Week 1 Talk to Me assignment- What and how do objects talk to human?

<City Ticket> by Mayo Nissen

Mayo Nissens' project, <City Tickets>

The project <City Tickets> by Mayo Nissen is a parking kiosk that also functions as the communication tool between the public and their city department.  The machine prints out a ticket with date, time, and a map with the exact location of the problem, and on it, the citizens report a problem or suggest any city improvement. The citizens will then put the tickets into a mailbox nearby and send directly to the city department without any charge. Furthermore, the tickets have general public announcements, recently fixed issues, and the expected dates for ongoing modifications, so the citizens can recognize the changes in the city.

<City Tickets> is an upgraded version of a parking meter that allows the object and human to interact in two-way communication. Humans ask for a listening ear and the machine gives human exactly that- a ticket to let out what they think about their surroundings. The machine then responds by informing humans the current modification they asked for and reassuring that there is a progress. The machine reacts to the public’s concern to prevent the public’s indifference to city’s infrastructures and public issues; it prevents the community’s “the worst offense and laziness”, or the act of not responding to a problem.

Surely, <City Tickets> is different from the previous parking meter. Aside from the additional functions it has, the emotional exchange is different. With a regular parking meter, there was less communication. It was a passive relationship where the machine asks for coins and I give some to hold my spot. If there were any emotions coming from me, it would be negative. Sometimes it would eat my coin and I’d be frustrated. Sometimes if I don’t come back before it ends its countdown I would get in trouble. In a way, it was a more demanding, strict, and unfriendly. Because it only asks and does not listen to my side, it was a one-way communication. This would be what Paola Antonelli was talking about in her essay, <Talk to Me>. She talked about the “Rules of Engagement,” and the fifth axiom of the rules was that “inter-humans converse in either complementary or a symmetric relationship.” Conversely, Antonelli worried that object-to-human relationship might not have that same relationship. She claimed that the relationship is “hardly ever symmetrical.” 

Printed Tickets from
NYC <City Tickets> machine

In the case of <City Tickets>, however, a symmetric conversation is possible because there is an equal input from both the human and the machine. To the citizens, <City Tickets> respond to their talk, specifying on certain problems they have already addressed and the exact dates on when the modification will be completed. With the local government, the machine tells how much improvements should be done and exactly how many people want it. The government always asks for the citizen’s input to the city and receives only few responses. With <City Tickets>, the communication is facilitated. As a listener, amplifier, and a messenger, <City Tickets> efficiently holds a symmetric conversation. 

Referring back to Antonelli’s Rules of Engagement, the first axiom of the rules says that any kind of gesture, sign, or behavior of an object can suggest something, hence, “talk” to the person.  The third axiom explains that this is because humans tend to depend on the responder, the object, for a response, and interpret certain sign as a “voice” appealing to them. Equally, <City Tickets> prints out the ticket right on the spot. It readily opens its ear to the person who asked to be heard. The person doesn’t have to ask to be called for a permission to speak or wait for the procedure, and the easy access makes the person feel comfortable about approaching the machine and “talk” to it. 

<City Tickets> explains the guideline and draw out the map for humans. Just as small talks help to bring up the main topic for the conversation, the tickets provide a smooth start for the humans and lessen any misunderstanding or confusion. Just as a step-by-step instruction on GPS is easier to find the direction than a home address alone, the clarity of the subject and the location betters the quality of conversation and this kind and gentle tone of the ticket increases the degree of satisfaction when humans complete telling their story.

Also, by physically holding the ticket, writing their responses out, and sending the tickets through the mailbox, all these steps give person a feeling of accomplishment more than through internet because he has to be physical. According to a study about our memory and physical acitivties' relationship, it said that memories made with physical activities are remembered longer than memories made while standing or sitting. The public's physical activities done with the machine will be remembered more than just filling it out on a computer or on smart devices, and this remembrance increases a feeling of their contribution to the community, and increase their awareness as a citizen of the city. Since <City Tickets> is easily approachable, the public will think the city department and its authorities are not so distanced from them anymore. As <City Tickets> stands on the street, it “tells” citizens that the local authorities care them, and that they can trust and be accounted by the authorities.

Its being alongside the street speaks to the public that he’s open to anybody. The suggestion about having city tickets as an application came up and Nissen rejected the idea, as having “city tickets” as a smartphone application would not be able to include people without smartphones or other portable devices. Along with the easy access and more involvement of the community, the citizens become the eyes of the government and evolve further as a democratic society.

Overall, the ticket machine can have a complete communication with the people by accepting their request and giving a chance to let them talk and be heard. It tells the citizens and the local authorities that they can rely on each other. It listens to both side, and responds back with the information that other side has provided.

Talk to Me essay by Paola Antonelli: http://moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2011/talktome/essay/