Thoughtless Acts

For our midterm project we are concerned with looking at areas in which a large group of people in a community pass by frequently on a day to day basis. One of these areas could be an office, waiting room, or the main lobby of a big building. Since I take the bus to campus, I saw how the bus stop can be one of these areas that people pass by often. The bus stops with frequent usage usually have bus stop shelters with the side of the bus stop usually portraying an advertisement, and a bench under the shelter.

Picture One
Woman shading herself from the sun using whatever is at her disposal. In this case she has chosen an empty paper bag. This likely works well for her because it is lightweight and therefore easy to hold up over a long period of time.
It is a natural reaction for people to shade their eyes from bright sunshine. They do this for comfort, and to improve their vision in such conditions. In this particular scenario the woman was also looking at her handheld device, which may have been very difficult to see otherwise.

Sometimes when people want to look at things and get a better sense of what they're observing, they bring it closer to their face to focus their vision.

We use glasses to have a drink, but sometime these could also be used for other things like, holding pens or as flower vase. 
 

 
Thoughtless acts:
Communication via texting and typing (written language).

In this thoughtless act we see a rock climbing friend's gear closet (with some items on hangars removed for clarity of the interesting bit). In this case, he wants to keep items nicely sorted for organization, and achieves this by hanging a backpack and climbing harness - nontraditional items for a closet - using carabiners. The space was also shared with traditional hangars that hold outdoor wear.

Description:
Our team had a discussion and my team members had already taken into account the thoughtless actions with a water bottle and a towel prevelant in the Gym.
On going to the gym I saw that the mirror was not only an integral part of the gym experience for self-appreciation and keeping the form in check (TA1,2 and 3), but it was also servved as a collaboration tool for a group of friends who were training together (TA 5).
They looked at each other and motivated each other using the mirror.

Description:
Many people put their towel over their shoulders while or after they exercise. This helps them to keep their hands free while carrying the towel, and makes it easy to, for example, wipe sweat off the face.
One problem with having a towel over the shoulders is that it tends to get in the way, in particular when the user is leaning forwards or running (when it tends to fall off).
I observed people carrying their towels over their shoulder on several occasions, but only took one photo – see below.
 

While walking in San Francisco one day I discovered these heart-shaped installations. I found one close to the Union Square and another one in the Marina (pictured below). I was walking with a tourist friend of mine and as soon as she saw the heart she asked me to take a picture of her and the sculpture. However, before posing for the pic, she went on and tried to fit her hand in the drawn hand on the heart and then pointed to the "you are here" sign. This, for me, was the perfect example of a thoughtless action related to our midterm project, the "political touch".

As my mid-term theme is TUI for someone who is confined to bed, I observed how people including the patient and his/her family are interacting with things in the space.