Report – New linkNYC Kiosks Operational: 8th Avenue between 52nd and 58th Streets

By Leticia Ferreira De Souza

Recently, Murilo, Manuel, and I went to the new linkNYC kiosks (links) on 8th Avenue, between 52nd and 58th streets. It is very interesting to see the development of the project and, especially in that location, it was nice to see how they are taking the paid phones out and installing links exactly on the same place.

New observations:

Experimentation with Content:

The content on most of the links consisted of messages like: “Connect to Internet on linkNYC”, or other messages from local government, including from the “If you see something, say something” campaign.

We also saw two “ads” targeting tourists, one a partnership between NYC tourism department and Dora, the Adventurer character, and the other advertising the “LOVE” sculpture (the sculpture being situated relatively close to the location of the link). Since the area is a very touristic region, this could indicate some early experimentation with links featuring hyper-local content pertinent to a specific area. This differs from earlier observations we’ve made of links in the Lower East Side area, were advertising content was more of the national brand variety (The Gap, Citibank, etc).

For now, the content of these particular links, in this specific area, seems to be more focused on civic messaging, rather than on advertising. We will probably have to wait and see if this is a trend that will continue as the initiative develops, or if this is situational.

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March 7

First Impressions – Samsung 837: Where Technology and Culture Collide

Last week, PIRT member Merrilee went to visit Samsung’s newest New York City retail experience, Samsung 837. She filed this report about what she found.

I went with my class to the Samsung Experience Store on Thursday, March 3. We went around 1pm, after lunch time, so there weren’t very many people inside the store when we got there. The store felt like a museum at first, and then slowly shifted into a showroom. There are two levels to the store and they have distinct characteristics.

The first floor felt a lot like a museum, showing exhibitions of Samsung’s products. It’s laid out pretty logically too so when you are finished with one item, the next one is right there. There are four main stations on the first floor. When you first walk into the store, you go to the left, where there is an employee that asks you if you want to take a selfie with their new Samsung Galaxy S7. After you take the selfie, in about 30 seconds, the photo is shown on these massive TV screens. The photo is then made up out of Instagram photos, like a collage.

After being in awe with that, I walked over to the next stations with their VR set up. The first VR station we went to was like experiencing a 4D cinema theatre with moving seats. We went on a roller coaster ride with the Samsung Gear and moving seats. I was really excited to experience this, but it did not feel the same as being on an actual roller coaster ride; I didn’t get the same adrenaline. I also sort of broke the Samsung Gear as I was putting them on, and the whole time, I thought it was similar to the Oculus, but it’s actually just like the Google Cardboard. The Samsung Gear is Google Cardboard, enclosing a Samsung Galaxy s7 inside to create the VR.

Moving on to the next VR station, this experience was more on the immersive side. It was basically a lounging area where you put on the Samsung Gear and surround sound headphones to experience whatever they were showcasing. In this occasion, it was (of course) a horror setting, where you are sitting on the couch, and it’s raining outside and weird stuff began to happen and a girl suddenly shows up, and then later, kills you. This experience really scared me, but that’s just the type of person I am. I got scared, screamed and immediately took the goggles off in fear. And then I immediately left to the next station.

In the last station, I considered it to be the “best” part of the store. It is this immersive Instagram tunnel, where users input their Instagram handle, and it loads all the Instagram photos that they have ever taken, and then the robot in the tunnel speaks out the different hashtags in your photos. The tunnel only allows three people at a time. The tunnel is sectioned off into three ways and every time a new person enters into the tunnel, the previous people’s position moves forward. Another trip factor of this tunnel is that it is made out of mirrors. So the Instagram wall itself is just half a wall, and then everything else is reflected off from the mirrors. And because the tunnel is made out of mirrors, everyone is required to wear shoe covers so as to not dirty the floor.

That covers the first floor of the store. Going up to the second floor, this is the part where Samsung tries to grab you and never let you leave. There is a coffee shop there with big donuts that you can buy and eat in the dining area. But moving past that, there is this interactive wall where you can see the different appliances that Samsung offers and beside it, a kitchen with their appliances working together, showcasing the wonders of Internet of Things. There were too many people in that area so I did not get the chance to play with the stuff. But moving on from there, there is this photo room, where you compare taking photos from the Samsung Galaxy s7 to its competitors like the iPhone, HTC, and so forth. After you take the photo, you can see a side by side comparison of the photo quality. I think that this was the part that really screamed at me that Samsung was not just trying to convince you to buy the phone because this section is basically like the apple store where they lay out all their tablets and phones for you to play with.

Overall, I would say that this was a good visit and a good experience as a consumer or if you are a Samsung fan. A fair warning for when you go, you will be asked to sign waivers for using the VR sets. I assume it’s just so that if you get sick from it, it’s not their responsibility. And for the Instagram tunnel, you agree that your Instagram account is public. I would like to go again, just because I am curious whether they change up their experiences. For example, instead of a haunted house during the VR experience, I’m sitting down having tea or something. And of course, for the doughnuts.

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March 3

Report – Newly Operational linkNYC Kiosks Between 24th and 27th Streets

A few days ago Letícia and I went out to inspect more newly operational linkNYC kiosks in Manhattan, on Third Avenue between 24th and 27th Streets. We took team member Sean’s advice in terms of his recommendations for follow-up exploration, focusing particularly on the web browser’s content filtering mechanism, what the kiosk’s touchscreen does when it is not being used, and whether or not the kiosk seemed to be drawing attention to itself in its newly operational state.

User Interface / Web Browsing / Apps: Letícia and I were able to pretty easily navigate the user interface. As Sean mentioned previously, it felt quite familiar, like a standard Android OS (if you’re an Android user).

We were able to use the various features of the Google Maps app with ease…

…and make a phone call to each other (the speaker on the kiosk was, if set at its loudest setting, loud enough to hear from around 20 or 30 feet away…EVEN competing with NYC traffic)

We were able to easily access the web browser and browse various sites, including those based in Brazil.

Content Filtering: Letícia and I were interested as to how/if the browser would filter web content.

Using the web browser, we decided to try searching a fairly objectionable search term (Porn), with the goal of seeing what results would be returned, or if the browser would filter a specific search. We found that the browser did not filter this specific search, that it would supply links (and accompanying graphic images), but that once a link was clicked the content would be blocked from loading.

We found what we considered a little bit of a bug with the content filtering mechanism, in that if a user were to search this specific term and access the IMAGES section of the Google Search, the images shown within the images search mosaic were graphic in nature, and in a resolution that made them clearly visible to the kiosk user and perhaps those passing by. As a result, a user could, hypothetically, access content (in some form) that others might find offensive given that the kiosk is situated in a public place.

The kiosk’s wait state and general noticeability: Letícia and I made this video documenting these aspects ….

We’ll be continuing the documentation process as more linkNYC kiosks come online. In addition to documenting newly operational kiosks in-situ, we’re planning to follow up with those that we’ve already visited. It would be interesting to explore if the location of the kiosk and weather conditions have any specific influence on their usage.

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February 22

First Impressions – Newly Deployed linkNYC Kiosks in Manhattan

This is a first installment of an ongoing documentation series, where Public Interactives Research Team will observe linkNYC kiosks being installed and brought into operational mode. The roll-out process began during late December and early January, where there are now a few operational and non-operational kiosks in place along Third Avenue, between 14th street and 92nd street, in the east side of Manhattan. linkNYC has provided this map of installed kiosks (or “links” as they are referred to)

Of particular interest to PIRT are the media touchscreens featured on each “link”. According to the project documentation, each kiosk should feature hyperlocal content specific to where the link is deployed. linkNYC is one of the largest public touchscreen deployments of its kind, so the team is excited to be in such close proximity to this, and we’ll be right there to document its first months of existence.

PIRT member Sean Landers files this report about what he recently saw of the links on Third Avenue between 14th and 18th streets.

Walking past on my way in this afternoon — decided to perform an informal walking survey of the units between 18th and 14th streets, on the east side of Third Avenue. The screens on the terminals didn’t seem to be enabled on the links situated at 18th – 16th streets. I did find one touchscreen enabled, but it was non-responsive, near 16th street and Third Avenue. The first functional unit I found was on the southeast corner of 15th Street, found a second responsive link working on the west side of 3rd Avenue between 14th and 15th streets.

Kiosk / Link:

Outgoing calls and Internet worked on the kiosk.

Internet: Let me cruise around news.google.com, CBS website, YouTube with great freedom. There’s supposed to be content filtering. While I didn’t intentionally test it to see how inappropriate it’d let me get, I think it filtered a NYT story on me. Not sure if it was content (it might’ve been an article on fundamentalism or ISIS?) or some other reason. I am also curious whether filtering is just linkNYC terminal or if there is some type of filter active on the WiFi as well. The link played full motion video with audio, really smooth and clean, no loading bars whatsoever; audio through the headphone jacks was great.

Outgoing Call: Made an outgoing call to my cell-phone and left a voicemail for myself.

I heard my own voice mailbox message really well through headphones on the link. The incoming voicemail was really garbled, basically garbage. Which I guess makes sense, given that I was using a speaker phone from a foot away on the side of 3rd Avenue in the middle of the afternoon. The incoming number listed on my cell phone was (646)693-4500. Calling it results in a personable error message that the number belongs to a linkNYC terminal, which doesn’t receive incoming calls. The service is provided by (prominently branded) Vonage. I could make a phone call while browsing the web, exactly like a phone or a tablet.

Interface: Interface of the link seemed to be Android … had the characteristic “reverse button, home circle, open apps square” features on bottom of screen. Options gear in top right corner lets you adjust brightness and audio. There’s another grey bar which slides up and down just above traditional Android options bar — this bar gives options for what you can access… Outgoing Calls, Internet, 311. There’s a red X you can use to terminate your session — according to the FAQ, they also auto-terminate after 30 seconds (which I presume is ‘inactivity’?). There’s also a “circle-i” button near the gear which brings you to an extended FAQ + licensing information for the terminal.

Free WiFi:

FreeWiFi let me access it without giving it an email address. Apparently, the “Private WiFi” is only available to Apple Devices supporting Hotspot 2.0. The connection really did feel scorchingly fast (although let’s see what happens when everybody on 3rd avenue is using it). Unlike a lot of free wifi, it seemed to have no problem with me streaming music on Spotify. The WiFi signal seemed to drop off somewhere before Union Square east (a few blocks to the west of the link)… I’m not sure what the WiFi range is, exactly. I am also wondering if WiFi is active up-and-down Third Avenue, or just in pockets around functional links?

Recommendations for Follow-Up:

What is the reaction of other people to someone using the terminal? I was really in the experience of using the tablet — I didn’t get a chance to look up and see anyone seeing me.
Do you actually need to give an email address right now, or will it let you access the WiFi without it?
Could be interesting to see how (if) the interface and terminal functions evolve over time.
Was my bad audio recording a result of being too far from the mic, or is the mic just garbage?
I wish I’d run a speed-test on WiFi (BusinessInsider has some data from Jan 17th) and on the terminal.
Longer-term inquiry: see if/how different the capacities of ‘Free WiFi’ and ‘Private WiFi’ are.
Longer-term inquiry: confirm the WiFi connectivity range.
How manipulable is the outgoing call system? Can I call 900 numbers? Can I spoof other numbers? There’s no reason to call collect — but can I? Is there an operator I can speak to?
How many different browser windows and / or tabs can I open at the same time? How far can I push it before it gets sluggish? If the terminal gets sluggish or crashes, does that affect the WiFi? (are the functionality of terminal and WiFi tied together?)
How about the content filter? What is considered ‘inappropriate or malicious” material? What’s the error message inform the user, exactly? (Worth wondering — what does a blocked attempt inform the LinkNYC kiosk — does it track these access attempts? does it align it with any of your data?)

Bigger questions about the Link’s Privacy Policy:

We don’t collect personally identifiable information except what’s required to run the system. “except what’s required to run the system” What does that mean, exactly?

We will never sell your personal information or share with third parties for their own use. “for their own use” But does LinkNYC reserve the right to use your personal information for their own use? Is there something along the lines of a EULA posted somewhere?

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February 21

How Does Designing for Movement Affect the Design of Public Interactives?

The Public Interactives Research Team welcomed special guest researcher and educator Renata Sheppard, whose work focuses on understanding the relationship between movement, technology, and performance. We discussed Laban Movement Analysis, a language system and translation of movement and meaning, and how the system lends itself towards interaction design.

The Laban Effort Graph, for describing, visualizing, interpreting and documenting all varieties of human movement

A point that emerged during our discussions is that, based on our observations, most reactive environmental technology design may not take into account the complexity of possibilities that the movement of the human body could afford. For example, we discussed the fact that most reactive environments that we study (including those that PIRT has prototyped and deployed for research purposes) may only concentrate on a certain SPECIFIC ASPECT of presence, touch, or movement, in order to trigger a media event, like distance from a sensor, the magnitude of a sound, or the fact that a person occupies a specific area of a space. While technological limitations could be a factor, the team understood that Laban Movement Analysis could be an interesting and productive way to discuss and consider human agency in an environment that requires a presence in order to perform its media function.

Discussion also included ways to incorporate Laban Movement Analysis into the design of the interface for the AIDS Quilt Touch Digital Experience. This led to questions about how technology may constrict interaction, on how to achieve a one to one relationship between technology and a person interacting with it (meaning a more exacting mimesis between human movement and technology functionality), while considering that human beings perceive in three dimensions, and that interaction design should take into account that dimensionality.

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February 1

The Spring 2016 Semester Begins

Public Interactives Research Team will have it’s first meeting of the Spring 2016 semester on Friday, February 5th by taking a field trip to the New York Hall of Science to check out their Connected Worlds exhibit. One of the largest immersive, interactive, and reactive installations of its kind, Connected Worlds is a great place to begin our semester-long exploration into the emergent communications form that is Public Interactives.

This semester, the team will continue to experiment with building their own Public Interactive’s prototypes. Over the course of the next few weeks, we’ll have demo/hack sessions utilizing Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and MIT App Inventor. In addition, the team is currently designing an infographic describing the Public Interactives phenomenon, as well as preparing to curate and input content into our Online Gallery of Public Interactives.

New members are always welcome. The team meets Friday’s from 2pm to 4pm in the School of Media Studies Loft at 79 Fifth Ave, 16th floor. For more information contact David Wilson ( david.wilson @ newschool . edu )

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June 2

Summary of experience // Let’s SEE the Trash @ Ideas City

We learned alot about our Let’s SEE the Trash project by entertaining many visitors in our booth at the Ideas City Festival this past weekend. In total, approximately 50 people visited us, who took roughly 30 of our bookmark business cards with QR code, designed by SMS graphic designer Chad Phillips.

From those visitors, our embedded video site received approximately 20 unique visits. Of those visitors, we did not receive any repeat visits to our booth.

We found it very useful being able to situate the project in public to discuss with visitors their impressions of what they thought our work would be based on how we described it. The process of our attempting to explain what the piece was, how it worked, and what the goal was in the greater context of the festival was very useful on our fine-tuning how we described the piece. Our description drifted away from mobile augmented-reality app towards location based documentary. Several visitors inquired as to whether we were able to physically track garbage across a large distance, or if we were able to obtain any data about the phenomenon we were attempting to depict. We were fortunate to be visited by a Department of Sanitation worker attending the festival, who provided us useful insight towards who to contact and how the department handles producing media pieces about their work. He stressed that the public should be made more aware about the process that garbage goes through after its initial disposal.

After our experience at Ideas City, the team feels that this was more a first iteration of the project rather than a finished product. That being said, we’re definitely proud of the technology we were able to develop for this first iteration of the piece that included: GPS detection and real time updating in a web based app using Google Maps API , applying custom map styling, geo-fencing points of interest, reactive points of interest icons, and custom video playback using YouTube API. We plan to reach out to our new contact in the Department of Sanitation in an effort to involve them. Additionally, we think it would be beneficial to rework our description of the piece to that of a location based documentary. This describes more the intention of our piece given it’s current technological approach. In describing the project as documentary, the footage currently employed would need to be reconceived and reshot, most likely with the help of Red Dog Productions. Finally, we found that if we were to include a URL in our promotional material, that the URL be shortened by goo.gl or bitly.

-David Wilson

Research Assistant

Public Interactives Research Team

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May 15

PiRT at IDEAS CITY – Saturday May 30 12-6pm

SATURDAY

05/30

12:00 PM – 6:00 PM

Playable Media Lab (Sarah Lawrence College),

Public Interactives Research Team (the New School):

Let’s SEE the Trash!

Let’s SEE the Trash is a mobile augmented-reality app about garbage. This project intends to address the “out of sight, out of mind” phenomenon surrounding waste and discard in everyday life. While pointing this app at a trash can, users will connect to micro narratives that describe the lifecycle of trash near the Festival site. This app also features the many ways garbage collection is a part of the Invisible City.

http://www.ideas-city.org/#event/let-s-see-the-trash

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May 5

Summary of experience // Temperament of Space @ Dawn of Summer event

I just wanted to send along a quick summary of my experience with Curiosity of Temperament of Space during the Dawn of Summer event at The New School University Center on Friday 5/1, specifically highlighting areas where I feel the piece was really successful, our challenges where the piece might be able to improve, and other general observations.

I would estimate the age range of students who were experiencing the piece as 18 to 27. The ratio of female visitors to male is what I would call 3 to 1, for every 3 female visitors, there would be one male visitor. I would estimate the average length of experience with the piece at between 1 to 3 minutes, with the short outliers around 30 seconds, while the longest stay with the piece were two students constantly interacting with it for well over 30 minutes (more on these two later). In total I believe the piece saw between 60 and 70 unique visitors over the course of the 12 hours.

Feedback that I received from visitors was overwhelmingly positive. I took questions about who on campus was responsible for the piece, and found myself describing the nature of the research, and also the Public Interactives Research Team. Many visitors had specific questions about the technology and software that were employed, and how each were working in specifics to “see” or “detect” them.

< Successes >

Many visitors were drawn in by the visual aesthetics of the piece, to be pleasantly surprised by the interactive audio element. Many commented that the piece was “relaxing” and “meditative”, that the audio and visual elements were “beautiful”. Some visitors wanted to know where in the world the natural imagery was taken from. Some visitors, even though the interaction design meant that the interaction with the piece was “slow” rather than a direct mirror of their movements, wanted to DANCE in the piece. At least 10 visitors over the course of the evening did this. Watching these visitors, I got the sense that their perception was as if the piece augmented, rather than mirrored, their movement. One group of students, actors from the drama school, mentioned that the piece could function well as a teaching aid (act out what you see, and what you see acts with you).

< Challenges >

Many visitors had to be prompted to enter INTO the piece to interact with it. At one point, Dale taped arrows on the ground in an attempt to help people into the space, then into the piece to begin the interaction (unfortunately, it didn’t help much). I found that if I greeted guests and told them to walk in a general direction and that “something cool” would happen, visitors took that as a general invitation to enter the piece. I also thought that general instructions kept visitors in the space longer as opposed to directing them specifically and telling them what would happen.

< the Outliers >

Two Parsons fashion design students, undergrad juniors, one male, one female, spent a very long time with the piece, and in the room in general. Each of them commented that the piece was relaxing and that they enjoyed the pace at which the piece interacted with them. Each told me that they were very stressed out by their final projects and that the piece helped them to relax in a really engaging, but not ‘lame’ way. They made fun of the dance party happening in another part of the building, and that Temp of Space provided them with a great social/technological alternative. Them seemed to enjoy watching other visitors interact with the piece. The male student was very interested with the technology and commented that he wished the fashion department would incorporate reactive elements into their design curriculum.

< Suggestions for further development >

* a random mechanism with the audio distance detection, where once a users distance is detected the upper and lower bounds of the ultrasonic sensor are altered slightly (for instance +/- 5), to prevent users from finding a zone that does something specific. Essentially, to contextually randomize the experience further to promote further engagement and wandering within the space.

* We should consider strategies for shepherding users/visitors INTO the space, eliminating (or reducing) the need for a person to be there with the piece to guide visitors inside.

-David Wilson

Research Assistant

Public Interactives Research Team

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May 5

Ideas City 2015 Project

PiRT is currently working on a project to be included in the Ideas City Festival 2015 at New Museum. The project is a locative experience that makes visible the invisible process of garbage collection.

We’ll post more about our progress soon.

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