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> But how do you know which interactions are useful to your business and which are not? How do you the right amount of flow through an area? What about the thin
by glitch 12y ago
> But how do you know which interactions are useful to your business and which are not? How do you the right amount of flow through an area? What about the things you can't measure, but may matter to the health of your workers?
For most people, using their experiences throughout their life as a perspective. Once you get into a new workplace, you can use those years of experience as a basis for perspective relative to the observations of the new workplace. For a lot of people, their intuition makes this kind of thing obvious once they start looking at the data and look around casually in the workspace with note of looking at the people, their movements, and what they're doing. It's the kind of thing that after working at a new place for a week, I already would have a solid feeling and a useful perspective — not just from the new workplace, but comparing that new workplace based on my experience of other workplaces that I've worked in, consulted for, and otherwise visited.
But, there are formal studies on human interactions in the business workplace addressing all three of these questions. I don't have particular citations of interest off-hand.
> I still don't see how knowing stair steps in isolation will generate any valuable insight.
Strictly empirically speaking, it doesn't really. However, this set data from one location combined with observational perspective of the people within the space, could easily lead to more informed conjecture and related hypotheses.
However, the novelty of the single location data set may be as useful distraction; to serve as an element introducing "fun" and "amusement" into the workplace at acceptable levels of "fun" and "amusement". (There are studies on this, as well. This information can serve as a device to break monotony and a "humdrum" atmosphere. You can employ other devices as well. For example, free soda can be used as a device. Whether or not that device works effective and the full consequences (positive & negative) is beyond the scope of this simple comment.)
If you want to pursue this beyond typical intuition, I recommend taking human behavior studies in psychology with respect to interior design and architecture.
This goes beyond just traffic flow, but incorporates other aspects of the environment and its influence on humans.
However, you don't need to have academic training to be useful. Many people have the intuition to reasonably and appropriately make observations, analyze, and comment on their surroundings.
But, on the more academic side of things, here are some quick and dirty Google search results. Random examples of literature in ballpark of this field in an assortment of contexts:
A Homely Approach is Paying Dividends for Patients and Staff. (2012). Nursing Standard, 27(2), 20-21.
Rydeen, J., Erickson, P., & Lange, J (2008). Built for Brains. Industrial Engineer: IE, 40(3), 32.
Joye, Y. (2007). Architectural Lessons from Environmental Psychology: The Case of Biophilic Architecture. Review of General Psychology, 11(4), 305-328. doi:10.1037/1089-2680.11.4.305
Read, M., & Upington, D. (2009). Young Children’s Color Preferences in the Interior Environment. Early Childhood Education Journal, 36(6), 491-496. doi:10.1007/s10643-009-0311-6
Moore, G. Architecture and Human Behavior: The Place of Environment-Behavior Studies in Architecture. http://sydney.edu.au/architecture/documents/staff/garymoore/28.pdf http://sydney.edu.au/architecture/documents/staff/garymoore/...
Cummings, N. Fostering Sustainable Behavior Through Design: A Study Of The Social, Psychological, And Physical Influences Of The Built Environment. http://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2015&context=theses http://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=20...
Esmaili, Y. Consideration Of Human Behavior In Designing A Green Office Space For Environmentalists A Simulation Study. http://architecture.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/faculty_papers/CONSIDERATION%20OF%20HUMAN%20BEHAVIOR%20I....pdf http://architecture.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/faculty_...
- normloman 12y agoI'm very interested in the studies on how people interact with their workspace. Thank you. But you admit, the data can only inform our intuition. Perhaps with more datapoints, and a rigorous platform for testing, we could use stair data to improve the workplace. But just giving us stair data doesn't make us any smarter. I'd say it makes us dumber. It creates a distraction. It makes us think we know more than we really do. It tempts us to see the problem in terms of stairs, when maybe the problem lies elsewhere (or maybe the stair steps are meaningless).
- glitch 12y agoSuch is the innate aspect of data gathering and analysis. The more (relevant) data, the better. (What determines relevancy is not discussed here for brevity.) Partial data will only serve as a distraction if you allow it to. EDIT: If you falsely present partial data as important, yes, then it very well probably is distraction because by you are facilitating it to be a distraction by virtue of presenting thusly. As consciousness, you should try to be aware of inappropriately disproportionately presented data expressed by others in your environment and to not let it serve as a distraction to you as an observer. For example, Fox News and how it goes about its interactions displaying information (true information, false information, incomplete information, etc.) with the masses is a popular subject for case study in this type of scenario. If you are aware that it is an incomplete picture, then you should be fine. Again, the more data, the better. Be aware of limitations and incomplete pictures. Be aware of context. Same old story of much everything in life. Always be exploring further. Always keep on questioning what's happening in the environment and the universe. Ignorance is bad. Of course, balance is needed. Pros are something that exist. Cons are something that exist. Things exist. Actions exist. Interactions between things and other things with actions exist. Systems of interaction exist. It's turtles all the way down. But yes, based on history, most humans fail at comprehending their own basic existence, their interactions with others, and anything else contained within their neck of the universe. Rather depressing actually. Nothing new here. EDIT: As far as what belongs or doesn't belong on a dashboard, that would take a long time for me to discuss. In this particular example provided in the original posting, yes, it has various flaws. Not discussing that. Also, with regard to "the more data, the better", yes, irrelevant data has negative consequences and must be dealt with accordingly. Of course, the a perspective exists where you should try to identify irrelevant data and not gather it to begin with. Conversely, there is a perspective where you should gather it all so as not to presumptuously exclude and that the data itself will tell you what is relevant and irrelevant during analysis. Both approaches express certain positive merits and also negative qualities. Identifying what is irrelevant and what is relevant has its own intricacies which are not discussed here in any relatively significant capacity.