20 Day Stranger: Imagine keeping a close eye on a stranger's life on the other side world, from the palm of your hand. A new app will soon allow many to do just that.
Ερευνητές από το MIT συνεργάστηκαν με το The Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values για να δημιουργήσουν μια εφαρμογή του iPhone with the name 20 Day Stranger. The app will link two anonymous people, totally unknown to each other for 20 days. Although the idea does not sound so attractive, manufacturers believe in the success of the application.
Using software like Google Maps and Foursquare, the application, which is currently being tested, collects all the signals of the user's daily life environment. For example, if you were in a taxi and made a trip, the app will show the route to the person you are connected to. It will show close-ups of shop windows, or whatever other interest there is along the way from Google Streetview to give the other person a sense of your surroundings.
"It's not really about communication. "It's a window into someone else's life," said Kevin Slavin, director of the MIT Media Lab Playful Systems research team at the Huffington Post.
The application 20 Day Stranger is totally anonymous, meaning that the two strangers will never know the identity of the other person during the 20 days. Anonymity, however, may have its effects: People who use the application can show off a side or part of themselves that normally does not reveal it in their real life.
"Many people, when they have the opportunity to speak completely anonymously, use it to say things they usually do not say, because there is no accountability," says Slavin.
The creators of the app have decided not to allow direct replychange μηνυμάτων. Ωστόσο, στο τέλος της περιόδου των 20 ημερών οι δύο άγνωστοι χρήστες έχουν την ευκαιρία να στείλουν ένα μήνυμα. Θα μπορούσε να είναι τα στοιχεία επικοινωνίας για να παραμείνουν σε επαφή, ή απλά ένα αποχαιρετιστήριο.
"The main thing is that there is nothing you can do to communicate with the stranger other than live your life," Slavin said.
Slavin predicts that 20 Day Stranger will be released from the App Store in about two to three months. At this time, you can sign up for a test on the official application website 20daystranger.com.
