At 3:00AM it would be really nice to know if the in-coming call I am receiving is a raving drunk call or an urgent call from a friend who needs cold medicine or a ride to the hospital. I always hesitate turning my ringer to “Silent” or “Alarm Only” in case people really do need to contact me. This could be addressed directly by having a “high priority” status that the caller can invoke when making the call to let me know that it is important; on the other hand, phones could be equipped with breathalyzers so that if the estimated BAC is above 1.0, the call just won’t go through to me.
It would also be nice to know generally what my friends are doing before I call/text them. For example, if one of my friends is on a first date, I would like to know so that I wouldn’t bother him/her with a call or text message. This would be similar to a status or away message like in Instant Messaging systems simply so that users may specific if they are “available” or “busy” or available for “emergency only.” The solution to this issue is to have my phone book connected to a central server like for AIM where people can update their statuses to give an informal indication to people who are their “Friends” or “buddies.”
The social technical gap exists because my phone cannot interpret the nuances of my activities and moods and know when I would like to talk to somebody. Additionally, it does not provide the capability for friends to communicate details of their own activities and therefore users cannot interpret cues as in a face-to-face social situation. Although most of these features can be programmed into the phone to accommodate the social technical gap, it is important to note that the flexibility and quality of social connectedness is only as good as the specific algorithmic program that dictates the behavior of the phone. Any exceptional cases are still left up to the user and the phone is unable to filter phone calls with 100% accuracy; for example, the neither the “priority” status nor the breathalyzer can determine whether or not you really want to receive a phone call from somebody.
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I thought your breathalyzer idea was pretty creative :) It made me think of the Gmail Goggles add-on for email:
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I also agree with the suggestion to add a status indicator for each person in your phone’s address book. I don’t actually use a phone call as my primary communication medium for this reason; it’s far less intrusive to IM, email, or text someone asynchronously. This allows others to respond right away or choose to defer the conversation for later if they wish.
the breathalyzer idea is creative though i feel like it would filter out some of the most entertaining calls on the weekends. I like that you coded people's availability into three broad yet useful categories, having a total away mesage/status system like that of AIM would be cumbersome on a phone but the 3 status options cover a wide range of situations
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