Designing mobile consumer service
information infrastructures
Petter Nielsen (pnielsen@ifi.uio.no)
1. Introduction
This essay concerns systems development and complexity, embodied in the rather
cumbersome concept of designing mobile consumer service information infrastructures. This
concept can be broken down to several distinct concepts, but not without the loss of the true
picture of complexity. When I in the further discern the concept, it is only for the purpose of
clarification. Throughout the essay it will also become apparent that the different concepts are
close related.
In my discussions, design and information infrastructure will be at the core. Starting of with
the general notion of design as a point of reference, I discuss design in general, software
design, consumption, services and convergence, ending up framing design in a theoretical
framework of information infrastructures.
This essay is explorative and encompassing more than restrictive and focused. The working
concepts presented are both a result of literature studies, current discussions in media, as well
as participation in some initial project meetings at Telenor1 R&D and Telenor Mobil2. This is
not a rich collection of empirical data, but still sufficient to bring interesting examples into the
discussions. The brief discussion of the methodological approach to study this phenomenon is
far from complete, and will be very much contingent upon future projects as well as my
access to these. The more philosophical assumptions underlying my methodological choices
are on the other hand more or less given in the nature of my perspective on the phenomenon.
The essay is structured as follows: In the rest of chapter 1 the philosophical and
methodological approach is briefly discussed. Chapter 2 introduces the theory of information
1
2
Telenor is the largest and far dominating operator and actor in the Norwegian telecommunication market.
The division in Telenor responsible for national mobile operations.
1
infrastructures related to my discussions. Chapter 3 discusses design as a concept in general
while chapter 4 further introduces the concept of design in relation to systems development.
Chapter 5 introduces a range of perspectives on design and discusses these in relation to
chapter 3 and 4 as well as design of mobile services in particular. Finally, chapter 6 provides a
summary of the discussion as well as highlighting the main issues of the working concept.
Design and complexity: The arena of consumption
This essay is about IS and complexity. The issues of complexity discussed here will maybe
make up too much complexity – in the end there may be a call for some sort of reduction or
being more focused on some parts of the picture painted. But as I try to show, this totality of
complexity is basically unavoidable in practice and also at the heart of my interest. This
question should never the less be addressed further, and in chapter 6 I briefly describe three
distinct themes concerning design.
One current research approach to complexity and IS is the nature of how organizations relates
to information systems. This research have focused on studies of complexities associated with
documents and work practice and how they are influenced when information technology are
introduced and used (e.g. Braa and Sandal 1998; Iacucci et al. 2002). Other researches have
focused on complexities introduced by development, implementation and use of software by
global dispersed teams (e.g. Sahay 1998), as other have focused on the introduction of
information systems in global and heterogeneous organisations (e.g. Ciborra and associates
2000). These different efforts have looked at different complexities, but still having one
context in common: The organization. It is the organization3 that meets challenges, and within
the organization complexity must be solved, reduced or at least handled.
The perspective on complexity presented here is somewhat different and broader:
Complexities are not steaming from one, affecting one or the challenge of one single
organization. I focus on complexity created by open accessible mobile services in a
commercial context, provided to and used by individual consumers by their consumption of
such services. This complexity can not be reduced as control is lost. Still, the complexity can
be handled, but only handled on the basis of power distributed among a range of different and
heterogeneous actors.
3
The organisational borders are of course changing and becoming more open in the global setting. But still only
to a certain degree, and some kind of central control will always be present.
2
Design and converging technologies
Rather imprecisely, the technology providing mobile services is coined “mobile Internett”. By
its inaccurateness, it overly emphasizes the paradigmatic nature of Internett as a flexible, open
sourced, loosely standardized innovation. Slightly more accurate, some see “mobile Internett”
rather as a convergence of two technologies: Internett and mobile telecommunication. Still,
this process of convergence is usually seen as rather unproblematic: The result is a
combination of the best from both the technologies, creating nothing but synergies.
Mobile services are indeed a result of the convergence. But convergence should not only be
discussed as a technical matter, and as an extension of the Internett. Technologies may
basically not be compatible at a technological level – a challenge to a great extent overcome
in the current process of convergence. On the other hand, technology may be incompatible at
a more socio-technical level. For example the different willingness to pay for services on the
Internett compared to mobile telecommunication services – they can not both be the paradigm
after a convergence. Another example is the different roles and power of the actors and how
these changes as the technology merge: Traditional telecommunication operators becomes
banks, as well as TV-stations and media-houses not only are content providers but also virtual
telecommunication operators.
By emphasising socio-technical issues of mobile service design, I draw the attention to
convergence beyond the technical. With a focus on the roles of consumers, service providers,
content providers, telecommunication operators and regulatory authorities, there are major
socio-technical challenges involved. My focus on design of mobile service is thus not
concerning mobile technology as such, but rather the socio-technical design challenges
resulting from convergence.
Methodological approach
It is not straight forward to do research on a topic described in this essay. In particular,
decisions concerning narrowing the focus are challenging. What kind of actors should be in
focus, what kind of design activities should be in focus, and should my focus be on ongoing
design activities, or rather retrospective accounts?
3
I will focus on ongoing design efforts by professional designers4 of II as well as design-inconsumption5. Design is here a process ranging from the idea of the design is born until the
service is deployed, as well as further changes happened and the service is designed inconsumption. Thus, the process can not be framed within time and within the responsibility
and power of professional designers only. And the design is further contingent upon other
services, consumers as well as II – the processes can not either be framed within the single
scope of a service or project. In addition my focus is not primarily on the technical matters of
service design: Still, constraints and technical possibilities play an important role, but just one
among others.
The unit of analysis will partly be limited focusing on professional design projects, and partly
services designed-in-consumption. Only focusing on II at large will give little understanding
of professional design challenges and the power of their decisions, as well as only focusing on
limited design projects will be in conflict with my view of services as being designed-inconsumption and necessarily being a part of an II. This duality of unit of analysis will
hopefully result in the necessary understanding to provide strategic design guidelines for
professional designers.
Framed in the description of Meyers and Avison (Meyers and Avison 2002), my research
approach will mainly be based on qualitative research methods, with underlying interpretative
assumptions. The underlying interpretative assumptions are reflected in the nature of II as
being social-technical and designed-in-consumption. These assumptions is also rooted in a
perspective emphasizing the blurring borders between who the designers are, when design
happens, who is deciding the design trajectory as well what actually constitutes an II. Such
inquiries will be contingent upon the researcher’s perspective, and not objectively given. On
the other hand, quantitative data will probably be used, but only as means of supporting the
interpretative approach, and not as being more objective and independent of perspective.
I further focus on trajectories of design and actors having different powers and different
means of dominating such trajectories, clearly influenced by a critical philosophy. Still, my
4
The notion of professional designers is used here to describe a certain group of actors devoted to work with the
technical properties of software and hardware design of services. Professionalism is related to their focus on
achieving state-of-the-art properties of design.
5
The notion of design-in-consumption is close related to design-in-use. The difference of these notions lies in
the distinctive character of consumption compared with use, giving them quite different characters. This is
discussed further below.
4
main aim is not to help eliminating such conflicts, but rather to describe their nature and
significance for professional designers. I will also further argue that such conflicts have a
character of being unavoidable and unsolvable, and rather the nature of II.
The research methods I will apply, based on these philosophical considerations, will mainly
be case-studies, maybe supported by ethnographic research (of the quick and dirty kind). The
approach will never the less be selected and suited to the cases I get access to.
Contributions to knowledge
My PhD project aims at developing strategic guidelines for professional designers of mobile
services. General guidelines, due to the complexity of the research matters, can be difficult to
define and make applicable. On the other hand, guidelines could also be on a higher level,
providing designers with a framework to understand the nature as well as the possibilities
provided by an II.
The guidelines will never the less be close related the theory of II. Through my discussions I
will bring forth what I see as weaknesses with the theory, as well as applying it in a new
context. This will bring new perspectives to the theory of II itself.
My discussions of design can also be interesting for any professional designer. Still, my
discussion is relatively far from the usually narrow perspectives of designers, and probably
suffering from lack of relevance in general. Still, designers should also be interested in this
kind of approaches.
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2. Designing information infrastructures
This essay is based on the theory of information infrastructures (II). The choice of theory is
founded on experiences with the theory as well as ongoing research by fellow researches. The
theory is also initially found appropriate for this discussion.
By using the theory of II, I try to reveal the nature of designing mobile consumer service II. In
relation to complexity, I focus on II by its very nature of being open, shared, heterogeneous
and socio-technical, built on an installed base and a result of constantly ongoing negotiations,
consumption and development. My focus is therefore on II under construction or designed-inconsumption.
II have been defined by a range of authors, emphasizing different properties of its nature (e.g.
Forster and King 1995; Hanseth 2002; Jansen and Nielsen 2002; Star and Ruhleder 1996). I
will not discuss these definitions in detail, but only emphasize the aspects of II that I find
appropriate to address here.
A definition of II can be based on a description of dimensions, as done by for example Star
and Ruhleder as well as Hanseth and Monteiro (Hanseth and Monteiro 1997; Star and
Ruhleder 1996). These different theoretical descriptions include different dimensions, as well
as they put different emphasis on the dimensions. At the same time, these descriptions are
vague when it comes to whether the dimensions are the effects of an emerging II, or the
conditions for such processes, as well as whether the dimensions describes the context of an
II, or the II itself. In addition, it is not obvious which and to what degree the dimensions must
be present for an II to exist as well as come into being.
The theoretical description of II dimensions emphasized in this is essay is installed base,
open, heterogeneous and socio-technical, in addition to the economies of networks related to
the dimension of shared. The theoretical descriptions of these dimensions are as mentioned
limited, in particular in the sense of not being easy applied because their lack of specificity.
The theoretical descriptions are also based on metaphorical examples of large physical
infrastructures sunken down and only being visible on breakdowns, as well as being much
focused on corporate infrastructures, and not public. I focus on design of public II, not rooted
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in organisations, and providing services in a consumer market. These II are thus more open
and in general more in lack of central control that corporate II.
Focusing on infrastructures as sewer systems and electricity, the mentioned theoretical
description of II can make sense. Indeed, infrastructures are underlying, and they are indeed
visible upon breakdowns. At the same time, visibility and the users6 interpretation of
breakdowns is complicated when systems becomes more complex than water pipes. If a
mobile service is out of function, this may be a result of congestions in the network, problems
with the handset, problem with the service or the content provider. More mundane
breakdowns like this can occur in many instances, as well as it source and responsibility not
being transparent. It is also up to the user to figure out, and take proper measures to restore
the service (at least report the problems).
This essay is not built on the metaphorical discussion of infrastructures as electricity, roads
and sewers as being sunken and invisible. The focus is here on II under design, being flexible
in consumption as well as out of control of one single actor.
The dimension of II discussed here is defined to be the very nature of mobile consumer
service II. Such dimensions must not necessarily be present from the moment II is conceived.
But in its absence, these shortcomings must be identifiable as well as being obstacles to
achieve success. If not, we do not discuss a mobile consumer service II, but rather an II or an
IS. The typical shortcoming of mobile consumer service II is the lack of installed base,
appearing as lack of consumers. The typical shortcomings indicating a IS in preference of an
II, are lack of openness and lack of heterogeneity of the involved actors.
Dimensions of information infrastructures
The basic nature of II is the difference between II and discrete information systems (IS). IS is
in design usually seen as discrete, both when it comes to design after project termination
(termed maintenance) as well as being less connected to other systems. On the other hand, II
are defined to basically be open, in the sense that the system is open to a range of different
designers, its openness prevails as use unfolds and there is no single and defined user group.
At the same time, there are no exact border between IS and II, as IS may have strong
infrastructural characteristics.
6
The notion user is used in the further to describe the end-user of a system.
7
As already discussed, installed base is another important dimension of II. II does not grow
from scratch, eventually requiring huge investments as well as unattainable control. Another
aspect: Socio-technical is also important, as both consumers and technology have certain
power in deciding the trajectory of design. And these actors are indeed heterogeneous making
up the II together with the installed base. At last, the II nature of being shared is important as
the value of II are functional relational, as the number of other users are important to the user
(direct network externalities). On the other hand, sharing II with numerous other users
increases the resources put into the II, both when it comes to maintenance, and maybe more
important: Additional services (indirect network externalities).
These dimensions together describe II as inherently uncontrollable, as control is distributed
among heterogeneous actors. And what is further important, the II itself becomes a strong
actor as it grows (Braa and Hanseth 2000).
Designing services and designing information infrastructures
A single service can be seen as an infrastructure, as for example the SMS-service. But SMSservices should be discussed in relation to the other services. The development and
introduction of the services did not happen in a vacuum, but as a part of a larger
infrastructure, together with for example ordinarily voice services. In sum, these different
services makes up an ecology of infrastructure ((Hanseth and Monteiro 1997). Designing
mobile services are indeed designing II.
Designing II is designing networks. Such design is close related to the economies of
networks, and effects such as network externalities, lock-ins, critical mass and thresholds of
collective behaviour. These economic perspectives have good explanatory powers, but with
their macro perspective, the single consumer of public II is lost as being only one marginal
actor in a large network. In addition, there is a lack of predictive power in such explanations,
as collective actions by unidentified consumers have great impact. Such shortcomings are less
apparent in II design approaches presented below as cultivation and bootstrapping, as these
approaches focuses on corporate and not public II.
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3. Design as a general concept
With a discussion of design as a general concept, the outset for further discussion of ICT
design as well as mobile service design is here provided.
No single definition of design covers the diversity of ideas and methods labeled as design
(Buchanan 2000). It is therefore not easy to give a single definition of design here, and further
more not appropriate. Such a definition would either have to be so broad, common and
general, making it self more or less superfluous, or so specific that it would loose its nature of
open-endedness.
For the purpose of making design a working concept, I have to be precise, and emphasis
certain dimensions and perspectives on design. At the same time, as I define design here, its
fundamental open-endedness is kept: Design is not one single idea, method, process or
product. On the contrary, I argue that having a narrow focus may lead to unsuccessful design.
A general concept of design
Design is a concept with many nuances as well as being highly dependent upon our
perspective. In our everyday life, design is a term used to describe the qualities of
possessions, usually commodities (in the sense of mass-produced unspecialized products) as
clothes, cars and furniture. These commodities are close related and sometimes only evaluated
according to their design, or more precisely: The name of their designer or brand (Smith and
Tabor 1996). And our evaluation of the brand is usually related to criterions negotiated with
our peer’s. The aesthetic properties of design can act as strong symbols, often much stronger
than objective and functional measures when aesthetics is evaluated over functionality. This is
also the case for software, as: “[p]eople buy products, including software, not only for what
those products ostensibly do, but also for what they represent” (Smith and Tabor 1996 p.40).
Design is therefore related to inner as well as outer properties of goods. Design quality is
functional, but also relational playing an important role in symbolic communication. Users
appreciation of the design is therefore both dependent on usefulness and fashion (waves).
Design is also related to what are not commodities. Design jewelry, furnitures and hot couture
are not mass produced, but made in small numbers and sometimes by the designer here self.
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The design can even be adapted to suite one client in particular on request. This intimacy to
the designer as well as the uniqueness of the design is highly valued. This is radically
different from the distant relations among consumer and commodities, where consumers are
invisible for designers, as well as having no incentives for being a part of the design process.
Mass produced or not, we attach and evaluate other qualities as conformance with relational
evaluation of brand and uniqueness of design over simple monetary cost and functionality.
The concept of design describes possessions and their relation to a certain designer or a brand.
Compared with the relation between the brand and the consumer, the relation between the
consumer and here peers can be more important for evaluation of design. These relationships
will also be causally related to appreciation of brands itself. Together, consumers make up
networks of expectations and common appraisal for different brands and designs, enabling the
communication of symbols such as status.
The popularity of a certain design comes and goes as time fluctuates and fashion-waves
happen. Fashion waves are highly unpredictable and uncontrollable as they are based on
collective actions by consumers. On the other hand, certain circumstances and (sometimes
mundane) actions can enable or hinder the raise of such waves, as described by Gladwell
(Gladwell 2000). Our collective actions are based on relational evaluation of possessions as
they are given symbolic meanings, and waves of fashion emerge through these relations. In
such an environment, aesthetics is evaluated over functionality and peers preferences over
own preferences. Thus, the single consumer action becomes hard to predict as well as they
together enable highly profitable fashion waves for the proper design.
Factors such as relations, symbols, functionality, aesthetics, price, closeness to designer and
fashion-waves are important for our appreciation of design in general. Designing service II
unfolds in a context with such factors, and should thus take them into consideration. This
context is restricting, as the control of professional designers is reduced. At the same time it is
also enabling as the networked nature of II provides self-reinforcing mechanisms for the
successful design.
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4. Designing information and communication technology
Design is here discussed in relation to mobile technology and systems development. In
systems development, design is usually either described as the creative phase of a
development project (e.g. Andersen et al. 1986; Sommerville 1995) or as the construction and
functionality of the graphical user interface of a system (e.g. Hjelm 2000). I further describe
design with such perspectives with an emphasis on revealing the nature of designing mobile
services as well as these perspectives shortcomings.
Design as graphical user interface design
From the graphical user interface (GUI) designers perspective, the theories, tools and
guidelines to create high quality GUI (as for example described by Nielsen’s 10 usability
heuristics7, and Shneiderman's golden rules of user interface design (Shneiderman 1998)), are
generally accepted and stable. High quality GUI-design is evaluated by GUI-experts, building
their competencies on the knowledge on how properties of design affect the efficiency of the
user as well as aesthetics in general. The quality of GUI-design is therefore not exposed to
fashion-waves, as expertise is built on accumulated knowledge of little controversy. On the
other hand, knowledge attained by GUI-designers may in the future face changes by
introduction of new and radical different knowledge and definition of good design (as
described by Kuhn (Kuhn 1992)).
At the same time, new challenges to GUI-designers have been introduced with mobile phones
and other mobile devices. Designing GUI for mobile phones can be described as stepping
back in time, as screen size; lack of colors richness as well as low bandwidth is the main
constraints and challenges of GUI-design. In such environment, there is much pressure on
designers to create a good design in a deprived environment. These challenges are also
augmented as the users are experienced with and used to high-quality stationary equipment,
refusing to use anything of less quality. A focus on reproducing the PC-desktop on mobile
devices reflects this focus and challenges (discussed by e.g. Belloti and Bly 1996). These
restrains on graphical refinements can also create increased demands for directly functional
services of objective value, a relationship illuminated with Saffo’s notion of “threshold of
indignation” (Saffo 1996).
7
http://www.useit.com/papers/heuristic/heuristic_list.html
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Recently, mobile phones and some hardware products (for example those produced by Apple)
have brought ICT closer to the relational nature of design discussed: The look and sound of
the mobile phone, as well as the appearance of the computer becomes important. Some will
strongly argue that the look of a mobile telephone tells everything about its user, as well as
people choosing computers from Apple are part of some sort of religion – in the same way
some people describes those who spend all their money on expensive but unusable designer
clothes. This may indicate that design quality as becoming more visually relational when it
comes to ICT hardware – the tangible part of the design, but also software: ring tones and
logos.
Mobile phones have both a GUI, as well as a visual physical and tangible design, as we carry
them along and use them openly. This is usually not the case with stationary ICT. The very
early mobile phones where large in size, usually constructed to be carried with a car. The
phones where not design large and heavy on purpose, but rather as a result of immature
battery technology. Today, for example the Motorola V70 has a design that fits nice into a
pocket. This can be interpreted as consumers need for smaller devices, but also as a result of a
situation where there is a constant need of making things smaller8. This result in even more
limited screen size as well as handset becoming invisible and cumbersome to use, whatever
the cause of such design decisions is built upon.
GUI design for ICT is less relational than tangible possessions, as its intangible nature makes
use of software less visible in relation to our peers. On the other hand, more functional use of
ICT (as for example use of SMS) still communicates values (and comes in fashion waves),
but only to peers directly involved in communication. As Mobile devices become smaller than
a palm, it communicates no more symbols than being very small, as well as putting restrains
to graphical refinement resulting in strict demand for valuable functional services. But visual
symbols can be recreated, illustrated by the recent introduction of polyphonic ring tone,
making high-end equipment at least audio-visible.
8
The need for smaller devices have currently passed its initial intention: The idea is to make it as small as to fit it
into a pocket, but not so small as it gets lost in the pocket. This might as well come as a result of the need of
frequently introducing new phones
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Design of graphical user interfaces (GUI) are not related to the designer by the user. ICT is
either not sold by the name of the designer, but rather by name of brand (e.g. Microsoft)9.
Mass production is also the nature of ICT, resulting in commodities and distant relations
between consumers and designers. Some ICT are also designed in particular for a small and
defined user groups, as in in-house and small projects.
GUI design is by this a too narrow definition to describe the visual design of mobile phones.
Design of the phone it self, both in hardware and software, visual and audio-visual, are
important properties. At the same time, restricted visual design possibilities must be seen in
relation with provision of functional and valuable services.
Design as a phase
The concept of design as phases in systems development processes is closely related to the
professional designer, and usually encompasses GUI-design as described above. The design
phase is defined as the phase following the initial phase of understanding the problem
situation, usually coined analysis.
Design is a phase where the knowledgeable designer chooses which components to use and
how to arrange them based on here experiences and visions of the future system (e.g.
Andersen et al. 1986; Boehm 1988). This process typical includes GUI-design, choosing
which kind of database to use as well as which kind of operation system and its relation to the
data-model from the analysis (data structure design, architectural design and interface design
(Sommerville 1995)). The design phase results in prototypes, plans and visions to be
constructed in the process of implementation.
Different models in systems development give different emphasis as well as different order
and relation between design and other phases (as described by Boehm 1988). They also put
different emphasis on including the user in the design process and evaluating the design inuse. These models do however has generally in common that they aim at developing a closed
system by a closed project organization for a closed customer organization within a closed
time frame (Hanseth 2002).
9
This example also illuminates our different appreciations of different brands, as some people refuses to use
anything related to Microsoft, one could sometimes say out proportions
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As I define design, it is not encompassed in a single phase, and it is not the primary
responsibility of designers. Design is an ongoing process during the lifetime of a service, and
the service is designed-in-consumption, rather than by professional designers. On one hand,
this relieves the responsibility of the professional designers, as the design effort is spread
among a range of actors as well as success and failure can be caused by forces out of their
hands. Such a perspective emphasise that design is not a discrete activity by professional
designers alone. On the other hand, professional designers still have the responsibility to
enabled design-in-consumption. They must face the challenge of restrained graphical
properties of mobile phones, increasing demand for services of value as well as design not
delimited to software, but also hardware and audio.
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5. Designing mobile services
Winograd (Winograd 1996) presents a broad range of authors and their perspective on
software design, with the intention to bring design to software. Some of these perspectives are
here used as the outset for elaborating the different facets of design. The further discussion is
close related to the issues of design already presented.
Conscious and professional designers
Proper design processes can be defined to be professional designer’s production of objects
that are appreciated by people in a context of values and needs. Whether function takes
precedence over aesthetic, or the contrary, this evaluation will be contingent both on the
designer’s perspective, the concrete service as well as the user and here context. We can
further define it as the responsibility of the designer to address these issues, as it is their job to
produce quality results and satisfying experiences. What is important here is whether such a
perspective on design and professional designers using state-of-the-art design methods paints
a proper picture of mobile service design. And is it even possible for conscious and
professional designer to design successful services, or do they only provides conditions for
such success?
Design can be understood as making conscious and objective decisions according to
methodological frameworks, with an intention of what an object will do and how it will be
used and perceived, as reflected in textbooks on systems development (e.g. Sommerville
1995). Consciousness about design can on the contrary be interpreted to not imply such
formalisms and coherent theories, but being pervaded with intuition, tacit knowledge and gut
reaction (Winograd 1996). The choices of the designer can further be defined to both have
intended and unintended effects (e.g. Gal 1996; Schön and Bennet 1996): Design is a
conversation with the design object it self – a conversation possibly generating unexpected
interruptions and contributions as there is no direct path between the designer’s conscious
intention and the object as outcome.
These perspectives does however build on an idea of design as an activity performed by
professional designers, though based on different degree of refinement, objectivity of methods
as well as proneness to unintended side-effects. The idea of design as being related to
formalism is also close correlated to the idea that unintended effects are anomalies that can be
15
avoided by proper design approaches10. At the same time design is seen as conversation with
material, being physical material or software with some degree of resistance. These materials
are thereby the single most important actor next to the professional designer who shapes the
final design object. In addition, the objects itself in systems development have certain and
well defined properties, they are discrete in time and space as well as independent of their
context (if not, they are not objects by definition). The skilled designer is thus the one being
able to converse with such materials and make a proper design objects out of it.
These perspectives are quite in contrast with my perspective on design trajectories as a result
of actions by a range of actors, and indeed out of the control of the professional designer. In
addition, I do not focus on a design object, as II is a socio-technical network and thus a
dynamic and changing collection of subjects, as well as objects. Further, II are always in a
context related to other II, blurring the borders between the objects as well as II. With such a
perspective, the conscious behavior of professional designers in design projects, based on
formal methods or intuition, resulting in intended or unintended effects, have strong limitation
in their consequences for the final design.
Mobile services are not built on one single design, but at least on the design of the phone and
the service itself. In addition, services also depend on other services, together making up
ecology of II. As the whole design is built on a range of designs, there will always be
uncertainties, contingencies and side-effects. As II design is carried out by a multiple of
designers with different visions, agendas and power relations, this picture is even more
complex. And only together and through ongoing negotiations they may make up the final and
sometimes successful design.
This definition of design does not imply unconsciousness, but distribution of power of
enacting conscious to more than professional designers, such as consumers, operators,
regulatory bodies as well as emphasizing the power of the II it self. All these actors have
different roles, but all as designers. In addition, the most important design decisions deciding
the success of a design does not necessarily need to be done consciously. This becomes
important as my perspective on design sees design as an ongoing activity: In-consumption.
10
Side-effects are indeed described in systems development, describing programming efforts resulting in effects
out of the programmer’s scope. By strongly focusing on programming virtues as loose coupling, such effects can
be avoided by the designer him self. This is a pure technical problem, with a pure technical solution, but
sometimes only to occur while the design gets input from the users.
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This implies a design process open in time and space, and being more or less out of control of
one single actor, and sometimes more in control of fashion waves. Thus, state-of-the-art
design approaches employed in design projects do not decide design trajectories alone, and
the effect of these efforts should rather be reduced to be conditions for success.
With such a perspective, the collective actions of consumers become important. Their
individual behavior and their appreciation of design do not only result in a network of
symbols and expectation, but also in a slightly more concrete communication network. And
the value of this network is partially made up by the (number of) other enrolled consumers.
With this perspective, professional designers and the physical entities of II only constitutes
one important ingredient in mobile service design, as well as the final II only can be evaluated
as successful when in-consumption.
Designing for design-in-consumption
The idea of design-in-use is currently discussed in the IS field (by e.g. Dittrich et al. 2002).
One perspective on design-in-use is changing the design processes: Opening the design
process by bringing professional designers, users and context together. These changes are
however described as requiring a tight relationship between users and designers. Another
perspective on design-in-use focuses on changes in software, by for example a high degree of
modularity (principles introduced to systems development decades ago), making changing
and adding new functionality easy. Mobile services often follow such an approach, enabling
the user to design their own services. In addition, such design-in-use can also be necessitated
by services itself, being contingent upon essential user-design as definition of gateways, type
of carrier etc.
The current telecommunication market is stagnating, as the number of users and the use meets
its point of saturation. The operators are thus seeking opportunities to transfer the success of
for example SMS to other services, and preferable the already available ones. The operators
are therefore taking initiatives to make these services visible, and visible to a larger fraction of
the users. This materializes as the user literally becomes the designer here self as mobile
phones are sold as not completely designed. The user must find and decide upon which to
choose and install both logos and ring tones – important audiovisual properties of the handset.
17
Operators see this as an important opportunity, and the Norwegian mobile operator Telenor11
suggest that handsets should be predefined with so inappropriate (as inappropriate as the
Telenor logo it self) logos and ring-tones that it becomes inevitable that the user change them.
This will oblige the user to learn how to design their own handsets and use other more or less
unknown services available. Thus, initial inappropriate design is seen as one important road to
learn the user to consciously use the handset, discover the “secret services” and not at least:
Design-in-use. What should be noted is that this perspective is not the one of the professional
hardware of software designers of the phones and its software, but the network operators. The
designers of mobile phones usually have a rather distant relationship to the consumers and the
consumption of mobile services, and they are only responsible of enabling design-in-use and
not practically involved in the design-in-use process it self. This responsibility is associated
with the operators.
Another approach is to refine the pre-configuration of mobile phones before delivered to the
consumer – changing menus and bringing “secret services” to the front. But these efforts of
making services visible are not alone in control of the operators as handset manufacturers
have their agendas. As long as the phones are sold, it basically does not matter for the
manufacturers whether they are used as a phone or as a necklace12. On the other hand,
handsets are often sponsored by operators to attract new users. And as the case currently is:
Nokia phones creates higher ARPU13, operators will of course prefer their users to use these
handsets, and therefore sponsor these phones as well as include them in campaigns. Indirectly,
use related to design is therefore also in the interest of the phone manufacturers.
These design issues can also be a matter of direct conflict between the manufacturers and the
operators. Currently, Nokia have shipped a phone with a static menu structure leading the
users automatically to www.clubnokia.com when launching the WAP browser. This is in
direct conflict with the interest of for example Telenor, that usually pre-configure the handsets
leading the users to their WAP-portal www.djuice.com. The balance of power between
operators and manufacturers are thus unstable, as in this case, the large manufacturers have
more than enough power to dictate at least a small actor in a global perspective as Telenor.
11
Presented and discussed in internal project meeting at Telenor Mobil.
The Motorola V70 mobile phone is primarily promoted by its sleek design and self expressiveness. It is also
pictured as a necklace, a gadget for hypnosis or a binocular.
13
Average Return Per User.
12
18
Design-in-consumption for mobile phones is close related to audio-visual symbolic
communication, as logos and ring tones. On the other hand, phones must be designed-in-use
more technically to enable functional14 use to the full potential. But as users are consumers,
bringing designers and users closer in the design process is rendered impossible. Thus,
Design-in-consumption must rather be supported by designing for design-in-consumption.
And designing for design-in-consumption is both the responsibility of operators as service
providers, and mobile phone manufacturers as providers of mobile phones as enabling
devices.
Design as a creative activity: The power of installed base
The very nature of design is being creative, and can be pictured with the differences between
the engineer as a problem solver and the designer as creating something new. The designer
has a dream that goes beyond what exists, rather than fixing or what already exists (Kelly and
Hartfield 1996).
In relation to II creativity meets its limitations. The idea of a designer going beyond what
exists should not neglect the nature and power of what already exists: the installed base. The
installed base is usually composed of different factors. Some are more or less tangible, as
standards, user equipment (hardware and software) and technical network infrastructure.
More important, the installed base is composed of more fluid factors as consumers and their
more or less functional, relational and symbolic relations and consumption practice.
In practice, the installed base usually renders impossible the design of mobile services and II
from scratch. The services must take advantage of already existing technology and practices,
as the only alternative is immense investments over time, not necessarily resulting in success.
These investments first of all have to be translated into reduced switching costs for potential
users, as well as making them stick to the service when they have switched. And as networks
and II grows larger, the needed investments increase.
The bootstrapping approach to design brings forth the ideas of a design strategy that takes
advantages of the installed base (Iacucci et al. 2002): Target motivated and knowledgeable
users that find the systems useful with few other users, start with low complexity and
critically usage, design the system as simple, cheap and flexible as possible, build on installed
14
Definition of WAP-gateway, service centre, type of data carrier etc.
19
base and establish gateways to already existing infrastructure. This approach focuses on the
installed base and suggests carefully changes take it into account. But the approach does at the
same time require control over the design activity and the context of an organization. This is
not the context of consumers and design-in-consumption.
Services can either be developed as extensions of the installed base, or built rather from
scratch supported by vast investments. Design is creative, but design of services as parts of II
is restricted by the installed base, as the network nature of II make consumption sticky. On the
other hand, creativity resulting in services with good fit to the II and attracting consumers has
the potential of vast profits.
Keeping the users in center: The consumer challenge
Public mobile services are not designed for users, but for consumers. Consumers are not as
users related to a user-organization as well as they have weak relation and loyalty to services.
Participator design of the Scandinavian school (PD) and other approaches to design, as for
example contextual design (Beyer and Holtzblatt 1998), have focused on inclusion of users in
design to reveal the true user needs. This implies not only designing for the user, but with and
by the user. But as described, these efforts require a context: A design project and a user
organization – and the design will necessarily be suited for this. These approaches are thus not
initially suited to support design for consumers, as well as design-in-consumption (emphasis
on such shortages of PD have been discussed (e.g. Dittrich et al. 2002; Hyysalo and Lehenkari
2002)). Adapting PD for consumption, and design for design-in-consumption is basically
problematic as consumers have less if any responsibility for or loyalty to the design of the
services they consume, as well as their context is unknown.
Mobile services have in an historical perspective been developed by monopolies (state owned
telecommunication operators) to serve large masses (whole nations) of homogenous (at least
treated as) and passive users. This have enabled and required a focus on general services over
context specificity. It has also made it possible for operators to dictate not only the available
services, but also what kinds of phones users are allowed to use. As a result of deregulation,
competition and convergence of information technology and telecommunication technology,
services must be somewhat more suited to the true needs of the users.
20
Consumption is to have encounter with a service: It is usually treated as being a one time
event, and the consumer can select another service at next opportunity. Mobile operators takes
measures to avoid this shopping around, but not by creating a closer and caring relation to
their consumers (as described by (Gutek 1995)), but rather to create lock-in situations. One
such approach is operators subsidizing handsets, reducing the users spending on the phone it
self, as long as they stick to the operator for a number of months. A somehow softer approach
is operators pre-configuring the phones making it easier to use the operator specific services
in preference of services from other operators15.
Design is here focused on consumers and not users, consumption and not use. Design is
therefore a process to provide services in a consumer market, facing a commercial and
competitive environment. For operators as designers in this context, feedback from consumers
is often only ultimate: Consuming or not consuming the service. The need to reduce churn16 is
in this environment crucial. Such reduction can be enforced by more or less soft means. But
ultimately, such means have little effect compared to consumer’s choice in consumption.
Design as evolution of networks
Design can be well suited to a context even if it is an outcome from a process of unintentional
evolution. The final design can also turn out to be used to serve functions not intended as the
user finds it appropriate for other purposes, namely drift (Ciborra and associates 2000). The
current explosion of SMS use in Norway is one such example. The intention was to provide
computer technicians with system messages and alerts while being out of reach of their
servers, currently used en mass by the common mobile phone user.
Both describing design a conscious and drifting give some explanatory power. Design
failures, such as user interface not practical usable, can be described as the designer failing by
not following state-of-the-art design practice. On the other hand, the SMS success is hard to
explain if good design is only to be a result from conscious design plans and efforts. What is
obvious is that such perspectives on design bring in new criterions for design success, as well
as rendering impossible evaluation of design before in-consumption.
15
Pre-configuration can also be done more or less softly, as some pre-configured properties can be changed by
the users, some not.
16
Churn is the number or percentage of one-time users of a service who are not converted into longtime, loyal
customers. Loyalty of customers is in my definition much closer related to peers than operators.
21
If we see design as different designers making up a design together, there will not necessarily
be a need for a coherent master design. The individual pieces that are designed together can
make up a coherent whole by evolution. This can be seen as close related to the idea of
evolution presented by Darwin: As the species grows out of something else and develops by
evolution and natural selection – the idea of formation of the universe through natural means,
there is no need for a master plan (or God). This is also close related to II, as II render
impossible any almighty actor and therefore any opportunity to force master plans into effect.
As services are provided to consumers in open and competitive markets, their success will be
decided upon the rules of survival of the fittest17. Concerning design, this should further
change our appreciation of the role and the power of the consumer and consumption. When
the design rests upon the natural selection of the most proper services by the consumer, these
selections can become more important than professional and careful design decisions.
Professional designers still play important roles, but their scope must be more than creating
technical design based on the knowledge of available design possibilities. This change in
scope must primarily be a change of focus from the design project to II in-consumption. With
such a focus, certain design approaches will be appropriate, as for example cultivation: Close
and caring attention to growth (Ciborra 2000). Drift as a concept can on the other hand also be
relevant to describe the evolution of services, but does not contribute much constructive of
designers and system developers as lack of control is the main emphasis (Aanestad 2002).
Cultivation represents a middle position between conscious design by professional designers
and drift. Cultivation attributes professional designers, technology and consumers a role – the
evolving socio-technical design is not fully controlled by the professional designers, but they
still have the possibility to influence the process (Aanestad 2002). At the same time,
cultivation assumes the existence of something to cultivate (Aanestad 2002). By definition, II
do not grow de novo (Hanseth 2002; Star and Ruhleder 1996), related as discussed to the
installed base. These design challenges, created by the necessity of building on installed base
are close related to the challenge of attracting consumers in the perspective of communication
networks and network economy. This have been described extensively, as for example as the
concept of network externalities (Allen 1988), path-dependency and critical mass (Hohn and
17
This of course requires an open and functional market. It is difficult to argue that such a market exists in
Norway for the moment, as well as coming into being in the near future.
22
Schneider 1991), as well as thresholds of collective behavior (Granovetter 1978). These
theoretical approaches emphasize the importance of the action of the single consumer as well
as consumer’s collective behavior in relation to other consumers as well as the networks them
selves. Theories of II also recognize these concepts of being vital both in design and use (e.g.
Hanseth 2002).
Design by evolution implies lack of control, as well as being a middle position between
control and drift. Design by evolution also opens the design process to be a process
throughout the lifetime of a system, and to a large extent driven by the consumers-in-use. As
design discussed here concerns consumers, cultivation as design approach is less fruitful
because of significant limitation of control as well as requirements of significant resources for
the single actor. On the other hand, II designed by consumer in-consumption will appear as
evolving and following the principles of network economies. Appreciation for such
mechanisms will be crucial for professional designers.
Designing Services
Designing services is different from designing products in general, and designing services for
mobile devices introduces a range of socio-technical challenges. Services for mobile devices
are primarily based on technical infrastructure (hardware and software) and consumers. The
nature of such services renders impossible the presence of service workers and other kinds of
expensive content as there is only marginal profit, currently illuminated as the lack of
willingness to pay for such services at all is prevalent18. In addition, services are often
produced by third parties, having to split profits with the network operator, as well as content
providers. On the other hand, the investments and forecasted profits for simple and
mechanical services are based on the laws of large numbers: Even marginal revenue in single
service consumption results in huge profits with a large enough mass of consumers and
consumption.
The cost of maintaining a communication network is also independent of whether the network
itself is used or not. This makes the notion of consumption in relation to mobile services less
accurate, as the good consumed is not destroyed and wasted, and there are always enough of
it. On the other hand, services provided in networks can also result in congestions – if too
18
The reason for not using services has more than one explanation, as for example a result of lack of valuable
services as well as bad design.
23
many uses services too much and to often networks might have to be upgraded, being one of
the argument of implementing the next generation of mobile communication systems in
Europe (UMTS)19. On the other hand, congestions can occur as something more related to the
cost of the single consumer, described as communication overflow (Ljungberg 1996; Nielsen
1999).
Mobile communication services are based on the existence of consumers, sometimes one, and
other times two or more in a network. This is the basics for the distinction between
communication and information services (described by Pedersen et al. 2002). The former still
provides the most successful services concerning revenue, as for example simple voice and
SMS, utilizing the networking nature of such mobile services. Odlyzko also argues that these
communication services will continue to be the major source of revenue over information
services in telecommunication networks (Odlyzko 2001). Odlyzko define content not to be
king, as information services not necessarily creates direct network externalities: The value of
the service is not directly dependent on the number of other users (one important exception is
news as content, as the nature of news are contingent upon their degree of being news also to
peers). Such information services do not trigger the mechanisms in networks that create selfreinforcing effects, as well as the services require potentially expensive, and at least not
automatically generated content.
19
An argument also used in Norway, even tough this scattered populated country very seldom meets the
limitations of the GSM network currently used.
24
6. Key issues of working concept
The working concept of designing mobile consumer services information infrastructures
presented here has some important distinct characters. The distinctiveness is in relation to the
nature of design in general, design of ICT products as well as design of corporate II. At the
same time, the concept also has important similarities with these perspectives that should not
be ignored.
The discussion in this essay has presented three central themes concerning design:

The role and the responsibility of the professional designer

The role of the consumers and the nature of their behavior

The nature of the design “product” as public consumer service information
infrastructures
I have questioned the role of the professional designer; his responsibility as well as describing
design not primarily carried out by professional designers, but also other actors as
telecommunication operators and consumers as designers-in-consumption. The professional
designer is thus given a more limited role of enabling design-in-consumption. On the other
hand, the consumer get a focal place in design, primarily by emphasizing the importance of
consumers and their networks of relations, as consumption is close related to collective and
networked behavior. The design result itself is by this given: It is not an object, but an
emergent, social more than technical, network of symbolic and functional relations.
Through the discussion the different aspects of the working concepts have been presented,
and can briefly be summarized around the central themes as follows:

Mobile consumer service II design is not limited to a project in time and space, as
well as not resulting in a design object produced by professional designers
Design is design-in-consumption, and results in II and not an object. II are both made
up of tangible and physical objects as well as consumers and consumption. The focus
and the role of the designer is thus open-ended, as well their power and responsibility
25
for achieving success is limited. Professional designers does not consciously make up
design alone, but only enable design-in-consumption.

Designing mobile services is design of converging technologies
The challenges for professional design of mobile services are not primarily technical
or related to mobility or corporal travel. It is closer related to socio-technical
negotiations of prevailing differences in use of telecommunication and information
technology.

Creativity is limited when designing II
The conservative power of the installed base of II limits the creativity of professional
designers, and characterizes the evolving nature of II. Public consumer II also gives
marginal control to professional designers to influence the trajectory of evolution, as
design approaches as huge investments or bootstrapping have limited effects. The
network of consumers as installed base is the primary decisive factor for service
success.

Mobile services are designed-in-consumption
The consumers collective behavior makes up the design of the II, based on the
enabling features provided by professional designers.

Consumers and not users, consumption and not use
As public services are consumed by consumers, not used by users, services are
designed-in-consumption.

Service consumption as encounters
There is only a weak relation between consumers and professional designers as well as
operators. Consumers only have encounters with services in consumption: They have
no responsibility for designing the service, and they can choose a different service on
next occasion.
26

Consumers evaluate services by a range of aspects
Mobile services are evaluated according to objective and functional properties,
relational and symbolic properties as well as properties of ease-of-use. As mobile
services currently are cumbersome to use and the objective and functional value is to a
great extent absent, success of services are contingent upon relations and symbolic
properties. As mobile devices are carried along and visibly and openly used, the
visible and audible hardware and software design becomes even more important.

Designing mobile service II does not primarily result in a design object
Design rather results in a network of consumers and consumption tied together with
relations as well as technology.

Services can only be evaluated in-consumption
Services designed-in-consumption can only be evaluated-in-consumption from the
operator’s or the service provider’s point of view.

The result of convergence: Network and information services
Mobile services are either information or communication services. Information
services are less of II character, and do not produce direct network externalities. The
current mobile service market does in addition require marginal cost of content.
Network services do on the other hand produce strong network effects and are only
based on transaction costs. Such services however require an installed base of users,
but when achieved, the network effects give a potential for vast profits.
Framing these perspectives in the theory of information infrastructures have shown fruitful,
painting a rich socio-technical picture of design. At the same time, professional designers and
others promoting a design are left with little power to take decisive actions, as design is
strongly decided upon as being made up by collective consumer behavior. The principle of
design-in-consumption is appreciated over predictive power.
Whether this is the very nature of designing mobile service information infrastructures, or
only the nature of my perspective and working concept is an open question. Nevertheless,
such perspective should inform design and professional designers should question their role as
27
well as seeking new approaches to design. Further, this essay indeed lacks a richer grounding
in empirical research. Only through empirical investigations, and probably most fruitful as
mentioned with a combination of a broad II perspective and a professional design project
perspective, the eminence and the importance of the working concept will emerge.
28
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