I did some preliminary fieldwork at the Xinke Migrant school in Wuhan. Here is a story that I think illustrates the misunderstandings about “internet addiction” among youth in China and why government initiated policies limiting internet use among youth will not be effective. These policies aim to curb internet use among youth in public internet cafes, not in private homes. Middle-class and upper-class families have computers at home for their child, therefore most massive internet cafes are used by low-income populations.

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About the school: The XinKe school is for children of rural-urban migrants in Wuhan, China. Since migrants don’t have a residential permit (hukou) to be in the city, they are not allowed to attend any of the public schools or access any government-subsidized social services. Therefore, schools for migrant children have opened up around Chinese cities to serve this new population. Many of these schools are unstable, understaffed, unsanitary, and under-qualified. The XinKe school is government certified, therefore they are slightly more legitimate than other non-certified, essentially illegal, migrant schools.

Each student has to pay around 600 yuan ($75) each quarter to attend the school. If students were to attend the school in their birth village, they would not have to pay for their education. The government made high school in rural areas free of charge in 2007. Yet, with rural economies faltering all around China, migrants are pushing forward into cities with their children, regardless of the costs associated with being “illegal” in a city within their own country.

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My story: The principal of  the school told me that students often sleep in class because they are not living in places with good shelter.  The principal also said that one of his biggest concerns was the negative consequences of internet addiction among the students. He told me that youth, as young as seven years old, would spend eight hours a day at cyber-cafes playing online games instead of using the internet to do their homework.

When I asked students why they spent so much time in the cafes, they repeatedly told me that they thought it was fun; it was a place for them to play with their friends on and off-line. They told me that they often shared a computer between 2-3 friends and would spend the time playing games. If you think about this, this is a very physical process that involves the body in a physical place. Inside the cafes, you often see 2-3 kids (genders don’t mix) around one computer. One kid is playing a game, while the other two are giving advice, yelling at him, or trying to take over the round. There bodies are touching due to the spatial constraints. Kids will grab each other’s arms, try to take over the mouse, and point at the screen. What I’m describing here is a lot of bonding and touching that takes place off-line inside the internet cafe.

The key is the off-line part: the internet cafe for the kids are equivalent to an outdoor playground. In Wuhan, public playgrounds are rare. Therefore, the internet cafe serves as a digital and physical playground for youth to spend time together in place.

I then spoke to the parent of a child who had been spending a lot of time at the internet cafe and was receiving low marks in his classes. I asked whether or not this concerned her. Interestingly, she told me her and her husband were well aware of his internet habits, but they were partially relieved to know where he was spending his time. They were happy that he wasn’t hanging out on the street with local street gangs or engaging in activities that could get him trouble. While they weren’t happy that he wasn’t doing his schoolwork because of his time spent at the café, they could at least feel assured that he was safe and in one place at all times.

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This story illustrates how parents justify the time that their kids spend at the cafes despite the negative impact on their education. Although government laws try to prevent youth from spending excessive amounts of time online at internet cafes, the laws will not be as effective when low-income parents think of the internet cafe as the most ideal “babysitting” site that is affordable and safe. Parents only have to spend 10-20 yuan a day for their kids to spend all night or day at the cafe. The cafe has a bathroom and sells instant noodle.

And for the kids - they just see this as a fun place to hang out. They’re not just gaming with strangers online. The cafe is a physical place where friendships are negotiated face-to-face.

If the government wants kids to spend less time in internet cafes, they should think about building more public spaces for low-income families. They should improve the access to education for non-hukou residents in migrant destination cities.

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In the first picture (top left), the principal is trying to reach a mother of a ten-year old child who has been spending every afternoon at the internet cafe.  The picture on the top right shows the internet cafe that the student goes to every night. It is a one-minute walk from where he lives with his family. The picture on the bottom left shows the student being reprimanded by the teacher for not doing his homework. The picture on the bottom right shows the student’s classroom.

More pictures of the Xinke school for migrants here on flickr.

Tesco’s Homeplus Virtual Subway Store in South Korea is a great example of how to create a service based on existing user practices, rituals, and needs.

Behind the accessible yet super advertising-agency language of this marketing video is an example of great ethnography! (ignore their subjective claims that South Koreans are the 2nd hardest working people in the world- forgive Chiel - they are a marketing agency!)

Tesco’s advertising company, Chiel, observed existing user interactions and feelings around grocery stores. They took into account that South Korea is one of the most digitally wired and smartphone saturated phones in the world. They also noted user’s everyday transportation experience.

Based on their observations and understanding of real world context, they came up with the virtual subway store that only requires the use of a smartphone. 

What I love about this innovative service is that it doesn’t introduce too many contingencies or new practices.

 1. There aren’t any infrastructural contingencies around digital literacy or hardware issues - smartphone penetration is super high and mobile signal is consistent and widespread under- and above-ground.  

2. Homeplus is also being introduced into an existing ritual - the morning and post-work subway commute.

• Part of this is ritual physical- the action of going to the subway and waiting for the subway is familiar.
• Part of this ritual is digital - the continuous browsing on one’s mobile while waiting and riding the train.
• Another part of this ritual is mental - the accounting of daily tasks that need to get done like buying more toilet paper or eggs. Urban and working South Koreans already in these physical, digital, and mental activities.

3. There are already high levels of trust in online shopping in South Korea - so introducing this virtual service is something that complements beliefs about the internet.

A new contingency that comes to my mind is the delivery of the items - like people need to get used to the practice of arranging delivery. Like working out what time the products are delivered and how to time the delivery so that you get your items when you come home from your commute. But delivery issues can be solved relatively easily on the back end by working out database and coordination issues and building in flexibility for the user. Delivery is not a big cultural or mental contingency in this context.

The most difficult services/products to introduce are ones that require cultural or mental pivots along with new practices. If Tesco were to introduce the virtual service in a country with high bandwidth penetration but low trust in online shopping, then they are running up against a perception issue - that the internet is good for many activities, but not shopping.

Another outstanding aspect to note is that this service may not have been created if the designers didn’t take into account existing transportation patterns. If Chiel only did their observations inside the grocery store or inside a home, they wouldn’t have realized the potential for creating a service inside the subway - an everyday space. But now this everyday space has a new and exciting activity - shopping! This interaction in this space becomes more rich and complex. The subway space isn’t just a transportation, people watching, or casual gaming space, it is a consumption space now - thus introducing consumption desires into this activity.

The success of Homeplus fulfills the qualities that are critical for a seamless user experience - SUD: Simple, Usable, and Desirable

I want to comment a bit on desireability. Dan Lockton’s research on how architecture influences user behavior introduced me an urban planning concept of “desire paths,” that users create natural paths in their physical surroundings based on what works for them. Lockton points to Myhill (2004) who suggests that ““[a]n optimal way to design pathways in accordance with natural human behaviour, is to not design them at all.”

Myhill argues that companies who design products should allow for desire paths to emerge out of the user, not the designer. The company should them keep an eye on the desire paths and make adjustments or features based on these emergent paths. Myhill says that companies who do this will successfully fulfill the ‘Normanian Natural Selection,” a theory from Don Norman that people always interact naturally with objects and spaces in their everyday life.

Applying “desire paths” to Homeplus virtual grocery stores, could the appeal and success of it be partly based on that the system allows for users to create symbolic  “desire paths”? It would be so fascinating to do some ethnography to see how over the next few years, Homeplus calibrates their service to allow for users to create desire paths - because this keeps this service flexible for the user!  What kind of desire paths will emerge out of this service?

I ask these questions about desire paths with my fieldwork in China in mind - because I’m thinking about how youth and migrants are using social media to create symbolic desire paths to get to the information they need. But more on that in another post!

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I would bet Chiel included South Koreans on the design team. I know this may sound like the obvious - but MANY companies that hire design firms to create products/services for them DO NOT include local ethnographers/designers on the project. So while the design ideas they create may be amazing (or totally unimpressive), they may not be grounded in existing social practices. Or what happens is that companies will hire a local ethnographer or expert, but they don’t allow the local ethnographer to be in a position of power that is equal to other team members, so the local expert’s suggestions often get sidelined.

Thank you to Charlotte Yong San Gullach Büttrich for sharing this with me on Google+!

(video via Recklessnutter)