{"id":18095,"date":"2016-11-18T14:37:32","date_gmt":"2016-11-18T19:37:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/three-lessons-from-building-the-digital-city\/"},"modified":"2016-11-18T14:37:32","modified_gmt":"2016-11-18T19:37:32","slug":"three-lessons-from-building-the-digital-city","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/three-lessons-from-building-the-digital-city\/","title":{"rendered":"Three lessons from building the digital city"},"content":{"rendered":"

Intersection<\/a>, backed by the Alphabet company Sidewalk Labs, is a technology company that redefines the urban experience. The company\u2019s most high-profile project has been LinkNYC, free gigabit speed WiFi kiosks that it has begun installing throughout New York City and just announced would be expanding to London and other cities soon.[1]<\/p>\n

Deploying complex technology in public spaces can be challenging, though. As it develops and tests new products, Intersection is demonstrating some core lessons about the digital transformation of cities.<\/p>\n

1. Human interactions matter<\/strong>
\nTechnology in urban spaces can change how we interact. In creating an immersive experience for the new Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the Senate, Scott Anderson of Intersection wrote that \u201cDespite more than 50 custom applications developed for the experience, we wanted the technology to facilitate inter-personal conversation and collaboration. The main attraction is the people, not the technology.\u201d[2]<\/p>\n

\"laguardia-ipads\"<\/a>Similarly, interaction was a key concern when OTG Management hired Intersection to change the customer experience in airports such as Delta\u2019s terminal in La Guardia. The iPad app Intersection developed to automate the restaurant ordering process increased sales by 15-20% per customer while also speeding up service and turning tables faster. Apparently, not having to flag down a waiter is a very profitable operating change. But other interactions are important to the vibe of a restaurant space. OTG Management CEO Rick Blatstein was pleased to find that rather than isolating customers, iPads \u201cadd electricity to a room. What you see are a lot of people talking to each other. They do \u2018the lean\u2019 over to another customer to talk about something they read on an iPad, and that causes more social interaction than we had before.\u201d[3]<\/p>\n

2. Different conditions require different designs<\/strong>
\n\"mta-on-the-go\"<\/a>Getting around the NYC subway system is notoriously difficult, and in 2013 the system was long overdue for a digital navigation system. Setting up a public system, though, is not as easy as putting an iPad on a wall. Working with the MTA, Intersection developed a concept for a touchscreen navigation system to be mounted in some of the city\u2019s busiest stations, but the initial rollout was far from easy. When Intersection installed a test kiosk, they found that the touch sensor technology on the large screen, which relied on microphones, did not perform as well in the loud and rumbling subway station as it had in a glass-enclosed Manhattan office building. After six months of redesigns and bureaucratic wrangling with the MTA, Intersection launched a more durable version with new touch sensor technology and an improved interface.[4]<\/p>\n

\"ny-daily-news-linknyc-cover\"<\/a>3. New technology can have unexpected use cases<\/strong>
\nThe LinkNYC launch was perhaps the biggest challenge for Intersection. While the kiosks provided excellent service and got a positive reception from users, complaints from business owners near the kiosks started coming quickly after launch. In midtown, homeless people were setting up their camps around the kiosks to monopolize the free browsers, and in some cases were using those public screens to watch porn. In response, Intersection switched off the browser screens as they worked with the city for a long-term solution.[5]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In addition to the design and human interface challenges on the operational side that Intersection faces, it also faces business model challenges. With city budgets often tight and governments unwilling to make risky bets on new technology, Intersection must in many cases self-fund its projects with ad revenue. In a place like the streets and subways of New York City where density and ad rates are high, that is possible. As the company\u00a0seek to work in other regions, however, they will\u00a0need to find different models, from data capturing and analysis to subscriptions to government subsidy.<\/p>\n

[610 words]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sources<\/strong><\/p>\n

[1] Ingrid Lunden, \u201cLinkNYC\u2019s free WiFi and phone kiosks hit London as LinkUK, in partnership with BT,\u201c Tech Crunch, October 25, 2016, [https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2016\/10\/25\/linknycs-free-wifi-and-phone-kiosks-hit-london-as-linkuk-in-partnership-with-bt\/] accessed November 2016.<\/p>\n

[2] Kristin Hohenadel, \u201cThe Ted Kennedy Institute Combines Cutting-Edge Tech With a Full-Scale Senate Chamber Replica,\u201d Slate, March 31, 2015, [http:\/\/www.slate.com\/blogs\/the_eye\/2015\/03\/31\/edward_m_kennedy_institute_for_the_u_s_senate_a_high_tech_digital_museum.html] accessed November 2016.<\/p>\n

[3] Eric Lai, \u201cRestaurateur Bringing 7,000 iPads to Airports: We’re Seeing 15-20% Revenue Boost,” Forbes BrandVoice, July 11, 2012, [http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/sap\/2012\/07\/11\/restaurateur-bringing-7000-ipads-to-airports-were-seeing-15-20-revenue-boost\/#13d42ba9270b] accessed November 2016.<\/p>\n

[4] Mario Aguilar, \u201cNYC’s Touchscreen Subway Maps Are Finally Here, and They’re Amazing,\u201d Gizmodo, February 12, 2014, [http:\/\/gizmodo.com\/nycs-touchscreen-subway-maps-are-finally-here-and-the-1520953121] accessed November 2016.<\/p>\n

[5] Patrick McGeehan, \u201cFree Wi-Fi Kiosks Were to Aid New Yorkers. An Unsavory Side Has Spurred a Retreat.\u201d New York Times, September 14, 2016, [http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2016\/09\/15\/nyregion\/internet-browsers-to-be-disabled-on-new-yorks-free-wi-fi-kiosks.html] accessed November 2016.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Images<\/strong><\/p>\n

LinkNYC [https:\/\/link.nyc\/] accessed November 2016.<\/p>\n

iPad Ordering at LaGuardia, Forbes BrandVoice, July 11, 2012 [http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/sap\/2012\/07\/11\/restaurateur-bringing-7000-ipads-to-airports-were-seeing-15-20-revenue-boost\/#782e022a270b] accessed November 2016.<\/p>\n

MTA On the Go kiosk, Intersection [http:\/\/dcjesirewyqdw.cloudfront.net\/mta.html] accessed November 2016.<\/p>\n

Cover, New York Daily News, September 14, 2016 [http:\/\/www.nydailynews.com\/new-york\/porn-complaints-prompt-city-web-browsing-free-kiosks-article-1.2792500] accessed November 2016.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Intersection uses tech to transform people\u2019s lives in cities, but the people and the cities present design challenges<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1794,"featured_media":18224,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[],"class_list":["post-18095","hck-submission","type-hck-submission","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"connected_submission_link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/assignment\/digitization-challenge-2016\/","yoast_head":"\nThree lessons from building the digital city - Technology and Operations Management<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/three-lessons-from-building-the-digital-city\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Three lessons from building the digital city - 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