ASIS&T IA Summit, Las Vegas, March, Jan 1, 2007
This paper shares the findings of a contextual enquiry into Internet cafés and their users in Joh... more This paper shares the findings of a contextual enquiry into Internet cafés and their users in Johannesburg, South Africa. High densities of Internet cafés in less affluent areas of Johannesburg have been identified, which speaks to a need for computer and Internet access which is otherwise inaccessible or insufficient at places of home, work or study. Internet café users were found to have distinct patterns of use which are different to current mainstream and previously explored home or work users that feature in more affluent areas. The 'mainstream' functions in what we have begun calling a 'developed world paradigm of use and aspiration', in stark contrast to Internet café users who function in what we are calling a 'developing world paradigm of survivalism'. The findings and insights of this paper have implications for how we may understand the usage and value of the Internet and World Wide Web (the Web) in South Africa. Visitation to Internet cafés occurs with high frequency across a broad geographic space that follows areas of residence, places of work and transport routes between the two. The lack of a personal, private and persistent desktop, along with data storage, sharing of computers and the use of portable data storage devices, all have implications for how we should design and conceptualise experiences of web sites and Internet based services for the growing number of Internet café and shared computer users.
Uploads
Papers by Jason Hobbs
A brief theoretical account of complexity in design forms the basis of our argument that a meta-framework for design research, strategy and critique is required in HCD. A set of generic areas of concern will be covered that attempt to span the breadth of factors that can be found at play in social reality as it relates to design. These areas of concern form the content of the Firma Model (the Model), the structural logic of which is then explained.
Lastly, a description of the application of the Model in design research, strategy and critique is provided.
A humanistic approach to design should place improving people’s lives, individually and collectively, at the heart of its ambition. Design also requires that these solutions are accountable and sustainable. It is the hope of the authors that the Firma Model goes some way to contributing to this effort.
A brief theoretical account of complexity in design forms the basis of our argument that a meta-framework for design research, strategy and critique is required in HCD. A set of generic areas of concern will be covered that attempt to span the breadth of factors that can be found at play in social reality as it relates to design. These areas of concern form the content of the Firma Model (the Model), the structural logic of which is then explained.
Lastly, a description of the application of the Model in design research, strategy and critique is provided.
A humanistic approach to design should place improving people’s lives, individually and collectively, at the heart of its ambition. Design also requires that these solutions are accountable and sustainable. It is the hope of the authors that the Firma Model goes some way to contributing to this effort.