are
- Across the street: Kinopalatsi movie theatre, mobile operator’s (DNA) store, hairdresser’s, kiosk
- On the same side: bank, clothes shop, big Irish pub, model store, another hairdresser’s, home store (Kodin Ykkönen)

The place itself feels like a haven in the midst of the hectic surroundings. It invites to step in by having the big outer glass doors are wide open to the street and lets one observe the outside world through huge windows.

The interior is easy-going and livingroom-like. I’d say there’s nothing pretentious or bumptious about this place. There are lots of round and irregular shapes, and earthy yet youthful colours (terracotta, lime, grass, sand, brown) and materials (wood, leather). The walls are mainly white, orange in one corner, and blue behind the counter. There is an ad for the wireless iPAQ service in plastic frames and a sugar shaker on each table.

The ceiling is lowered and there are three different “platforms” where the tables are placed, which adds to coziness. This also creates different types of spaces within Wayne’s.

There’s a loungy feel to the furniture – there are soft chairs and couches. Lighting consists entirely of halogen spots, two above each table plus general ones in the bar area. There’s mellow music (soul, soft funk) playing on the background.

The place facilitates and promotes certain activities. There is a bookstand crammed with paperbacks, a rack with a wide variety of magazines, a PC with Internet access in one corner (there’s a big MSN logo above the space), and two WiFi iPAQs. There is also a Telia HomeRun hotspot available but there is not sign to this effect.

The iPAQ service is sponsored by HP, MSN and Coca-Cola. Customers can borrow the iPAQs from the counter in exchange for an ID which serves as a pledge. The ads on the tables promote especially Hotmail and an e-card service. E-cards can be sent from msn.fi and two people (sender & receiver) get two bagels and Coca-Cola Lights for the price of one with a printed e-card.

There are different types of artefacts available
· B-guided.net map & Wayne’s offer leaflet on a high central table
· flyers to clubs, festivals, yoga classes, free papers (Nöjesguiden, City) by the exit

The place is non-discriminating, which is reflected on the clientele. Overall, most customers are young or youthful adults but there are also teenagers and elderly people. There are students, mothers with their babies, business people, tourists… A common denominator seems to be casual wear – I’ve only a couple of suits here!

Silicon Valley Observation with a Retired Boating Enthusiast

Silicon Valley Interview, 6.12.03

Today I interviewed a retired software engineer who has "two lives," one in Silicon Valley, where he lives with his wife (also retired) and the other in British Columbia, where he has a boat docked in a beautiful harbor enabled with wi-fi. The interviewee took an early retirement like so many others in the Valley in the midst of the economic recession. The couple also has a daughter in the Valley who lives separately but whom they see frequently. The daughter seems to be the reason they still spend a lot of time here. In the future, the family intends to spend more time in the British Columbia area. They are looking into buying a home on the U.S. side of the Olympic Peninsula in a place called Sequim. I went to the site describing Sequim, and here's what it says:

"Sequim ("S'kwim") means quiet waters in the native language of the S'Klallam tribe, a perfect name for this valley community located in the sun between the deep waters of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the breathtaking Olympic Mountains of Washington state.

What makes Sequim unique and worth a visit? The weather is a major reason! The sun shines here more than anywhere else in western Washington. The "rain shadow", caused by the Olympic Mountains, protects the valley from the rain that falls east and west of Sequim."

Not surprisingly, because of the beauty and good weather (unusual for the Northwest), this place has become a sort of a retirement destination for Californians and other Americans. The interviewee lamented that on the one hand, this is causing the place to change its character, on the other it's a real draw for people like him.

The boat which he and his wife use as a home during their 2-3 week stays in Canada is docked in a harbor that has has wi-fi (recently installed by Broadband Express). The exciting thing is that wi-fi covers the large harbor area that stretches between Canada and the U.S. According to the interviewee “This is better than my cell phone. When I go from the U.S. to Canada, it has to switch to roaming but with wi-fi it makes no difference. Switch off is automatic.” Interestingly, after he moved the boat from the Bay Area, the harbor where his boat was docked there also installed wireless.

Things he does now while on the boat:

Looks up navigational directions (a lot, before going out)
Checks weather
Does e-mail
Manages finances (lots of that)
Spends about an hour a day online

The wife spends more time online, does more e-mail, pays bills (all the bills are online).

He was extremely happy to find out that there are repeaters in the harbor waters, so that he can be online not only in the marina but also when far away. However, there is a place called Desolation Island where they also installed repeaters and that has changed the nature of the place. “There are some places I go to where I just don’t want to be connected, these places are really different. When I go to Desolation Island, I want to be in a completely different world. Since they installed repeaters, people tend to stay in the place longer because they can do more things. Before, you couldn’t be connected, so people couldn’t stay for a long time. Now they come for longer periods and some anchor their boats there and fly back and forth to the mainland. The place is becoming more congested.” Of course, he doesn't have to use the technology while on the island but once technology is available, he is drawn to use it.

When asked how has life changed for him with access to wi-fi directly on the boat (compared to when the boat was docked in the Bay Area), he mentioned that he is very happy not to have to worry about running into Starbucks or some other place to find a connection. Now he can be connedted anywhere, anytime, even when he is far away from shore.

Insights: The biggest insight for me in this interview is how isolated places that are far aways from the hustle and bustle of the world are changing their character and the way people use and relate to such places. The Desolation Island is no longer a place of desolation. Not only it's changing character, becoming more congested, people also tend to use it differently--they stay longer, they mix commuting with nature with work and other "wordly" activities. I wonder what is happening in this respect in Finland, where most everyone has a second home by the lake. Most of such places purposefully don't have electricity and other amenities. In the summer, people really like to get away. Will such places stay unconnected?

The other interesting thing about the interview is the intersection of retirement and freedom that one gains in that life stage and the freedom of access to the larger world via wi-fi. The community where the boat is docked mostly consists of retirees (some older retirees and others who retired early or semi-retired). Obviously companies providing wi-fi to such "boat" communities (both in Canada, in the Bay Area, and apparently in many other places) are tapping into the need for connectivity among this group that is freer to roam than their younger counterparts.

Silicon Valley Observations

Oakland-San Francisco
April 15th -May 16th

Last Friday, I sat in The Jahva House to process some observation notes from April and May. I can’t remember how many times I’ve been to The Jahva house over the years. It’s a good spot for coffee, entertainment, and good conversation. The Jahva house has always been the alternative or the other coffee house on the street (i.e., alternative to Starbuck’s and Peet’s Coffee). I think I first walked over to The Jahva House a few years ago when the line at Peet’s was too long and out the door. I was running late to work so I walked over to get a Latte. When I walked in, it was a delight to the senses---think African and East Asian motifs, reggae music playing in the background, flyers and leaflets for this or that community event, music act or poetry reading everywhere, graffiti and art on each wall, conversations happening in different salon areas each with its own peculiar set of vintage chairs and sofas. I go there quite often now but for more than just coffee. Starbucks (the quintessential generic cafe) and Peet’s Coffee (hang out for the coffee snobs) are more places to consume coffee itself---a source for coffee beans and all the other things that could possibly be linked to the coffee experience (i.e., commuter mugs, coffee makers, filters, reserve coffee from the Blue Mountains of Jamaica or wherever, Italian espresso machines, Madeline’s, and of course chocolate!). I think The Jahva House is more than that. The place has character, an identity, content and social ties to different slices of local life and community. I think people are drawn to The Jahva house because they feel tied to it in some fundamental way---whether they are artists, musicians, or creatives. For me, the noise, the music, the conversations, the location, the couches all contribute to creating an “optimal” environment for work.

Insight 1: Workspace Selection: Different Spaces for Different Modes of Work

The Jahva House, Starbuck’s, and Peet’s are just potential places to do work. In fact, in trying to notice my own behavior, I found I tend to use all three in very different ways. I go to The Jahva House to actually do work. I can sit on a comfortable couch and just soak in the vibe and easily switch into work mode. (I wrote two TYF forecast articles, designed the interview process/guide for this project, have read interviews for other projects, joined in on conference calls there etc.) When I need to access the Internet and check email, I simply walk across the street to Starbuck’s (The Jahva House has metered and wired access only). I go inside and look for openings near an electric outlet and launch the t-mobile hotspot service. (I don’t order anything) When I am done, I usually walk back across the street to The Jahva House and continue working. When I need a break from work, I might walk over to Peet’s have a cup of coffee or tea and sit on their window bar and read whatever leftover newspaper might be there on the table or on the floor. Then I return to The Jahva House and complete my workday. Why do I do this? I think we all do this to some extent. Each space is playing a different role in my portfolio of workspaces in the East Bay. I have a different set of workspaces to choose from in Menlo Park. It’s simply a work practice I am carrying over to a different geographic context.

Insight 2: Claiming Spaces: Public Places as Network Resources

All I have to do now is simply spot a Starbuck’s and easy as 1-2-3 I am online checking email. Clearly, linking connectivity to brands like Starbuck’s or even McDonald’s is very valuable to the nomadic consumer who uses brand images to filter the physical environment and find a hotspot. But the relationship between the consumer and the place can be rather narrow. Starbuck’s does not necessarily need to be a place of community or appealing at some fundamental level to the consumer. It doesn’t have to be. It plays a very functional role. It’s just a place to get online (and maybe some coffee.) But for other people, their relationship with a place like Starbuck’s is multidimensional. For example, young, first-generation Ethiopians in the East Bay have essentially claimed the Starbuck’s on Lakeshore. By claiming it, it’s essentially become a resource in the community. Starbuck’s is important to them beyond its brand appeal. They don’t go there just for the coffee (not even just for Wi-Fi). For the young Ethiopian community, Starbuck’s is the location for a lot of opportunistic social interactions---and because it’s located just outside the boundaries and at the edge of the Ethiopian community itself---it’s an ideal place for identity experimentation/creation. By consuming Starbuck’s these young people get to experience and practice putting on their emerging American identities.

Silicon Valley Observations

Rod’s Observation Sites: Oakland-San Francisco

My observation work has been going on for several weeks now. In this report, I’d like to introduce you to my research sites. I am conducting observation research in several cafe locations: World Grounds Cafe in the Laurel District in Oakland with its Surf and Sip service; Starbucks with its t-mobile service; and at The Jahva House with wired access from two desktop workstations. Both Starbuck’s and The Jahva House are in the Lakeshore/Grand Lake area in Oakland. I am also conducting observation research across the bay in the Upper Haight (Ashbury) area in San Francisco at Cole Café with its zrnet service. Zrnetservice is the official hotspot provider but access is free from a nearby open and overlapping network in the neighborhood. I will post more and identify observation insights in a separate post.

Silicon Valley Observations

Observation Insights: Silicon Valley
Menlo Park, CA, May 1, 2003

Today is my observation day, so after I woke up, I immediately started to strategize on where to go throughout the day in order to accomplish the things I need to do and to find physical places that fit my needs. I clearly wanted to spend a significant chunk of time at Starbucks because it has a wi-fi connection and it’s a place where I can spend a lot of time without being conspicuous or worrying that I am taking up someone else’s place who wants to get drinks or food. It is one of those “generic” places that Mimi referred to in her observations of Japanese kids. However, my dilemma was that while I wanted to hang out at Starbucks, I don’t like their coffee or food, so I needed to be close to another place where I could get those things. My solution: start with Peet’s for coffee, then go to Starbucks to hang out, do observation and work, then move to JZ Cool for lunch (a few blocks away from Starbucks), then back to Starbucks for more hanging out. While at Starbucks, I did feel compelled to buy a cup of tea—a minimum I felt was required to have a legitimate right to use their space. I normally don’t drink tea during the day but have been doing so at Starbucks.

Insight 1: Creating Mental Maps
What I was doing was creating a mental map of the physical environment and choosing from a portfolio of physical spaces to create my personal ecology of spaces that fit my needs and activities that day. That map and the resulting ecology would probably be different if my activities and preferences at that time were different.

Insight 2: : Wi-Fi Will Be a Short Lived Differentiator of Place
At least in my case, it seems to be true that wi-fi by itself will drive traffic into a location. I ordinarily don’t go to Starbucks but have been doing this because of its wi-fi connection. I also did buy several cups of tea while there, giving them my money. This seems to support the notion in the recent New York Times article that it is profitable for establishments to supply wi-fi connectivity. However, what happens when wi-fi is ubiquitous and is not a distinguishing feature of a place?

The Starbucks on this morning was filled with the usual mixture of working nomads—students, professionals, and others equipped with laptops as well as moms with their kids hanging out, older people and other small social groupings. A woman with a baby sat next to me (she was obviously starting a round of things a stay-at-home mom does with her child). As the baby, who was very cute, started to smile and reach to play with the lap top and various other devices and things on my table, I felt the two worlds collide—my “work” world in which I was actively involved via e-mail at that particular moment, and my “mom” world, strongly identifying with the other mom and her child. I switched into the “mom” world and talked to the woman and played with the baby, something I felt obliged to do in order to be “sociable.”

Insight 3: Connectivity Enables People to Re-shape the Meaning of Physical

While we were occupying the same physical space, the meaning of that space was completely different for me and the woman with a baby. My connection to the workplace allowed me to convert the space into my “work space.” Moreover, the ability to switch attention or disconnect from the work connections by simply not looking at the screen or turning off the connection button allowed me to switch identities easily.

Insight 4. Need for Strategies to Communicate Presence
There is something here about communicating presence and availability for certain types of interactions. When the woman with a baby saw me with my laptop typing, she said to the baby “Don’t bother her, she is working.” What I was doing, the devices I had around me, and my whole being communicated to her that I was in the “work” mode, i.e. unavailable for other kinds of engagement. I had to turn away from the screen and engage in the conversation to communicate that it is o.k. to engage in social interactions. It seems that devices that give us ability to connect with far-flung people and places also call on us to develop strategies for communicating presence—what are we open to, what types of interactions, are we available for certain types of engagements.