A huge collection of insights was used to inspire a workshop around intensive mobile internet usage. We put these insights together from a large research in the streets of Berlin to support a fresh wave of ideas in a workshop by T-Mobile. Broadband access via the mobile phone had been around quite some time, but its potential wasn’t used by a lot of people because they didn’t find compelling applications. The workshop aimed at changing this.
Make mobile broadband meaningful
Obviously, mobile internet is very helpful for travellers who we interviewed at railway stations, hostels, etc. But many people need the mobile access in their everyday lives because they work away from fixed infrastructure like their home or work wifi — some even leave their appartment on purpose to get into a different environment, such as the students or journalists we met. Especially pupils and students had a strong need to stay in touch with their social networks online. This could turn into a real challenge for them when they had to look for internet access, e.g., on a school trip.
Besides the face-to-face interviews, all the observations of little workarounds, travel habits, social interactions provided a rich source of stories and inspirations. This also showed that people aren’t looking for plain information, even if that’s their primary activity on, e.g., a map — especially in mobile situations they try to get to know the place they are in and make sense out of their surroundings.
Mobile Broadband
A huge collection of insights was used to inspire a workshop around intensive mobile internet usage. We put these insights together from a large research in the streets of Berlin to support a fresh wave of ideas in a workshop by T-Mobile. Broadband access via the mobile phone had been around quite some time, but its potential wasn’t used by a lot of people because they didn’t find compelling applications. The workshop aimed at changing this.
Make mobile broadband meaningful
Obviously, mobile internet is very helpful for travellers who we interviewed at railway stations, hostels, etc. But many people need the mobile access in their everyday lives because they work away from fixed infrastructure like their home or work wifi — some even leave their appartment on purpose to get into a different environment, such as the students or journalists we met. Especially pupils and students had a strong need to stay in touch with their social networks online. This could turn into a real challenge for them when they had to look for internet access, e.g., on a school trip.
Besides the face-to-face interviews, all the observations of little workarounds, travel habits, social interactions provided a rich source of stories and inspirations. This also showed that people aren’t looking for plain information, even if that’s their primary activity on, e.g., a map — especially in mobile situations they try to get to know the place they are in and make sense out of their surroundings.