Difference between revisions of "Elastic Time"

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Also called Elastic Time.  
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[[Image:plastic-time-maggie-nichols.jpg|600px|center]]
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===Definition===
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Elastic Time (also known as plastic time), is a term developed by Intel researchers to describe a modern "experience that is highly interruptible, shrinking and expanding around immediate concerns, and interleaving through multiple activities".<ref>Intel Research PaPR - Mobile Times. Accessed from the Internet Archive Way Back Machine on 29 Nov. 2011. http://web.archive.org/web/20100715175848/http://papr.intel-research.net/projects.htm</ref>
  
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===Mobile Times===
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For instance, telling someone you're running late and that you'll be there "in five minutes" is an example of elastic or stretchy time. Often, the time it takes to get there is not five minutes but a longer period of time. The five minutes stretches to fit reality. One person may feel that 20 minutes have passed while waiting for the bus, when only a few minutes have passed.
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''Plastic time is a framework that explains how technologies fit into our lives''
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Mobile Times is a global study of time use'what do you do with it, how do you think about it, and how it evolves with the forces of globalization and social change. Our first set of studies revealed that the issue of managing one's own personal time zones'the set of social obligations, relationships, and activities that create the rhythms of one's day'was increasingly complex and fragmented, though this occurs differently in different parts of the world. Based on this, the study turned to mixing qualitative and quantitative methods to understand how personal time zones affected technology use. By doing this we discovered a new aspect of time "plastic time" that is cause to rethink our assumptions about busy lifestyles.
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When computers are involved, the perception of time becomes complex and nuanced. In addition to temporal distortion, desktop and mobile users may exist in multiple places at once. Mobile applications such as Angry Birds allow one to fit micro-entertainment into other moments in life, such as standing in line. These micro-applications allow one to subdivide reality by allowing moments within moments, a multitasking of place and time. An employee on a phone call in China may call from home in the evening while typing or performing other tasks online.  
  
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====How do social scientists put together pieces of the puzzle?====
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Intel researchers tracked 169 laptops, conducted in-person interviews and worked with national time use datasets, to study the long term social transformations that have created this way of life. They found that there were many aspects of daily life, such as computer usage, that 'flew under the radar', as it could be done not just in a rushed manner but at the right time, and could be "bent and stretched in such a way as to enable people to interleave the multiple activities going on in their lives, in both relaxed and high-pressure moments". They termed this "bending and stretching of time as "plastic" or "elastic time" as a way to describe the ways that people engaged with the "constraints and opportunities of modern life".<ref>Ibid.</ref> They found that these social conditions meant that people used technologies to "create more distractions for themselves, not less".<ref>Ibid.</ref>
  
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In multi-sited, multi-method research, each field site and method provides an important piece of the puzzle, enabling social scientists to ask broad, fundamental questions. Here our central problem was, which aspects of time use matter most to technology use?
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==References==
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<references />
  
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Being busy was not the root cause of dissatisfaction with time use
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[[Category:Book Pages]]
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Conflicts arise not when people have more to do, but increasingly diverse things to switch between, creating the need to "shift gears" frequently:
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[[Category:Finished]]
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[[Category:Illustrated]]
  
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*Working for a meeting-driven multinational in Latin America, and then switching to a long leisurely coffee with friends
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*Attending simultaneous banquets in China, so that all friends and business partners are happy
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With globalization, we expect the amount of gear shifting to increase.
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===Busy? Rushed?===
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Your time shrinking, yet somehow, you happen to know the latest post on your favorite website? Our research shows that you are experiencing 'plastic time'. The experience of 'plastic time' frames modern life'it is an experience that is highly interruptible, shrinking and expanding around immediate concerns, and interleaving through multiple activities. By tracking 169 laptops and MIDs, (in connection with Intel's Mobility Group's Strategic Planning), interviewing people, and working with national time use datasets, we have studied the long term social transformations that have created this way of life. Most social science of time use focuses on the "time crunch" the set of work and life balances that people attempt to achieve as the demands of work and family grow greater. However, by tracing computer usage, we have been able to develop an alternative point of view. When we showed printouts of people's computer usage, their accounts of their time use became very different. These accounts showed that even the busiest of us still manage to surf the internet. There are many aspects of our day, such as computer usage, that fly under the radar, can be done not just in a rushed manner but at the right time, and be bent and stretched in such a way as to enable people to interleave the multiple activities going on in their lives, in both relaxed and high-pressure moments. This bending and stretching we are calling "plastic time," and is a key way that people engage with the constraints and opportunities of modern life. These social conditions mean that people use technologies to create more distractions for themselves, not less. Distracted computing takes place in front of the television, in the kitchen and on the go, where people engage in totally unrelated content at varying levels of attention. The introduction of MIDs is set to expand the range of physical spaces, and content, from which people can distract themselves.
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Source: [http://papr.intel-research.net/projects.htm Intel Research PaPR - Plastic Time]
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Latest revision as of 07:56, 18 December 2011

Plastic-time-maggie-nichols.jpg

Definition

Elastic Time (also known as plastic time), is a term developed by Intel researchers to describe a modern "experience that is highly interruptible, shrinking and expanding around immediate concerns, and interleaving through multiple activities".[1]

For instance, telling someone you're running late and that you'll be there "in five minutes" is an example of elastic or stretchy time. Often, the time it takes to get there is not five minutes but a longer period of time. The five minutes stretches to fit reality. One person may feel that 20 minutes have passed while waiting for the bus, when only a few minutes have passed.

When computers are involved, the perception of time becomes complex and nuanced. In addition to temporal distortion, desktop and mobile users may exist in multiple places at once. Mobile applications such as Angry Birds allow one to fit micro-entertainment into other moments in life, such as standing in line. These micro-applications allow one to subdivide reality by allowing moments within moments, a multitasking of place and time. An employee on a phone call in China may call from home in the evening while typing or performing other tasks online.

Intel researchers tracked 169 laptops, conducted in-person interviews and worked with national time use datasets, to study the long term social transformations that have created this way of life. They found that there were many aspects of daily life, such as computer usage, that 'flew under the radar', as it could be done not just in a rushed manner but at the right time, and could be "bent and stretched in such a way as to enable people to interleave the multiple activities going on in their lives, in both relaxed and high-pressure moments". They termed this "bending and stretching of time as "plastic" or "elastic time" as a way to describe the ways that people engaged with the "constraints and opportunities of modern life".[2] They found that these social conditions meant that people used technologies to "create more distractions for themselves, not less".[3]

References

  1. ↑ Intel Research PaPR - Mobile Times. Accessed from the Internet Archive Way Back Machine on 29 Nov. 2011. http://web.archive.org/web/20100715175848/http://papr.intel-research.net/projects.htm
  2. ↑ Ibid.
  3. ↑ Ibid.
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