Polite, Pertinent, and... Pretty: Designing for the New-wave of Personal Informatics

Slide 1: Polite, pertinent ...and pretty DOPPLR Web2.0Expo San Francisco April 2008 Matt Jones & Tom Coates DOPPLR DOPPLR [MATT] Hi - my name is Matt Jones and I’m one of the co- Where next? founders and lead designer of a social tool for intelligent travel called Dopplr. Where next? [TOM] and I’m Tom Coates, and I work for Yahoo! Brickhouse Where next? where I develop new concepts in social software, future media and the web of data. My most recent project is Fire Eagle – a new location-brokerage system designed to make it possible for everything on the network to become location-aware. [MATT] Today we’re going to use some examples from developing these services and more to examine what we find a pretty fascinating emerging area - where ubiquitous technology is increasingly impacting our lives, which we call ‘personal informatics’

Slide 2: HUH?! DOPPLR DOPPLR DOPPLR [MATT] So - what do we mean by this slightly high-fallutinʼ Where next? phrase “Personal Informatics”, and why is it relevant to where the web is going? Where next? Where next?

Slide 3: Informatik: Automatische Informationsverarbeitung Informatics: Automatic Information Processing DOPPLR Karl Steinbuch, 1957 DOPPLR DOPPLR [MATT] Informatics was coined by Karl Steinbuch as a term of Where next? art for the field of understanding what happens to information when it can be processed automatically and used in Where next? combination with many other sources of information. Where next? Itʼs always a little lame to start off a presentation with a definition from wikipedia, but if itʼs in German then at least it sounds cool! “Automatische Informationsverarbeitung!!”

Slide 4: “The discipline of informatics is based on the recognition that the design of this technology is not solely a technical matter, but must focus on the relationship between the technology and its use in real-world settings. That is, informatics designs solutions in context, and takes into account the social, cultural and organizational settings in which computing and DOPPLR information technology will be used.” DOPPLR DOPPLR [MATT] The framing of it I personally find the most useful is this Where next? one from UC Irvineʼs School of Informatics: “informatics designs solutions in context, and takes into account the social, Where next? cultural and organizational settings in which computing and information technology will be used” - the emphasis here is Where next? mine, but we often donʼt take these settings into account when considering the implications of our designs, and they are only going to have increasing influence on the near future success of our work as it leaves the desktop or laptop and pervades the world.

Slide 5: DOPPLR A web of pages to... DOPPLR DOPPLR [TOM] Pretty much everything I do is founded on this principle. Where next? A shift from a web of pages, with data silos behind the scenes, unconnected to each other to... Where next? Where next?

Slide 6: DOPPLR ...a web of data DOPPLR DOPPLR [TOM] a web of data connected by services and APIs, where Where next? the data sources themselves are connected and the human- facing web is simply one of the ways in which you might explore, next? and manipulate that data. Where access Where next? The web page remains a core site for human interaction, but is also increasingly an advert and hook for the data behind the scenes. And that data - and services that allow you to manifest that data is being freed to manifest everywhere the network touches. If youʼre lost or you hate me or something at this stage, donʼt panic, hopefully some of this will become clearer through the rest of this talk.

Slide 7: Users Fire Eagle Last.fm DOPPLR ? Geo Music DOPPLR DOPPLR [TOM] In this connected space, every piece of data that you Where next? can open up can be combined with everything that already exists. Each time you add a new form of data to the system the potentialnext? you can do grows dramatically. You had user Where stuff information + track names of the music theyʼre listening to + Where next? information about that music + a time-stamp, you get Last.fm. Add the userʼs location to that and you get another new service. To some extent then, finding new sources of data and finding good ways to expose them is the quest of a product maker. One way you can view the job is to help people create data, or expose it and then give them handles upon it and ways to use it.

Slide 8: Personal Data DOPPLR DOPPLR Antony Gormley DOPPLR [TOM] One incredibly rich source of data is the individual Where next? themselves. Personal infomatics. can you help someone open up an aspect of the larger data environment that specifically pertains next? Where to them, is often (and when it isnʼt, probably should be) controlled or created by them. The sheer amount of data Where next? around that is enormous.

Slide 9: Personal Sensors Direct reporting Bureaucratic sources Attention Data Sensors in your environment DOPPLRObjects that report to the network DOPPLR DOPPLR [TOM] Some quick examples of some of the potential sources Where next? for information Where next? Where next?

Slide 10: Physical generationDOPPLR of Digital assets DOPPLR DOPPLR [MATT] increasingly weʼre seeing the future that has been Where next? painted by ubiquitous computing (or UBICOMP) academics and science-fiction movies becoming something we can buy Where next? for <$100 in camping and sports stores. Physical objects are recording, sampling and sharing data with other devices and Where next? via the network with other people.

Slide 11: DOPPLR DOPPLR DOPPLR [MATT] These are wearable sensors by BodyMedia Inc., that Where next? record data about your health and reflect that back to you, and increasingly your doctor or other health professional. Where next? Where next?

Slide 12: DOPPLR DOPPLR DOPPLR [MATT] Kevin Kelly has started tracking the trend toward Where next? ʻpersonal informaticsʼ on his blog “The Quantified Self”, and if thereʼs anyone who can spot a trend... Where next? Where next?

Slide 13: DOPPLR DOPPLR DOPPLR [TOM] Hereʼs some more examples. Nike Plus is a sensor that Where next? tracks your steps and runs and gives you a sense of how youʼre doing and opens that up to people via the network. Where next? [MATT] So practical ubicomp and personal informatics are here, they cost about $30, and big businesses and brand Where next? names are involved.

Slide 14: Find me spot [TOM] The spot is a GPS system that also broadcasts your location to the internet.

Slide 15: ID Conex DOPPLRshoes Isaac Daniel GPS & Satellite phone DOPPLR DOPPLR [TOM] These Isaac Daniel Compass Trainers broadcast your Where next? location online and give you a panic button. [A lot of] Sensor informatics right now seems fundamentally to be oriented to Where next? some extent around avoiding kidnapping. Where next?

Slide 16: DOPPLR DOPPLR Photo by edans, Flickr Creative Commons DOPPLR [TOM] But of course, the most ubiquitous sensor that you carry Where next? with you all the time is your phone. Theyʼre increasing sites for carrying sensors, GPS units and the like - but also for getting it onto thenext? Where network. Where next?

Slide 17: [TOM] And weʼre documenting our lives with these devices and sharing them in the web of data. Hereʼs Flickr, one of the most popular ʻlifestreamingʼ services, and active participant in the web of data...

Slide 18: DOPPLR DOPPLR DOPPLR [TOM] Alongside the sensor-based information that surrounds Where next? any individual, thereʼs a whole wave of attention data. Where next? Last.fm is the canonical example here - a service that in the background absorbs information about what youʼre listening to Where next? and turns that into an explorable and navigable data source. Alongside this you have ambient information streams that can come online in terms of the games youʼre playing, the TV and films youʼre watching, the places you go to, the events youʼve attended - obviously all depending on which services youʼre particularly interested in signing up for. A couple of other examples AMAZONʼs what youʼve been looking at, Googleʼs opening up of your search query history. Or even the iTunes interface, recording how often you play specific songs.

Slide 19: last.fm visualisation [TOM] And hereʼs mine, expressed as a visualisation. You can see my behaviour exposed here over time. Itʼs fascinating to compare this stuff with a similar visualisation from a friend of mine. He listens to things in full albums, played in order, and listens intently to one band for a few weeks at a time.

Slide 20: [TOM] Thereʼs also an ambient sense of information that operates in the records around an individual - their financial transactions for example. Sites like Mint and...

Slide 21: [TOM] Skydeck are trying to open up some of these sources of data if only to provide different angles upon how to visualise them and different sources to provide people with.

Slide 22: DOPPLR DOPPLR DOPPLR [TOM] And then there are the pieces of information that can be Where next? captured from our environment or the objects we possess. The Wattson is one of the first sensors that you can place in your Where next? environment that reports information to the network. Where next? Note - itʼs really important that we recognise that this is focused on capturing data for your own personal use rather than an overtly social use. This isnʼt about broadcasting information as much as itʼs about providing you personal feedback loops. The Wattson plugs into your electricity supply in your home and gives you information about how much power youʼre using, as well as sending it online where it can be graphed and tracked.

Slide 23: Instrumenting your life [TOM] All of this is about, fundamentally, the possibilities that emerge from *instrumenting your life* - which is to say, giving you some simple ways to capture information about your environment and giving you some hooks around which to better understand it and then, potentially, use that information.

Slide 24: “...whether we're ready for it or not, everyware is coming. It is coming because there are too many too powerful institutions vested in its coming, knowing what enormous market possibilities are implied by the conquest of the everyday. It is coming because it is an irresistable, "technically sweet" challenge, for designers no less than engineers. It is coming because something like it effectively became inevitable, the moment each of the DOPPLR tools, products and services we're interested started communicating in ones and zeroes.” DOPPLR DOPPLR [MATT] And as we keep trying to emphasise - this stuff is here, Where next? and more is on its way. Where next? As Adam Greenfield points out in his excellent book ʻEverywareʼ: “It is coming because something like it effectively Where next? became inevitable, the moment each of the tools, products and services we're interested started communicating in ones and zeroes.”

Slide 25: Personal Sensors ING HAR S Direct reporting Bureaucratic sources Attention Data Sensors in your environment Objects that report to the network [TOM] and not only are they everywhere but increasingly they are all sharing information with each other, via the web of data.

Slide 26: DOPPLR DOPPLR DOPPLR Image by http://www.flickr.com/people/forklift/ CC: Attribution-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic [MATT] When we expose these previously invisible patterns in Where next? social software - what new behaviours and feedback loops appear? Where next? Where next?

Slide 27: Polite Pertinent Pretty DOPPLR DOPPLR DOPPLR [MATT] So in this context of what weʼre designing and building, Where next? what do we know about how we should design it? Weʼre proposing three pegs to hang some thoughts off. Where next? There are many more to be sure, but we have 45 minutes, and Where next? these are perhaps the most pressing. And they all begin with P...

Slide 28: DOPPLR DOPPLR DOPPLR Where next? Where next? Where next? DOPPLR DOPPLR DOPPLR [MATT] Weʼre going to look at some of the product, service Where next? and interface design decisions we made in our respective projects to help us explore these concepts. Where next? [TOM] Those products being FireEagle - a location brokerage Where next? service from Yahoo Brickhouse [MATT] ...And Dopplr - which as I said is the service I co- founded and lead the design of.

Slide 29: Polite Pertinent Pretty DOPPLR DOPPLR DOPPLR [MATT] The first ʻPʼ weʼd like to examine (!) is “Polite”. Which Where next? in many ways I think of as the softer ying to the hard yang of ʻprivacyʼ... Where next? Where next?

Slide 30: Thesis 73 Everyware must default to harmlessness Thesis 74 Everyware must be self-disclosing Thesis 75 Everyware must be conservative of face Thesis 76 Everyware must be conservative of time Thesis 77 Everyware must be deniable DOPPLR DOPPLR DOPPLR [MATT] Back to Everyware. Adam proposes a number of Where next? working theses to bring to bear on the design and development of personal and pervasive informatics... Where next? Where next?

Slide 31: Thesis 73 Everyware must default to harmlessness Thesis 74 Everyware must be self-disclosing Thesis 75 Everyware must be conservative of face Thesis 76 Everyware must be conservative of time Thesis 77 Everyware must be deniable DOPPLR DOPPLR DOPPLR [MATT] ...and when I think of “politeness” in relation to this field Where next? I think of these three in particular. Where next? Where next?

Slide 32: Thesis 74 Everyware must be self-disclosing “Ubiquitous systems must contain provisions for immediate and transparent querying of their ownership, use, and capabilities. Everyware must, in other words, be self- disclosing. Whether such disclosures are made verbally, graphically, or otherwise, they ensure that you are empowered to make informed DOPPLR decisions as to the level of exposure you wish to entertain.” DOPPLR DOPPLR Where next? Where next? Where next?

Slide 33: Thesis 74 Everyware must be conservative of face “Of course, no system in the world can keep people from making fools of themselves if they are bound and determined to do so. About all that we can properly ask for is that our technology be designed in such a way that it is conservative of face: that ubiquitous systems must not act in such a manner as would unduly embarrass or humiliate users, or expose them to ridicule or social DOPPLR opprobrium, in the course of normal operations.” DOPPLR DOPPLR Where next? Where next? Where next?

Slide 34: Thesis 74 Everyware must be deniable “Our last principle is perhaps the hardest to observe: ubiquitous systems must offer users the ability to opt out, always and at any point. You should have the ability to simply say "no," in other words. You should be able to shut down the ubiquitous systems you own and face no penalty other than being unable to take advantage of whatever benefits they offered in DOPPLR the first place. This means, of course, that realistic alternatives must exist.” DOPPLR DOPPLR Where next? Where next? Where next?

Slide 35: Plausible deniability DOPPLR DOPPLR DOPPLR [MATT] Sometimes the social tools and networks we are Where next? sharing our personal data with donʼt respect these principals of polite everyware, and even some times eradicate spaces or Where next? opportunities for very human tactics of manners and ettiquette e.g. plausible deniability Where next?

Slide 36: Full-Time Intimate Community / Ambient Intimacy Mimi Ito Leisa Reichelt DOPPLR DOPPLR Photo credit: Joi Ito Photo credit: Stephanie Booth DOPPLR [MATT] A few pointers to people thinking about issues of Where next? politeness, etiquette and new social norms that new technology creates. Where next? Mimi Ito has been researching and writing about “Full Time Where next? Intimate Community” for a few years now, examining the social norms of identity and community created around, amongst other things, mobile phones and texting in youth. Leisa Reichelt, a user-experience consultant from the UK has been discussing the related ideas of “Ambient Intimacy” and “Ambient Exposure” - looking at the contexts we share through the increasing streaming of our lives.

Slide 37: Beautiful Seams / The Forgetting Machine Anne Galloway Matthew Chalmers DOPPLR DOPPLR Photo credit: Virtueel_Platform DOPPLR [MATT] A couple more ideas to throw in the pot of designing for Where next? ʻpolitenessʼ. Where next? Matthew Chalmers is a researcher in Glasgow who criticises the oft-heard call from technologists to create ʻseamless Where next? systemsʼ and instead maintains that to support legibility and user-control into our pervasive, personal technologies we should instead strive to design “Beautiful Seams” Anne Galloway is a Candian Academic who proposed on her blog “The Forgetting Machine” which, contrary to the current norm of everything that is published on the net staying there forever, includes entropy and ʻconstructive forgettingʼ as a feature of this future system, emulating what cognitive psychologists believe is an important process in the building of our individual knowledge - and again allowing for plausible deniability...

Slide 38: [TOM] Here are some more of the tools that we provide to give users control over their data and privacy. They can share as much or as little as they want. Keep taking updates but stop sharing, or delete all their information.

Slide 39: [TOM] This tool lets you set how often youʼd like us to remind you that youʼre sharing your location. Just so you donʼt forget.

Slide 40: DOPPLR DOPPLR DOPPLR [TOM] politeness and privacy are incredibly important Where next? informing concepts to the design of FireEagle. As you can see here, you can ʻhideʼ at any time, and you can make FireEagle Where next? ʻforgetʼ everything it knows about you with the ʻpurgeʼ button Where next?

Slide 41: DOPPLR DOPPLR DOPPLR [TOM] Where next? Where next? Where next?

Slide 42: DOPPLR DOPPLR DOPPLR [MATT] If you decide to close your Dopplr account (but Where next? why you’d want to do that, I don’t know!) then we wrap up all the data you’ve entered into a .zip file that we mail Where next? you before deleting it all from our service. Where next?

Slide 43: Polite Pertinent Pretty DOPPLR DOPPLR DOPPLR [Matt] The second P that we think underpins the design of Where next? these services is ʻPertinentʼ - that is disclosing information that is timely and as ʻin contextʼ as possible. Where next? Where next?

Slide 44: Matt Webb / Movement / Snap http://schulzeandwebb.com/2008/movement/ DOPPLR DOPPLR DOPPLR [Matt] Matt Webb of Schulze&Webb recently gave a fantastic Where next? talk about “movement” as a new metaphor of the web going forward. Where next? Where next?

Slide 45: DOPPLR http://schulzeandwebb.com/2008/movement/ DOPPLR DOPPLR [Matt] He posits we are moving from a web of ʻplacesʼ - pages Where next? and sites through a phase of the web as a kit of tools - to something more like a web of organisms or engines connected Where next? and fuelling each other. I think (and hope) heʼs right! Weʼre backnext? the Interwoven web of data that Tom described. Where to

Slide 46: DOPPLR DOPPLR DOPPLR [Matt] In the last year thereʼs been talk of the web as a ʻcoral Where next? reefʼ that is both architecture and organism. I like that metaphor, and we often think of Dopplr as a very tiny part of the reef next? Where that tries to adapt to an ecological niche there... Where next?

Slide 47: DOPPLR DOPPLR DOPPLR [Matt] Dopplr is designed for a web of data and movement Where next? a bunch of small pieces that we show in the right context at the right time, add some value to, and pipe to wherever you find it Where next? the most valuable next. Thatʼs our role as an organism on the reef.next? Where As more and more services move to this metaphor, we going to see more and more powerful recombinations of the web of data, delivered in increasingly pertinent ways depending on our habits and contexts.

Slide 48: Polite Pertinent Pretty DOPPLR DOPPLR DOPPLR [Matt] The final ʻPʼ is perhaps the one that gets overlooked Where next? sometimes, but itʼs ʻPrettinessʼ. The vast quantities of information that personal informatics generate need not only to be clear next? Where and understandable to create legibility and literacy in this new world, but Iʼd argue in this first wave also seductive, in Where next? order to encourage play, trial and adoption.

Slide 49: DOPPLR “EVOLUTION” DOPPLR DOPPLR [Matt] This is Fernanda Viégas and Martin Wattenbergʼs Where next? “History Flow” - visualisations of the changes in a wikipedia entry. Where next? This next?the visualisation of the Evolution entry. Where is

Slide 50: DOPPLR “IRAQ” DOPPLR DOPPLR [Matt] This is Iraq Where next? Where next? Where next?

Slide 51: DOPPLR “LOVE” DOPPLR DOPPLR [Matt] This is Love Where next? quickly - at a glance almost, tell a They are beautiful, and very complexnext? in a simple and powerful way. Where story Where next?

Slide 52: DOPPLR Martin Hilpoltsteiner | http://www.recreating-movement.com DOPPLR via http://www.kottke.org/08/02/time-merge-media DOPPLR [Matt] Our growing skill at both generating and understanding Where next? complex information visualisations is giving us new perspectives Where next? Where next?

Slide 53: Making the invisible,visible DOPPLR DOPPLR DOPPLR [matt] This is Nuage Vert by HeHe (http://www.nuagevert.org) Where next? which is a large scale visualisation of the energy used in Helsinki, Finland, by projecting a laserbeam on the exhaust of a power next? Where station. Where next?

Slide 54: DOPPLR DOPPLR DOPPLR [matt] Somewhat related to this: weʼre really happy weʼve been Where next? able introduce this new feature for Earth Day this week (serendipitously!) Where next? Where next?

Slide 55: DOPPLR DOPPLR DOPPLR [matt] Lots of sites allow you to calculate your carbon footprint, Where next? but not a lot show the trend aggregated over time - we can do that. Hereʼs my year so far. Must try harder... Though it seems Where next? to be trending down... Where next?

Slide 56: Scales, not diet... DOPPLR DOPPLR DOPPLR [matt] Weʼre not currently linking through to things like carbon Where next? offsets. We prefer to leave actions like that up to individuals. Weʼre the weighing scale not the diet... Where next? Where next?

Slide 57: FTW! DOPPLR DOPPLR DOPPLR [matt] Weʼd really like to design a ʻwin stateʼ that encouraged Where next? thoughtfulness about travel and resources. For instance the default setting of the Toyota Prius dashboard showing MPG, Where next? not MPH encouraging the ʻgameʼs win stateʼ to be lowering the MPG... Where next?

Slide 58: Playfulness! “Game mechanics are rule based systems / simulations that facilitate and encourage a user to explore and learn the properties of their possibility space through the use of feedback DOPPLR mechanisms.” Raph Koster DOPPLR DOPPLR [matt] Raph Koster was the creative director of Sony Online Where next? Entertainment (Everquest/Star Wars Galaxies) who speaks and writes about games and play as core to the human Where next? experience. Where next? Playfulness would probably be the fourth P if we could go longer - this is probably an entirely other talk!

Slide 59: !"#$%&$%'$$%(%)(**$+",%&$%-$./01*%/"% *+(#/"0%/*,%("-%/"% '$$/"0%/*%+$2##3+ DOPPLRFun” Raph Koster: “A Theory Of DOPPLR DOPPLR [matt] In Kosterʼs book “A theory of fun” he outlines why Where next? playfulness in games is so compelling to us. Where next? Iʼd extend this to products, services and systems we design also.next? Where

Slide 60: Alexander Manu’s ToolToys: “The… urge to handle goods is an important learning experience. As in play, tactile feedback increases the impact of the learning experience, by rewarding an action with a pleasurable response.” [matt] Here is a quote from Industrial Design professor Alexander Manu, in his paper ʼToolToysʼ I think this picture from Flickr illustrates Alexanderʼs point beautifully – the moment on Christmas day were the adults start stealing the toys from the kids to explore…

Slide 61: Designing a distributed, interwoven identity DOPPLR DOPPLR DOPPLR [matt] We donʼt want to be a beautiful website, we want to be a Where next? beautiful part of the web of data. Where next? While the utopian side of us wants to make a web service you never have to visit (because itʼs delivering all of itʼs value in a Where next? distributed interwoven and contextual way - being a good citizen of the web of data) weʼre still trying to build a business and a brand - which means being recognised and enjoyed...

Slide 62: DOPPLR DOPPLR DOPPLR [matt] how do you inject playfulness, delight and - whisper it - Where next? ʻbuild a brandʼ in this new fragmented environment? Where next? Where next?

Slide 63: DOPPLR DOPPLR DOPPLR © 200 [matt] Dopplrʼs identity is in tiny things like our logo, that Where next? changes colour as your trips change. © 2007 Dop Where next? Itʼs an informatic atom in itself that can be recognised anywhere we us it, and to a limited extent also distribute Where next? information. We call it the “SparkLogo” after Edward Tufteʼs conception of ʻsparklinesʼ

Slide 64: Delight! DOPPLR DOPPLR DOPPLR [matt] We often use a term we learnt from someone in the Where next? Hotel industry - “Delighters” e.g. the next? ducky that he might put in a guestʼs room on Where rubber the 3rd day of their stay or the Beach Ball he might put on their Where next? bed if it was forecast to sunny. Weʼre always trying to create “Delighters” that can punctuate the experience of using Dopplr with joy. The behaviour of the sparklogo is often something our users donʼt spot until the 3rd of 4th time they use the service - giving that delight...

Slide 65: The future(s) DOPPLR DOPPLR DOPPLR [matt] But - to move to something perhaps uncertain to delight Where next? - The Future of Personal Informatics Where next? Where next?

Slide 66: DOPPLR DOPPLR DOPPLR [Matt] Probably the first thing that springs to mind is the Where next? common fear that we are building our own “participatory panopticon” as futurist Jamais Cascio* cal