A project by: Alexandra Hong, Alex Shave (BA) and Sarah Eagan

In collaboration with: Cheryl Hsu (BA) and Chris Cosack

Mentor: Wendy Cukier (B.A., M.A., M.B.A., Ph.D., D.U. (Hon.), LL.D.

(Hon.). M.S.C.)

Fusing the movement of people with the movement of ideas

Problem:

Public transportation commute

times and wait times are often

written off as

unproductive, uninteresting and

stressful.

How can we make use of this

down time and make it more

engaging, educational and

fun?

Project Idea:

The web-based application

"Today I learned "can be

accessed by the cellphones

of people using public

transit.

It is a crowdsourcing app that

harnesses travel-time, while

making public transit fun and

engaging by building a

community through the

communication of ideas.

Commuters can post

statements following the words

"Today I learned". This post is

shared with people in their

vicinity. The more popular are

post, the further it reaches. The

information flow is then

mapped visually.

Goals:

Using public transportation to

help engage in, and encourage

the movement of ideas and

knowledge.

• Fun!

• Easy to Use

• Engaging

These interviews with Toronto Public Transit users show that time spent in transit is often viewed as wasted

time. Not only is there potential for using this time for something educational, people want something fun to

do while in transit. Interviews on the next page show the reactions of transit users to our project proposal.

"Although Toronto transit is public, I don't think of it as a very interactive or

social place: the main goal seems to be to distract oneself and avoid

engaging with others until the commute is over. Currently the only thing that

actively tries to engage with public transit users are advertisements. It would

be a more fun experience if there was something in the place of ads to

engage and interact with."

Kira Treviranus, University of Toronto Student / Public Transit User

" I'm not hugely passionate for or against public transit. It’s not a huge

detriment to my day, it’s neither here or there. I just kind of tune out and

listen to my music. It’s a very introverted experience. Everyone just kind of

sits there in a kind of purgatory, waiting for their time to get on and get off.

It’s a time-killing moment. "

Neil Karassik, Film Writer, Eye Weekly / Public Transit User

"It would be interesting, I like the idea of location specific updates and

seeing if something cool happens in the station. I like knowing what’s

going on."

Jackie McClelland, Intern, Mongrel Media/Public Transit User

"I like the idea and can definitely see myself using something like

that, but can’t see it being adopted by all that many people. It might be

hard to get people to care enough to participate in a thoughtful and

engaging way."

Nicki A., TTC Employee

"I think that this project has the potential to really open up the barriers

that exist between people in transit. I think people will have fun tracking

information through the city, this could really liven up streetcar rides!"

Ted Killin, York University / Public Transit User

Jack Dorsey, The Founder of Twitter

We would like to interview the founder of Twitter, Jack Dorsey

particularly to find out what struggles he encountered while creating

and implementing Twitter and how he overcame them.

Nick Hanselmann, Artist and Programmer

We would like to interview Nick Hanselmann because he’s unique

combined expertise in art and programming. He creates beautiful

images with quantitative information and we would like to get his

advices on mapping data flow.