mel’s bamboo deliverables : )

Contextual enquiries – Guidelines
1. concerns when doing laundry (who does it, when, where, how, why)
Homemakers, anyone at all. Target group is large and varying.

2. criterias when doing laundry (weather, amount of clean/dirty clothes, weekends)
weather must be sunny.when theres a lot of clothes. Also, when the laundry content is of importance, meaning, if its underwear or daily shirts andpants, laundry will be done almost immediately, however, if its bedsheets or sweaters etc, there would be waiting til the laundry basket is full.

3. habits formed during process (timer, stay in and dont go out, separate clothes, do more than one cycle or depending on weather etc)
normally no separation of clothes, unless it is distinct pieces like bedsheet and jeans and pants, where all of the same sorts will be on the same pole. No timer. Going out is inevitable. Problem here noticed: when out, clothes are left untaken care of, and they will be susceptible to erratic weather conditions, nobody can prevent such incidents. Problem becomes worse when it affects important clothing like army uniforms and underwears or working suits. Normally maintains one or two cycle depending on laundry load. Wont save for sunny weater because of the erratic nature of the weather.

4. thoughts on weather conditions (erratic changes, wish theres a dryer but cant afford one)
erratic weather, especially in the context of singapore. Dryers are not common, and some interviewees state that sometimes dryers may spoil the material of the clothes, so they actually prefer the normal drying method.

5. current thoughts on existing use of bamboo poles when hanging out laundry (safety issues, design problems)
Problem: some people have had bad experiences with the normal hanging out to dry method they use stands and dry the clothes indoors, which blocks only some of the rain, if any, but prolongs the dring process, this shows inefficiency. Safety issues, where as described by all of you, maid safety problems which often lead to death. Most of the designs of the pole holder does not come with a support stand at the end of the pole length as part of the structure, so theres no support for the weight of clothes at the other end of the pole, opposite from where the homemaker is holding. This may result in the imbalance in the spreading of the weight of the pole and laundry and thus result in such incidents.

6. awareness and feedback of retractable bamboo poles thats already available in the market
awareness, solves the problem of weight of the poles upon hanging, but does ot solve the problemof errati weather, which is a factor many homemakers get frustrated about. They can spend time and effort hanging the clothes out to dry, and the moment they leave the house, the rain comes. This unpredictability is form of frustration for them, upon my enquiry, and this can only be solved by adding sensors and automated retractability, inculcated in our design.

7. Design problems and preferred solutions
automated system, which allows retractability upon sensoring moisture, so clothes can avoid rain all the time. Automation would disallow the need to bring the laundry in and out which may lead to accidents. A timer, which will alert the homemaker when the clothes are dry (no moisture detected on the pole)

Digital ethnography probes
1. capture images of the situation in your own homes
2. video
3. pictures of bamboo pools sticking out
4. (and if you’re lucky/unlucky) fallen poles/ laundry
5. anything else relevant and interesting

Fieldnotes
1. participate observe happenings (jon’s house, as he was doing the laundry, the expressions from his face and my observations. Shown in the photographs.)

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