Sustainable Interaction Design - Rethink, Phonebloks, Ara and Beyond

Rethink was an example scenario of sustainable phone presented by Jain & Wullert in 2002. It was a phone built with recycled and recyclable materials, using modular components to promote reuse and longevity of use and it used modular software to achieve the same goals. Limited by the physical longevity of  the components, it would hardly be able to achieve heirloom status, but not impossibly so. It also aimed to replace many different devices, which in a sense was looking for wholesome use and made the user a source of energy, replacing unsustainable use (burning of fossil fuel as an energy source) for sustainable use. It's interesting to note that many of the software (and some of the hardware) characteristics described by Jain & Wullert are present in Android smartphones, such as being sufficiently integrated, programmable and convenient that they eliminate several other devices, possessing software radios for adaptability to new environments and technology advancement and an open, standard API so that new applications can be downloaded on demand, extending its function as well as life. The availability of these characteristics vary from one phone to the other, but are all present in the platform as a whole.

Phonebloks was a concept conceived by Dutch designer Dave Hakkens as his graduation thesis for the Design Academy Eindhoven. It extends on the idea of modular components presented in the Rethink scenario by describing how to achieve modularity: a base provides mechanical and communication infrastructure for modules responsible for processing, data and energy storage, sensor arrays and user interface hardware. It addresses most of the same questions of SID Rethink does and extends on some of them. Motorola based its Project Ara on Phonebloks and, through acquisition, Ara ended up under Google. Ironically enough, a major stumbling block for Project Ara is Android itself. Although Android covers many aspects of reusable software, Google says adapting Android to a modular hardware platform is one of the main challenges of building Ara right now (probably because most members of the Open Handset Alliance are manufacturers and providers who rely on planned obsolescence for sales).

Sustainability and HCI - Concept Map

Game Design - Mission IV - Idea - Grease Joint

Remember Pressure Cooker?

Of course you don't. It was a game for the Atari 2600 released in 1983 where you, the 'chef' on a burger place, had to juggle the take-away orders of three demanding clients. A screen showed you combinations of cheese, onion, lettuce and tomato that each customer wanted while a conveyor belt dropped patties on top of buns. Ingredients were literally hurtled at you and you had to either bounce them back or take them to a patty. If you matched a desired combination, the top half of the bun would be thrown at you so you could close a burger and take it to one of the three bags. If you filled either of the bags, you'd have points counted: 

Even though it was a fine concept (at least I loved it dearly) it saw very few remakes in the last 31 years. So I suggest a reboot on the concept: you're a burger-flipper on a grease joint and a waitress yells orders at you non-stop. You must assemble burgers at the fastest rate possible with making as few mistakes as you can - maybe throw in an extra ingredient and get creativity bonuses, but if you get an ingredient that doesn't "match" the combination, you lose points instead for poor taste. In the beginning you don't know what matches, so you will probably lose many creativity points, but trial and error will get you places (after all, practice makes perfect). We can throw in a few extra concepts like cooking levels (rare, medium or well done) to make combinations harder to master and maybe the waitress speaks in code like in old American diners. It's simple mechanics with lots of potential for fun (and frustration and trial and error, which are all part of engaging gameplay).

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Game Design - Mission II - Game Analysis

My favorite computer game is turning 20 years old this November. I know, that makes me a very old man. But it also means I'm a man of refined tastes, so bugger off.

The game I'm talking about was published by Maxis as SimTower but started it's life as ザ・タワー (Za Tawā or The Tower) in 1994. As is normal with Maxis games, it is a part Construction and Management, part Simulation, part Artificial Life and part Strategy.

It's a single player 2D game in a God model of sorts - instead of a birds-eye view, you see through walls into the houses, offices and other structures.

In SimTower, you build and run a mixed-use tower filled with offices, condos, restaurants, hotel rooms, cinemas, temples and even subway stations. Each level unlocks new structure types and reaching the following level requires using these structures while growing your tower's population. You must also balance your budget by picking rent prices and choosing when to build what.

It evolves from the original SimCity model in several ways, the first of which being that each inhabitant is an individual - you can name them and follow them around the tower throughout the day. This is not just a gimmick: knowing your tenants allows you to know how changes to the tower affect its inhabitants. Many of the features introduced in SimTower moved on to be staples of the Sim series.

The proximity of different types of structure affects the satisfaction their occupants feel: condos placed too close to offices lead to tenants complaining about noise, restaurants too far away from the lobby lead to poor business during weekends, elevators get busy during rush hour, which leads to busy corridors, which lead to lower real estate values, etc.

Some structures are only used sporadically: security lays dormant most of the time, but you'll regret not having a good security center placed near a staircase next time there's a fire or a bomb threat. Housekeeping doesn't share elevators with tenants, so they need their own service elevators with different rush hours and usage dynamics.

Speaking of which, I probably learned more about programming logic and about logistics tweaking the various elevator settings in SimTower than during mechatronics engineering school which, believe me, means a lot.

Experimenting with the new structure types unlocked at each level is a reward in itself: earning enough money and finding the right place to build a subway station or even a cathedral inside your tower is quite a personal achievement, believe me. It also allows for a very varied and game where you can express yourself creatively - there are strict rules, but finding your way around these to create real masterpieces is a true joy.

Since the game is extremely old and feels uncomfortable in newer processors and operating systems, it's a great excuse to dust off a very old computer or to install DOSBox.

I truly recommend this amazing time-waster that, although old, has yet to be surpassed at its own genre.