How does someone in Shanghai reduce the power cord clutter in their workspace? Does someone in Seattle have an interesting way of organizing this chaos? And, what are the many ways in which bikes are used for work worldwide?
A new site, Frog Mob, aims to make an instant ethnographer out of all who visit it. Through crowdsourcing people’s creative solutions to common obstacles, a visitor can instantly research how these problems, circumstances, or obstacles may be addressed by various cultures.
Essentially, a topic is created on FrogMob, and then visitors are prompted to submit simplified pieces of media pertaining to the topic, primarily photographs and a brief note. In regards to submissions, FrogMob maintains the following rules:
"1. Keep it visual. A primary goal of this study is to get as many photos as
possible.
2. Be original. All photos must be your own: no stock photography
or published database images.
3. Make it conversational. Whenever possible,
talk to people. Save notes/quotes along with your pictures.
4. Keep it
simple. No reams of notes or audio/video recordings to help us streamline
analysis and synthesis.
5. Make it quick. All photos and insights due back
within one week.
6. Share your findings. Upload and tag your photos to the
active frogMob.
7. To see examples, please view the synthesized results of
past frogMobs"
Beyond the stated ethnographic intent, FrogMob also aims to provide inspiration to designers and manufacturers to aid them in the creation of products and services that are of greater benefit to the user/consumer, on this, FrogMob states that:
“At frog, design research is a tool we use to make sense of human behavior. It
helps us to find those nuggets of insight that lead us to create products and
services that make people’s lives better. With this in mind, we are opening up
our design research process. And we want you to join in.”
Despite the prospects that FrogMob holds for intellectual inspiration and design research potential, it is still in its infancy, with only three topics to date (the third, power solutions, is still open for submissions). Nevertheless, its functionality is still there for anyone looking for creative solutions for the existent topics, whether it be cluttered power cords or the ways in which people effectively take part in social contexts, despite differences in place and time. Moreover, the future potential for crowdsource-inspired easing of humanity’s daily experience, certainly makes it a website to watch and continually check in on.
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