What is it (Name)? The Postbox project.
What does it do (Function)? In the initial phase “The Postbox project” (Fixed Nodes) are place specific areas that separate the boundary between public space and private property.
The Postbox project targets selected schoolchildren at their homes, to form a joint partnership with Rlabs. In doing so Rlabs can use their physical address as a communication pipeline. Rlabs can drop off flyers that communicate any upcoming events or new information (via the SD card) in the postbox for the family to read and discuss. This will generate a dialogue to create the possibility for positive social change where the Messenger (the school kid) can begin to learn how to use the bluetooth box in conjunction with Rlabs. The school kid is given the responsibility of what to distribute through the box to the public space. In this case - the street.
In its scalability “The Postbox project” becomes a communication service/platform for leaving messages in a place where the technology is placed, for example:
The Fixed node (on the boundary of home and street) the school kid can leave a message for friends, “Don’t knock, as I am in deep trouble!”.
The Ambient node (Placed in the middle of a crescent/park) the message may be, “Soccer match moved to the other cresent, be there at 16:00”.
The Site Specific node (placed at the mall) may contain the following, “ Check out the sale at ‘Tekkie Town’ ”.
What is the value for the stakeholders?
For Rlabs, the paper drop off point or point and training establishes trust with the LH keeper, who then can pass awareness on to the community and this creates a social media network for Rlabs.
For the student (the messenger), they receive training, learn new responsibilities and having fun with the technology through interacting with the community. They become champions through responsibility (Rlabs training) as well being allowed to have fun with the technology through experimentation.
For the Community its awareness of what technology, students and Rlabs are capable of in terms of positive social change.
What is the reasoning behind your design/Design Rational?
Based on the Mobile Usage Report by Rlabs (February 2011), the following came to light:
The highest age group users of mobile phones are between 18-24 and the third highest user group is between 13-17 years of age. 44% of all the mobile users are in school and 23% are in college. 45%’s daily activity are studying and 33% unemployed (Make use of Rlabs Legacy?). Based on these figures, we decided to target - school kids as a market.
The reason for using Bluetooth (or other “free” distributing technologies) in our concept, is because most users have a monthly air time usage between R0-00 - R49-00. The most used function is “chat” to family and friends. The lowest used function is Bluetooth and we want to raise awareness around new possibilities and uses of Bluetooth as a free technology in the mobile community.
This may be achieved by expanding free communication capabilities to family and friends through the Postbox project.
Through our on the spot experiment/probe we found that the school children all knew and used Bluetooth. They also prefer MXit as a platform for communication because low airtime rates apply. Therefore if one could communicate via Bluetooth, it would be completely free and also popular among the target market.
Substantiate your value and experience claims: Process, method, rational.
This project undertook to investigate two major components.
A). Rlabs wanted to explore the possibilities of what Bluetooth as a technology for social change had to offer.
B). A Place centric probe was to be used for the first point of enquiry.
Although the probe was run as a competition, the entry form was designed to retrieve information. The knowledge and understanding of Bluetooth as a method of communication on their mobile phones was of significant importance. Based on the feedback the results were overwhelmingly positive. This demonstrates that the respondents are familiar with the technology.
Process critique:
The probe results show sound evidence that the respondents know how to use Bluetooth (as it is free) and that they prefer to use Mxit as a inexpensive tool for communication. The Postbox project would offer an alternative “place centric” tool of communication between users and/or community in conjunction with Rlabs.
