The great Australian shed - there's been numerous studies on Aussie sheds and outhouses - and now...well, there's the Intel approach to sheds! - SMH 6 April 2006 "Homing in on the human element"
Genevieve Bell is employed at Intel as an anthropologist to investigate how to add the vital human element to technology!!! She says:
"It's not good enough to just keep producing technology with no notion of whether it's going to be useful. You have to create stuff that people really want, rather than create stuff just because you can..."
ABB: And that comes before they even think about usability testing, right?
The article outlines some of the projects already developed - but her latest one has the Aussie focus:
"In Australia we spend a lot of our living time outside the home," Ms Bell says. "It's in the backyard, the front yard, even the shed, so we need to look at what people do in those spaces."
"So we're looking at what a digital lifestyle means outside the living room, outside the home. What if the place where you do a lot of your living is the beach, the local pub or even the shed?"
And to prove her point at Intel, Ms Bell has just finished yet another research paper. It's on sheds."
So - what do you do in your shed? And....how could that be digitised?
Well - my shed is packed with old paint tins (probably should through those out), gardening stuff, washing machine & dryer, hot water service, dog beds, outdoor furniture, and a lot of dust and spiders...
Wonder what I could add (there's not much room left) to make this space computerised....hmmm...I'll get back to you on that one! :-)
