Master in I-Design 2008

In Conjunction with Master in Design

Trojan Horse
sustainability as a virus

Project Title:

Dynabike

I-Design Advisor: Claudio Moderini Project Leaders: Domenico Pisaturo | Rodrigo Torres Project Assistant: Renzo Giusti Author: Mauro DAlessandro

Abstract
Dynabike is a urban challenge experience accessible by a bikesharing service. The Dynabikes are equipped with a dynamo which allows to produce and accumulate little amounts of energy into batteries which will be downloaded in special street racks working as big accumulators connected to the public network. So the amount of produced energy will be the result of peoples physical movement. According to his needs, the user will be asked to participate to a street challenge with the aim to defy cars and buses on time, by following alternative tracks suggested by the bike computer (gps locator or bike computer talks to users gps...). The performances will be registered on line and compared to others according to similar tracks features in order to create a global challenge. The Dynabike program is designed to engage people in their health, the health of their environment, and encourage alternate transportation through the use of bicycle which produces electric energy which will be put in the public network.

Table of Contents
1. Introduction
Research

4
4

Question

2. Theoretical framework
2.1.Sustainable Interaction Design
From Well-Being
Designing

5
5
6 8
9

the Product to the Access and Common Goods

Well-Being

Opportunities:
Creative Mobility

Power From the People

2.2.Urban Practices
Criticism to Urban Geographies as a Creative Act

11
12 15

3. Concept generation and development

3.1.The Design Process 3.2.Inspirations 3.3.Concept Generation: Ubiquitous Dynamo
A

17
17 17 22
25

New Research Iteration

3.4.Bike-Sharing 3.5.Pervasive Gaming: Investigation and Research

Player-Centred Expanded

25 27
27 28

Design? Games

4. Concept definition
4.1.Dynabike
Expected

29
29
29

Benefits

4.2.Smart Bikes Systems 4.3.How Does It Work?

Bike

30 31
31 33 33

Equipment Points Parking Racks

Access

4.4.The Bike Challenge 4.5.Game Rules

Fast

34 35
35 35 36

& Furious Rules Ranking and Rewards

General

4.6.Web and Mobile Services 4.7.Why Dynabike? 4.8.Business and Strategy Model
Users Key

37 37 38
38 39

and Target Groups Stakeholders for Implementation

5. Conclusions

41 42
3

References

1.Introduction

Research Question
How is it possible to use the engaging potential of pervasive games to invite people to more sustainable behaviours? This project is strongly based on a concept of sustainablity which starts from behaviours and context in which the social cooperation starts to break the usual models which regulates our life as customers, users, workers, persons. In a world context in which the natural and energetic resources are no more perceived as unlimited, adressing different attitudes and behaviours can be one of the mission of the design of interactive artifacts and systems. Its important to understand that the sense of responsibility of each of us in the primary aspect to deal with when the goal is sustainability; nevertheless environmental problems have been often approached from the point of vew of the renounce to our lifestyle . Now is fundamental to communicate some positive and engaging purposes. Dynabike is an attempt to answer this question by encouraging people to be productive and collaboartive and at the same time having fun and taking care of themselves.

2.Theoretical framework
2.1.Sustainable Interaction Design
The notion of sustainable interaction design (SID) is first presented in (Blevis, 2006; 2007), where the perspective of sustainability in the context of the materials of information technologies is traced especially to writings by (Alexander, 2002; Fry, 1999; Heidegger, 1954; Willis, 2006; Winograd & Flores, 1986). 5465Principles for designing according to the perspective of sustainability imply goals for moving the material effects of design from less desirable to more preferred ones. It is easier to state the kinds of behaviors we would like to achieve from the perspective of sustainability than it is to account for how such behaviors may be adequately motivatedto the point, Stegall claims that the role of the designer in developing a sustainable society is not simply to create sustainable products, but rather to envision products, processes, and services that encourage widespread sustainable behavior. For Stegall, the designers intention to encourage positive constructive ways of life must be part of the design of artifice. Fry points out that intention in-and-of-itself is not enough, since unsustainable effects can oftentimes follow from the best of intentions. The principles presented are general, informal rules of design for considering how the use of digital materials actually prompts the use of physical ones and motivates behaviors that affect sustainability as part of the design process, specifically:

linking invention & disposal is a principle that links invention as a cause of disposal; the idea that any design of new objects or systems wich embeds information technologies is incomplete without a corresponding account of what will become of the objects or systems once they are displaced or obsoleted by such inventions.

promoting renewal & reuse is a principle about the firstorder design requirement for sustainability which includes
5

several of the categories in the category above, namely salvage, recycling, remanufacturing for reuse, reuse as is, and sharing for maximal use, which are the principles treated in this paper. de-coupling ownership & identity is a broadly construed principle related to fashion, the commons, security & privacy, and sense of selfhood in the context of globally changing conditions for the construction of identities as these motivate relationships to consumptions, especially with respect to the possibilities for sharing for maximal use.

From the Product to the Access

As industrial society began to reveal its distinctive traits, the combined development of science and technology offered a growing number of people a hitherto unknown possibility: having at their fingertips products which were the materialisation of complex services machines which carried out cheaply service functions that were previously accessible only to the privileged few (from having clothes washed in the laundry, to having music played by a chamber orchestra during dinner). In addition, by making such products available in rising quantities at falling prices, the application of increasingly efficient industrial systems democratised access, outlining a vision of the future in terms of an indefinite growth in wellbeing or, to be more specific, in the well-being that these products would be able to bring The original strength of the idea of well-being produced by the industrial society lies exactly here, in this promise of democratisation of access to products which reduce fatigue, leave more free time and extend the opportunities for individual choice in short, which increase individual freedom. Considering this dominant ideas of wellbeing, in the last decade, something started to change, at least as far as mature industrial societies were concerned. This change, that has to
6

be related to the on-going shift towards an economy based on services and knowledge, can be summarised in the slogans from the material product to the intangible (IPTS, 1999a), from consumption to experience (Pine, Gimore 1999) and from possession to access (Rifkin, 2000). All this seems good: in principle, access to services and experiences which satisfy intangible needs appears to be a promising concept, an idea on which to built some form of sustainable lifestyle. In the framework of this new economy the central position of the material product in the definition of well-being becomes obsolete: well-being no longer appears linked to the purchase of a basket of material products, but rather to the availability of access to a series of services, experiences and intangible products. More specifically: in a society saturated with material goods, to focus on the immaterial seems more interesting. And, at the same time, when life-styles are characterised by speed and flexibility, the ownership of material products appears too heavy and rigid a solution, something that increases the inertia of the system (which, on the contrary, is intended to be as light and flexible as possible) (Rifkin, 2000, Bennet, 2000)

In fact, in coherence with this vision, which we may define as the vision of access-based wellbeing, life quality is related to the quantity and quality of services and experiences which it is possible to have access to. And, consequently, the idea of freedom tends to be coincident with that of freedom of access (metaphorically, the contexts that best illustrate this vision are theme parks: places where, at your pleasure, you can choose your thrills among many, and where everything has been carefully thought out to offer you an exciting experience provided that you have the money to buy the tickets).

Well-Being and Common Goods

The idea of pleasure and well being associated to the access based society may be resumed by the words of the Nobel Prize winner for economics, Amartya Sen. According to Sen, what determines well-being is neither goods nor their characteristics, but rather the possibility of doing various things making use of those goods or their characteristics (Nussbaum, Sen, 1993). It is exactly this possibility which, in the best hypothesis, enables a subject to approach his idea of well-being, giving him more possibility of being (what he wants to be) and doing . For Sen, the condition of well-being emerges from the dynamic interplay between what could be done and what one could be and what one can actually, and knows how to, do and be. This assumption brings us to a more wide, positive and effective definition of well-being which is not only compatible with the need of a sustainable development, but reinforces it and is reinforced by it. The role of interaction design in this framework is to create the conditions for an easy and engaging acceess to systems of sharing and social consciousness. sharing = easy access to common goods; less environmental impact One of the main aims of this project is to bring back under the focus of the interaction design research and praxis, the idea of designing for common goods. communicating the enabling power of interactive technologies, in the context of an access based society.

Designing Well-Being
Social psychology upholds that in rich countries, in spite of materialist pressure, subjective well-being is related to a belief in interpersonal relationships: the capacity to bring people together around an idea, to get people moving, to get together to tackle a problem.They are therefore a ways for building community values and also of instilling a sense of personal well-being. With this work, I wish to underline that such attitude is within the reach of everybody, it does not concern only large companies but also daily activities, and it occurs when we stop considering ourselves as resource consumers and discover that we are able to determine our own lives perceiving ourselves as active producers. Self-determination, our free choice to do something and really feel that we are changing our situation, brings genuine satisfaction and selffulfilment.However, bringing these solutions about and keeping them going requires a remarkable energy investment by the community. Therefore, if people are to keep investing time, attention and enthusiasm such solutions must give rise to good, positive subjective experiences.

Opportunities: Power From the People

Because our society is so heavily dependant on centralized energy production, obtained from fossil fuels, for its energy, it makes sense to seek out alternatives. Energy from a variety of sources ensures a plentiful supply and prevents us from being overly reliant on a single source, for example involving small utilities, micro-power producers, industrial power producers, homeowners, commercial project developers, cooperative ,grassroots, and non-governmental organizations.

greenpeace scenario of low carbon community (illustration by http:// www.breeze-landscape.co.uk/

This scenario opens a number of opportunities for design and interaction design to play a central role in the future development of a sustainable society. One of those is designing human powered objects. A growing number of everyday objects are now fitted with electronic features, making them dependent on standby energy sources. Mobile devices, toys, alarm clocks use up mountains of batteries every year. While technology so far has been developed towards a state of minimum human effort, I want to explore the potential of using the human body itself as a renewable power source. Manually-cranked electronics were common in the 1940s with shortwave radios taken into the Australian outback. Soldiers and adventurers needed a way of communicating with the rest of the world without the support of an electrical grid. Similarly, companies began making miniature bicycle pedal implements, similar to those sold in todays gadget magazines for under-the-ofce-desk exercising, to generate power for the users two-way shortwave radio. Up to 60W can be obtained in this manner. As the legs tend to be stronger and more enduring than the arms, and since legs also naturally project the force of the bodys weight, generators operated by leg motion appear as a sensible way to obtain more power through deliberate action. Today, the electronics in some
10

tness club exercise bicycles are powered by the same users actions, and its not unusual to see personal computers powered by stationary bicycles in developing regions like rural India and Laos. In fact, some Indian schools combine physical education with computer class; one half of the students bicycle to provide the power for the other half s computers! Other foot-driven generators arent based on bicycles, but instead use a small, stationary pedal coupled to an embedded magnetic generator. A perfect example is the Stepcharger, also manufactured by Nissho Engineering, which can generate up to 6 Watts when the pedal is vigorously pumped.

2.2.Urban Practices
The reference context of this research has been the urban space from the initial investigations. Daily life in medium size cities is often structured in repetitive patterns of movement and social interactions. The relationship between us and the environment seem to progressively depart from a positive model of sustainable development mainly because our highly routined behaviours bring us to lower the awareness for the immediate impact of our own bad habits of consumers. In order to understand whether the critics moved against common daily lifestyles may reveal some design opportunity, I started my exploration looking at cultural movements and subcultures which criticize basic assumptions of daily social interactions, provoking reflections and discussions about the theme of the commons as a right. I divided the exploration in two main groups of movements: the first one is more focused on issues of critical geography, what this group does do is performing collective actions in public spaces, situations in order to break the traditional dynamics of interaction between people and urban context. The second group may be considered as an emerged subset of the first, even if they rarely have explicit political or environmental goals, they appear as a more intresting subject for further investigation, for the their approach to the urban mobility.
11

Creative Criticism to Urban Geographies

A critical geography needs to engage with the everyday practices of all of us who live in the places that we do; it needs to focus on the needs and interests of the poor and the underprivileged; it remains a very modern enterprise, retaining a belief that it is possible to make the world a better place. (Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers)

Fallen Fruit: Fallen Fruit is a project about mapping all the public fruit trees planted on private property that overhangs public space. This grassroots community activism project encourages people to harvest, plant and share public fruit in response to accelerating urbanization. The mission of Fallen Fruit is to expand our community fruit maps, photos and essays to create an online global public fruit resource. The project asks all of us to petition cities and towns to support community gardens and only plant fruitbearing trees in public parks.

12

Los Angeles Urban Rangers: LA-based geographers, environmental and art historians, artists, curators, architects, and others who aim, with both wit and a healthy dose of sincerity, to facilitate creative, critical, head-on, oblique, and crisscrossed investigations into our sprawling metropolis and its various ecologies. Fashioned as a mobile and site-specific interpretive force, and appropriating the figure of the stereotypic park service ranger, we offer educational campfire programs and guided hikes throughout Los Angeles.

Improv everything: Improv Everywhere causes scenes of chaos and joy in public places. Created in August of 2001 by Charlie Todd, Improv Everywhere has executed over 70 missions involving thousands of undercover agents. They covers pranks, hacks, participatory art, flash mobs, and other creative endeavors that take place in public places in cities across the world. The group is based in New York City.

One of the most famous and effective events ideated by Charlie Todd: The Human Mirror

13

Freecycle: The Freecycle Network is made up of 4,629 groups with 6,088,000 members across the globe. It's a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own towns. It's all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills. Each local group is moderated by a local volunteer (them's good people). Membership is free. Their mission is to build a worldwide gifting movement that reduces waste, saves precious resources & eases the burden on our landfills while enabling our members to benefit from the strength of a larger community.

A freecycle manifesto

Guerrilla Gardening: Guerrilla Gardening is a movement who fights against urban degrade of green areas. Their main activity is to beautyfy and bring back to life public flowerbeds planting new flowers and small trees. The movement was born in Italy 3 years ago but has spread out rapidly all over the world.

14

Mobility as a Creative Act

Although the field of mobile media is relatively new, practices embedded in the everyday where mobility becomes a creative act have existed for a long time. Walking is the most ancient form of aesthetic mobile practice. Because of the relation it creates between body and space, the art of walking can become an act of introspection, a critique of public space, a political act, or an aesthetic practice. In Aboriginal walkabouts, a system of routes mapping the whole Australian continent is connected to song-lines and tales of the origins of mankind; walking reinterprets these narratives, bringing them to life. In the situationist drive - an aimless, explorative and playful drifting through city, or "technique of rapid passage through varied ambiences" walking becomes a means of shaking one's perception of everyday urban space and creating new meaning within it: one walks to get lost in the city and break from the monotony of usual everyday paths, exploring unknown urban areas and one's awareness of pre-existing own mental maps. In other mobile practices, such as the urban sports of parkour or skateboarding, mobility turns the urban environment into a physical resource for aesthetic performance. In street skateboarding, people repurpose and interface with urban space through their decks, giving new meanings to pavements and architecture through their physical use. In the discipline of parkour, an extreme French artistic urban sport making use of architectural infrastructures and urban furniture, practitioners ('traceurs') use urban space in a creative way by climbing buildings with their bare hands, jumping over fences or across staircases. Traceurs and skateboarders transform what most of us would consider obstacles or barriers (such as walls or fences) into resources for movement, attaching great importance to mobile aesthetics: while moving through the city or exploring one particular spot, they approach urban space in terms of how it can be used, what resources are available at hand affording jumps, climbing, etc.

15

RecentlytheCriticalMass(CriticalMass2005)bicycleprotest, originatinginSanFranciscobutsincefloweringinmanylocati onsworldwide,havebeenanactivevoiceinurbanspaceandt ransportationreassessment.Underthesloganwearen'tblock ingtraffic,wearetraffic!cyclistsgatherasamassonceam onthonacity'sstreetsinacyclingequivalentofReclaimtheS treets!(Jordan1998). Themovementhashadmanyopponentswithinvariouscityad m i n i s t r a t i o n s , p u b l i c i s e d b y a s e r i e s o f m a s s arrestsinNewYorkCityandvariouslawsuitsbyridersinrespo nse to excessive force by police, and the city to ban the movement(Bluejay2005).

16

3.Concept generation and development

3.1.The Design Process
The research phase helped me to define the two main focuses of the brief: from one side Sustainability and from the other side pleasure and well-being. These definitions, highlighted in the first section, were necessary to delimitate the semantic field of the problem to solve, and to select a little targetted group of experiments and projects facing a comparable area of intrest. The process went on by investigating the state of the art of the pervasive game research, I made intensive use of already existing surveys (mainly from IperG (Integrated Project on Pervasive Gaming). In the beginning of this phase my focus was more to understand the guidelines for designing the physical environment of an interactive system, more than designing a game. Once I set up some necessary variables, it was possible to gemnerate some hypothesis for concepts to develop.

3.2.Inspirations
Bikes Against Bush (Kinberg 2004) was a protest performance during the 2004 Republican Convention in New York City in 2004 before the American Federal Elections. Thedevicewasanattachmenttotherearofabicyclethatwoul dlaywhitechalk,thesamechalkusedtomarksports fields. The attachment would write messages on the cement using the chalkaccordingtomessagessentwirelesslytoitviatheproject's website. The project never got to function during the intended convention however, as Joshua Kinberg, the creator of the device, was arrested during an MSNBC interview and had all of his hardware confiscated on graffiti charges , despite having made no permanent marks on the streets.

17

Bikes against bush

Yuri Gitmans MagicBIke is a mobile hotspot built onto a bicycle.ThebicycleactsasaWiFipointthatfunctionsbyrelayin g an nternet connection provided either by a cellular phone connection or other nearby available access points.TheMagicbike,CriticalMass,andBikesAgainstBushallsh o w t h e b i c y c l e u s e a s a p o l i t i c a l t o o l a n d a symbol for activism and reclamation of urban spaces. Bikes havealsobeenusedasaplatformforconnectivityproliferation. ResearchersattheKanpurLucknowLabatIITKanpurhavedevelo pedtheInfothela(KanpurLucknowLab2003).Infothelaisastan dardrickshawbikewithafullyfunctioningcomputerterminalco nnectedtotheinternetviaa802.11wirelessantenna.Thericksh awwasusedpresumablyasanextremelymobileandmanoeuvra blevehiclethatcouldaccessregionsthatcarscouldnot.Infothel a is about more than simply providing internet access to the poor, the creators see it as a means of empowering thepoorinruralregionsofIndia,whodonothaveaccesstocom municationstechnologies.Itisaninformationsourceforthepoor toeducatethemselves.Thecreatorsalsoseeitasaportableme dicalstation,abletopowermobilemedicaldevicesandprovidei
18

n f o r m a t i o n t o c a r e g i v e r s i n t h e c o m m u n i t i e s w h o wouldotherwisebewithout

Mechanical Design for Infothela

Bubblebuttchair: Created by korean designer JooYoun Paek, the Self-Sustainable Chair is a wearable piece of furniture which is a dress where the lower back part inflates into a chair through pumps placed under the shoes. The balance between exercise and rest would be maintained by wearing this suit.

19

Sustainble dancefloor:Interactive landscape architects Studio Roosegaarde have developed an ingenious form of architecture designed to engage the wider public with the concept of sustainability. The Sustainable Dancefloor, developed for clients Sustainable Dance Club (SDC), harnesses the power of dancing using mechanisms and embedded technologies to generate electricity. Modules of 65 x 65 cm were made using sustainable materials to collect the energy through electronics. SDCs ambition is to reduce energy consumption by 30% and water consumption and waste production by 50%. The dancefloor contributes to this ambitious achievement at the new Club Watt in Rotterdam. Bike4Tea: Bike4Tea prototype consists of of a normal bicycle that can be transformed into a personal powerplant by flipping the carrier upside down. This carrier is fitted with 11 dynamo's (it should have been 14) working toghether to produce an electric current of +/- 70 V. Next we fitted a jar with a heating element (at least a dummy of it) and a light bulb (just for fun) that we could attach to the dynamo's in order to serve as a cooking pot. (http://www.neighbourhoodsatellites.com)

Bike4Tea prototype

20

Warbike: The Warbike turns this wireless network activity into sound. As you cycle the streets, you'll hear the activity of this invisible communications layer that permeates our public spaces.

Warbike equipment (David McCallum)

21

3.3.Concept Generation: Ubiquitous Dynamo

The findings from the explorations, the research and the brainstorming sessions lead me to develop a series of concepts, which catered for a range of situations. These concepts explored diverse performing context, action types (individual or collective, situated or remote), interaction forms (tangible to virtual), usage frequency, and lifespan of the service or device. Here are a few: Total Park: is an interactive skatepark able to exploit the kinetic energy and the piezoelectricity of the skateboards movements and tricks and provide feedback to skaters about their performances

Actors: Local Decision Makers, The teenagers group. Format: Closed space for augmented skate performance Motivation for users: Enhancing the experience of skating and/or riding, Strengthen the groups identity. Supported behaviors: Riding Bicycles-Skating-Rollerskating Time of use: Always

22

Rolling lights : installation for half pipe. movement sensors and accelerometers mounted under the board act like wii brushes on the half pipe sending signal to a set of projectors. the half pipe becomes a canvas and the skater amplifies his artistic instinct.

Actors: Local Decision Makers, The teenagers group. Format: skateboard equipment/specific infrasctructures Motivation for users: amplify the creative side of the skateboarding preformace by giving to players and people around an effective visual feedback Supported behaviors: Riding Bicycles-Skating-Rollerskating Time of use: strictly connected to the performative event

Dynamize: a family of modules for energy production made for urban skaters and bike riders.Its based on the simple principle of the dynamo but aims to be an enabling tool for a zero-impact networked urban game platform enhancing the street skate experience by pushing the skater to produce more energy (=skate more) in order to feed a mechanical system able to detect and count the performed tricks adapting the rollerskates frame.
23

Actors: skate and bicycle manufacturers, The teenagers group. Format: frame modules for rollerblades Motivation for users: participate to a game based on sustainability wich at the same time enhances the performative action Supported behaviors: Skating-Rollerskating (Riding Bicycles) Time of use: strictly connected to the performative event

The common aspect of these ideas is the attempt to integrate the sustainable value -in this case the generation of micro amounts of energy- into a dynamic activity strongly based on the performative aspect. The aim was to hide the effort towards sustainability in the background, bringing to the fore only the rewarding part of the overall system.

24

A New Research Iteration

Working on several hypothesis of concept revealed new problems and new opportunities. After an assessment phase of the first concepts it became necessary to rebrief the research framework in order to scale up the target domain in order to tap on much wider contexts. This strategic choice, on one hand accounts for the decision to open the target group to bicycle users, and on the other motivated the decision to look towards pervasive game research.

3.4.Bike-Sharing
Around the turn of the 20th century, bicycles reduced crowding in inner-city tenements by allowing workers to commute from more spacious dwellings in the suburbs. They also reduced dependence on horses. Since bicycles were three times as energy efficient as walking and three to four times as fast, they also allowed people to travel for leisure into the country,. Bicycles still constitute an important mode of transport in many developing contries. Until recently, bicycles have been a staple of everyday life throughout Asian countries. They are the most frequently used method of transport for commuting to work, school, shopping, and life in general. As a result, bicycles there are almost always equipped with baskets. Recently, several European city councils have implemented successful schemes known as community bicycle programs or bike-sharing. These initiatives complement a city's public transport system and offer an alternative to motorized traffic to help reduce congestion and pollution. Users take a bicycle at a parking station, use it for a limited amount of time, and then return it to the same or different station. Examples include Bicing in Barcelona, Vlo'v in Lyon and Vlib' in Paris.

25

Statistics on bike-sharing impact in some of the main European cities

There are three important structural points about these systems which may not be immediately self-evident.

First, once they are fully up and working (meaning full citywide coverage) they begin to gradually transform the basic metric of the city, much as motor cars did when they colonized the urban fabrics over the past fifty years. As one part of a integrated multi-part new mobility program, city bike initiatives offer a catalytic step toward wide-ranging environmental, quality-of-life and positive economic impacts. Furthermore, by empowering citizens to themselves be part of positive change in their everyday commutes, a city bike program can also have a powerful cultural and political impact - an essential element of tackling climate change. And finally, they may represent a significant improvement to the public transport structures with the chance to influence roads and infrastructure project of some dimensions (the enormous success of the Vlib project in Paris lead to a considerable increasing of the cycle tracks
26

network), until the point to be considered an effective exercise in deep democracy and active citizenry.

3.5.Pervasive Gaming: Investigation and Research

Player-Centred Design?
Design process can be described as a process that combines information and logic.The information, thatthe designers can base their logic on, can come from severaldifferent sources: research literature, statistical data, player research and designers own previous experiencesor visions,just to mentiona few.Taking the paradigmofusercentred design as a starting point means, that the potential users of the softwareor futureplayersofthegame areconsideredasa majorsourceof informationthroughout the process. Botero et al. have described three general strategies that designers use: brief,useand context. In the first, the users are typically represented as abstractions and there is usually poor communication between them and the designers. In the field of game design this could mean that designers take advantage of previous researchthathas been done on player actors that canbe called to validate, test and inform certain phasesof the project.Atypical example of this is having people to playtest a game. The last approach takes the involvement of the users and designers to a further stage that: users and their social contexts are an integral partofthe product design process.

The investigation phase in this project has been developed retreiving, analyzing, and elaborating materials from several existing projects not only in the field of pervasive gaming, but even keeping the gaze open to video games and locative media experiments and projects. a few of these have been already mentioned in the past pages, others were used to inform the target group definition, to set the concept and the scnarios of use, and will be mentioned in the following sections.
27

Expanded Games
Pervasive Games are defined as Games that have one or more salient features that expand the contractual magic circle of play socially, spatially or temporally. Regular games are played in certain spaces at certain times by certain plyers. In the classic games these attributes are defined before the game, even though the possibility of changes may be retained. In spatially, temporally and socially expanded games these changes may also be implicit and unknown to players (even iftheyarepartoftheformal systemofthegame);theplayer might not know when and where the game is played, or by whom. Pervasive games consciously exploit the ambiguity of expanding beyond the basic boundaries of the traditional dimensions of gaming. But which are these possible expansions?

Spatial Expansion: Spatially expanded games are played on the streets, across the globe or in the strangest corners of cyberspace; they range from locative mobile phone games such as Mogi to various forms of treasure hunts and geocaching Temporal Expansion: Temporally expanded games are interlaced with players' everyday lives. The players of the mobile phone game Botfighters could be attacked at any time of the day, while the IPerG larp prototype Momentum sought to entirely merge the game with players' ordinary lives. Social Expansion: Socially expanded games involve outsiders and blur the boundary of playership. Sometimes the outsiders are positioned as spectators, sometimes their unaware participation roles are even more complex.

28

4.Concept definition
4.1.Dynabike
Dynabike is a new model of bike sharing service. Its based on the idea that each user may contribute to the production of little amounts of electric energy by doing exactly what they always used to do on a bicycle: pedalling. The system may be explained starting from its two main conceptual bases: the first one concerns the energy production and the second the urban challenge created around the community of users.

Expected Benefits
The objective benefits expected from Dynabike belongs to two main factors: the reduction of traffic in the cities, mainly during rush hours, and the collective production of an amount of electric energy sufficient to contribute in a significant way to the survivance of a business collaboration with the public electric network provider as direct involved stakeholders, but eventually even with other actors. The first aspect can be analysed as follows: in the main european cities (> 150.000 ab.), more than 50% of PM10 e NOx emissions comes from surface transportation vehicules (Fonte: APAT). Statistics on Italian mobility habits underline that 54,5% of car displacements takes place in a range of 5 km. (58% in the South and in the Islands) and more than 32% in a reange of 2 Km (Source: ISFORT, Istituto Superiore di Formazione e Ricerca per i Trasporti). Its easy to understand that the introduction of a citybike service may impact traffic issues without enormous efforts for the users involved. An intresting aspect is that the most succesfull experiments in this field have been the integration of bicycles in a multimodal public trasportation mode in order to use the service more as an element of the multimodal system rather than to consider it as a competitor. BIke Sharing services alone cannot solve the
29

problem of CO2 emissions but may work within the big puzzle, as door-opener, so to encourage people to a frequent use of the public transportation. Even for this set of reasons I believe that the introduction of a challenge may play a strong role in the diffusion of a bicycle culture. Concerning the production of energy, the dynabikes equipment has been conceived to achieve a considerable impact in a scenario of a city with a high number of bicycle users. Each bike will be provided with two hub dynamos able to generate up to 6 watts at 12 volts. Considering as reference point the largest operating scheme: Paris City Bike service, which counts more than 20000 vehicules, and hypothesizing that each bike is used for one hour per day at an average speed of 10 kmh, its possible to accumulate up to 240 KW/h per day.

4.2.Smart Bikes Systems

By using the kinetic energy produced while pedalling, users activate the dynamo placed in the wheel hubs, and then accumulate electricity into batteries (up to 6 watt at 12 volt) embedded in the bike frame. Thanks to a minimal user interface placed on the bike handlebar, they can constantly be informed about the environmental impact of their ride calculated in terms of produced energy. The racks placed across the city will work as accumulators in which each single bicycle will download the energy stored during the rental time. Each of the multiple station placed in the city will be a little centre of energy storage able to send the energy in the public network and contribute to an innovative mode of decentralised user-generated energy production,

30

4.3.How Does It Work?

Bike Equipment

2 Hub Dynamo: A hub dynamo is a small electrical generator built into the hub of a bicycle wheel that is usually used to power lights. Most modern hub dynamos are regulated to 3 watts at 6 volts, although some will drive up to 6 watts at 12 volts. Lead-Acid Battery: 12 volt marine/trolling battery, 55 lbs., 100 amp hour @ 20 hour cycle, with cycles life 300 discharges. Generator: 24 volt DC. Generators that have proved effective are permanent magnet generators that are rated at 1800 rotations per minute (rpm), and a potential of 1/3 horsepower of output. The voltage output is directly proportional to the rpm's and the capability of this system is to rotate the generator at 900 rpm's. This will lead to an output of 12 volts. Voltage regulator: 20 amp flat automotive fuse that is to be placed in line with the positive electric wire. The voltage regulator limits amount of current flow when battery reaches full charge to prevent damage to battery. Diode: A one way electricity valve placed on either the positive or negative wiring. Must be rated at 25 amps, and at least 35 volts. Inverter: Changes 12 volt DC into 110 AC. Inverters must be able to handle potential peak electrical loads. This calculation should be used to insure that the inverter can handle the electrical loads. Most inverters vary in there efficiency under electrical loads allowing for 60%-90% of original 12 volt DC current to be transferred into 110 volt AC.

31

the electric equipment for the bicycles

Dashboard- User Interface: On the bike handbars ther will be a small dashboard to navigate the gps map, visualize the current energy footprint and the score of the challenge. The User interface is customized according to the chosen access to the service, in any case the information load will be minimized as much as possible in order to provide only the necessary information, and most of all to avoid any kind of distraction during the ride.

the user intarface of the bike dashboard

32

Access Points
Most of the setting functions are placed in the kiosk. The kiosk is the access point in which the user first get in touch with the service. These are the basic functions provided:

registration renting basic information about the service setting route/destination load route/destination

Parking Racks
The parking rack have a double function. Pay toll via RFID card and electric plugs for the Bikes batteries.This last function implies some design solutions, like covering the whole station with an awning shelter, and providing a LED visual signal to unlock the bicycle when they are completely unloaded

A model of bicycle and parking rack

33

4.4.The Bike Challenge

When approaching the renting kiosk, each user will be asked to participate to the Dynabike urban challenge. The main goal is to maximize the amount of energy produced by each user, but the setting and the rules of the challenge will be customized according to the players profile, which may belong to one of this three cathegories:

Fast & Furious. The aim is basically to ride to the decided destination in less than the average travel time in the traffic. the suggested route will be the shorter between the two points and will give a lower score (five points) cumulative in the following rides. Fast trip users are frequent users who choose the bike sharing as a fast vehicule. in this case the game strategy is focused more on the frequency of use than on the lenght and duration of the single ride.

Work-out. The aim is to extend the lenght of each ride by means of ad hoc suggestions to the player route in a way to maximize both pleasure and frequency of use. the challenge looks like a collection of performance data compared with other users on line. The suggested route will be longer and will imply the passage through some check points. in order to encourage people to ride more, the choice of the longer route will give an extra bonus score (20 points). Work-out users are supposedly frequent users who want to enjoy the experience of the bicycle ride looking for safe and healty routes free from urban.

Gran Turismo. The aim of the leisure mode is to maximize the duration of the single ride suggesting touristic routes, the challenge is not intended as a competition, but basically as an mean to enjoy the city and contribute to environmental effort at once.

34

4.5. Game Rules

Fast & Furious

Once the user accept the challenge he has to set the goal point of his ride. The system will be able to calculate the travel time from the present station to the established point in that precise hour of the day, and calculate the correspondent difficulty coefficient . This coefficient will give a correspondent score, and will be clustered with similar performances in order to create an on-line ranking of all registered participants.
0-15min <1 km 1 km 2 km 3 km 4 km 5 km >5 km 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 15-30min 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 30-45min 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 45-60min 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 >60min 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

The difficulty coefficient tab creates a correspondance between the estimated travel time for the chosen route (top row), and the correspondant lenght in km (left column).

The logic of this tab is to encourage users to ride in the rush hours, and for a higher number of km. In those cases will be even much easyer for the players to defeat the traffic travel time and accumulate higher score.

General Rules
its possible for players belonging to to all profiles to create their own route and upload on their web page as we will see. Once the participants start their ride they already own a certain score according to the chosen path. The score variables will be the following:
35

Km ridden. calories burned: detected by an average calculation of ridden distance and speed number of rides: each time the user rent a bike and accept the challenge, will receive a bonus score which will be higher and higher. Footprint: the level of charge of the embedded battery connected to the dynamos, will be the index of the produced energy, and will be communicated to the player by translating it in an increasing symbol of environmental footprint. In case the player will bring the bike back with the battery completely charged, the total score will be multiplied by 2.

Finally the last part of the score system is made by the points one get once the race is over. In case the player parks his bike under the average traffic time foreseen at the starting point he will get a bonus of 50 points, otherwise he will get no points.

Ranking and Rewards

The ranking will involve all the players who accepted the Dynabike challenge, and will give the right to monthly rewards to best riders. The Ranking will be organized in a global scale so to allow remote challenges from city to city (thanks to similar difficulty coefficients people can be clustered togheter and dare each other in different corners of the world), but the rewards will be assigned locally, and will change according to the actors involved in the business with the electric energy provider. The basic scenario has been imagined a pure multimodal mobiliy service, involving the public transportation company; in this case the best Dynabike riders will gain discounts and memberships; but even special access to pay parking areas, in a way to stimulate a more and more limited and balanced use of the private transport to advantage of the public.

36

4.6.Web and Mobile Services

Subscribing the service, the user access to the Dynabike web community. The users profile is only partially affected by the game mode, each one can define a day by day mode of participation and building up his own personal profile day by day. This is the basic list of accessible services:

vehicule reservation personal statistics: performance improvements, calories consumption, km ridden... ranking: the global ranking is made starting from the total score of each user regardless the different game mode chosen time by time. Furthermore is possible to set a group definition of routes/destinations: sharing routes/destination community support serv ices: personal or group

challenge; message box; Besides the web service, the system exploit mobile solutions to provide real time informations about the score and some proposal of prizes and rewards

4.7.Why Dynabike?
What a good public bike project can do is to provide the people who use it with a new set of metrics. All of a sudden they are traveling shorter distances and at much lower speeds, they serve to change our ideas about proximity, the closeness of the things that we want and need in our daily lives. A city observed and lived in at ten kph on the street is a very different matter from one raced thought at fifty or ninety in a closed metal box. Our attitude and expectations start to change. As we spend more time at these lower speeds we start to expect more from our cities and neighborhoods. Which opens up new opportunities for local business and public services. Just as the motor car has succeeded in gutting many of our cities, so too can the pubic bike begin to play an important
37

role in revitalizing the center. And that for towns and cities of all sizes. Finally a society based on cycling and human powered movements is far more engaged in making sure that the place in which they live and work, even more if those activities contribute to the production of a common good. Thus one expected result of Dynabike is going to be a more active and engaged citizenry.

4.8.Business and Strategy Model

Traditional Public Bicycle schemes are nancially not selfsufcient in most cases. Public Bicycle schemes require substantial investments in their set-up and operation, especially in the start-up phase. There are different options of nancing a Public Bicycle scheme, involving the public and private sector and backing up the lack of pro tability. To compare costs and the service quality offered by different providers. Additionally, local authorities need to keep in mind the need for complementary activities, such as the improvement of cycling conditions and marketing activities. A long term nancing strategy also needs to be developed. The model suggested by Dynabike is a chance to create a set of new resources for decreasing the public intervention in the costs of the service.

Users and Target Groups

Existing Public Bicycle schemes are targeted at specic target groups. Young, active and urban users are the main target group of Pubic Bicycle schemes. Most of them live in dense areas of large urban agglomerations, are between 18 and 34 years old and maintain an active and exible lifestyle. Many of them do not dispose of a private car and are frequent public transport users, but maintain a high level of mobility. The OV- ets scheme in the Netherlands particularly targets rail commuters that need a Public Bicycle for the egress trip from the rail station to their workplace. During week-days, trip purposes
38

are to a large extent work- or study-related, in some cities tourists are also a relevant user group. The focus during evenings and week-ends shifts to shopping and leisureoriented activities, often with a peak during night hours, when public transport services have

Key Stakeholders for Implementation

The following stakeholder groups may be involved:

Public Electric Network Provider is the first of the actors involved for the management of the energy provided by the service. Rail or public transport operators may implement Public Bicycle schemes to widen their mobility portfolio (e.g. Deutsche Bahn, Transdev). Local authorities need to be committed to improve cycling conditions and increase mobility options through Public Bicycles. They should be willing to earmark some resources for this (amount depending on scheme) and may need to authorise the use of public space. In some cases local authorities have developed their own Public Bicycle schemes (e.g. Burgos, Spain). Local decision makers are needed to support the implementation. Outdoor advertising companies may offer to implement and operate a Public Bicycle scheme as extra to local authorities when negotiating their contracts for the use of public space for advertisements (e.g. Clear Channel, JCDecaux). Providers that offer Public Bicycle schemes off shelf (e.g. Oybike) for sale to local authorities or big institutions. User associations may play a key role in activating support for Public Bicycle schemes.

The strategic strenght of Dynabike is to be flexible and open to more than one business scenario. The basic model has been designed to be a module for a multimodal urban mobility structure, so to involve primarly the energy provider and the public transport company, in a way to encourage people to a
39

more frequent use of public vehicules, by means of rewards like discounts and memberships; but even special access to pay parking areas, in a way to stimulate a more balanced use of the private transport. Concluding, it is possible to immagine more than one scenario for the strategic level of this project, just because the actors involved may give different direction to the rewarding system of the game.

Dynabike

Up to 20000 bikes (Paris and Rome)

average production: 240KW/h

2X 6V at 12W possible stakeholders istitutions/ decision makers companies game producers rewarding model public energy provider public transportation

Business model and possible stakeholders

40

5.Conclusions
In conclusion i would like to highlight the philosophy of the Dynabike challenge system, which was oriented on two main objectives. One side I wanted to communicate to users the pleasure of riding a bike as activity in itself, as a mean to change our perception of the urban spaceand the urban time, and even just to perceive its practical benefits. Infact the whole Dynabike game is a metaphore of the socio-political statement shared by all the bike riders: lets take the city back. In this framework I think that the term appropriative game would be much more a correct description of the Dynabike project. On the other side I wanted to encourage commuters to ride more and more. As one of the requirements of the brief was to approach sustainability as a virus, I found very stmulating to experiment on the emergent motivational aspect of a repeated envolvement, and infact a strong role in all the game structure is played by the web community created around the service. A big Italian designer, Enzo Mari, used to say: A really good design is able to change human behaviour. Im sure this can be the main synthesis of all my inspirations and efforts during this design process.

41

References Books and Articles:

Blevis, Eli, Erik Stolterman. Ensoulment and Sustainable Interaction Design IASDR proceedings Hong Kong 2007 Blevis Eli. Sustainable Interaction Design: on & Disposal, Renewal & Reuse CHI 2007 Proceedings Design Theory April 28-May 3, 2007 San Jose, CA, USA Manzini Ezio. Ways of living: Product-based and context-based well-being DIS-Indaco Politecnico di Milano Nov. 7, 2007. McCallum David N.G. Warbike A mobile artistic sonification of wireless networks ; Art and Technology IT University of Gteborg Report no. 2005:75 2005. DesignandEvaluationLiteratureReviewAreviewofdesignandevaluationmeth odsforIPerGEditedbySteveBenfordandMauricioCapra,TheUniversityofNot tingham April,13, 2005 Starner, T. and Paradiso, J.A., in Piguet, C. (ed) Human Generated Power for Mobile Electronics Low-Power Electronics, CRC Press, Chapter 45,2004, pp. 45-1 - 45-35.

Careri F. Walkscapes: Walking as an Aesthetic Practice Land&Scape Series, Gustavo Gili Barcelona 2002 Debord G.-E., "Theory of the Drive", Les Lvres Nues #9 1956. Blevis, E. Advancing sustainable interaction design: two perspectives on material effects Design Philosophy Papers. April,13, 2006.

Blevis, E., Lim, Y., Stolterman, E. Regarding software as a material of design Wonderground Design Research Society Conference Lisbon 2006. 4. Blevis, E., Lim, Y., Ozakca, M., & Aneja, S. Designing interactivity for the specific context of designerly collaborations In Ext. APress, New York, NY. 1216-1219 2005.

Alexander, C. The Nature of Order. Volume II The Center for Environmental Structure. Berkeley, CA. 2002.

42

Fry, T. The Voice of sustainment: the scenario of design Design Philosophy Papers. #01 2005.

Norman, D.A. The invisible computer -Why good products can fail,...The MIT Press 1998 Heidegger, M. The Question concerning technology William Lovitt, The Question Concerning Technology and Other Essays. Harper Torchbooks, 1977 Willis, A.M. Ontological Designing. Design Philosophy Papers. #02 2006. Winograd, T. & Flores, F. Understanding Computers and Cognition: A New Foundation for Design New York: Addison-Wesley, Inc. 1986 Stegall, N. Designing sustainability: a philosophy for ecologically intentional design. Design Issues. 22(2). 56-63. 2006 Rifkin J. The Access era J P Tarcher 2000 Pine B.J. II, Gilmore J.H. The Experience Economy London 1999. Elephant and Castle,

Manzini E. et all. Creative communities. People inventing sustainable ways of living Edizioni Poli.Design MIlano 2007. Jordan J. The art of necessity: the subversive imagination of anti-road protest and Reclaim the Streets In: DiY Culture. Party & Protest in Nineties Britain p. 129-151 London 1998. A.B.Cabrera,K.H.Kommonen,I.Oilinki,andM.Koskijoki,"Codesigning Visions,Uses,and Applications,"presentedatTechnEDesignWisdom5th EuropeanAcademyofDesignConference5EAD Barcelona,2003.

43

Web Sites

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_commuting http://bike-sharing.blogspot.com/ http://www.ibike.org/encouragement/freebike/index.htm http://www.streetfilms.org/ http://www.intragomobility.com http://www.nearfuturelaboratory.com/ http://chezphil.org/bikelights/index.html http://energierinnovabili.forumcommunity.net/?t=3449841 http://www.ecoplan.org/wtpp/citybike_index.htm http://www.nordicgroup.us/s78/dynamo.html http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/01/bicing_interview2.php http://www.dinomagroup.com/camilo.htm http://www.cateye.com/en/product_detail/460 http://www.massivechange.com/ http://www.fallenfruit.org/ http://www.laurbanrangers.org/ http://www.guerrillagardening.it/ http://www.freecycle.org/ http://www.sustainable-everyday.net/SEPhome/home.html http://www.material-exchange.org/section/43296.html http://criticalspatialpractice.blogspot.com/ http://www.grignani.org/thoughts/2008/04/homegrown.html http://www.f0.am/ http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/maeda/ http://www.sustainablechi.org/ http://www.sustainablog.org/ http://www.radicalsustainability.org/ http://www.liftlab.com/think/nova h t t p : / / w w w. n y t i m e s . c o m / 2 0 0 7 / 0 5 / 0 8 / s c i e n c e / e a r t h / 0 8 c a r b . h t m l ? _r=1&oref=slogin http://www.enviu.org/index.php?ac=projects-29-1 http://www.architectureforhumanity.org/ http://itp.nyu.edu/sustainability/interaction/ http://www.openthefuture.com/
44

http://www.reversaltheory.org/ http://headrush.typepad.com/ http://www.waag.org/news/40188 http://www.co-design.co.uk/victor.htm http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/09/23/rubber-ducks-nasa.html http://www.davidroedl.com/ http://www.mbdc.com/c2c_home.htm http://www.triennale.it/triennale/sito_html/quotidiano/eng/home_.html http://science.howstuffworks.com/five-forms-alternative-energy4.htm http://www.inhabitat.com/ http://www.sony.net/Fun/design/activity/sustainable/odo.html http://www.skates.com/Aggressive-skate-frames-s/3.htm http://www.repubblica.it/2008/10/sezioni/ambiente/energia-onde/energiaonde/energia-onde.html?ref=hpspr1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLrsjafrfPE http://www.cs.chalmers.se/idc/ituniv/kurser/07/uc/locmedia/ http://www.igd.com/cir.asp?menuid=148&cirid=2359 http://www.memagazine.org http://chrisjoseph.wordpress.com/2008/04/16/more-on-the-pedal-a-watt/ http://designcorner.blinkr.net/go_green/ http://www.purselipsquarejaw.org/2003_04_01_blogger_archives.php http://www.fubiz.net/blog/index.php?2008/10/02/2264-urban-street-art http://www.skatemap.it/spot/?pid=46 http://www.cinaoggi.it/china_trendz/articoli/china_rollerskaters.html http://www.pingmag.jp/2008/01/10/real-vs-fake-nature-in-tokyo/ h t t p : / / w w w. n e i g h b o u r h o o d s a t e l l i t e s . c o m / h u m a n p o w e r e d _ w s / energyonwheels.html http://www.otoplasma.com/skatesonic/electronic%20skateboard/pics.html http://www.biomapping.net/ http://www.razorskate.com/2008_site/pages/news.html http://www.we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/2004/08/electrical-humanbodies.php http://www.research.ibm.com/journal/sj/353/sectione/starner.html http://futuroprossimo.blogosfere.it/2008/05/ubicycle-il-trasporto-pubblico-su-2ruote.html http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/01/bicing_interview2.php
45

http://www.shared-vision.com/20080729/live-and-let-bike http://www.wishare.eu/wishare.html http://www.qype.co.uk/place/61111-Call-a-Bike-Berlin http://bike-sharing.blogspot.com/2007/12/intrago.html http://www.marketwatch.com/ http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=132287 http://www.powerleap.net/ http://www.trouvemonnom.ca/concours4/_en/index.html http://www.chezphil.org/bikelights/index.html http://www.humancar.com/ http://www.pervasive-gaming.org/design_space0.php http://nycityracks.wordpress.com/ http://nikeplus.nike.com/nikeplus/?locale=it_it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hub_dynamo http://www.blip.tv/file/424980/ http://www.ibike.org/encouragement/freebike/anti-theft.htm http://www.ecoplan.org/wtpp/citybike_index.htm http://www.bikedispenser.com/home-english.html h t t p : / / w w w. s p a c e . c o m / b u s i n e s s t e c h n o l o g y / t e c h n o l o g y / body_power_011128-1.html http://www.we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/2004/08/electrical-humanbodies.php http://www.britisheco.com/ http://www.leoalmanac.org/journal/vol_14/lea_v14_n03-04/lgaye.asp http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/07/tryckcykeln-4-color-printing.php http://www.dinomagroup.com/camilo.htm http://www.cateye.com/en/product_detail/460 http://www.nearfield.org/

46