Data Umbrellas, Openings For Social Interactions

A lot of thought provoking ideas are being bounced around over at the 90 Mobiles in 90 Days blog. A recent post wonders how to make the awkward subway and bus riding experience more social. They observed that the people who did not want to interact usually had clear signals set up: reading a book, headphones, sunglasses. But what about the others who wanted a little interaction – how could they make their desires known?

90 Mobiles proposes “Data Umbrellas” as an answer:

…Which got me thinking about metaphors that could indicate when people were open to social interaction or closed to it. Or if there were ways that people could share information about themselves, but in a way that didn’t necessarily have the social rules and obligations of conversation.

What if mobile phones could indicate this openness by casting a data umbrella around a person? Similar to a the data stink cloud, users could control the information they wanted to share — or simply indicate they were open to conversation or social interactions. They could open up opportunities for social interactions – helping people feel less isolated and alone.

90 Mobiles In 90 Days