Tedtalk: Jan Chipchase Our Cell Phones, Ourselves

Jan Chipchase, a human behavioral researcher who works for Nokia travels around the world in search of behavioral patterns that will inform the design of products we don't even know we want - yet. He said the three most important things we carry are keys, money and cell phones which relates to Maslow's heirarchy - survival of ourselves and loved ones. Chipchase stated that the mobile phone has the ability to transcend space and time, and it is universally appreciated. It is personal, private, and convenient. He spoke about how illiterate people use cell phones as a bank to send money home to their villages. Despite all the resources and sophistication, people in the streets innovate and use the phones is ways that meet their needs. The cell phone is creating a connected world where everything is intertwined.The designers are looking at these innovations, and incorporating that information into the everchanging mobile phone. Chipchase said that learning to listen is the most important part of studying people and their behavior.

This talk was extremely interesting to me. I am too involved in my own job and every little problem of everyday that I actually opened my head to think about the world and how huge, wonderful, and diverse it is. The fact that technology is evolving so rapidly because of the street (all the people in the world) is far out.