Assignment: Thoughtless Acts

Collaborators:

Thoughtless Acts

This is a collection of IDEO's Thoughtless Acts photographed in and around Berkeley along with some explanations and suggested resolutions.

There is a high population of bicycles in Berkeley and people seem to be willing to lock to them to anything and everything that looks sturdy. Where there is a lack of an official bike rack, people will make do with parking signs. This suggests that there is a need for more bicycle racks in the city.

Here, a bicycle is tied to an emergency ladder escape. There is a sign (not shown) that says "For Sale". This person was attempting to put her bicycle on display for sale, and I suppose this was the easiest way to do so while keeping it secure. Perhaps a bicycle shop would have a better display space, or she could have posted pictures of it on Craigslist or other web marketplaces.

Looks like a free CD, placed where any interested resident might grab it. By placing this in such a visible location, the "seller" has created an extemporaneous marketplace. Perhaps a "Free Stuff" bin could be provided for residents wanting to get rid of things they don't need.

People who receive mail that is not addressed to them specifically tend to realize that the sender may have just made a small error with the apartment number. They put mis-addressed mail up on the mailboxes so that others can take a look and claim it if needed. While it may be difficult to stop this from happening in our mail system, it would be easier if the residents could see the names of other residents on the mailboxes so that they could drop mail into the right box on their own.

With the closest recycling bin one whole floor down, residents will often simply dump their paper recycling into these mail bins. (They are often much more full than they appear here.) A dedicated paper recycle bin seems to be in order.

The people who deliver packages to our building have no way of getting past the front door. The intercom system does not work, and students are often away at classes when packages get delivered. The result is many missed packages due to the need for signatures. Residents have gone to requesting phone calls from the delivery people via this bulletin board of room-to-phone-number mappings. Perhaps an organized table of all residents and their contact information could be placed next to the broken intercom. (Alternatively, management could fix the intercom system.)

This is another instance of people wanting to recycle properly but having no outlet to do so. Plastic bottles are widely known to be recyclable, yet there is only a container for paper here. People make do by sticking their empty water bottles in the handle of the bin. Clearly, they would be happy with a separate bin for plastic.

This artifact from last Halloween has dried out and has now been converted into a candy jar. Usually, it is much more full than this. While it may seem that an official candy jar would be useful, perhaps the people like it like this.

This power strip needs to be easily accessible from table-height, but there is no way keep it steady on the table without lots of wire awkwardness or having it occasionally fall to the floor. This compromised position has the wires themselves keeping the strip from falling off the edge of the table, and keeps the switch within easy reach. A way to mount power strips onto the sides of tables would be helpful here, and could cut down on the wire mess that still remains.

This foreign t-shirt turned out to be too small for the person who purchased it. Instead of letting it sit unused, it was decided that it could also serve as artwork on a wall. Perhaps a structure or device that allows for easy mounting of t-shirts (for the appreciation of their designs) could be useful here.

The person near the car is on the phone and trying to take notes on a notepad. She needs a flat surface to support the notepad, so she uses the wall which is at a convenient height for her. This situation could be helped with a bench or other architecture to support human loitering activities.