Last Saturday, a Google Mapping Party event was organized at the FAST-NU campus in Lahore. The driving force behind the event was Khurram Siddiqi who is a faculty member at FAST-NU. Google was represented by Badar Khushnood, Google Country Consultant for Pakistan.
I’ve always had a keen interest in location-based services. Back in the summer of 2008, when there were were no Google Maps or Google Map Maker, I developed a prototype location-based app. In November 2008, I organized World Usability Day 2008 where we highlighted Google Map Maker for Pakistan by featuring a live video conference from India with its creator Lalit Katragadda. Fast forward to 2010, and Lahore is now the fastest mapped city in the world using Google Map Maker. Amazing.
Many parts of Lahore and Pakistan have been mapped providing a lot of value to citizens and organizations within the country. But a lot more still needs to be done and improved upon. So it was with this aim that Saturday’s event was organized: to create mainstream awareness about Google Map Maker and also discuss some of the social and technical challenges involved in making Google Maps a better service.
The event consisted of the following main activities and was well-worth attending if you’re interested in location-based services, urban planning, and maps:
An general introduction to Google Maps by Badar Khushnood
An open-ended question-answer-comments session
A presentation by Khurram and Sarah, an urban planner and designer, on how location based info can help in providing social services
A hands-on labs with practical guidance on using Google Map Maker
And now onto some aspects of the event that I’d like to highlight:
Google Mapping Champs Faraz and Jabran – two young chaps from Pakistan have done a huge number of edits on Google Maps. In fact, as far as I know, Faraz has the largest number of edits: a staggering 48,000 of them!! (he also happens to be in residing in my former hometown: Glasgow, UK). I wish the promotional leaflet for Google Map Maker distributed at the event would feature Faraz’s record holding 48,000 edits instead of some person’s measly 6,000 edits. (Yes, some people actually read promotional leaflets – see image on RHS)
National and Political Issues
There were some passionate discussions on who owns the data on Google Maps that is being provided by Pakistani volunteers and what if Google switches the service off. Personally, I really think it’s a pertinent question (but one that was not within the scope of the event). What if? After all, Google is a private enterprise, and it’s in the business of making money (albeit not in an ‘evil’ way), and its incorporated in the US, and governed by US laws, and subservient to US courts. What if the US authorities, one fine day, find it politically expedient and necessary that Pakistan should not have access to its maps? Ever heard of the ‘Axis of Evil’? Now, that might sound a bit paranoid, but its certainly a possibility.
A Suggestion for Improving Google Maps
Now that’s the big question – how to improve the service? Answer: Obviously, by improving the density of information. How can that be done? Here’s one possible model: The event (mapping party) held on Saturday was really a general purpose event that covered a number of different topics and aspects of the Google Maps service. To increase the density of information, what is really needed are more localized events organized at the mohalla (neighbourhood) level in collaboration with local people. And these events should be held all over Pakistan, focusing on small cities, towns, even villages. A day-long event focused just on the actual activity of mapping by a group of local people is the way to go. And then repeating this exercise in different places on a nation-wide level. In the years’ to come, this will pay off in a real big way for the public of Pakistan and probably monetarily for Google too.
I hope someone from Google or elsewhere can take the above idea forward. I’m personally ready to volunteer for this. Any Googlers and Mappers listening?
It’s the new year which means renewed hopes, new goals, and of course the obligatory new year resolutions.
As far as this blog is concerned, my new year resolution for Experience Matters is that I will be conducting a usability review / customer experience audit every week – this could be a usability analysis of a web interface, a review of a company’s service, or a case study of a product from an end-user experience perspective. So, if you would like to see something covered on this blog, send me any ideas or suggestions by leaving a message in the comments section or email me at imran@experiencematters.pk.
A few months ago, Jehan Ara, President of PASHA, interviewed me at LUMS. You can find the interview at the CIO Pakistan WebStudio and a related blog post on the In the Line of Wire.
The Interaction Design Center (IxDC) is organizing a workshop titled “Social Media 101: An Introduction to Blogs, FaceBook, and Twitter” for some staff members at UMT. I’ll be conducting the workshop along with Adnan Ali.
Social Media 101: An Introduction to Blogs, FaceBook, and Twitter
Time/Date: Wed, 11:30am-1pm, 16 Sep’ 2009
Venue: Interaction Design Center, South Block
Instructors: Imran Hussain, Adnan Ali
Registration Cost: FREE (for UMT staff only)
Overview
What is Social Media?
Why does Social Media matter?
How can I use Social Media in my personal and professional life?
This workshop will take a look at the basic concepts and benefits of social media. In particular, the workshop will provide an introduction to popular tools and technologies that are currently being used in the social media space, such as blogs, FaceBook, and Twitter. The workshop will be interactive and discussion-based.
Audience This workshop is intended for those who have no, or beginner-level, knowledge of social media tools.
I recently (29 May 2009 to be precise) conducted a session on Usability Testing and Analytical Evaluation as part of the Software Quality Assurance Workshop organized by the Rausing Executive Development Center at LUMS, Lahore.
This workshop was organized for software project managers and IT professionals. More thoughts about this workshop later.
I live in Lahore and own a 1.8L model Toyota Corolla Altis that I bought in 2007. Whenever I need to get my car serviced, instead of going to the local Toyota Ravi workshop which is a 3 min drive down the road from my house, I prefer to go to Toyota Walton which is a 50 min drive at the other end of the city in Lahore. On a round-trip, I’m traveling an extra 1 hr 34 min extra per trip, and that’s not counting the extra fuel mileage costs. Why? So what is that makes me put up with the extra time and cost? The reason is very simple: customer service which something that most companies in Pakistan take for granted.
On a relative scale – at least compared to Toyota Ravi – Toyota Walton in Defence, Lahore, have a much better customer service environment:
They actually have a decent, respectable customer waiting lounge which is air-conditioned and where customers are served free tea/coffee and can watch TV.
They have an Internet-connected PCs so you can do some Web browsing while your car gets fixed.
The customer service staff is attentive and actually listens to customer complaints and suggestions.
The staff and overall environment is much more professional and courteous.
That’s not to say that their service is perfect, but they provide a good service. And, of course, there’s always room for improvement.
I personally take my car to get serviced which inevitably means going during normal working hours because that’s when the workshop is open. A job at the workshop can take anywhere from 1-4 hours. Now that’s a lot of time for a busy professional like myself and it’s very hard to spare the time to get such chores done.
Even though Toyota Walton provides Internet-enabled computers for customers, it would be much more convenient if I could work at the workshop using my own laptop. This in turn means that I would need wireless (aka Wi-fi) Internet connectivity. In the past, more than a year ago actually, I gave a suggestion to Mr. Javed, the Customer Services Manager, to provide a wireless Internet connection facility for customers so that they can use a device/laptop at ease. The investment, if any at all, would amount to only Rs. 3-4K which is peanuts. Mr. Javed, to his credit, was very sympathetic to this suggestion and duly processed the request, but unfortunately it got lost in the process and nothing came of it.
A few months ago, when I visited the Toyota Walton workshop, I came across the owner Mr. Sharik. I gave him the suggestion for Wi-Fi facility for customers. I explained to him the benefits and productivity gains that such a facility would provide to his customers like myself. He enthusiastically listened to my suggestion, understood the point, and committed to providing this facility within a month.
Today, when I visited the workshop for a regular car tuneup, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the wireless Internet facility for customers was up and running. In fact, this blog post has been possible with that facility. Better still, when there was a power outage due to loadshedding, the wireless connection was on UPS backup and carried on working. Having the Wi-Fi facility for my laptop is a boon: I feel liberated and unshackled by having the flexibility of continuing working even when I’m out of my office and home. It makes me satisfied and makes for a great customer experience. Would I recommend Toyota Walton: Absolutely!
Thank you Mr. Javed and Mr. Sharik for keeping the promise and paying attention to your customers.
Takeaway Points:
(1) Small improvements to customer service, like the one by Toyota Walton highlighted above, make a big difference to the overall customer experience. It’s one that makes a customer like me willing to travel and pay extra to avail a better service. Businesses would do well to actively pay heed to their customers’ needs.
(2) A company’s internal processes and quality system should be strong and mature enough that no customer request gets missed or unattended. This also means that customer needs should be adequately attended without having to approach the business proprieter/CEO.
(3) Customers, consumers, or whatever you want to call them, need to stop behaving like sheep and putting up with shoddy services that companies shove onto them; they need to constantly make their voice heard and DEMAND better services.
This exhibition is the first critical survey of contemporary Western European decorative and industrial design, organized by IMA Design Curator R. Craig Miller. The exhibition and accompanying catalogue present 250 seminal works including furniture, ceramics, metalwork, glass and product design that reveal the extraordinary creativity of two generations of designers in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Portugal, Scandinavia, Spain and the United Kingdom. European Design Since 1985 reflects an important initiative by the IMA in the area of 20th- and 21st-century design. The project, which has required six years of extensive research, has been organized in cooperation with the Denver Art Museum and Kingston University, London.
“talent needs to be recognized’ nurtured and leveraged”
This is so true. Every human being has been endowed with talent and certain God-given qualities. Every person has the potential to be someone, to achieve something. Most people seek fulfillment in their lives through personal, social, and professional achievements. Given the right set of conditions, circumstances, and environment, most people are able to realize their full potential. And that’s where the crucial role of mentoring and incubation initiatives, both formal and informal, comes in.
A good case-in-point is the Sundance Institute with their stated mission:
Sundance Institute is a non-profit organization dedicated to the discovery and development of independent artists and audiences. Through its programs, the Institute seeks to discover, support, and inspire independent film and theatre artists from the United States and around the world, and to introduce audiences to their new work.
Alesia Weston, Director of Sundance’s International Program, highlights a recent success story of their Program (via Sundance newsletter):
“… nor was I Arab enough for the Arabs…”
This is how writer/director Cherien Dabis describes her childhood, growing up in rural Ohio, daughter of Palestinian/Jordanian emigres. Her experience of “never really feeling at home anywhere” sowed the seeds that led to Amreeka, her film that was developed with Sundance’s support in the Middle East Screenwriters Lab, and premiered in the 2009 Festival.
As Associate Director of Sundance’s International Program, I met Cherien in the Jordanian desert during our 2007 Lab. I was immediately struck by her wit, her intelligence, and her passion for making a film that told the authentic story of her family. Based loosely on her aunt, who immigrated to the U.S. from Palestine, Cherien’s script is a heartbreaking and heartwarming portrait of a woman trying to start a new life in a climate where the odds are against her. In Ramallah, Muna dreams of a new life for herself and her teenage son in the promised land of small town Illinois. After she is reduced to taking a job flipping burgers at White Castle, her vision of America becomes much more complex.
Amreeka was acquired by National Geographic Films and opened the New Directors/New Films series at Lincoln Center this week. Critics call Amreeka “…a heartfelt triumph,” “…the Middle-East conflict leavened with vibrant energy…” and Stephen Holden in The New York Times wrote it “reaffirms social realism’s validity as humanistic art.” Perhaps more importantly, Cherien’s film which will travel and be screened at festivals and theaters in the Middle East is a rare opportunity for some people to see themselves on screen and relate to the stories they live. Whether the film is uplifting or disheartening, or as in this case, a bittersweet combination of the two, seeing ourselves in these stories can simply make us feel like we are in a conversation with something larger than ourselves and a little more connected.
I like to think this is what Sundance does best: discover a filmmaker with a unique personal vision; nurture that voice in our Labs; and then support the film that comes from those roots from development through distribution.
Sundance gave Cherien a home. I hope you’ll help Sundance offer a home to emerging filmmakers wherever they are.
There are three important points regarding talent:
Recognize
Nurture
Leverage
What Sundance Labs did in the above-mentioned case is an excellent example of a well-executed mentoring and incubation program which successfully recognized, nurtured, and leveraged Cherien’s talent and gave her worldwide recognition.
Takeaway Point: In Pakistan, we need to initiate and sustain similar programs across all sections of society and industry sectors in order to cultivate talent. This will in turn create a long-lasting culture of innovation and enterpreneurship.
If you’ve heard of any successful mentoring and incubation stories, both within and outside Pakistan, please do share them in the comments section.
If you are interested in designing an iPhone app, the Apple iPhone Human Interface Guidelines is a must-read doc. It’s available free and can be downloaded from the iPhone Developer Center (registration required).
I was recently talking to someone about time estimates for designing an iPhone application. I was of the view that a minimum of 30-40% the total development time should be allocated to design, whereas the other person was of the view that only 5-10% was necessary. My estimate was based on my experience as a design practitioner, keeping in mind the issues involved in creating a good user experience, whereas the other person’s estimate was based on his primary background as a software programmer.
For iPhone/iPod Touch applications, Apple recommends that you spend approximately 60% of your time on design.
Apple recommendations:
- Design 60%
- Code 15%
- Debug 15%
- Test 10%
Design is not just about making pretty icons and graphics – it’s much more than that. The design process is comprised of four primary phases:
In traditional approaches for software development on mobile platforms, typically 5% of the development time is spent on design.
Typical software development approaches:
- Design 5%
- Code 45%
- Debug 25%
- Test 25%
To me, Apple’s 60% recommendation for design is not at all a surprise. To create a truly amazing application with a great user experience requires considerable effort and focus. The alternative – with 5% design effort – invariable results in mediocrity and a lame product, and is typical of software engineers’ philosophy of build first and fix/design later approach.
Last Saturday, a Google Mapping Party event was organized at the FAST-NU campus in Lahore. The driving force behind the event was Khurram Siddiqi who is a faculty member at FAST-NU. Google was represented by Badar Khushnood, Google Country Consultant for Pakistan.
Faraz and Jabran – two young chaps from Pakistan have done a huge number of edits on Google Maps. In fact, as far as I know, Faraz has the largest number of edits: a staggering 48,000 of them!! (he also happens to be in residing in my former hometown: Glasgow, UK). I wish the promotional leaflet for Google Map Maker distributed at the event would feature Faraz’s record holding 48,000 edits instead of some person’s measly 6,000 edits. (Yes, some people actually read promotional leaflets – see image on RHS)
It’s the new year which means renewed hopes, new goals, and of course the obligatory new year resolutions.
The Interaction Design Center (IxDC) is organizing a workshop titled “Social Media 101: An Introduction to Blogs, FaceBook, and Twitter” for some staff members at 
European Design Since 1985: Shaping the New Century
Recently, 
If you are interested in designing an iPhone app, the Apple iPhone Human Interface Guidelines is a must-read doc. It’s available free and can be downloaded from the 
