Waiting For the Light

Not a strong proponent of the countdown timer on the crosswalk, Smith said it leaves pedestrians to make the decision about whether to cross or not — and unfortunately the decision isn’t always the best.

 

“I grew up with the stop hand and the walking person,” he said. “With the flashing hand, it means do not start and do not begin, and it has a timer.

 

“People think it’s a warning and they have that time to cross.”

 

Marketing gurus have learned that closing the wedge by providing countdowns "only 10 days left to get Product X!" stimulates people, makes them feel the risk of not getting a thing outweighs the risk of not having it - making countdown sales an effective tool to instigate reactive behaviour.

 

GOTV works the same way - when you're trying to get identified votes out, you apply pressure and time constraint as a tool to motivate action, not inaction.  It works; that's why we do it.

Yet when it comes to timers, we're blaming people for rushing when they see a countdown clock?  We're telling people that it's their choices, not polling methodology, that's flawed?    Bikes on road designed for cars are simply not supposed to be part of the system, so get 'em out of there?  Telling people from marginalized communities they just need to get jobs, telling employers they just need to hire, telling the average bear voting is important and wondering why they don't - given the bigger picture, is it really that mysterious?

 

We aren't designing tools or systems for people, we're trying to train people to be functionaries.  You can do that under some circumstances - widget building, military training - but it doesn't work in general.  In fact, when you try to design counter-intuitive social structures, it's those best able to subvert that structure who succeed (or is that just spin) while those less-able fall behind, resulting in an imbalanced, tragedy of the commons scenario.

 

If we want to address the systematic social issues that are weighing down our system, we have to think differently about these problems.  It's the systems themselves that need to be more organic, more fluid, more grounded in the principles of design thinking.

 

The trick to making practical infrastructure isn't to aggressively force everyone to think your way - instead, commit a little sociology, expand your horizons, learn to build structures that bridge usage gaps and create something that works for everyone.

 

Sound field systems in classrooms, for instance.

 

Instead of a countdown, just flash the words DON'T START CROSSING or if you can think how to infographic that concept, even better.

 

The solutions to structural problems won't be found in one box, but across many. 

 

For some, that concept is an absolute revelation.