City Like App - Report english

/ REPORT ENGLISH VERSION

EAGLES G.Acevedo, D.Capruzzi, A.Nobile, G.Sassi, C.Zanelli 1 / 15

Laboratorio di Sintesi Finale A.A. 2012/2013

1/ INTRODUCTION The purpose of the Final Synthesis Laboratory which we are participating is to analyze the so-called new world of publishing, understand the logic of the environment and the motivations of the actors, in order to develop coherent solutions to the landscape.

As the topic is timely and frequent in the daily life of each of us, this did not make it more familiar to our eyes. Starting from this consideration, the work done during these four months has been divided into very precise phases that allow us to work on our project with a sufficient wealth of knowledge for the realization of an application that meets the requirements of the market.

The first phase involved a massive collection of information, obtained through the organization and participation in events and lectures held by experts in the field and recognized personalities. Through class exhibitions, class discussions and questions the situation began to take shape and know in which we had to operate and the needs or habits that we had to put in evidence.

Secondly, we defined the issue of where we wanted to focus and we spent time in a personal research with the aim to find out what had been done at national and international level. Once formed a circle of interesting cases we have analyzed the structure, operation, business model and user experience to understand what could be taken as a basis for improvement or function that was missing from the start.

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At this point, the third step was to delineate a convincing concept for the design of a hypothetical application to be included in the current market. We explored different ways that are compatible with the theme we have chosen (app for Smartphones, crowd sourcing platform, augmented reality ...), analyzed the possible target and developed the first phase of user experience.

In the last step we have developed a prototype of the application: simulated a possible interface, suggested possible uses in a video scene and mounted a mock up to test gestural interactions between the user and the device.

Now we will go into detail of what has been the process of the design of the application Citylike.

2/ RESEARCH What is meant specifically for publishing?

The word conjures up in the minds of many misconceptions of what it really means, or the management and production of content playable in series and diffusible through the so-called media.

For new publishing refers to the publishing industry since the advent of the Internet and new technologies to fruition, that have radically changed the system of hierarchy and vertical communication of traditional media, transforming it into a completely horizontal.

The subjects were faceable the most disparate, as well as the target to be reached. A strong current trend is to create tools that allow total customization of content use proposed, in order to create a real experience for the user, which becomes the central point of the design or creation. This approach is well suited to both a target due to a “niche� of interest to the wider public.

We have thus chosen to investigate the second path, focusing our research on the industry and use of daily news, the industry that proves to be the most in crisis respect to the new publishing.

/1 NEWS, INFORMATION, SERVICE: DISTINCTION The first thing to determine when designing a product of this type is the editorial line. During our discussions, in an effort to clearly define what and how we wanted to communicate, we mistakenly used the term news, information and reporting as synonyms. It is therefore necessary to clearly distinguish these three concepts before proceeding with the idea.

The news comes when a person comes into contact with the fact and try to decipher it: according to its interpretation, the story comes to life.

Communicate a new implies the need to put in focus the whole thing: first to analyze every detail, collecting every single item on around it in order to have full and conscious knowledge. Its shape depends directly on the cultural background of the person, or rather, the journalist. News depends therefore always from a point of view and from a story, an interpretation.

Although the information is closely linked to the person who communicates, the concept of information implies inside a certain utility, recognized by the person who observes that the encoding as a solution to the unknown that saw before.

For notification, however, the concept is more simple: it refers to a content that has been communicated and made known, regardless of how or by whom have been sent.

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2/ RESEARCH /2 THE COMMUNITIES OF KNOWLEDGE AND THE ROLE OF THE PROSUMER

(1) Pierre Lévy, from “Convergence culture” di Henry Jenkins, 2007, New York University Press

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Having now this difference, we focused on another point closely related to this: who will produce the contents of our editorial product? Analysis previously mentioned on the new publishing was that the communication system of the current media, among which we can include the Digital Network, also includes the horizontal, and therefore also our project was not to exclude it, but to enhance it. You can determine the flow, at any time choose what to see or hear; archive contents, use them in new contexts and edit them. Many experts believe that this “cut / paste” is the basis of creativity: Jenkins, for example, in his book “Convergence Culture” shows how the habit of (re) appropriation of content has brought to light a jumble of amateur productions and widespread creativity.

Twenty years ago the vast majority of the audience was only audience and the only message that could issue was limited to a binary choice: listening / not listening. Today, however, we have several channels to make known their ideas to a very wide audience. With this speech opens the world of so-called community of knowledge and collective intelligence, as theorized by Pierre Lévy.

The era of media convergence makes it possible modes of reception areas, rather than individualistic, the advantage of the Internet is that anyone can produce content that everyone can enjoy. Online forums and social networks (so-called digital

squares) give the opportunity to share knowledge and opinions. In the network the individual can channel their expertise toward individual goals and shared objectives: “No one knows everything, everyone knows something, all knowledge resides in humanity (1).” Collective intelligence is this ability of virtual communities to leverage the combined expertise of their members. It is a powerful force, which is putting in crisis around the world based on the editorial hierarchy.

The intelligent breakthrough is to see this force as an endless source of content for use to their advantage, and not as a dangerous enemy to attack. Many applications and online platforms have been put to work to create an alliance between professionals and prosumers (the user that becomes from a passive reader to an active content creator), with more or less success (an example can be Fact Checking of the Foundation Ahref). It was coined a word for those who, by user, decides to become a sort of amateur journalist, going not only to create notifications, but real information and news: citizen journalism, indicating that the experiment is working.

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(2) from “Perché le app dei quotidiani sono ancora tutte sbagliate” by Francesco Piccinini, journalist and Gruppo Editoriale Caltagirone Digital Manager.

Source: chefuturo.it

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/3 Geolocation

/4 THE CHOICE OF MOBILE

Within the theme we have chosen we need to find a strong point in common that can create the community of user participation. It is enough just to confirm our hypothesis: the character that creates a sense of community and belonging among readers, which may force more interaction in the field of daily news is its location, the territory, where these events occurred; if the information transmitted may return them in good stead as an integral part of their everyday local, if the communicator is a person they can know, if the content covers an area who regularly they attend, in less words everything with they can get familiarized.

Defining the content to a specific geographic area, begin to define the editorial line and the target to which to turn.

It becomes of fundamental importance the communication of the place they are talking about or from which is such content. In this case the help of technologies, are very useful for this purpose, which allow the geolocation of content.

It is now time to ask yourself a few questions on the device to be used: to what support direct our editorial product? What until now we have gathered in our research can be summarized as this: geo-content of various types, on the daily events of a particular locality, produced by pros and prosumers. Many similar platforms in local newspapers online now do the same thing. The detailed analysis of the target to which supposedly aim to reveal a large publishing market continues to expand, that of mobile: “if we put together all the inhabitants of the main Italian cities, we could not touch the threshold of users connected to the mobile network. A large market, rapid, in which the impulse trumps reasoned that - the “do” prevails over the “learn”. The figure becomes even more interesting when we look at how to use the smartphone. While the peak time of the tablet audience is recorded in the morning, between 6 and 8 respect to the mobile that is between 8 and 9, 13 and 14 and finally between 18 and 19. It is clear that users navigate in search of news in situations of “mobility” as they head to work, at lunch or at the end of the day. (2)“ An interesting solution for who likes the geolocation concept. A mobile application allows the use of live content and in different formats (video, text, photos...), closely linked to the place where the user is located and share them with other members of the community.

2/ RESEARCH The choice of mobile device, however, requires some limitations with respect to the design assumptions mentioned above: it in fact is not suited to the creation of newspaper articles as part of a prosumers community. The features of the smartphones and tablets are not compatible with the activity of writing news or similar information to journalistic articles, as they would require too much time to the writer.

These two types of devices, in fact, due to the conformation of their most common applications of writing, they are more suitable for the use in movement of news and information than the production of them. On the other hand, to generate a notification (like in Twitter) takes much less time, attention and energy, and users are much more likely to an active participation. Thanks to this we did a quick search on Twitter, by inserting into the search engine the name of a famous Italian city Milan.

(3) Fabio Viola, from “Gamification, I videogiochi nella vita quotidiana”, 2011, Arduino Viola Editore

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Proved to be an important resource, with a large amount of “tweets” that, because of their brevity and their interest very “personal”, have allowed us to understand what issues and what “tools” (text, images, video, link) citizens told or spoke about their city. We found a strong tendency on the part of the Milanese to share their daily events and what was happening around them on the “bird social network”, releasing almost everything that attracted their attention, from an inconvenience of public transport, traffic in the center, through the lovely view of the church of San Babila, for the alien that blocks the traffic in Corso Buenos Aires and for the reminder exposure to emerging artist in a museum or in Via MonteNapoleone.

In this jungle of notifications carve out a space the Comune di Milano and other voluntary associations, with their Twitter account, trying a new channel of communication with the general public by publishing details on the services offered and events of interest in the city, such as opening calls and contests, election of councilors, police departments, etc.. All valuable information for the design of our product.

/5 THE GAMIFICATION One successful push for a user from a passive to an active fruition is the gamification. Despite the difficulties, the market for products based in gamification is still launched at full speed as evidenced by the latest report issued by Companies & Markets entitled “Gamification Global Market 2012-2016”. The report identifies the Entertainment sector as the main driver for the initial propagation techniques of gamification, because here the need to create an “engagement” with clients is the primary goal.

The gamification is another detail that invites the user to use a possible mobile application, which means that within the app uses “mechanics and game dynamics such as points, levels, rewards, missions and status within contexts “non-gaming” to create engagement and solve problems. A tool able to act viscerally on human instincts, often pushing the users, now players to change their habits in a system made “more fun.”(3)».

2/ RESEARCH /6 CASE STUDIES Below are some examples of successful mobile applications that reflect the points spoke in the previous research.

Virgilio News (Italy)

Virgilio Notizie

EVERYBLOCK

LOCALSCOPE

“Come with a touch in a world of information and services!” This is how the Apple Store app notizie. virgilio.it for smartphones and tablets. The application is the news villages of over 8,000 Italian municipalities, showing useful replicability, very important for a mobile application. Furthermore it has search functionality for the area, to find addresses and phone numbers of restaurants, hotels, bars, pharmacies, etc.., Integrated maps with route calculation function and the ability to see the city “bird’s eye” by choosing preferred perspective.

Are usable news of the main Italian and foreign events with photos, weather forecast of all the Italian places with the ability to save your favorite daily horoscope and more.

All this information, at your discretion, can be viewed within the city map reference or can be viewed in a personalized way, thanks to the filters themes.

EveryBlock (USA) FOURSQUARE

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“EveryBlock is the place where you can follow news about your neighborhood, talk to neighbors and stay in tune with the community.”

The first application of citizen journalism district, allows, at the time, the inhabitants of the major

American cities to take part actively in the system of local information with articles and comments on topics that would not be able to find space in any edition of the newspaper / national news.

Localscope (International) Localscope is a window to the world that allows you to explore your surroundings like never before. Discover places, people and information around you using the technology of geolocation data from multiple search engines, social networks and other applications, customizing the display on the map using the filters “qualitative” and categories of information. This app also allows the sharing of services on some platforms like Google / Maps, TomTom and MetroView Australia and NewZealand.

Foursquare (International) “You want to keep track of your experiences?

Foursquare helps you and your friends to make the most of the place where you are.”

Foursquare is a social network based on geolocation available over the Web and mobile applications. Users run the check-in (on the social sharing of where they are located) via the browser version of the site or through applications on devices that use the GPS. The check-in shall be paid for points and sometimes the “badge” as a gaming system.

Foursquare has signed agreements with Zagat, Bravo, Conde Nast, The New York Times and some other brands available to offer suggestions, special offers and new badges to those who visit places related to them.

2/ RESEARCH /7 THE LINK BETWEEN EMOTIONS AND COLORS The latest theoretical research necessary to define the concept of our application concerns the relationship between colors and emotions.

From childhood we begin to associate the color sensations and emotions. These associations remain constant in us into adulthood and affect the way we perceive colors. Our cultural background and our traditions also influence the color perception. However, it is possible to identify some general characteristics that can be attributed to colors regardless of the cultural context and personal development of the individual.

The perception and receptivity color have an objective basis, although each individual sees, hears and judges the colors in a very personal way.

This is possible because some associations and psychological reactions to color are universal.

Take, for example, red: that color has the peculiarity to attract more attention. Most likely this is due to psychological association that connects red between blood and fire, two fundamental elements in our lives since the dawn of civilization. For this reason, the red is also the danger and makes our attention both active and alert. In principle, the warm colors (yellow, orange and red) are aggressive, restless or stimulating, while cool (violet, blue and green) are reserved, quiet and serene. These notions will prove crucial in the choice of color palette to match our project.

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3/ EXPOSURE /1 CONCEPT AND OBJECTIVES The project involves the creation of an application for mobile devices (smartphones and tablets) that allows geo-information and interests in real time in a specific city.

The objective is to highlight the most interesting places in the city judged by the user through the publication of their content, thus creating a story of the place. Thanks to the mechanical properties of social networks and the possibility to intervene in time “live” map of the city will have a strong emotional character: the place is an integral part of a person and they define each other. The first place awakens the sense of belonging of a person to a community, is one of the strongest points in common between people.

These notifications will be reported and communicated through a graphic color metaphor.

The city in question (in this case Milan) will be symbolized by a map completely gray.

Each geo-locate post, depending on its specific emotional character helps to make that part of the city more colorful. The color is what connects people and places, emotions, communication, information: it is the life and the story of both, and is what drives others to come together and reach out to new places.

The user is asked to become the voice of their city: sharing and geo-locating by applying what they want can tell the location and daily life as she/he wishes. It is also called to participate in a kind of game: more posts/messages, more colors

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the city, more colors the city and he/she receives more personal recognition, defining your user profile in the eyes of others.

At the end the name has been decided: Citylike.

It wants to play on the double value of the word “like” in English, “like” or “as.” The meaning is, your city as you like it. The pay off that accompanies the name will be: “your city, your voice.”

/2 EMOTIONS, AND NOTICES CONTAINED As in the most popular social networks, user notifications can have different multimedia forms. You can publish a notification consisting of a 140-character text, a picture, a video, or simply clicking on the icon and the color that best represents your mood. The only required field is the address: Every post must be connected to a particular place.

The emotional information published on the map by its nature is impulsive and shows a state of mind and a thought that is instantaneous, and all these impressions will create over time the perception of the interest of a certain area of the city. Publications, being impulsive type, momentary, will not have a presence on the map fixed but will be visible only for a certain period of time determined by the interaction with other users of it, after which it will be visually eliminated to make room for new information and new emotions.

3/ EXPOSURE The freedom to choose their own mode of expression is linked to the concept of affordances: Citylike wants to be a pure service to the user. A few rules but leaves much freedom to share the creativity of the user the choice of what to communicate and give purpose to the application.

The notifications will be available in different ways: from the map, by a wall with thematic filters from the people who want to take (the Likers and Liking). Moreover, the content posted in real time near the user’s reach through push notifications can be set on the phone.

The application will also be directly connected with the main social networks such as (Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare) and sharable content.

Within the profile page for each user are different screens: one showing the areas favored by that particular user, a screen “wall” where you can rebuild and see all the history of the publications by the same user, which will be commented from the other thus creating interactions of various kinds. A side profile of the image, the user name and basic data (date and place of birth, a brief description) that discretion can be “blacked out”, you will find two icons, one for the user to access the page “followed” and to display messages to private mail.

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/3 INTERFACE AND THE COLOR METAPHOR The metaphor of color is central to the study of the application: interface design has tried to emphasize the most of this point.

Through the online platform MapInBox we have created a navigable map completely gray. Each user’s post, titled Drop (drop), it will become a colored circle located on the map. The interface of the application itself, characterized by colorful backgrounds of different shades (customizable by the user) is in stark contrast with the gray of the map, turning into a real coloring tool. The colors of the different posts will be different, depending on the emotion that the user will match your drop.

Following the study of colors previously performed, the color palette is defined as follows: for the tones of the expressions of happiness, serenity and wonder, the shades of purple for the disappointment and sadness, and the red for the places where polling gave rise to a dispute.

3/ EXPOSURE /4 THE GAME The actions performed by the user, how to publish photos, short texts, their moods, will serve to increase their “score”. Each phase in which the user performs voluntary action to propose and provide input is rewarded with a certain score and certain “tools” that he will “master”: If a user, for example, publish and express their emotions primarily through photographs, earn the badge “tool - camera” which will be released on his personal profile page within the app and will be visible to all users.

This process stimulates the user to do more and more to have a real visual feedback of your state, that step by step, will define his personality in the eyes of others. Let us not forget that the competition is a dynamic powerful as closely linked to the desire to become the best in a community.

/5 AFFORDANCE: THE (NOT) DEFINITION OF TARGET During the design of the application we realized that we had completely eliminated any kind of editorial content, leaving the task to the future users of the social network.

Avoiding to define a precise target (limiting the residents and frequent visitors of the city in possession of a mobile device), we wanted to turn the app into a pure instrument subject to the concept of affordance: proposing an interface that suggests some applications We untied the individual commands in order to increase the potential for use of the application, freely interpreted by the user.

Rather than specifying a precise target in which we operate, we hypothesized some possible Personas that could arise from the use of the instrument.

University Student: Use the app to chat with friends, inquire about what is happening around her with the news (in certain areas) geolocated, participating in / create public events, to comment, vote, emotion and photos it is a participant in the gamification of the app and you compare with friends, produces a good amount of drop and geo information.

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Shopkeeper: use the app to promote his business, public time offers, which generate push notifications, it is not very active in publishing facts, events and information of public interest, unless they involve his business.

3/ EXPOSURE Inventory Manager events: using the app in a very similar way to the dealer, and creates events pinpointed on the map to generate push notifications and attract visitors, we inform you about news happening around him / her and watch the other events in the area first and then in the city; account average level with oscillations down / up according to the presence or absence of events in its own space.

Citizen Journalist: Use the app to find news, we inform you on the news and creates geo post about what’s happening in the city with his signature, and if he sees something wrong with the signals, producing a large amount of drop and is involuntarily a character from medium to high level account.

Anonymous: use the app and its status as “anonymous” to denounce everything that is wrong, saying everything, “outspoken”, expressing freewheel comments and other drop mainly focusing on the things that the city does not work, a champion of law failure. Account level very active.

City of Milan / Association: Use the app to communicate with citizens, answering questions of a general nature and following the more active citizens to find out how the city is perceived and its work; email sponsored events, decisions and allocations of charges in their seats, to work and initiatives on urban land, collects membership activities by citizens; account with an upper-middle without interest in gaming.

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/6 ACTORS AND THEORY OF SUSTAINABILITY According to the profiles previously assumed, the application design may attract the interest of associations, private traders and administrations exploited in the preparation of a business model to support the project.

Based on the known actors in the field, the economic viability of the service may result from a collaboration with the Comune di Milano (Municipality of Milan), from the sale of “pro” accounts for commercial use to create push notifications “ad hoc” and publicizing events, promotions and commercial spaces, or from possible and hypothetical donations from individuals and associations.

4/ CONCLUSION Closing the Laboratory, the project is almost finished, at least as what regards to the design and mock up.

For being able to test a working version actually, it would be necessary the best computer and programming skills that currently we do not have.

If we will imagine a real practical implementation of this app, it would make sense to follow the guidelines suggested by Luca De Biase during the demonstrative lesson, which he held during the course. After the prototyping phase, you switch to design the real application. At the same time you need to start searching for funds to finance at least part of this small start-up in growth.

Once launched on the market, the real part of the observation of the target takes part. The first year is crucial to understand what’s wrong in your project, and what really works perfectly. The updates would continue, and so are the changes: delete something’s to then start over again. If the product is convincing, then there will be for sure the monetary funds.

A product of this type, according to our perspective, may be interesting for the Comune di Milano, alternatively (or simultaneously) a few development in collaboration with publishing titles of various kinds could work, perhaps creating a personalized custom format in the application for the occasion.

But our attention, in this case, would focus on the user response.

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One such tool, designed to let go at the mercy of the preferences of the user, may lead to repercussions the most unexpected and the most innovative solutions, even by accident. Knowing how to read the reactions of the audience and adapt to their speed requirements, is the secret to run an application as this one.

Maybe within a short time this could be done.

5/ BIBLIOGRAPHY • Cambiare pagina, Luca de Biase, 2007, Rizzoli • Convergent Culture, Henry Jenkins, 2007, New York University Press • Gamification, I videogiochi nella vita quotidiana, Fabio Viola, 2011, Arduino Viola Editore • Breve corso di semiotica, Massimo A. Bonfantini, 2000, Edizioni Scientifiche Italiane • Perché le app dei quotidiani sono ancora tutte sbagliate, Francesco Piccinini, 2012, www.chefuturo.it • http://www.ahref.eu/it/biblioteca/biblioteca

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/ CONTACTS Gina Avecedo, gymaro@gmail.com Davide Capruzzi davide.capruzzi@gmail.com Alessandro Nobile nobile.alessandro@hotmail.it Giorgia Sassi giorgia.sassi07@gmail.com Chiara Zanelli claire_clerus@hotmail.it

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