Ambient foreign intervention

This blog usually focusses on positive examples of how the built environment can be used for democratic empowerment. But from time to time - for example here - more sinister uses are also profiled when they demonstrate the power of ambient communication. Here come a string of particularly intriguing, disconcerting examples from Iran. In July a cyberattack believe to have been executed by foreign powers paralyzed the train network. Yet, it also sought to stir further upheaval by hijacking station billboards and displaying a phone number for the country’s Supreme Leader’s office so that people could call to complain.  

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And in October another attack crippled petrol stations across the country, this time accompanied by an even more audacious ambient hacking campaign that included displaying the same number prefaced with “cyberattack” on the displays of petrol pumps when car owners inserted a government-issued payment card. On top, digital billboards were also hijacked at around the same time to pose the question  “Khamenei! Where is our gasoline?“

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source: Babak Taghvaee

So it is not only the tools and practices of cyberwarfare that are evolving rapidly and into ever more worrisome directions. Now they come wrapped in public propaganda tactics that repurpose ambient communication infrastructures to maximize impact. Cyber warfare meets ambient information warfare - a dystopian prospect?

Outsize confront-versation

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From using entire building fronts as public canvass for live election results to enveloping to giant-casting advocacy messages onto the very edifices that house the culprits light projections are a wonderful light-touch, wide-scope tool for ambient accountability and have been referenced several times on this blog. 

Now comes a particularly interesting example from the COP26 climate summit: Activists projecting their messages onto the conference hall and the “official” light projecteur messaging back through his or her own projection.  Move over tiny twitter feud here comes the epic battle of the giant projectors.  

https://twitter.com/GEddolls/status/1458366926938386438?s=20

image c  Graeme Eddolls

A Cape Town Campaign

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So the city of Cape Town gave itself a Organisational Development and Transformation Plan in 2016. The title is quite a mouthful already and it carries on in the text, which sets out a big vision for creating a culture of accountability and integrity and a “well governed, corruption free administration.”  Four years later it still looks like there is some way to go on this and the city seems to be following up with a campaign that is interesting from an ambient accountability perspective. 

Keep reading

Ambient accountability - a journey from Copenhagen to Abu Dhabi

just for the fun of it, some snippets of ambient accountability along the way. First up, security check at Copenhagen Airport and a very big and visible invite to give feedback, right after passing through the scanner. In truly Scandinavian style you need a mobile phone though to do this.

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Next, how was your flight? This popped up on the Etihad in-seat screen, so really right in the passenger face. Only problem, this happened before take-off (and not any more after landing) alas some kind of speculative, predictive feedback expected?

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Taking a taxi from the Abu Dhabi airport to the city  - a sticker on the inside of the car with detailed information on prices and rules - literally a very transparent appearance and quite the norm in many cities - check out the Florence and Medellin or the particularly enchanting hand-written example from Goa

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And finally on the way back home, a short lay-over in Amsterdam - and a really playful way of giving passengers a bit of a glimpse of the intestines of the big organism airport  a glass inlay in the floor that grants a view of the luggage conveyor belts below - and you can watch suitcases zip by

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In a nutshell, an everyday experience with ambient accountability, some mechanisms quite useful, yet others rather carelessly done and not so great and then the creative ones that could inspire some serious experimentations…

The EU as champion for ambient consumer rights - from air to rail

We know that the EU does at times assume a pioneering role when it comes to ambient accountability in the form of giving consumers easy access to information about their rights exactly when and where they need. For example, the European Commission requires airports across Europe to prominently display passenger rights inside the terminal and close to the airline desks. These information boards look like this (airport Riga)

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They are pretty important as many passengers whose flights are delayed or cancelled are often unaware of the type and level of compensation they are entitled to and often get talked by airline representatives into accepting inferior reimbursements.

Now, the European Parliament is at it again. It wants passenger rights to be printed directly onto rail tickets, in order to make it easier for riders to understand what they are entitled to and claim reimbursements in case of delayed or cancelled trains. This is at draft stage  now and might still undergo changes in the long-winded discussion with the Commission and member states, but a good start and a good idea it certainly is.

Ambient interventions in health: How the nimble poster can help tackle a top global health crisis

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Azithromycin, an antibiotic, image CC BY-SA 3.0 by  Giorgiogp2

Over-generous prescribing of antibiotics is one of the main drivers of the emergence of so called drug resistant super-bugs that portend a global health crisis in the making. How to wean doctors off the convenient habit of doling out strong antibiotics for even minor ailments? As a fascinating randomized controlled trial shows, simple posters can make a huge difference. Poster-sized commitment letters featuring the pictures of clinicians and their stated commitment to stick to strict prescription regimes were prominently displayed in examination rooms. The result: dramatically lower rates of unnecessary use of antibiotics. A powerful empirical validation for ambient interventions. Posters prominently displayed right where the conduct to be regulated happens can be very effective. Yet, also a reminder that the design details matter significantly. Posters that simply showed admonishments to go easy on antibiotics did not have any effect as a previous experiment had shown. Only combining the ambient effect with a personalised public commitment by the medical staff involved made the difference. 

Meeker, D., Knight, T. K., Friedberg, M. W., Linder, J. A., Goldstein, N. J., Fox, C. R., … & Doctor, J. N. (2014). Nudging guideline-concordant antibiotic prescribing: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA internal medicine, 174(3), 425-431.

Kicking up some dust!

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Dustzone is a wonderful project by Dietmar Offenhuber in Stuttgart, the city in Germany most in the news for routinely exceeding air quality limits. Small particles, one of the major type of pollutants settle on the built environment giving it a “patina” that the artist removes selectively with his stencils, a method often called reverse graffiti. It vividly and disturbingly shows us the crust of particles that has accumulated and makes tangible the amount of what are otherwise very abstract small particles that residents inhale and it does so at some of the pollution hotspots. 

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Plus, over time, it visually tracks the accumulation of these particles as the cleaned spots gradually go back to grey and dark when gathering further particles. Ambient accountability at its best. All pictures c D. Offenhuber

Feed(feed-back)back in action

Continuing the ambient holiday season’s playground theme, here some pics from a Berlin playground that we literally stumbled across with the kids when taking the cycle route less traveled to the local swimming pool.

This playground has been nicely refurbished about a year ago and someone had the great idea to put some of the suggestions collected during the preceding consultation period up on large banners on the side of a building that encases parts of the playground. 

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A really neat example of my obsession with feeding feed-back back (e.g see the general idea or a fascinating application in Lithuania), here in the form of actual focus group quotes and quantitative survey summary. 

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Plus a very personal note a the end where some of the involved kids signed their names. 

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A nice marker of community involvement and a city administration that listens to and talks with residents, but also an important baseline for accountability where everyone can see if and how suggestions were taken up and turned into reality. Very interestingly not all ideas mentioned on the placards have been realized, suggesting that this is not simply a cherry-picking exercise of self-praise by officials. And given my recent observation that lots of ambient feedback mechanisms are skewed towards tracking blue collar job performance it is worthwhile noting that this playground is situated in a not very privileged, mixed immigrant neighborhood, adding another function: the positive encouragement of and the demonstration of the efficacy of civic engagement.  

Next up for holiday trip feedback: rate your playground

Now flying to and from Berlin really is not much fun these days. The new airport is still not done after years of delay, good old Tegel is close to collapse and on top of all Air Berlin, one of the main carriers here is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy and in total disarray. But someone amidst this chaos seems to be fiercely committed to holding up a lonely torch of customer service and humane treatment with a great ambient feedback system:

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cc Dieter Zinnbauer

Yes, you read this correctly. It is an invitation to give feedback on the little children’s playground in one of the terminals. Now I really find this a cute idea and had my kids key in their feedback (their verdict: okish), yet at the same time I cannot help but suspecting some sinister ploy to distract from the many bigger issues and problems that would deserve some really robust ambient feedback interface. Then again if you are stranded at Tegel with little kids, an entirely probable situation these days, the availability of a good playground actually becomes a somewhat  existential concern….    Safe travels and serene summer holidays to everyone!

Respect, not pressure -the surprising way service feedback works - farming services in Rwanda

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When I started exploring ambient feedback systems some experts that I consulted voiced two major speculations: 

  1. that the few practical examples of ambient feedback systems that I would find out there would most likely be about feed-back on the weakest, lowest level service workers, and;
  2.  that these systems work through a big-brother like disciplinary power of the feeling of constant surveillance. 

Having been documenting the small, yet growing number of existing ambient feedback mechanisms for a couple of years now on this blog I can definitely confirm one of these conjectures, yet not quite the other. 

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Designing police stations for authority and accessibility

Ok, it is six years old, yet still a very interesting study that  invites students to rate what kind of police qualities the facades of police stations convey. Not too surprising but good to see it examined scientifically: take glass for conveying accessibility; modern elements to communicate professionalism and a moderate dose of grandstanding for oozing authority. And this recipe works a bit better on women vs. men, but - quite surprisingly -  equally well for people who love and the ones that loathe authority. A nice validation of the power of ambient designs to influence emotional attitudes towards crucial public services. There are no indications how strong these cues are vis-a-vis other motivations. But if you are outside deciding whether to go in and report corruption or blow the whistle on some wrong-doing - emotionally extremely stressful and difficult decisions as we know - this might well be the extra nudge to put you over the inhibition threshold of actually going in and entrusting the policy with your report  - or deter you from trying to offer bribes for some service which can be an equally emotionally demanding decision to take… 

Clinton, A., & Devlin, A. S. (2011). “Is this really a police station?”: Police department exteriors and judgments of authority, professionalism, and approachability. Journal of environmental psychology, 31(4), 393-406.

Eat your vitamins - and vote with them too!

Corruption in the Lithuanian health sector is a really big problem, yet people are reluctant to discuss or report it. What to do? 

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Inspired by the ambient accountability idea and embracing the old adage that often you cannot fight corruption by fighting corruption, the Transparency International group in Lithuania took a very innovative approach. Together with social designers and a healthcare center they designed and piloted a very engaging ambient feedback mechanism, the Vitamin Lab. Here is how it worked and what happened.

Keep reading

Workers, know your rights - in the right place!

Surfing through the bowls of US Gov websites is not quite my ultimate idea of having fun, yet I have recently come across a fascinating page at the US Department of Labor (DOL). 

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Essentially, this site is a one-stop shop for ambient accountability posters when it comes to worker rights in the US: mandatory information for workers about their very specific rights and entitlements to be publicly displayed on placards and posters right where employees need to know and defend them - at their place of work. As it turns out, US federal labour law alone knows no less than seventeen different posters that under certain circumstance must be put up at the place of work. In some way the diversity of posters and the effort to provide a one-stop shop for downloads and instructions speaks to the importance that is attached to such ambient information mechanisms at the work place. Yet at the same time, the entire initiative does not convince: seventeen different posters, lots of regulations and what ultimately turn out to be often very legalistic, heavily-worded and sparsely-designed posters do not really give much hope that someone bothered to maximize their efficacy and popularity.

Consider for example this one:  

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Got it?

Imagine someone gave these important placards a design-enthusiastic make-over. For example along the lines of what data viz firm Periscopic recently did with the usage labels for prescription medicine.  And then select the most effective designs via some nice experiments à la Behavioural Insights Team or ideas42…

Panama city: a dispute about land - the ambient way

Now I do not wish to take sides in a dispute that I have essentially zero background information about, but here a remarkable story from Panama, where the government and a private developer are not only facing off in court about a contested piece of land but where this fight has also taken a distinctively ambient character. 

This is what I came across by chance while strolling along the waterfront in Panama City, on a newish causeway that connects three small islands with scenic views onto the city and the famous Canal:

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 A big gate that reads Justice where are you?  A rather odd thing to post on this little overgrown patch between the city and the islands, contrasting starkly with the ubiquitous and outsize advertising billboards that seem to spring up everywhere in this commercial hub Curious I aproached the gate and thus got to take a look at the other wing that at first sight looked even more cryptic:

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As can be gleaned from this on further inspection, Grupo F. is a developer that claims to have legally acquired the rights to develop this patch of prime real estate into a pier and marina. And to make its point this developer even included copies of what appeared to be original official documents at the bottom to show that all permits had been secured and all payments had been made. 

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You can even read and see the signatures on all this paperwork. 

And then I also realized a smaller billboard right next to this bold statement about an alleged egregious violation of land rights and due process:

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The state putting across its position, perhaps not as engaging and detailed but certainly clear and direct in tone when laying claim to the land. A quick search on google earth suggests that this official sign predates the developers’ communication effort and had been there since at least April 2014. 

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c google 

And google also provides the bird’s eye view of the situation, revealing what must be an extremely lucrative patch of prime real estate, sticking out into the sea, very centrally located and just across from the historic old-town. 

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c google

Now I have no way to judge the validity of these arguments, particularly since urban development in Panama City is tied up with a string of high-profile corruption scandals. But I find it an amazing attempt to appeal to the public, assert ones entitlements right where the disputed land happens to be and where passers-bye can engage most directly with the different perspectives on and vision for the coveted plot of land and the look and feel that may come with these projections. Granted, leading urban practitioners have been quite scathing in their criticism of ill-designed, public notifications of planning applications, such as the hardly legible and intelligible sheets of paper tucked to British street lamps. But they also acknowledge that such ambient interfaces can be an important, complementary touch point for engaging people in planning processes in their neighborhoods, when niftily infused with new and old technology. But even this distinctively low-tech Panama example - quite likely borne out of desperation and quite possibly entangled in layers of power politics and urban corruption -  points to some interesting ways of using ambient strategies to further the conversation around urban development and making related claims and visions tangible and encounter-able right where they play out. 

(all non-google images cc Dieter Zinnbauer)

Buildings matter! Or: should we put the corrupt permit office into the church?

dzinnbauer:

A cryptic headline for a simple story:

Could the building where you vote influence what you vote for? This seems to be one of the most unlikely ways that ambient environments could influence behavior.  As Jonah Berger and his co-authors open their fascinating 2008 paper on this issue: 

“Voting decisions are among the most important choices people make. They determine who governs the country, which issues receive attention, and how resources are allocated. Most rational theories of voting assume people have stable preferences that determine the votes they cast at the ballot box”. So surely the building should not matter, right? 

Wrong.  As it turns out Arizona voters in the 2000 US General Election were significantly more likely to support a school funding initiative that was also on the ballot, when their polling station happened to be located in a school. In other words, the school environment was found to have exerted a strong priming effect on voters, making them more sympathetic to spending more money on schools. So if buildings can shape voting, shouldn’t they also be able to shape much more situational and context-dependent activities, such as corrupt exchanges? A strong endorsement for more ambient accountability experiments and research! Co-locating notoriously corrupt service points such as permit offices with churches, perhaps? 

Sounds surreal but as always, already inadvertently overtaken by reality: see for example this registration office close to Genova that is housed in a former church as documented in the wonderful photo series of re-purposed churches in Italy by Andrea Di Martino.  Now we just need to figure out if the legacy of the holy spirit boosts the integrity of the clerks and the clients. Happy 2017 everyone!

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Berger, J., Meredith, M., & Wheeler, S. C. (2008). Contextual priming: Where people vote affects how they vote. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 105(26), 8846-8849.

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