There are many possibilities and optional scenarios. One of the characteristics of building a participatory – user generated web service is that the system must be left at some level of openness. It is impossible to know before it is used which functionality users will find most effective and useful. Therefore, it is important to leave the functionality somewhat open, and provide potential users with the general “social web” tools (e.g. posting, profiling, groups, forum, favorites, personalization, and so on…). I will describe several different user scenarios for the Indigi-Net service, but again, this is something that can and probably will change drastically if used on a wider scale.
A traveler plans her trip to Asia
Caroline is planning her trip to India and just bought her Northern India Lonely Planet guidebook. She has a whole month of holidays, and plans to spend it all in that region. She uses the book as a means of having a handy source of information for reference purposes at all times while in India. As great as the book is, it has little personal input from people who have been to that region recently. Through a simple ‘google’ query, Caroline accesses various travel blogs and online trip journals describing people’s recent journeys to the north of India. Once she figures out possible destinations, she logs onto the Indigi-Net website and browses the map and reaches the Northern India region. She spots a post from Shimla from a school teacher by the name of Ayanna, who asks to meet a foreign school teacher. In her post, she also asks for some English teaching books and audio cassettes. Caroline makes a note to herself not to forget to pack some of her old teaching literature in her backpack. She also marks the post on the site, sending a comment to Ayanna with her approximate date of arrival. While traveling in India, Caroline can check for new messages either through the web, or by using SMS messaging on her mobile phone. All she needs is the local access number for India.
A Vietnamese university student in Hanoi
Moon is a physics student who attends the University of Hanoi. He is interested to meet foreign students and talk about schoolwork and while practicing English. Moon has access to the web using the computer lab in his department. He creates a profile and places a post online. He specifies his interests, while requesting time to simply ‘hang out’ in Hanoi. He offers a tour of the many galleries in exchange for conversation time with a foreign English speaking university student. Within several days Moon receives several responses to his posts. He exchanges email addresses with one of the people who replied, and sets a time to meet later that week.
A local business in Rio seeks IT assistance
This is a similar scenario to the previous one. A post is placed online by Rodrigues, describing a request for assistance with computer software installation and setup. His post might be in either English or Portugese. For this scenario that is not a major issue. In return for this service, Rodrigues offers to prepare a traditional lunch.
A local clinic in Chichicastenango
Chatti works at a local clinic on the outskirts of Chichicastenango, North-western Guatemala. The clinic receives weekly supplies from the government, and its employees are not trained on a regular basis. Chatti uses a mobile phone supplied by the government for use by the clinic. She uses it to send SMS updates regarding the clinic’s supply needs. She also places a request for any dermatologist visiting the area to give them a short training. Maria, a traveling doctor from Spain, reads these posts online, and decides to head to the clinic to give a day’s workshop based on her experiences working in the Madrid City Hospital.
Local artisan in Oaxaca
Rafael, a local weaver in teoatitlan, uses Indigi-Net to try and find possible collaborators from the States. He places a post that includes some images of his crafts. Using his phone, Rafael takes photos and sends them off using a local MMS message, which uploads the photo directly to the website. This generates several types of responses. The first is from potential buyers. However, the second is from an American design student, Jeff, who proposes to meet and teach each other’s design methods. Jeff is traveling in Mexico, but also has an idea for a collaborative project, while Rafael seeks opportunities to showcase his work in the states. This could be a rewarding opportunity for both.
