'I was here': Time Lapsed Presence Indication

'I was here' is essentially time-lapsed presence indicator between one individual and other observers or participators. It is similar to the 'one to one' hierarchy explored earlier, but without the element of secrecy and with the introduction of an element of anonymity. They could possibly 'leave' other things behind which are more permanent than their presence i.e. notes, drawings or photographs. Their presence at a space is the memory which they are sharing; it doesn't have to be formatted, and the memory which is created at the other end is a group memory which will be different at every point in time.

There are lots of different versions of the concept of 'i was here', and there are many different purposes and contexts of use. In a public space users could be free to engage randomly, or there could be some kind of subscription service.

One interesting example of Transient Memory in a public place is one i found on a travel blog from germany... Couples mark the bike locks with their initials and a date and chain it to the gate. There are lots of them and it represents almost frozen points in time. There is a permanence to it, yet what it represents (love) can be transient. It is the idea of leaving a piece behind you, but you do know that at any point the gate could be torn down or the metal could corrode.

http://sarahlyn-idiotabroad.blogspot.co.uk/

There is a sense of anonymity to it. It could be interesting to see a record of who was there, when they were placed and a sense of history. Although engagement with the artefact is transient, there could be a service which allows users to 'tap' into the history after the fact.

It will be interesting to find out if people like to 'make their mark'. I could conduct a survey of people and find out ways that they 'make their mark' and their general response to the concept. The difference between transient memory mark making and the usual is the 'planned obselence' of the memories. Perhaps the people would like a choice in how long to leave their mark? I could use 'tabular analysis' and  pay particular attention to the problem of 'sampling error', as described in chapters 8 and 9 of 'Survey Research' by Roger Sapsford. 

The problem of sampling errror is in misrepresentation of subjects in regards to the general population and even between eachother. 'there is a genuine difference between the groups in the same sample'. It is important to take into consideration who is being sampled and who they represent. Also to explain differences between people in the same study.

Some questions i would have to ask myself are (from page 13)

• What's the problem?
• What kind of answer am i looking for?
• What kind of an argument might lead from the question to the answer?
• What kind of evidence will i need to sustain this kind of an argument?
• How is this kind of evidence to be collected, and from/about whom or what?
• How shall i demonstrate to the reader that the evidence is valid?

These are questions that i will have to answer in the report, so they 'are questioned we need to ask at the very beginning' p.12.

With transient memory, although the users experience things transiently, it could also be useful to have some kind of general use monitor for administrators to understand usage and to make improvements. In 'Undercover User Experience Design', the importance of iterative design are stressed and it was said that design is never finished. I believe this to be true... What works now may not be appropriate in 5 years time. Take web design for example. 

With 'i was here', the users might want to 'see' what activity is happening with whatever they were engaged with. A website might encourage participation.

http://www.chasingducksblog.com/ducks

This website allows users to tag ordinary rubber ducks and track their progress around the world in the form of photographs. It seems to be a progression of the concept where children release balloons with postcards and see which ones come back! Users interacting with the ducks experience them transiently, and can log in to the website to see where they've been. You can see where other peoples ducks have been too. The ducks can be found randomly or sent to specific people. 

This is the websites description of the process

• 01 | Get your 'duck'
  Any portable object tagged with a URL and code can be followed on the Chasing Ducks website
• 02 | Add multimedia
  Attach pictures or videos to your duck, blog its adventures and find out where it's been
• 03 | Keep the duck alive
  Use social media to share, follow and hunt ducks. Get quacking!

It is a mixture between surveillance and transient memory. The ducks don't stay in one place for very long, but at the same time you can 'tap in' to its history, as described earlier. The randomness of the process is what is so intriguing about it. There is also the sense of community around the concept.

Below is a song by Beyonce coincidentally titled 'I was here' about leaving something behind after she had gone.