CDI1: Assignment 1

How would you do it differently?

SpaceBook was designed to be a friendly and helpful system. However, "smart" systems cannot take all aspects of the rich environment and context of the real world into consideration.  This can inadvertently lead to trouble. Some users, for example, walked into other pedestrians because they weren’t looking directly ahead, tripped over obstacles and broken pavements, or even started to cross the road without checking the traffic first when a bus was coming.  Similarly, the shortest or most interesting route may involve travelling down narrow, dark alleys; maybe not the best idea if you are obviously a tourist trying to find their way back to your hotel late at night.


There are many dangers associated with using technology under real conditions, particularly with the prevalence of mobile devices and growth in wearables (this includes being easily stolen).

Other general examples and areas to consider include:

Assignment 1 tasks:

  1. Describe the problem, discussing the level of risk associated with it. This can include aspects of “Health and safety”, ergonomics, deliberate or unintentional misuse, etc.
  2. What can be done to resolve or improve the situation? Suggest any possible improvements for the technology (software, hardware or a combination).
  3. Suggest any improvements for human behaviour (warnings, etc.).
  4. (2) and (3) can be combined/interact.
  5. You can use text, images, diagrams, scribbles, whatever; but a digital file is required in the end (even if scanned or photographed notes).
  6. Include any references to relevant literature or news articles.

An old-fashioned example is the “chip pan” (deep fat fryer).  These resulted in many houses being burnt down when left on in the kitchen.  Modern versions are much safer and an educational campaign increased awareness of the problem.

Real news story:
A German tourist fell to his death after posing for a jumping photo at a restricted area of Machu Picchu ruins in Peru. Just a day prior, another tourist also died from attempting a self-portrait atop the Gocta waterfall in same country. Selfies may not be an official cause of death in a formal sense, but these new incidents add to a growing number of fatalities attributed to risky selfies. [Source: http://thenextweb.com/insider/2016/07/05/death-dumb-selfies-new-epidemic/]

http://www.selfietodiefor.org/images/selfietodiefor_banner1.jpg

Solution:

An example of an intervention might be the website http://www.selfietodiefor.org/ which highlights the dangers of “extreme selfies” and encourages people to “take a pledge to selfie responsibly”.  This is an attempt to influence human behaviour, but another more direct technology-based intervention might be to prevent the camera from being used if you are too close to something dangerous (either by GPS position or perhaps object recognition via the camera).


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