Latitude

Latitude and ReadWriteWeb recently published a 2-part results series on our open innovation study, “Children’s ‘Future Requests’ for Computers and the Internet,” which asked kids 6-12 years of age to ideate future Web technology concepts.

Latitude created this video to sum up the study’s key findings and big pathways for research, innovation, and the future of the Web:

Latitude 42 Study Findings: Where Else Will Kids Think to Put the Web in the World? from latddotcom on Vimeo.

Download a PDF of the study summary, and check out the blogged results discussion:

1. “Kids Innovation Study Results, Part 1: Web in the Physical World”
2. “Kids Innovation Study Results, Part 2: Creation, Design & Digital Optimism”

The results discussion focused on the myriad ways in which kids are bringing digital into the physical world—to enhance interactions with everyday objects, spaces, and social activities. As the study’s lead analyst, Jessica Reinis, summed things up:

“Currently, we have the ‘iGeneration’ understanding of device as simply an extension of oneself—and we still think that’s pretty novel. But kids are showing us that the next step will be exactly the converse of that. It’ll be a shift from smartphones that can go anywhere to The Internet of Things which is everywhere.”

If there was any doubt that children are excellent innovators, some recent technology developments are corroborating kids’ projections into the digital future. For example, MIT’s Fluid Interfaces Group is working on a “food printer” that realizes a concept submitted by one of our study participants:

I’d like it if my computer could convert images or food and make them real.” — Joanna*, Age 10

Of course, MIT got a bit more sophisticated with its prototypes, but we were heartily impressed with the predictive power of our 6-12 year-old innovators:

“Each one [of the three concept designs] addresses a fundamental process that lies at the heart of cooking, namely the mixing of ingredients; the physical and chemical transformation of these ingredients into new compounds; and finally their modeling into aesthetically pleasing and delectable textures and shapes. Our hope is that these designs will provide a glimpse at the new aesthetic and cultural possibilities, which can be brought forth by a new, digital gastronomy.”

“Cornucopia: Concept Designs for a Digital Gastronomy,” MIT Media Lab

Latitude currently has other initiatives underway to extend its future technology ideation research with kids, including a “phase 2″ of the current study. This iteration will also include children from across the globe; however, it will place a more concentrated focus on children in specific regions, including Latin America, Asia, and Africa. The aim of this second study is to investigate cross-cultural similarities and differences, and to tap into more diverse perspectives on Web-based innovation. (Check life-connected.com in the coming weeks for study-related news.)

*Name has been changed to protect the participant’s privacy.

This entry has been cross-posted to ReadWriteWeb.

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Latitude is an international research consultancy exploring how new information and communications technologies can enhance human experiences. Latitude’s user-centered research approach unites generative, media-based methods with robust quantitative analysis to identify concrete opportunities for Web-based innovation. “Children’s ‘Future Requests’ for Computers and the Internet” is one installment of Latitude 42s, an ongoing series of open innovation research studies which Latitude publishes in the spirit of knowledge-sharing and opportunity discovery. For more information on this study and its applications to your business, email Neela Sakaria.

Video created in collaboration with designomotion.

This is part 2 of the study results discussion.
Part 1: “Kids Innovation Study Results, Part 1: Web in the Physical World.”
Download a 3-page PDF summary of study results.

Yesterday, we posted part 1 of the findings for “Children’s Future Requests for Computers and the Internet,” an open innovation study by Latitude and ReadWriteWeb asking children (aged 12 and under) to illustrate their ideas for new Web and computer technologies.

In our previous post, we looked at the study findings from an interaction angle. We discussed how younger generations expect to have increasingly more intuitive interactions with technology—and, not just localized to swiping and tapping an iPad, but really moving things out in the world of physical activity and objects. This represents “a shift from smartphones that can go anywhere to The Internet of Things which is everywhere,” explained Jessica Reinis, the analyst who headed up the study.

Today’s post will focus on a few other themes that stood out in the kids’ “future requests” for technology and why we think they’re worth acknowledging in the big picture.

Confidence Through Creation and Creativity

Study participant, Dylan (Age 6), killing time on his visit to Latitude HQ.

It’s no surprise that gaming is popular with kids. But creation and design? Yep—unsung favorites. 31% of technology ideas proposed by children were a tool or platform for creating something (a Web site, a game, a video to be shared, a physical object, etc.). “Artistic creation and design were common underlying principles for a large subset of the kids’ technology concepts, with truly incredible diversity across disciplines. Kids wanted to be 3-D game designers, Web designers, fashion designers, landscape designers, industrial designers, musicians, ‘traditional’ artists—and then, of course, the study itself was an exercise in imaginative creation,” adds Reinis.

“I’d like to paint and draw right on the computer screen and have it show up.” — Abby*, Age 8

“I’d like to make up my own video game.” — Zack, Age 8

“I’d like computer games to learn about fashion designing.” — Klara*, Age 11

Per usual, MIT’s Media Lab is doing great things: this time, they’re providing the tech infrastructure to help kids create. They devised a simple language called Scratch that kids (aged 8 and older) can use to make interactive animations, annotated stories, games, music and art. Through an external sensor kit, media created using Scratch can interact with everyday objects such as pencils or water. This study suggests there’s more opportunities to build and extend environments like Scratch (especially ones that are conversant with the physical world) as children’s offerings. (And, of course, when given these types of generative tools for ideation purposes, kids can contribute real value to innovation processes.)

Interestingly, kids’ drive to create—and the expectation that technology will assist creative expression—was highly under-acknowledged by parents. When we asked participants’ parents outright what their children’s favorite computer activities were, only 7% chose some form of creation or design as an option while, not surprisingly, 70% selected gaming. By contrast, children’s own inventions revealed artistic design as a close second to gaming.

Selection of themes coded in children’s drawings (n=126)

The Social World is Growing and Shrinking?

Social networking was especially popular amongst 10-12 year-olds, who contributed 56% of all socially-enabling innovations. What’s more, some participants expressed a desire to expand their social spheres beyond family and friends; they wanted to meet children in far-distant locales (e.g. remotely through immersive “chat” environments).

“I want to video kids on the other side of the world using a different kind of language.” — Emma, Age 7

“Continuous connectivity to people and information via the Web is the norm for many kids today, and it seems to be making them feel more capable and independent—making life opportunities feel closer at hand,” explains Reinis. They can look up any piece of information on Wikipedia in real-time, they can self-learn with sophisticated, interactive games, and they can even video-chat international language partners on Skype for free—and many of them want to do these things.

“We see this drive to experience the world at large and the drive to express oneself in it as symptoms of a much larger phenomenon—a special brand of confidence—which we’re calling ‘digital optimism,’” she adds. For kids today, the world, ironically, feels smaller and more accessible—just as their awareness of its size, diversity, and possibility is increasing.

*Some names have been changed to protect the participants’ privacy. In select cases, participant drawings may be modified solely for the purposes of removing identifying information (e.g. the participant’s name).

This entry has been cross-posted to ReadWriteWeb.

Latitude is an international research consultancy exploring how new information and communications technologies can enhance human experiences. Latitude’s user-centered research approach unites generative, media-based methods with robust quantitative analysis to identify concrete opportunities for Web-based innovation. “Children’s ‘Future Requests’ for Computers and the Internet” is one installment of Latitude 42s, an ongoing series of open innovation research studies which Latitude publishes in the spirit of knowledge-sharing and opportunity discovery. For more information on this study and its applications to your business, email Neela Sakaria.

Header image courtesy of aperturismo’s flickr, (cc) some rights reserved.

This is part 1 of the study results discussion.
Part 2: “Kids Innovation Study Results, Part 2: Creation, Design & Digital Optimism.”
Download a 3-page PDF summary of study results.

If we were to ask you to name one thing you wish your computer (or another Web-enabled device) could do, but doesn’t now, what would you say? Daniela* told us that she’d like to be able to “touch the things that are in the screen, to feel and move them.” Daniela is 7 years old.

Matthew, 6, wishes he could play 3-D games on his computer, and Jenna, 7, would like a solar-powered laptop. Cristina, 12, thinks it’d be great to “travel” more: to experience new, far-away places with the help of virtual reality.

“Future computers” — Natalie, Age 10

Understanding that kids are excellent innovators, Latitude Research in conjunction with ReadWriteWeb, recently conducted a study asking children to ideate concepts for new computer and Web technologies—and the results are in!

While it’s not too surprising that kids today think about digital technologies (and the experiences they enable) as a given, the study found that kids desire increasingly immersive content experiences, better integration of digital technology into physical objects, spaces and activities, and more intuitive interfaces (37% of participants’ creations didn’t even bother with the traditional keyboard/mouse interface). What’s more, our participants’ ideas weren’t just forward-thinking; they were also surprisingly down-to-earth, with only 4% of kids’ “future requests” being impossible demands for today’s developers (e.g. time-travel, teleportation, etc.).

“We chose to use kids for this study because they’re closer to the problem at hand—closer to their core desires,” remarked Jessica Reinis, an analyst at Latitude who headed up the study. “They’re not thinking within the confines of current market offerings or in terms of routine life situations; they’re thinking about what they’d like to do right now, without regard to what’s possible or what would be popular with other people. Those are questions that we explore more in adult innovation studies like The New Sharing Economy, but kids are able to tap into a more basic creativity that’s great for ideating on really broad questions like this.”

Kids today have different experiences with technology during a critical learning period than present adults did, which means they also have different understandings about what it can and should do. “Kids will figure out how to use whatever they get in front of, and that will become the framework inside of which they experience, critique, and create everything else,” explained Geoff Barnes, Director of User Experience at Elliance. “I think that kids’ visions into what the future of technology will look like are highly collaborative with present-day, actual paradigm shifts, like the interaction paradigm shift of multi-touch.”

“The computer becomes 3-dimensional and, instead of a keyboard, it’s controlled by voice.” — Aisling, Age 11

Study Background

Study participants were 126 children, aged 12 and under, from across the globe. Here’s what we asked them:

“What would be really interesting or fun to do on your computer or the Internet that your computer can’t do right now? Please draw a picture of what this activity looks like.”

Parents told us some basic facts about their child’s Internet usage and technology exposure, along with household demographic information, and submitted their child’s drawing.

Screenshot of participant drawings in a Web application (part of Latitude’s Lumière Suite) which allows users to contribute and interact with visual input in a behavioral environment.

Latitude coded each of these images (future technology ideas) for common themes, then analyzed them in aggregate. (Some examples of broad themes included: interest area, interface characteristics, degree of interactivity, physical-digital convergence, user’s desired end-goal, social connectivity, etc.)

Study Findings: Digitize the Offline World

38% of children’s innovations called for more immersive content experiences than are commonly available now, with features like 3-D effects (10% of all submissions incorporated 3-D) or seamless integration of digital technology into the physical world. In many cases, devices could create physical objects such as food or facilitate physical activities such as playing a sport.

“I’d like it if my computer could convert images or food and make them real.” — Joanna, Age 10

These requests don’t seem too radical if you’ve ever encountered MIT’s SixthSense technology, which transposes digital information onto everyday, physical surroundings, and relies on more instinctive, gestural interactions:

Playing “digital” pong on the Boston subway with SixthSense.

For kids today, true synchrony between physical and digital worlds is becoming an expectation rather than a novelty. And the demand for it is expanding beyond the realm of visual media. “Currently, we have the ‘iGeneration’ understanding of device as simply an extension of oneself—and we still think that’s pretty novel,” said Reinis. “But kids are showing us that the next step with be exactly the converse of that. It’ll be a shift from smartphones that can go anywhere to The Internet of Things which is everywhere.” There may be openings to apply mobile RFID/sensors, or even something like Stickybits (which allow people to attach digital content to real-world objects) to register and socialize offline activities through smarter device interactions. HopeLab is currently developing gDitty, a wearable device for kids that records and converts physical activity to points which can be redeemed for “virtual goods and real-world rewards, including customizable avatars, gift cards, even the opportunity to make a donation to a cause.”

Regardless of physical world integration, the vast majority of participants (83%) desired technologies capable of highly intuitive interaction. They requested responsive virtual environments, 3-D games, “homework help” computers, telepathy as a form of device input (4% of all submissions), etc.

“Virtual mind-reading games” — Mark, Age 12

Future Request: Content Interaction (vs. Device Interaction)

Kids are already thinking about 3-D effects for in-home gaming and media viewing, an offering which is just beginning to hit the market as 3-D-enabled TVs. This anticipation of the near-future suggests that visually immersive features alone won’t satisfy any audience for long. “We’ve been investigating a number of emergent media trends and this big idea always comes through; essentially, that users are, more and more, desiring additional ways and means to interact with content—to interact with it and to personalize it,” explained Reinis, who has worked on 3-D studies recently and specializes in interactive advertising research at Latitude.

Kids today approach technology with matter-of-course acceptance—and greater expectations. “It took my 7 year-old son, Alex, under 10 seconds to figure out how to turn it on and unlock the iPad’s screen, and no time whatsoever to understand that touching icons launched apps. Or that swiping the screen controlled pagination. Or that pivoting the screen revealed different data presentations,” wrote Barnes in a recent blog post. “I’m hard-pressed to envision his generation entering college and enrolling in required courses with names like ‘Introduction to Computing,’ to learn about file systems, Microsoft Office, the worldwide web, and email. As I watch Alex, in fact, the idea is as nonsensical to me as offering college courses on how to read an arrow. It’s become that obvious.”

So what might next-generation interaction be like? Based on study findings, it seems that, eventually, each user will crave the ability to architect his or her own content experience: to step into it, to interact with characters, to add and remove plot constraints—ultimately, to alter the course of future events. It would mean the difference between interacting peripherally with a technology, and interacting with the actual story being told through the device.

*Some names have been changed to protect the participants’ privacy.

This entry has been cross-posted to ReadWriteWeb.

Latitude is an international research consultancy exploring how new information and communications technologies can enhance human experiences. Latitude’s user-centered research approach unites generative, media-based methods with robust quantitative analysis to identify concrete opportunities for Web-based innovation. “Children’s ‘Future Requests’ for Computers and the Internet” is one installment of Latitude 42s, an ongoing series of open innovation research studies which Latitude publishes in the spirit of knowledge-sharing and opportunity discovery. For more information on this study and its applications to your business, email Neela Sakaria.

Header image courtesy of busbong’s flickr, (cc) some rights reserved; body image courtesy of Pranav Mistry/TED.

To participate in The New Sharing Economy study, click here.

Sharing is a means to build community, to distribute (and then re-distribute) the resources we need more efficiently, and to tread more lightly on our environment. Sharing is also a flourishing industry that’s accomplished an incredible amount, but is really just getting started.

Shareable Magazine and Latitude Research are co-launching the first ever (to our knowledge!) comprehensive sharing industry study. We hope to learn how people understand sharing at a time when innovative Web platforms and local communities–new technologies and psychologies–are continually expanding what sharing can mean, connecting people to each other (and people to things) in ever-more intelligent ways. The study will assess individuals’ awareness of current shared offerings, their attitudes about sharing and trust, and their engagement with sharing across a variety of contexts. Participants will be contributing to a relatively new and increasingly important knowledge base. Moreover, they will be playing a critical role in helping to generate new ideas and opportunities for the future of sharing. (Results will be shared on both Shareable.net and life-connected.com in the coming weeks.)

We’d love if you could take 15-20 minutes to answer a questionnaire about your feelings toward and experiences with sharing. To take the survey, click here.

Each participant will receive $10 as thanks for his or her time and thoughtful contribution. (At the end of the survey, participants can opt to receive their $10 as an Amazon gift card or, alternatively, they can choose to donate it towards one of two great causes that support sharing and community-building: Creative Commons or Project for Public Spaces). Latitude’s open innovation privacy policy is available here.

From an early age, we’re conditioned to think of sharing as having limited applications–as an oft-inconvenient social expectation. But something is changing about the world: something significant and pervasive, with seemingly unbounded potential. Advancements in technology (especially mobile and real-time technologies) are enabling new kinds of sharing amongst diverse networks of people, often over broad distances. And a new collective psychology is fizzling up: one which intuitively favors trust over skepticism of others, and one which builds influential communities from the bottom-up.

Collaborative Consumption Groundswell Video from rachel botsman on Vimeo.

Today, sharing offers material benefits that can significantly improve the lives of individuals. I can now make money by selling the things I don’t need anymore on eBay (or by renting out items I don’t need all the time on Rentalic) to someone else who does need them. As it happens, I’ve saved the environment from the pollution that goes along with manufacturing more products. (I’ve also probably saved the buyer or renter some money, too.)

Through “possession-on-demand” services like Bag Borrow or Steal (formerly Avelle), I can access luxury or hard-to-find products that might’ve been previously unavailable to me. And I can save money by shedding the high cost of owning and maintaining my own vehicle; instead, I can drive less, walk more, and access a car only when I need one (through Zipcar, RelayRides, and other car-sharing programs).

View larger version. Originally posted on Shareable.net.

In addition to physical objects like cars and clothing, it’s possible to share information, money, time, physical spaces–even agriculture–with people I might not already know. I can join a community garden or yard-sharing community to access fresh, local produce, spend time on a relaxing hobby, and make new friends in my community.

When you stop to consider, most things are shareable in one way or another, but what and exactly how we might share isn’t always clear. “It’s true that sharing is a relatively simple concept and a basic part of human life,” explains Janelle Orsi. “What’s new is that people are applying sharing in innovative and far-reaching ways, many of which require complex planning, new ways of thinking and organizing, and new technologies. In short, people are taking sharing to new levels, ranging from relatively simple applications of sharing to community-wide sharing initiatives — and beyond.”

To participate in “The New Sharing Economy” study by Latitude Research and Shareable.net, click here.

Study lead: Kim Gaskins [email]
Study analyst: Marina Miloslavsky

This entry has been cross-posted to Shareable.net.

Latitude is an international research consultancy exploring how Web technologies can enhance human experiences; our people-driven research approach unites generative, media-based methods with robust quantitative analysis to identify future opportunities for Web-based innovation. Latitude’s 42s are a series of open innovation studies covering diverse topics, unified by a common digital thread, which address everyday problems of great personal and societal relevance. Visit life-connected.com for other 42s, or email Neela Sakaria (nsakaria@latd.com) to learn more about working with Latitude.

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About Shareable.net: Shareable is a non-profit online magazine which explores how to design our streets, cities, workplaces, institutions, government, and technology so that people can share lives and resources. They tell this story because they believe that a shareable world might be just want we need to enjoy life to the fullest—and restore the planet in the process.

About Creative Commons: Creative Commons is a nonprofit corporation dedicated to making it easier for people to share and build upon the work of others, consistent with the rules of copyright. They provide free licenses and other legal tools to mark creative work with the freedom the creator wants it to carry, so others can share, remix, use commercially, or any combination thereof. Creative Commons exists entirely because our users, advocates, and supporters contribute to its success.

About Project for Public Spaces: Project for Public Spaces is a nonprofit planning, design and educational organization dedicated to helping people create and sustain public spaces that build stronger communities. They have completed projects in over 2500 communities in 40 countries and all 50 US states. Partnering with public and private organizations, federal, state and municipal agencies, business improvement districts, neighborhood associations and other civic groups, PPS improves communities by fostering successful public spaces.

Header image courtesy of katmere’s flickr, (cc) some rights reserved.

Click here to download a 2-page PDF summary of study findings.

This post was authored by Jeremy Adam Smith, editor of Shareable.net (where this entry was originally posted). Latitude is proud to have partnered with Shareable.net on “The Interactive Future of Food” study.

Food is more than just a way to stay alive. It’s also a force that ties the human community together, through universal need, border-crossing commerce, kitchen gossip and dinner table conversation, potlucks and picnics, restaurants and cafes, all the places and times when we come together as friends, families, communities.

Human relationships—and our relationships with our food—have always been shaped by technology. And today, the Internet and mobile technologies are revolutionizing our communities and food consumption to degrees we are only just starting to understand. Technology has created many problems in the way food is grown, distributed, and consumed. But could technology offer solutions as well?

To help answer that question, Shareable.net teamed up with the research consultancy Latitude to study how digital connectivity shapes food choices. On Tuesday, we described how mobile technologies are now helping people interface with food; on Wednesday, we revealed participant ideas for how connectivity might help us make better food choices.

Today, we explore what our study suggests about new opportunities for local sharing and community building. “No matter what information we’re after, community (and therefore trust!) seems to be an important part of it,” wrote study leader Marina Miloslavsky in a comment on Tuesday’s installment of this series. She continued:

“Personally, I buy my fruits and vegetables at a local farmer’s market, and I trust what my grocer is telling me about that produce. And I trust him to tell me when he doesn’t know certain information, too. Examining all of our entries for this study, people certainly mentioned shopping at farmer’s markets, co-ops, and other places where building that community is easier than at a traditional supermarket.”

Thus our participants simultaneously recognized the limits as well as the promises of technology. An iPhone app might help us to navigate a world of consumer choices in a way that’s more environmentally and nutritionally responsible, but we’re also seeking real community. The closer the information source, the more it is trusted. For example, only 14 percent of participants mentioned that they’d like to receive background/product information from suppliers, but 51 percent said they’d like to receive this type of information from stores where they shop (response options were not mutually exclusive).

In addition to real contact with stores and co-ops that seem to share and reflect the values of shoppers, and provide a sense of neighborliness, some participants suggested that “objective” information is increasingly established through aggregating many, often diverse, perspectives. That’s where technology can prove helpful. As one participant put it:

“Blogs, blogs, blogs. Ranking systems, rating systems, investigative journalism, I get it all through the Internet. I have apps for my iPhone like ‘don’t eat that’ and ‘good guide’ that help me at the store too. I learn as much as I can at home, and then carry reference systems in the form of seafood guides and price checkers for my phone.”

Participant submission, “The Interactive Future of Food”

Another participant emphasized that the information should best come through diverse sources, and that each point of access should touch the others and form a kind of dialog:

“Some sort of a kiosk with internet access, store-provided information, and a local shopper’s community would have been possibly quite helpful. As what I needed were product reviews for subjective qualities, it would have been important for me to know that people were free to speak their minds (within the limits of respectful language), so the equivalent of moderated message boards with a commitment to free expression could have worked. Also, some sort of prompting for customers who left reviews to describe their experience as a user, not just rave or complain, would help; as would some rateable items, such as ‘flavor’ and ‘mixing’, depending on the items in question. This could also be nice if it could be accessed from home, and perhaps encouraged participation with coupons or special deals of some sort.”

Participant submission, “The Interactive Future of Food”

These perspectives suggest that stores—both chains and independents—can improve shopping experiences by helping to aggregate information and provide more nutritional and environmental information for customers.

These combined notions lead to a superficially paradoxical conception of the grocery store as both a node in a wider network and a focal point for local community, where members can congregate, share information, and aggregate their information with other communities. “The store of the next generation will look like a combination of the local farmer’s market and the food cooperative owned locally by the community,” wrote one study participant, who continued:

“It will not only be a place to buy food, but a place to connect with your local community in real ways. There’ll be some layers for Internet information sharing, many of these are already in place. Food co-op and many farmer’s markets utilize the internet to keep customers and members up to date and even giving them the opportunity to pre-order a farmer’s market delivery…giving the farmer more specific information for how much needs to be picked (less waste). In the end, local food and sustainability will be best served by appropriate use of technology and information, not information and technology overload (people may already be experiencing that with digitized self-checkout scanning carts and neon lights all a glow).”

Participant submission, “The Interactive Future of Food”

Shareable.net is a non-profit online magazine which explores how to design our streets, cities, workplaces, institutions, government, and technology so that people can share lives and resources. They tell this story because they believe that a shareable world might be just want we need to enjoy life to the fullest—and restore the planet in the process.

Header image courtesy of yourdon’s flickr, (cc) some rights reserved; body image courtesy of rachelpasch’s flickr, (cc) some rights reserved.

Download a PDF summary of “The Interactive Future of Food” study findings here.

This week, Latitude and Shareable.net have been exploring topics related to food–community-building around food, local, more sustainable systems for food production and distribution, ways to improve our experiences in food shopping environments, and technology solutions for making desired information more accessible to us at critical decision-making moments (such as while shopping for groceries).

Shareable and Latitude jointly conducted an idea generation study, using the power of collectivity creativity (“the wisdom of many”) to envision solutions for the future of food. Ultimately, each participant told us a story about a time they desired more information while food shopping, and then suggested a technology solution which might have solved this dilemma. Our three installments to date identified the main themes that emerged from the study–but not all responses fit tightly into those themes. In some cases, participants stretched them into new territory, truly thinking outside the box.

Below is a selection of “outliers” straight from participants mouths’ (or keyboards): potential solutions offered to address the various information gaps which people currently experience while making real-time decisions about food in store environments. They are non-representative good ideas that we thought were worth recognizing as ahead-of-the-curve–not to mention, potential food-for-thought for forward-thinking retailers.

Local community

Food co-ops and many farmer’s markets already utilize the internet to give farmers more specific information about customer demand (less waste). The store of the next generation will look like a combination of the local farmer’s market and the food cooperative owned locally by the community. It will not only be a place to buy food, but a place to connect with your local community in real ways. –Male, Age 36, (no city provided)

Physical navigation

A simple map with all the items the store carries–as a touch screen on the carts and baskets and at the entrance would be great, or a PDA wifi in-store map or mobile Web site. And an online service of the same nature for pre-shopping planning. –Male, Age 53, Gloucester, MA

Inventory and lists

Have a digital display with the restock date–then tie it to a discount coupon (either hard copy or via SMS short code). –Female, Age 40, San Francisco, CA

Install RFID/barcode scanners, weight sensors in cupboards and the fridge; wire them all up to a Web server running some sort of inventory software that can serve XML feeds of my current home inventory to my phone. –Male, Age 33, Milford, CT

Comparison and personalized convenience

Give me an augmented reality device which I can hold up in front of an item on a shelf and it will overlay apples-to-apples comparisons of that item against those offered at my default stores as well as any in the area offering same item. And, ideally, it would use natural language. “No, don’t get that here. It’s cheaper at XYZ and you’re going there next anyways to also buy ABC and DEF.” –Male, Age 46, Cleveland, OH

Recommendation services

An ingredient “anagrammer”–an app that would tell me various recipes I could make using the ingredients I currently own (with the addition of a few store purchases). It could dynamically suggest recipes and ingredients I might like based on my current ingredients, past ratings and personal preferences. –Female, Age 25, Cambridge, MA

This entry has been cross-posted to Shareable.net.

Lead analyst on “The Interactive Future of Food”: Marina Miloslavsky.

Latitude is an international research consultancy exploring how Web technologies can enhance human experiences; our people-driven research approach unites generative, media-based methods with robust quantitative analysis to identify future opportunities for Web-based innovation. Latitude 42s are a series of open innovation studies covering diverse topics, unified by a common digital thread, which address everyday problems of great personal and societal relevance. Visit life-connected.com for other 42s, or email Neela Sakaria (nsakaria@latd.com) to learn more about working with Latitude.

Header image courtesy of scobleizer’s flickr, (cc) some rights reserved.

This week, we began publishing results for our open innovation study (in conjunction with Shareable.net), “The Interactive Future of Food.” We’re posting one topic per day, revealing study results, to the homepage of Shareable.net. We encourage you to jump into the discussion there!

You can also download a PDF summary of “The Interactive Future of Food” study findings here.

We want to thank all of our participants who contributed such rich, thoughtful narratives about their own food and food-purchasing experiences. (“The Interactive Future of Food” is a narrative analysis study.) Their participation pushed us over our goal, and we’re happy to say that Latitude recently donated $500 to The Hunger Project (a global non-profit committed to the sustainable end of world hunger), as a result of their time and creativity. Sincere thanks for all the valuable contributions!

Below is an interactive data visualization containing some demographic and basic technology profiling information (general location, age, gender, smartphone usage, tech adoption, and referral source) about our US study participants. (See further down the page for a world map visualization.)

To view the visualization at full size, click here.

To view a world map visualization of all participants across the globe who participated in “The Interactive Future of Food,” click here.

Lead analyst on “The Interactive Future of Food”: Marina Miloslavsky.

Latitude is an international research consultancy exploring how Web technologies can enhance human experiences; our people-driven research approach unites generative, media-based methods with robust quantitative analysis to identify future opportunities for Web-based innovation. Latitude’s 42s are a series of open innovation studies covering diverse topics, unified by a common digital thread, which address everyday problems of great personal and societal relevance. Explore life-connected.com for other 42s, or email Neela Sakaria (nsakaria@latd.com) to learn more about working with Latitude.

Header image courtesy of vintage85′s flickr, (cc) some rights reserved.

Click here to download a 2-page PDF summary of study findings.

Yesterday, we unveiled the first results from our food innovation study (co-launched by Latitude Research and Shareable.net) which explores the impact of information accessibility on real-time decision-making through a quantitative analysis of participants’ personal narratives; specifically, it examines ways in which in-the-moment answers can help us to make food choices that are healthier and more sustainable for the environment. It also considers ways in which offline retail environments (like groceries stores), integral to our daily lives, can work with us–not against us–to get the information we need. Today we’ll focus on the technology solutions that our participants generated to solve their own information dilemmas.

We’re more motivated than ever to make informed decisions, understanding that the information we desire is out there, lurking somewhere in the vast expanse of virtual space–but just out of reach in many offline contexts when having that information would have the greatest effect on our actual behaviors. We have busy lives with limited time and patience to pre-research and rummage for the brand that has transparent labeling and happens to match our preferences. The study found that time spent shopping offline is rarely for discovering new food products or recipes–it’s time to grab what we need (with as much attention to food origins, health, etc. as possible) and get on with the rest of life.

I’m cruising through our local grocery store with 2 kids–ages 3 and 5. No time to waste because the attention span of the tots accompanying me is at an all-time low. It’s a last-minute after school, after-work mad-dash to grab the “staple” items quickly. Well, I’ve been trying to buy more items locally–everything from meat and cheese and milk to orange juice. Okay, this is where I hit my wall. There is no easy way to figure out which items are actually local… none of the foods are clearly marked. I don’t have time to read labels and sift through stacks of cheese.”

Excerpt from participant submission, “The Interactive Future of Food”

According to users, solutions for the near-future of food might include:

1. Mobile applications–especially ones which provide information that is richly, contextually relevant to our offline environments (and objects in them). Regardless of the type of information sought, 3 in 10 participants (which was 6X the number who actually used smartphones while shopping!) suggested a mobile phone solution to their information problems, with 43% of these participants specifying the use of a mobile application. Whether they needed to know official standards for “organic” eggs, or simply needed to locate organic eggs in some nearby aisle, participants were equally likely to suggest a mobile phone solution to satisfy their varied information requests.

   One current offering, an iPhone application called RedLaser, better connects users with comparison cost information by providing online price listings via barcode scanning of an in-store item.

   RedLaser from Jeffrey Powers on Vimeo.

   It’s a solid start but, in the context of food shopping, some users feel that it only gets part of the way there, largely because it lacks a local focus. “Grocery items that are on sale are not [called out] in Redlaser’s listings; local grocers are also not listed,” explained one participant who currently uses the app. “The result is that I miss out on sale items which can have a big effect on the bottom line. A more ideal solution would be a RedLaser app that cross-compares brand and sale prices for local grocery stores.”

2. Seamlessly integrating information into our physical surroundings, such as via mobile QR codes/barcodes and RFID scanning–technologies which 16% of participants suggested to fill their own information gaps. (Topically, Stickybits recently hit the market, bringing barcode scanning for mobile users further into the mainstream as a way for individuals to “tag their worlds”; Stickybits are adhesive barcodes readable by iPhone and Android applications which allow users to attach digital content–from YouTube videos to Wikipedia pages–to real-world objects and places. They are then accessible to other users via the Stickybits app.)

   Barcodes for shopper use, attached to products and shelves in food stores, could offer information (and visual media), making official labeling standards, farming practices, food origins, and user reviews and recommendations easily accessible in real-time. “QR codes or something similar, standardized across the food industry, would help all of us smartphone users a lot with getting information about the food item we’re currently looking at,” remarked one study participant.

   

   Stickybits barcodes, unveiled at SxSW Interactive 2010.

   Augmented reality, which overlays environmentally relevant Web information onto a smartphone’s camera view, also came through as an emergent trend for better “embedding” information into physical spaces.



Smartphone screenshot of a location-aware augmented reality application.

The information being accessed by users might relate either to “background” facts and food standards which would help to recognize more healthy or environmentally-friendly products, or to more “logistical” information for comparing prices or navigating a store (efficiently and with minimal frustration!) to find the items we need. But one thing is certain–information must be highly relevant in context and access must be truly hassle-free. Even those shoppers motivated enough to whip out a smartphone mid-aisle currently sense the disconnect between physical and virtual information spaces:

… but then you find yourself looking at a list of low-relevancy search results that are almost never applicable to the specific item you’re holding.

–Excerpt from participant submission, “The Interactive Future of Food”

So who is ultimately responsible for making material improvements in information accessibility–for realizing these solutions? Participants were more likely to suggest solutions which positioned their local stores (over product suppliers) as information sources, creating a natural opening for retailers to step up and supply the kinds of digital tools which facilitate informed purchases. Nearly half of participants (45%) suggested portable solutions, which might take the form of mobile applications–or store-provided barcode scanners, among a number of other possibilities. Stationary solutions in stores, however, were also popular, with 31% of participants suggesting them.



Friday’s post will offer a selection of “outliers”–non-representative solution ideas that we felt were worth acknowledging–directly from participants’ narratives. Tomorrow’s post will focus on local, sustainability, and community-oriented implications for food and food-purchasing environments.

Lead analyst on “The Interactive Future of Food”: Marina Miloslavsky.

This entry has been cross-posted to Shareable.

Latitude is an international research consultancy exploring how Web technologies can enhance human experiences; our people-driven research approach unites generative, media-based methods with robust quantitative analysis to identify future opportunities for Web-based innovation. Latitude’s 42s are a series of open innovation studies covering diverse topics, unified by a common digital thread, which address everyday problems of great personal and societal relevance. Explore life-connected.com for other 42s, or email Neela Sakaria (nsakaria@latd.com) to learn more about working with Latitude.

Header image courtesy of Customers Rock!

Summary of findings for “The Interactive Future of Food” study available as a PDF download here.

A few weeks ago, Latitude and Shareable co-launched an innovation study around information access and decision-making in context—as related to food and food-purchasing in store environments.

If we could easily get the information we need while wandering the aisles of Stop ‘n Shop or while weaving between produce piles at our local farmer’s market, we might ultimately eat healthier meals, distinguish between brands with a sustainability bent and those without (making quite a difference to the environment, en masse), and have more positive experiences in the retail spaces that are integral to our everyday lives.

The study asked each participant to relay a personal narrative about a specific time they desired more information while food-shopping and to suggest a technology solution which might’ve improved their experience. Latitude then developed a reliable coding scheme to pick out and quantify specific trends (such as information need categories, information-seeking behaviors, and proposed solution attributes) in participants’ free-form, personal narratives.

Recently, Latitude donated $500 to The Hunger Project, a global non-profit committed to the sustainable end of world hunger, on behalf of those who contributed such rich, thoughtful narratives to “The Interactive Future of Food” study. Thanks to all who participated!

To learn more about “The Interactive Future of Food,” please download our 2-page PDF here which summarizes the study findings.

Marina Miloslavsky is a senior analyst at Latitude, and the lead on “The Interactive Future of Food” study. You can email her here and follow her author feed here.

Header image courtesy of Customers Rock!

Click here to download a 2-page PDF summary of study findings.

Harnessing the rich detail, creativity, and individual relevance of personal narratives, Shareable and Latitude Research recently co-launched an innovation study to explore food information needs, information accessibility in decision-making contexts (e.g. while food shopping), and technology solutions for the future of food and offline purchasing in general. The study (led by senior analyst Marina Miloslavsky) asked participants to tell a story about a time when they needed more information while food-shopping, and to suggest a technology solution which might have addressed their needs.

Currently, we live in a world where we understand that any bit of information we require most likely already exists somewhere. Today’s information woes relate to access, not the existence of information. More specifically, access to information at particular times and in certain contexts becomes increasingly important because we know it’s already possible through mobile and real-time technologies; it’s just not being applied to some everyday scenarios. However, there are instances when having more information would easily change our decisions and behaviors. If we could use new technologies to access all of the food information we desired while shopping for groceries, we’d likely be healthier, happier in our environments, and more sustainable as a society.

Set the scene. We want to feel like we’re really there with you.

“I’m usually not a thorough person. I’m an impulse buyer at heart. But lately I’ve been approaching my food shopping with the background research and patience of a 50-year old man looking for a car for his youngest daughter.

I pick up each brand and study the packaging. Where the heck is this chicken raised? I search labels, sometimes for 15 seconds until I hit on a locality. One says Pennsylvania. That’s pretty close. But then I read closer and see that the distributor is located in Pennsylvania. Does that mean it’s being distributed from Pennsylvania, or just that their computer systems running the complex process of shipping chicken all over the country are located in Pennsylvania? I take note of each location and then set in on my next information criteria. What are it’s almost-organic or all-organic qualifications? …”

Excerpt from participant submission, “The Interactive Future of Food”

“The Interactive Future of Food” (Introduction for Participants) from latddotcom on Vimeo.

Current Information Demand: Background Facts + Food in Physical Space

In the context of food-shopping, more than half of participants (56%) expressed a primary information need relating to “background” product information (such as health, food origins, organic, farming practices, food safety or ingredients), while 31% required information more “logistical” in nature (location in store, price, or inventory).

With new awareness of sustainability issues at the level of personal decision-making and Web resources to make these processes more transparent to the public, it’s not surprising that food origins emerges as the single most commonly expressed information need. (Check out Sourcemap, a tool for researching and optimizing the supply chains behind everyday products, and LocalHarvest and SharedHarvest to find sustainably grown food in your area).

Participants’ expressed information needs by category. In cases where participants expressed more than one type of information need, a “primary need” was coded to reflect prioritization by the participant. (n=93)

The second most “in-demand” category of information related to navigating one’s immediate physical environment–rooted in the universally relatable (and frustrating) experience of not being able to locate something you need in a store. When we stop to think about it, connected culture dictates that, just as we should be able to wiki clear-cut “cage-free” standards suddenly from our smartphones, shouldn’t we be able to “Google Map” our way around grocery store aisles? Mobile technologies have empowered decision-making processes and blurred the line between physical and virtual information needs–by responding in real-time, anywhere we require answers.

Information Scarcity: Credibility and Context

As it happens, people often aren’t getting the answers they need. Among the participants who didn’t have their information needs resolved at all, a majority (59%) ultimately made purchases regardless–and 1 in 5 people explicitly mentioned that this was a recurring experience. In addition to an accessibility issue (simply getting the information we need where we are, when we need it–we’ll explore the technology solutions that participants generated in tomorrow’s post), one possibility is that people simply don’t know where to locate trustworthy information.

“What is a transfat? Why don’t I want it in my crackers? How do I recognize products that are bad for me? Most people want to eat healthily, they just don’t necessarily know how, and supermarkets don’t actively help.”

Excerpt from participant submission, “The Interactive Future of Food”

For example, only 14% of participants said they would have liked to receive background product information from the product’s supplier; conversely, 51% said they’d like to hear this type of information from stores (response options were not mutually exclusive)–indicating a possible opportunity for stores to alleviate information-frustration by building out user tools and extending this root sense of trust. After all, purchasers are increasingly information-autonomous, and “Web 2.0″ philosophy rewards businesses which facilitate information transparency and accessibility. The integration of social information streams presents another avenue for connecting individuals to trusted information, as today’s benchmark for unbiased information–especially consumer-related information–becomes the consensus of the social aggregate.

Why Isn’t There an App for That?

What’s clear is that no matter what type of information people required in trying to make informed purchases, the solution was often perceived to be a mobile one. In fact, 3 in 10 participants (6 times the number of people who actually used smartphones while shopping!) suggested mobile solutions to their own information dilemmas.

It didn’t matter whether I wanted to know if the store’s tomatoes were locally grown, if I wanted a price comparison with other stores in a 5-mile radius, if I wanted credible standards for “organic,” or if I just needed to track down this store’s tabouli: mobile was just as likely to be perceived as the answer to one information need as another–and by people who aren’t currently smartphone users in this context. Mobile has become an integrated solution for informed, real-time decision-making–an expected offering–rather than simply a platform for accessing superfluous, “nice-to-know” information.

In tomorrow’s post, we’ll take an in-depth look at the common solution attributes that participants generated in solving their varied information challenges.

Latitude recently donated $500 to The Hunger Project, a global non-profit committed to the sustainable end of world hunger, on behalf of the individuals who contributed their time and thoughtful narratives to “The Interactive Future of Food.”

An alternate version of this entry has been cross-posted to Shareable.

Latitude is an international research consultancy exploring how Web technologies can enhance human experiences; our people-driven research approach unites generative, media-based methods with robust quantitative analysis to identify future opportunities for Web-based innovation. Latitude’s 42s are a series of open innovation studies covering diverse topics, unified by a common digital thread, which address everyday problems of great personal and societal relevance. Visit life-connected.com for other 42s, or email Neela Sakaria (nsakaria@latd.com) to learn more about working with Latitude.

Header image courtesy of wolf_359′s flickr, (cc) some rights reserved.