Making Sense of What Is Going on ‘Around’: Designing Environmental Awareness Information Displays

Abstract

cture this: it is 40,000 years ago, and you are an early Homo sapiens. You are standing on the savannah. Look around you. What do you see? No billboards, no traffic signs, no logos, and no text. You might see grassland, some trees, or a bank of clouds in the distance. You are in a kind of vast, unspoilt nature reserve. Are you feeling wonderfully relaxed yet? Don’t be mistaken. Unlike the woodland parks where you sometimes go walking of a Sunday, this is not a recreational environment. This is where you live. You must survive here, and the environment is full of information that helps you to do so. An animal you are going to hunt has left tracks in the sand. Are the berries on that tree edible or poisonous? And that birdsong: Does it mean there’s going to be a storm and winter is on its way? Or are the silly birds just singing for their own enjoyment? You can’t be sure: you have to interpret it all. And you are good at that. So good, that you have succeeded in surviving in this environment.