Building on last weekend’s “Dispatch” experiment, I initiated another design probe which I also turned into a short video. This experiment, which took place on Saturday, started when I sent two text messages to 21 of my classmates and a few of our friends.

The first text from my personal mobile:

Dear Party People, I need your help with another experiment. For the rest of the day, please do not contact eachother directly. Instead, send an SMS to xxxx-xxxx and I will forward your message to the whole group. P.S. I heard about a party tonight, I will send details later.

And then a text from an old mobile phone (xxxx-xxxx referred to above):

Welcome to the Pilot Year Dispatch Line. To unsubscribe, reply with the word “bail”. Tak!

For the rest of the night, I used my mobile phones to manage a pretend service that allows friends to share updates with each other. I  unsubscribed people, sent confirmation responses, and forwarded each persons message to the whole group. As it turned out, I did not choose the best night to conduct this experiment because most people stayed in (although I wonder if conducting this experiment actually caused people to stay in). Like the last experiment however, it proved a good way to gain insights about people’s behaviors when it comes to using their mobiles as a tool to communicate and coordinate within a group friends.

You can watch the video above to see what happened or keep reading to see a log of all the correspeondance…

3:50

auto message: This is the Pilot Year dispatch line. To unsubscribe, send SMS with the word “bail”. Tak!

3:51

yves: bail

3:56

andreas: friends playing at støberiet tonight ‘funky kong’

4:00

alice: bail (boyfriend just arrived) sorry!

4:02

nina: stop the texting please :-) i’m not going out

4:05

sara: bail

4:09

magnus: bail

4:22

francesco: bail

4:30

eilidh: what are ujjval and Sid doing when they finish work?

4:36

mimi: Hey, Sid. I’ve just checked out your sms. Why don’t you stop by my house after finishing your work?

4:37

sid: most probably bail. but will decide 3 hours later :)

5:17

tobias: bail

7:19

adam: there is a party tonight ON the metro, then continuing in a space below the ørestad station. anyone interested?

7:26

sid: bail

7:35

andreas: Funkykong and Strøberiet presents: LOOP NIGHT saturday13june blagards plads 3, 22-03. Minimal tech and house beats by: Daniel san, FuadVonLoop, Jonathon Fremond & Minimize. Support your local beat! See you @ the dance floor <3

9:00

Eilidh: going to adams and mimi’s place,not sure what the plan is though

10:03

mimi: bail

10:20

automated message to people who have not yet updated the group: You have not updated the Pilot Year dispatch line. Are you still on board? If we do not hear from you shortly, you will be automatically unsubscribed.

10:22

ujjval: im still on board

10:26

marcin: im with my roommate at another party (IT crwod). Still waiting for things to happen. Keep me up to date…

10:32

ujjval: people who are on board, should consider andreas party. he is such a sweetheart to send invitations. cheers for andreas. uj

10: 36

kevin: bail

10:39

erlend: just want to stay up to date

10:46

eline: bail

10:54

ujjval: have viagra tonight and make it a great night, only 1dkk. SMS ‘vgra4 2night”5555

10:58

andreas: lol

11:16

automated message to people who have not yet updated the group: You have been automatically unsubscribed.

12:42

marcin: i’m asking what everybody is doing?

12:50

adam: marcin, you should try to catch up with andreas. i think everyone else has called it a night.

12:55

adam: or you can look up Undervand

1:00

adam: bail

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