Consumer centered design From: c.j.charlesworth@hud.ac.uk Sent: 05 January 2000 15:19 I believe that the ultimate consumer centered design office will allow the consumer to become part of the design process and use e-mail to influence design decisions, allowing products to be made which suit their own preferences. Rapid production techniques will allow for this personalisation of products. Chris Problems with e-commerce From: email@techsoftuk.co.uk Sent: 16 December 1999 12:11 I hear a lot about E commerce, mostly written by freelance journalists and other work-at-home types. The fundamental problem (as with old fashioned mail order and telephone commerce) is that unless the item is small, someone has to be at home to receive it. I can order a computer from Time, for example, the Amtrak courier will call whilst I'm at work and leave me a card advising me to collect it from their depot 20 miles away. Or I can go to my local Currys and bring it home with me. Phil Thane - Support Manager, TechSoft UK Ltd What about the children? From: Laurence_Matthews@baa.co.uk Sent: 08 December 1999 15:08 Nomadic working I'd just like to say that I feel the references to nomadic working which use illustrations of Saharan or Mongolian societies seem to be missing the point. I would echo the sentiments of the speaker at the recent nomadic working seminar at the RCA who asked, 'What about the children?' It seems to me that nomadic societies who roam the steppes or the deserts do so as a whole: the complete society moves slowly around - spouses, children, social structures and all. By contrast the 'nomadic worker' often depicted, and certainly as depicted at the seminar, seems to be a lone warrior (usually male) who carries his hunting tools around with him before returning to a (static) home, and evokes for me more the image of a hunter-gatherer society. Any comments? Laurence Matthews