Deliverables, Feasibility.

Technical implementation

Bluetooth is an established technology that is not fully exploited. It is however pertinent to place centric computing that is cost effective. The application “Postbox” would be a small size to allow the first time user to download/receive it through one of the Bluetooth boxes/Postboxes.

Rational and alternatives

Given the size of Athlone or Bridgetown the ability to roll out bluetooth technology (the postbox) is not feasible due to the limited range of connectivity. Zigbee as an alternative, offers a greater connectivity range/signal (up to 1,5 km). This technology (open source) allows for sending and receiving messages. This creates a richer environment for both the community and Rlabs to explore possibilities in an dynamic way.

NOTE: It would be advisable to implement Zigbee as a mode of communication at the outset of this project, as it allows for two way communication which the probe does not.

Deliverables, Viability.

Business model

The Postbox project has three steps of scalability. Scalability is essential to Rlabs as a business model.

The Fixed Node is place specific, should there be a relationship between Rlabs and the a school kid. This would establish trust between the two parties. It would allow the school kid to become a “champion” for Rlabs and what they are trying to achieve (Social media for social change). Through training with Rlabs the school kid would learn how to use and maintain the technology.

Ambient node is taking the Postbox project into the crescent, thereby broadening the awareness of what is on offer to the community. The school kid (driver)in conjunction with Rlabs helps spread the word as well as maintaining the technology.

Site specific nodes are only implemented when the community is fully aware of the various nodes and the technology/communication it offers.

An application can be implemented when the Site specific nodes are in use, as a platform to enable the user/s to send a message through Bluetooth to either a single number or a group. “Roll-out”.

Market

Rational and alternatives

The project will become an established communication service that is free monetarily as well as a community “post box” to use at their own discretion. Parallel to this Rlabs has the ability to overlay their own strategy. The target market can be described as everyone that has a compatible mobile phone within the community.

Deliverables, Desirability.

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.

Map

Mapping addresses

Street addresses and house numbers: See map for pinpointing.

School children living in Athlone = 12

School children living outside Athlone = 15

Did not fill in address = 3

Can not find address on map = 3

Probe Finding 2 a

Probe Findings 2

Preferred way for entering competitions:

Only SMS: 6

Only MXit: 12

Both MXit and SMS: 6

BlueTooth: 4

Internet: 1

Flyers: 4

Respondents who knew of Rlabs and what they do: 1

Probe Findings 1 a

Probe Findings 1

Flyers printed: 100

Flyers handed out: 36

Flyers completed/handed back: 33

Flyers not completed/not handed back: 3

20 Respondents had mobile phones on them and could receive the jpeg message:

13 Respondents had mobile phones and could not receive the jpeg message.

All respondents are familiar with Bluetooth.

How they described using Bluetooth:

Sharing files: 2

Sharing music: 3

Sharing multimedia: 6

Sharing music and pics: 12

Sharing music, pics and playing games: 4

Sharing music, pics and videos: 6

Friday Probe Test Run

We arrived at Rlabs around midday and discussed the probe idea with Brent. He offered to come with and help us at the school. Because our target market is school kids, we wanted to test the probe with them as the school came out at 12:45 (they are not allowed to have or use mobile phones during school time).

We took the "broken" Bluetooth box with us to have one last attempt at fixing it. After loading the freshly received software from Sweden, the box was working properly.

Here are some pictures taken by Brent during the test run in front of Bridgetown High. The duration of the test took about 20min.

Bridgetown High, Main entrance.

Handing out the flyers.

Schoolchildren receiving the Jpeg message.

Schoolchildren filling in the forms.

Probe idea

Step 1: Win a awesome backpack

Step 2: Jpeg on mobile phone

Step 3: Mini Survey/Competition details

Planning the probe test run

APPlication discussion

Talk around using an application for sending an answer or message came to light, because to bluetooth a text answer from phone back to box is not possible on its own.

BlueTooth box discussion

Use of other technologies / Zigbee etc.

Drive through pics

Afterwards we took a drive through the community and photographed colour and places (view in photo stream).

Visit to Rlabs

We took our main idea of a “voting system” based on painting someones house, to Rlabs to get some feedback from their side on the concept. We started off with an informal interview before we presented our idea.

We asked if they are using any kind of “voting system”, but the only thing similar was if their Facebook page got a certain amount of “likes”, they would be sponsored to train community members on basic technology.

With the Legacy program a group of kids wanted to “Fix Cape Town”. They were looking into problem areas like garbage clean up and tried to contact Helen Zille for assistance, but they haven't received any response. There are 8 to 10 people in the Legacy program and for the next session they would be able to take in up to 30 people. People get to know about Legacy through word of mouth and through the church. If we want to target high school children we need to keep in mind that mobile phone are not allowed to be used at school in school times.

Before we presented our idea we asked them to be open and to please criticize and feel free to contribute, not just to say “yes”. They had some valid input and this helped developed our concept . A remark was made that after one “voted” for a picture, the BlueTooth box would reply with a message saying who you voted for, this started a one way versus two way BlueTooth discussion. Another idea was instead of calling it and using it as a “voting” system it can be a polling system. For example the Bridgetown community centre had problems getting people to attend meetings to help make decisions. Further more, instead of painting a random persons’ house it would be more valuable to look at upgrading a shared environment. They suggested places such as churches, sports centers and parks. If we wanted to test the probe with school children, we need permission from the school and we decided that instead of taking up school time having the probe at a school entrance/exit and test when the school comes out. If we are allowed to test in the school we could change the probe for their benefit/information they can use, for example use it for prefect nominations.

Media regarding local newspapers within the Athlone area that can possibly be used to promote future development on the BlueTooth boxes within the environment is Athlone News and Peoples Post.

Foundation Ideas 02

Bus Route News: The BlueTooth device would be placed on the Buses or at the Bus Stops. The idea is when you travel you can download local news and then read it for entertainment on the bus. The news can possibly be time based, changing from to morning to evening.

Crescent Colours: The crescents found in Bridgetown would be used as a place to promote change within the community. A BlueTooth box would be placed at the crescent and the message would ask people to “vote” for the crescent. If it receives enough votes all the perimeter walls on the street side, would get painted. A sponsor would be needed.

Bring in Colour to someones’ life: The BlueTooth box would be placed on the bus and ask people to photograph or sms a house number within a preselected street. The one with the most votes would get a surprise “mini facelift”, all the outside walls facing the street would be painted a bright new colour. A sponsor would be needed working in conjunction with Rlabs and possibly involving school kids to do the painting.

Main Idea on “Bring in Colour to someones’ life”: Instead of having to ask people to put on their BlueTooth with a poster and receiving the actual message from the box, we decided that the poster can be the actual message. It will inform people of the “voting competition” with all the necessary details and ask to send the vote back to the BlueTooth Box. On the poster pictures of the possible houses are show, but with no reference to where it is in Athlone, the pictures can even be more criptic showing only details of the buildings. Each picture would have a number which will be used to vote for it. In this case the BlueTooth Box is only used as a vote counter or receiver, it is not pushing any information towards mobile phones. This use of “BlueToothing” a vote will save the user airtime.

Foundation Ideas 01

Seating Area: Benches would be placed in areas of Bridgetown to invite and indicate a place where the BlueTooth Boxes are sending out a message.

Join the Dots!: This would be a game for Primary School children, where they search for the BlueTooth Boxes and download different pieces of a picture puzzle. The last piece of the picture would be available at Rlabs, where they would print out the full picture and give it for the children to colour in.

Tuck Shop Testing: Four components for testing in a tuck shop area would be necessary. The first would be a poster to invite people to switch on their BlueTooth on their mobile phones, to enable them to receive a free beverage. The second component is the message received on the mobile phones and would then direct them to the tuck shop in the nearby vicinity. The tuck shop is the third component as a place, where the people would receive the free-bee. The fourth component is where we step in and ask or interview the people about the experience.

BlueTooth Stories: These would be free standing BlueTooth poles placed in the Athlone area where people could download stories of inspiration and guidance. To attract peoples attention posters on the poles would say “Love here”, “Story time” or even “Free Kisses”, together with a BlueTooth sign to indicate a Bluetooth area.

RLabs in Tarentaal Road, Bridgetown

Use GoogleMaps Street View we are able to grab a screenshot of the location of the Social Revolution know as RLabs

and then... A Thought

Visually see the positive impact/ Instantly see progress in the community.

You would have different colours depicting different mindsets? As “you” change colour it shows your progress/status.

The colour should connect to personality trades (the story being told).

(Self recovery process, and a way to show the public or people that know of the messages their positive change).

Wearing your heart on your sleeve

• colour your life.

A possible place to locate the box in the Athlone community is the one entrance crescents with the parks in the middle of +- six houses, (In Bridgetown and Silvertown  you find two types of crescent circles, one has two roads leading in and out of the space and is seen as a drug dealing place. The other circle has only one road and is seen as a safe place). The space next to the road leading into this space can be used to “advertise” to put your bluetooth on. (Paintings on the walls, or posters). The box would be placed where the road forks out to go around the park.

The scenario around this: When children go home, back from school, to change their clothes, they see the posters/paintings and remember to put on their bluetooth. They then get the message on their phones as they are walking to their homes. Then they can see what colour to wear to make a change or be part of a positive change in the community. The other possibility is that the coloured theme can be an image to be used as a background on their cellphones, if they don’t have a certain coloured t-shirt. (Maybe the box is only on, on the weekends?).

NB- But is there certain colours associated with the gangs? And should one say away from these colours?

RLABS people can maybe wear “advertising t-shirts” so that the community can recognize where the initiative is coming from and who to go to for help. RLAB’s are the “trendsetters of change”.

Understanding_01

We started to discuss and understand the possibilities of the Bluetooth Box, Locations, Colour thoughts and various idea areas.

Personas and Scenarios

Personas:

1: Husky is a 38 year old gangster. He also plays a role of recruiter and dealer. Words to describe his personality are cunning, shrewd, intelligent, charming, salesmen, violent, leader and smooth operator. He was born in Bridge Town and hardly ever attended school. He dropped out of Bridge Town East High School when he was 13 years old and was recruited into the Americans gang. He has several criminal cases pending and he has been in and out of prison most of his life. In prison he runs cells but currently out of prison his job is to do crime and to make quick cash. He has several ladies and always searches for immediate gratification. He is never satisfied and is very restless in between “jobs”. He is looking for kids to recruit for the gang.

2: Alisha is a 15 year old girl. She comes from a good family (parents are still together) and is still in school at Athlone High grade 10. She is a good girl but is at a rebellious stage in her life. Like all girls her age she seeks attention and wants to be popular. Her personality can be described as noisy, assertive, agitator, ambitious, willing to take risks to prove herself and will smoke weed for recreational use.

3: Roy is a 11 year old boy living with his mother in Silver town. He wants to be a sports/football star. School is not that important although he is currently at Blossom Jnr. His mother still takes him to the New Apostolic church on Sundays.  He is tempted to be experimental with drugs and is shy with girls. He is opinionated, ambitious, impressionable, status is important to him, likes the limelight and is popular in his group.

4: Rajie is a 58 year old male working on the same premises as his wife, she owns the hairdresser and he owns the corner tuck shop. He is vary talkative and is also easy to chat to. On a daily bases he overlooks all the gang related activity in and around his premises. He has no choice and cannot say something about it because then he risks being caught up in violence or being killed.

Scenario:

Alisha goes to the corner shop on a Saturday afternoon (15:00). A group of guys are standing outside the shop and one of the lower gang members chirps her.

When she leaves the shop and the guy chirps her again, Husky steps in and tells the guy to keep quite. Alisha then feels comfort in his presents.

The relationship develops over time. Husky creates trust between them and gives Alisha attention by picking her up from school in his flashy car.

On another day Husky has an intentional violent outburst in front of Alisha (not at her but to someone else, she now knows not to get on the bad side of Husky). After this he starts to ask her for favours (Keeping his drugs or his gun etc).

Mapping Athlone

After a workshop meeting with RLabs we have a better understanding of the makeup of the particular Athlone area which RLabs work with. The main areas are Bridgetown, Silvertown and Kewtown. RLabs are located on the edge of Bridgetown next to the N1 national road.
This map shows the three areas demarcated with colour and identified "spots" within the areas. These "spots" were workshopped with RLabs staff.