Assigment 1: Designing for specific user groups



Origins: 2003, New York.

Why Dumpster? Because an American trash bin called Dumpster.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumpster_diving


Dumpster Divers are people who search for useful or eatable things in other´s trash. Dumpster diving is also known as trash picking, gleaning, urban foraging, bin diving, scavenging, salvaging, or curb crawling and is the result of a sub classification of the subculture Freeganism which consists in avoiding as much as possible the group participation in the conventional economy system because being based in the profit of the mass production. They avoid as much as possible the consumption of all products from natural resources and animals, which means everything we buy. They are against human rights violations, materialism, moral apathy, competition, conformity and greed.

Dumpster diviers are specially against the “Throwaway culture” that stimulate people in a society to continually replace all older products with newer ones instead of repairing them, as well, they consider inhuman to throw food away when people is starving all over the world.

The members of this subculture are very active in Waste Minimization: composting, recycling and redistributing usable objects.

Eco friendly transportation is another activity the group practice: replacing cars by using other alternatives as biking, skating, walking, train hopping or hitchhiking. Some members who consider need car use fryer oil from restaurants in their converted diesel engines. The goal is to be independent of fossil fuels and volunteer groups are available to help everyone who is interested in converting the diesel engine to a “veggie-oil”.

They also practice the Media Coverage activity which consists in:
Practice gardening and wild foraging, to convert the abandoned lots into garden plots for the community.
To share the resulting healthy harvest in neighborhoods where junk food is predominant. To consume what they produce and avoid transporting imported products from long distances away.
To plant threes where the air is highly polluted.
To create open spaces and places for communities to come together, work together, share food, grow together in concrete and asphalt landscapes.
To integrate the isolated people in the society.
To learn about the local botany to become independent of the pharmacies.
http://freegan.info/
http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2016683424_dumpster04m.html


The considered application to support the dumpster diving is a community accessible on mobile phones with the following functions: chat, sms (for those without smart phone), meet up (spontaneous diving), map and GPS functions with updated information about: a store directory (food available), the garbage collector´s schedule (to be before in the place), warning possible risks (thrown chlorine over the food inside the containers), the local seasonal botany, solidarity actions provided by other members (garage to change car engines).

As the Freegans, the Dumpster Divers have the freedom, the cooperation, the ecological waste and pollution reduction, the social concern, the community encouraging, and the generosity as mainly motivations. The members of the group consider the dumpster diving as a fun social activity, an important value is to “share” with others what they have, found or know, to increase the awareness and consciousness and change the behavior in our materialist society and to practice the activity in a safe way.
http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2003/1/29/215523/088



The preferences among the members of the group may vary, some focus more on community works such as Food Not Bombs which recovers and shares vegan food at open public places for free as a protest against war, poverty and environment destruction.
http://www.foodnotbombs.net/mission_statement.html

Persona 1 

Name: Rachel
Age: 29
Body constitution: Regular
Marital Status: Divorced
Country: USA, Michigan
Family: four children, two boys and two girls.
Religious: Christian
Car: SUV Windstar, Ford
Mobile telephone: Blackberry
Dumpster diving type: Convinced, open practicing
Frequency: Once a week
Computer skills: Advanced.

She has two blogs: rachaelscreativemoments.blogspot.com  http://thewildtruthblog.blogspot.com/
She also has a channel in youtube.com: A Moment With Rachael
Hobbies: Dumpster diving, frugal, farming and second-hand shopping.
She likes to write, paper crafts, knitting, quilting, creation science, reading.
Work: At home, raises chickens, ducks, sheep, and goats.


“My chickens ate most of that load, but I do indeed eat a lot of what I find. I suppose you're brainwashed into thinking that's disgusting, yet you'll eat at McDonald's and other places where you could eat a mad cow burger any day of the week. Yum, yum…”


“…Don't care about what people say you're doing a good and logic thing for you and your kids and save money and waste as well…”


Rachel is a crafty woman as she describes herself. She got divorced after discovering her husband had an affair during 1.5 years and had got a baby with the other partner. She works at home as self employed…a really independent and active person! She also practices the homeschooling with her children. Rachel is very feminine and likes to look nice but without extravagance. She shows being very extrovert and has facility to communicate and write easy-going texts in her two blogs: food recipes, doing-yourself tips and family are common topics. She describes herself as a frugan prudent in the use of consumable resources such as food, time or money, and avoiding waste or lavishness and everything she gets from diving is used by her family and her chickens. She takes always her sons with her when diving. As a single woman living in the country considers having a car as essential. She makes often reference to her religion. Her divorce was probably her worst frustration.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frugality

Persona 2

Name: Baruch
Age: 80
Body constitution: Regular
Marital Status: Married
Country: Sweden, Stockholm
Family: wife, tree sons and 7 grandsons.
Religious: Jewish
Car: No
Mobile telephone: Old, supports sms.
Dumpster diving type: He doesn’t consider himself as a Dumpster diving and tries to do it in a discreet way. Just his wife knows about it.

Frequency: Almost everyday
Computer skills: None.
Hobbies: Playing bingo, lot gardening, watching tv.
He likes to meet other Jewish and drink coffee.
Work: No, pensioner.

“I feel uncomfortable when people look at me doing this, but is not a choice”

Baruch is a healthy senior who has lived more than 60 years here in Sweden. When young he worked in construction. Now he lives alone with her wife who suffers arthritis. Both like to take care of the grandsons pretty often or when needed.
He likes to collect berries at the forest and feels proud of the food he gets at his little lot in Tensta. He collects PET bottles and cans as well, commonly at the Central Station where their neighbor can’t see him. He doesn’t know the dumpster diving movement and he doesn’t consider himself being one. He affirms doing this because necessity and not for conviction eventough he practices other similar activities as the freegans or the dumpster divers. Due the low pension he gets, he gets a benefit to pay the rent. He is not good using new technology, but he can message sms texts.
He doesn’t use to jump inside the dumpster, sometimes he just inclines towards and see if there is something fresh, useful and not stinky. He dives on the evenings.

Persona 3

Name: Gareth
Age: 18
Body constitution: Regular, trained
Marital Status: Single
Country: Australia, Sydney
Family: parents
Religious: No religion
Car: No
Mobile telephone: I phone.
Dumpster diving type: Amateur but very convinced. He is a new member of the Food Not Bombs group.
Frequency: Twice a week
Computer skills: Advanced.
Hobbies: Surfing and computer games.
Work: No, he studies Health Science at the University of Sydney.

 

“The attention of people on the streets around the world who want to know how they could organize for their own self-sustainability is amazing”

Gareth is a healthy active who likes of nature and surfing often at Tamara beach. He is also vegetarian. He is very friendly and likes to travel and meet people with different backgrounds. He believes in Communist systems, and consider shearing as an important element to improve the actual world situation. A bicycle is his favorite transport but mostly when surfing, he uses to hitchhike to the beach and back home.
He describes himself as a hippie young man who participates building a better society but also shares the common interest of the people of his age. He smokes cannabis sometimes which is decriminalized for personal uses in small amounts.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_cannabis_by_country
http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2016683424_dumpster04m.html

Dumpster diving style

Some common aspects are observed in all three members previously described: all of them are healthy and in a conscious or unconscious way try to waste things as possible.
All of them have regret against the system in some way.

They show different grades of participation:

• Just for their own economical benefits, just for today.
• Ecology focused, an established and routine way of living ideology.
• Social conscious where the goals are more changing depending of the actual needs but focused in the future of the community, earth, etc.

Another style of diving

Making the research was easy to note the strong will to share information and tips. The members of this group are not egoist about what they know and often remarks that there is a lot for everyone. They invite people to try diving once and realize what dumpster diving is about. Young people are really encouraging this movement proposing creative activities to teach people how to live on other´s trash.
http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2003/1/29/215523/088





Members enjoy social diving; people have different needs: what is not usable for one may be useful for someone else. It’s like treasure hunting. To exchange things is very common.

Members have some considerations about the dumpster diving activity, such as security which should be considered in the designed application. These risky moments exist during and after the activity, e.g. bleached food or set razor wire or barbed wire fences round dumpsters, dangerous compactors who may crush a diver or expired food intoxication.

To follow the garbage men schedule guarantees a good diving and minimizes also risks or conflicts.
The information automatic updating function would be useful e.g. in such situation where divers co-work with the police as witness, etc.
Weather should be also considered, rain soaks everything in an open dumpster, windy days may close the lock of the dumpster when being inside, etc.

Having normal clean clothes is a way to make diving respectful, robust shoes are needed to avoid possible glasses. All the equipment must be sort of hands free, and not so sensible e.g. to sticky substances. A headlamp or a small flashlight with a cord attached a long pole with a hook, plastic bags a first aid kit and gloves are recommended.




Robust shoes

The social context is mainly peaceful although there are still people who disapprove dumpster diving. That´s why diving after business hours or early in the morning is considered better, when dark. Through cooperating with the police when finding robbery purses or participating as witness divers have got to change the conception of dumpster diving.
http://www.allthingsfrugal.com/dumpster.htm


Addecuate equipment

Legal Implications vary depending on the area but in most places is not illegal.
http://trashwiki.org/en/Dumpster_diver




Dumpster divers practice the following rules:

• Don't go behind a closed fence to reach a dumpster.
• Leave the dumpster better than when they arrived, so it can continue.
• Don't take paperwork with people's confidential records or credit cards numbers. Be discrete.
• Take only what you can use, and leave the rest for someone else.
• Keep in mind the kind of environment you're going to be in. Act safely.

The members are considered as the first information source, they update and enrich the input using the keyboard and the mobile screen. The output would be shown in the screen as maps or text sms in case of old telephones. The main specific requirement is the limitations some members may have according to their mobile telephone model.

And finally some numbers...