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YOU DONT KNOW ME BETTER THAN I KNOW MYSELF Oli Shaw | FJORD | Service Design Lead 1
YOU DONT KNOW ME BETTER THAN I KNOW MYSELFOli Shaw | FJORD | Service Design Lead
1
LIVING SERVICES
@olishaw
2
What is it about?
Its a talk about our relationship with ‘living services’ and in turn the invisible systems which empowers them.
Looking at how these services are personalising how we interact with them, with a view to understand the implication for
design.
RELATIONSHIP DESIGN
@olishaw
3
Is the design of these living services more about relationship design rather then traditional forms of interaction or
experience design?
EMOTIONS OF PERSONALISATION
@olishaw
4
As Designers we need to consider the emotional aspects of what it means to have a service personalised to the individual.
TODAY,
TOMORROW,
& BEYOND
5
I’m going to be talking about the Today: What is currently happing in this space, Tomorrow: What the near future for is
likely to be and Beyond that; into the aspirational possibilities and how they may play out both in a utopian and dystopian
journey.
LENSES OF ‘HUMAN’ & ‘DESIGN’
http://www.flickr.com/photos/51324001@N05/4817484054/
6
Looking at these concepts, I’m particularly interested in the human and design lenses we see them through.
DESIGN CHALLENGES TODAY
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10247381@N02/10414030285/
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Designing products and services today has an exponential amount of challenges to overcome from kick-off to delivery,
there is a mountain of technological devices where the experience can be had, there is an ever increasing amount of
content to be navigated and consumed.
RESPONSIVE, ADAPTIVE, AGNOSTIC, AND SOON ANTICIPATORY IN SOME CASES AMBIENT ATTRIBUTES.
8
Being a designer today demands that your work is appropriately considerate of: Responsive, adaptive, agnostic, and soon
anticipatory in some cases ambient attributes.
‘SMART’
9
The designs created have a need to be ‘smart’ - even thou I hate the use of that word; smart tvs, smart phones, smart
website, smart app,
SMART FRIDGE...
10Smart
Fridge...
A FRIDGE HAS ONE JOB.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7133171@N02/7283244346/
11
a fridge has one job…another rant for another
time.
THE FUTURE IS GONNA BE AWESOME!
12
The future is gonna be
awesome!
“The future is already here - it's just not
evenly distributed” William Gibson
13
To expand on the quote “The future is already here – it's just not evenly distributed” (William Gibson),
“The future is already here - it's just not
evenly distributed”
14
the future we where sold about jet packs, space travel and ray guns might not be real, but while we where busy wondering
where our jetpack are, an entirely different future began to emerge, we have been living in a largely invisible an immaterial future now.
15
Rewinding back to the 70s & 80s I want to show you this Burger King advert [video of bk advert]
The service lets you personalise their product to your own tastes, just tell us what you would like. Which at the time was a
differentiator worth advertising,
16[video nikeID]
today we have services which take that concept much further from just having your choice of burger
topping, like Nike ID where you can personalise your next pair of trainers to express your own creativity.
But this is today, I want you to consider what tomorrow and beyond will bring.
Imagine a service which personalises itself to you, without you having to tell it you don’t want pickles on
your burger, or what colour combination your are going to want on your next trainers, it is already
anticipating your desires and preparing them for you.
DRIVE-THRU MEAL PREDICTION
17How about; a restaurant that can anticipate which burger you will want without you even asking? What
about a restaurant that can anticipate when you’ll be coming in to eat? And has your desired meal ready for
you within moments of your arrival. All without you having to do anything, you don’t even need to wait; you
only action needed is to pay for your meal. Which might not even need to happen with the future of contact
less payments and geofencing.
“Imagine setting up a rule in Nike+, he says, to have the app order you a new pair of shoes
after you run 300 miles”Ebay’s Head of Strategy - John Sheldon
18For a different example which was explored by Ebay’s Head of Strategy - John Sheldon, in wired: “Imagine
setting up a rule in Nike+, he says, to have the app order you a new pair of shoes after you run 300 miles”.
Taking it further, it doesn’t just order the same pair again it uses your profile to personalise the Nike ID shoes,
to an individual and unique style tailored to your expressed style and tastes.
MARKETING FUNNEL
19Services like the ones I just described bring into question the notion of the traditional marketing funnel.
With these new types of living services, for consumers, its no longer necessary go through the stages of:
awareness, interest, consideration, conversion and loyalty.
NO MORE DECISIONS NEEDED
20The consumers don’t have to make choices any more, there ambiently selected by the service on behalf of
the user.
“Ambient commerce is about consumers turning over their
trust to the machine.”
Ebay’s Head of Strategy - John Sheldon
21When consumers are no longer having to think about what the should chose, traditional marketing becomes
less relevant,
instead consumer decision is based on which company is providing the best service which really ‘gets them’,
the services which really ‘knows what I'm into’. What I want, when I want it, maybe even before I do.
ANTICIPATED
POSSIBILITIES FROM
SERVICES OPERATING
IN THE PRE-NOW
22As consumers begin to live in a new tomorrow, the services they use are providing anticipated possibilities
not in real-time, these services are operating in the pre-now,
CHOICE IS REPLACED BY TRUST
@olishaw
23and choice is replaced by trust.
Mentalism “is a performing art in which its practitioners, known as mentalists, appear to demonstrate highly developed mental or intuitive abilities.”
24Looking backwards and to a more human example of prediction & intuition: Mentalists, the individuals able to
know what your thinking, it “is a performing art in which its practitioners, known as mentalists, appear to
demonstrate highly developed mental or intuitive abilities.” The good mentalities have honed their craft to a
point that it appears like magic, that they have supernatural powers.
Are the services I’m describing going to be a digital equivalent? Possibly… But much like the art of mentalism
there are good mentalists who can reveal your thoughts and secrets with an uncanny accuracy, and then
there are the average / crappy mentalists who can fumble their way to guessing your last meal.
WONDER & DELIGHT
25What a good takeaway from this art for the digital services we design is the wonder when they perform and
the delight in the audience by experiencing their intuitive powers.
WHAT YOU MIGHT LIKE TO BUY
26Today. We have the average; in some cases crappy mentalism come recommendation services. Amazon tells
us what else we might like to read or buy,
WHO YOU MIGHT KNOW
27Facebook & LinkedIn tell us whom we might know
WHAT YOU MIGHT LIKE TO WATCH
28and Netflix tell us what we might like to watch.
EXAMPLE OF
TOMORROWS
LIVING SERVICES:
29In tomorrows living services we might encounter scenarios like these examples:
MORTGAGE
If you pay an extra £50 a month you’ll end your mortgage
3 years early
30Say I have a mortgage, I login to my mortgage service, it offers me a suggestion; that if I pay an extra £50 a
month overpayment on my mortgage I could pay it off 3 years earlier. And you know, I’ll consider that and I
might just do it, more then that I'd be happy with the service making that suggestion to me.
MORTGAGE
If you pay an extra £50 a month you’ll end your mortgage
3 years early
Looking at your current account, you could spend £50
a month less on Dominos Pizza and put it towards
your mortgage
31Take the same scenario an push it a bit further, I have a mortgage, the service suggest I pay an extra £50 a
month, but this time the service goes a bit further, the service has in the background reviewed my current
account and has identified that I’m regularly spending money on dominos pizza, its seen that I’m ordering
once or twice a week. Using this insight the service has suggested that I could have one less take away from
dominos each week, I'd have that £50 to put towards my mortgage. In essence the service is now telling me
that I could be better spending my money on my Mortgage then on a ‘luxury’ of a pizza each week. In
principle this suggestion is coming from a place of good, I probably shouldn’t be eating so much take out
and if I can pay my mortgage off fast I probably should.
DO I WANT THE SERVICE MAKING THAT SUGGESTION TO ME?
32But do I want the service making that suggestion to me?
Take it a step further still, say I agree with the service and I let it know that I’ll not spend on pizza and put it towards my mortgage. Now its late one evening; I decide that ‘you know what… to hell with it’, I’ll get a pizza, but then the order is declined, the payment won’t go though the service has decided that I shouldn’t be ordering pizza, which I had agreed with and it is ‘helping me’ by preventing me!!!!.
Now I need an override button, but you know that it isn’t going to be easy to find, all in the name of helping me, help myself.
TV SHOW EPISODE
You see Coke and I see Pepsi
33Say I’m watching an episode of my favourite show, and when the ad break comes on all the adverts are
actually relevant an personalised to me, which isn’t to much or a stretch of the imagination, with more
content being streamed and the ability to target the ad made simpler from an infustracture point of view.
But what about taking that concept even further, with more product placement happening in films and
shows now, how about all the products that are interacting with the characters are personalised to me, the
show you watch is different from the show I each, in that in your show they are drinking pepsi and in mine
they are drinking coke.
BBC’S ‘PERCEPTIVE RADIO’
“As the play unfolds, the digital character mentions the time, local landmarks, whether or not it’s a nice day, and films playing at the local cinema.”
34But why stop there, we could look at changing the content itself, like the BBC’s ‘perceptive media’
experiment which is a radio play that ‘localises’ itself to the listener adjusting the content to “local
information, such as the date, time of day, the listener’s location and the weather. As the play unfolds, the
digital character mentions the time, local landmarks, whether or not it’s a nice day, and films playing at the
local cinema.”
CAR INSURANCE
35Say I’m a young driver and my insurance is astronomically high, how about a service which can offer you
cheaper insurance based on how you as an individual actually drive, a good way of bringing your car
insurance cost down.
36[video of Ingenie advert]
The Ingenie ‘black box’ as they call it can monitor how you drive: including speed, acceleration, breaking and
cornering.
So what happens when they map this with GPS tracking, they can know if you where speeding and probably
much more then that. What happens then, do they automatically report you to the police, and the first thing
you know about it is a speeding fine through the post? Or if your and your black box where to be involved in
an accident it will create a new layer of detail to the crime scene model, yet this will only cover the
telematics and not necessarily the whole picture of the accident.
CHANGING JOBS
You know theres an ideal role coming up for you...
37How about if LinkedIn could predict when you where unhappy and potentially looking to change jobs, what
if it could make some helpful suggestion on which companies where likely to be interested in someone with
your skills and experience, better then that they have recently had a few people leave in similar roles so its
likely that they might be looking and then the service helps you contact the right person to enquire about a
job.
CHANGING JOBSHere is a chart of who is
most likely to leave:
38But turn that round and look at it from an employers perspective, LinkedIn provide a service to companies in
which it will give them a chart showing the employees which have been scored and are most likely to be
looking to leave, sometimes even before the fully realise themselves.
HOW ABOUT SOMETHING MORE
PERSONAL...
39
40
How about if Facebook could use it’s analysis of your actions on the site to anticipate when you where likely to breakup with your partner?
SUPERMARKET
Your going to run out of toothpaste a week
on Tuesday...
41How about if your supermarket can observe your purchasing habits, it can anticipate when your going to run
out of toothpaste and which brand your likely to purchase, it takes this opportunity to send you some
discount vouchers for an offer on toothpaste. [Which I’ve heard tescos club card data can anticipate when
your likely to run out of toothpaste, I’m certainly never too sure when its gonna run out, with the same
accuracy].
SUPERMARKET
I’ve been observing your purchasing and...
42Take this idea further, how about a service which can observe your purchasing habits and recognises a
change in your purchasing, through its analyses algorithm it has predicted that you are pregnant, better then
that it knows how far along you are and when your likely to be due. The service can now begin to send you
relevant discounts, offers and help guides for pregnancy dependant on your term and follow through to
getting set up for the baby and once it is born. But what if you don’t know that your pregnant, or what if you
haven’t told your partner,
43or what if like in this Target scenario reported by Forbes, your a teen girl living at home with your parents
and your farther doesn’t know, but take it upon himself to go to the local target store and accuse the local
branch manager that Target is trying to encourage his daughter to become pregnant through its mailings.
Only to later discover that his daughter is pregnant but not told him.
UTOPIA OR DYSTOPIA
44There is a clear utopian vision of what personalisation can do for us as individuals, but there are also a very
real dystopian consequences to what this personalisation ability opens the door to. In this beginning of a
design future thesis, I have explored some speculative thoughts, partly because right now we are not quite
over the technology hump of having connected information flowing between systems and services. But…As
soon as we have fully realised the necessary infrastructure, these plausible futures will rocket forwards
advancing our lives at such a speed we won't have enough time to; understand or learn the systems.
“Too much change in too short a period of time”
Alvin Toffler
45But…As soon as we have fully realised the necessary infrastructure, these plausible futures will rocket
forwards advancing our lives at such a speed we won't have enough time to; understand or learn the
systems.
Alvin Toffler wrote about this very notion in his book Future Shock, he described it as "too much change in
too short a period of time".
46[video of Orson wells in future shock documentary]
47In the film The Net, Sandra Bullocks character has, in her own words, her whole life messed with...
This film attributes this to hackers, but what of the same fears and problem when it is an algorithm doing it
and not a human hacker?
[Quote: Angela: I just don't, I don't understand. Why me? Why me? I am nobody. I am nothing. They knew,
they knew everything about me. They knew. They knew what I ate, they knew what I drank, they knew what
movies that I watch, they knew, they knew, they knew what, where I was from, they knew what cigarettes I
used to smoke, and, and, and everything they, they did, they must have watched on the, on the Internet, I
don't know, watched my credit cards? Our whole lives are on the computer, and they knew, they knew that I
could be vanished. They knew that nobody would care, that nobody would understand, and that you would,
that it wouldn't matter anymore.].
WHERE IS THE LINE IN THE SAND?
@olishaw
48
I wondered where ‘the line in the sand’ is? Where is the line between a useful relevant service and one, which has more similarities to something creepy and like a stalker?
ADVICE PARENTING
49Where is the line between a service that advises and a service that parents you?
Are these services going to be more like Butlers who stand back when not needed, keep’s your secrets and
makes suggestions for you to act on or ignore as you see fit.
Or are these services going to be more like parents who remove decision from our control, who act on our
behalf in our best interest without consulting us, like an authoritative figure in our lives?
BIOMETRIC HEALTH SENSOR
50For example, while I might be happy to have an embeddable sensor implanted in my body, which monitors
and tell me when my sugar levels are to high and my risk of diabetes is increased. Or that my cholesterol
level has raised, which increases my risk of heart disease. I might not mind that this is connected to my
doctor who can be informed of anything more serious and act accordingly.
But I probably don’t want this link to my health insurance plan, which automatically goes up based on this
data. Nor do I want the device to report to my employer that my liver is indicating that I have been drinking
heavily every night for a week, and I defiantly don’t want it to automatically give my employer visibility of
something more serious, be that a recreational activity or an illness which may effect my ability to work.
That is the kind of conversation you want to have in person, and definitely after you have spoken to your
doctor about it.
WE ARE AT A CRITICAL MOMENT IN THE DESIGN FIELD
http://www.flickr.com/photos/13858287@N06/6123997285/
51As designers I believe we are inside a critical moment in our field.
The products and services we are creating are becoming complex beyond the point of understanding, the
algorithms which will power a lot of the ‘smart’ in these services is becoming so complicated no one person
can understand it.
52As an indicator to observe the Guardian reported on the Nasdaq crash:
“The complexity of the systems created to support big data is
beyond the understanding of a single person and they also fail in ways that are beyond the comprehension of a
single person."Neil MacDonald, Gartner
53“the understanding of a single person and they also fail in ways that are beyond the comprehension of a
single person.”
These so called ‘flash crashes’ are a result of when algorithm meets algorithm, they can spiral into a dance of
escalating reactions.
Looking at the service we design, what might the effects of this be when our services replicate this action?
Our Facebook and eBay start to bounce of each other escalating each time.
WE ARE TRANSITIONING
THE RELATIONSHIPS OUR
USERS ARE HAVING WITH
THESE SERVICES, SYSTEMS
& MACHINES.
@olishaw
54The designs we create currently, are attempting to put user interface elements on to immaterial, intangible
and often invisible systems that power these new living services.
We need to remember that through our designs we are transitioning the relationships our users are having
with these; services, systems and machines.
SERVICES WHICH CAN:
ANTICIPATE, ADAPT AND
AUTOMATICALLY MAKE
DECISIONS FOR THEM
@olishaw
55We are taking our users into new uncharted ‘human + machine’ territory.
In which our users are forced to experience new and complex emotions, as they’re now faced with a service
that can anticipate their needs, adapt to their situation and in some cases automatically make decisions on
their behalf.
INVISIBLE SYSTEMS BECOMING VISIBLE
56
There are already manifestations of where these complex invisible systems become visible, breaking through the invisible cloak and into something we can experience. Some are examples of where automation and human free decisions systems can go off course.
57
Such as when the meme of ‘KEEP CALM’ took a dark twist at the hands of an automated algorithm, which resulted in t-shirts on sale through Amazon with the slogan ‘KEEP CALM and RAPE A LOT’.
“Although we did not in any way deliberately create the offensive t-
shirts in question and it was the result of a scripted programming process… We’re sorry for the ill
feeling this has caused!”Solid Gold Bomb Company
58The t-shirt company said, “Although we did not in any way deliberately create the offensive t-shirts in
question and it was the result of a scripted programming process… We’re sorry for the ill feeling this has
caused!”.
In this instance it was just ill feeling that was caused, but what if the automated service has the ability to
cause much greater damage to someone’s: relationship, employment, financial situation or something
medical.
59Another example, which on the face of it is harmless, is when companies like Google are using your profile to
advertise to others [google promotions].
60But even these can lead to dark results as in the case for Facebook [suicide example].
61Doctors have a responsibility to their patients not to do them harm. We designers, have a responsibility to
our users to:
DESIGNER’S RESPONSIBILITY
62• Make sure that the ability of “decision’’ is still in their control
• That they understand of the value and potential applications of the information they are sharing or that
they’re generating with these new services
We need to better design how our users navigate these new relationships with the living services of
tomorrow and beyond.
MATERIALS & CRAFT
http://www.flickr.com/photos/26782864@N00/4011519373/
63A first step towards this is for designers to have a firm understanding of how these complex systems work,
what goes into the immaterial world of these complex systems which feed and shape the services we are
designing?
There has been a lot of good talk about designers knowing how to code in order to understand the medium
better, a return to craft and materials if you will.
MELTING POT OF
SENSORS, ANALYTICS,
MACHINE VISION, BIG
DATA, ALGORITHMS
AND MORE.
@olishaw
64To design the next and future waves of services, we need to invest the time to learn how this new technology
works. Living services will be a melting pot of sensors, analytics, machine vision, big data, algorithms and
more.
TRACKING THEMSELVES
65People are already using more sensors then ever before like: phones, tracking products and connected
devices. Enabling them to monitor everything from cardio activity to sleep patterns and much more in
between.
66We are also being observed and profiled at an ever-increasing rate. What started with billboard ad’s knowing
if they have been looked at, and then knowing the type of person that has looked at them.
67To vending machines, which can customise the selection of product based on the type of person looking at
the screen. There are countless other advance and indicators of the direction and scope of the opportunity,
such as:
68Face scanning emotions
69Sceen tap
70Sceen tap
71And I wanted to play you a short bit of this video [machine vision video]
Part of the problem with understanding these systems is their invisible & immaterial nature this video is a
compilation of things found by Timo Arnall, who is a pioneer in revealing the immaterialness of technology.
His other work includes making Wi-Fi signals visible.
72[video of ‘a year in ad words’]
Something else that has caught my eye in this area is the work of Erica Scourti’s work, she makes visible the
exhaust of the algorithm, the project ‘A year in AdWords’ she describes as “I wrote and emailed my daily
diary to my Gmail account and performed to webcam the list of suggested keywords linking to clusters of
relevant ads, making visible the way we and our personal information are the product in the 'free' internet
economy
WHERE WILL THIS ALL LEAD TO IN
THE FUTURE?
73Where will this all lead to in the future? I’m researching the other side of this visibility, and how artists are
experimenting with camouflage them from this technology.
74The work of Adam Harvey is particularly relevant to this, his “Camouflage from Computer Vision” project
explored ways of confusing facial recognition algorithms.
I find it interesting to think how the technology advances might affect the visible cultural balance.
A PROBLEM OF VISIBILITY
75Camouflage is fine, if you know what is looking at you
It might make you motivate you to reconsider how walking down, prompting you to act differently to normal.
76But what happens when is less obvious? Like with these harmless adverts on bins...
Data including the "movement, type, direction, and speed of unique devices" was recorded from smartphones that had their Wi-Fi on.
77
It can record Movement, type direction and speed of a unique device
"It provides an unparalleled insight into the past behavior of unique devices -- entry/exit points, dwell times, places of work, places of interest, and affinity to other devices -- and should provide a compelling reach data base for predictive analytics (likely places to eat, drink, personal habits etc.),"
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which can reveal places of work, places of interest, affinity to other devices (people) and can lead to predictions about personal habits!
"as some of the technology we will be testing will be on the boundaries of what is regulated and discussed it is our intention to discuss it publicly”
Renew London CEO Kaveh Memari
79
Technology is advancing faster then the regulations are changing.
“People wishing to opt out should visit the Presence Orb website, which
has instructions on how to prevent your phone's MAC address being picked up by their technology.”
80
But it’s ok, just go to the website and you can opt out - of something you haven’t opted in for...
HOW DO WE ALLOW THE USERS THE ABILITY
TO CONTROL & INFLUENCE THESE
SERVICES?
@olishaw
81
82
Are contact setting really the best way of a user interacting with the algorithm which personalises their news feed and controls what they share about themselves?
83
Is it good design or even reasonable to expect a user to navigate through a vast amount of setting and preferences to control how their relationship with the service is?
84Clearly not when it results in the service ‘outing’ a student to her parents, not at her own choice but do to
the inadequate design of the relationship between the user and the service. When designers get it wrong it
can be life altering for the user “Bobbi Duncan desperately wanted her father not to know she is lesbian.
Facebook told him anyway.”.
INPUT FIELDS & CAROUSELS
WON’T CUT IT.
@olishaw
85Our design language needs to evolve to accommodate: the complexity, the often ambient, the more
frequently adaptiveness, of these automated services which can anticipate before input is explicitly given.
A new set of design patterns consisting of input fields, carousels won’t cut it,
NEITHER WILL DEBATING
THE VIRTUES OF
SKEUOMORPHISM
VS. FLAT UI.
@olishaw
86 nor will debating the virtues of skeuomorphism vs flat UI
#NOUI WILL NOT HELP OUR
USERS UNDERSTAND WHAT
IS UPON THEM.
@olishaw
87and #NoUI will not help our users understand what is upon them.
PEOPLE’S RELATIONSHIP
WITH MACHINES IS CHANGING
@olishaw
88
Their relationship with machines is changing, they need help in adjusting to this new anticipated automated way of living,
SEAMLESSNESS AND MAGICAL WILL NOT
EASE THE LONG-TERM TRANSITION
@olishaw
89
and simply making it seamless and magical will not ease the long-term transition.
ETIQUETTE FOR PERSONALISED SERVICES
@olishaw
90Our design language needs to advocate a new form of etiquette for these personalised services. We don’t
want another Clippy, who didn’t even know when to keep silent.
"A computer should at least anticipate what you want, when you're happy or unhappy with something or you're frustrated.
It should have a level of intuition around how you're feeling when
you're using something." Phil Libin, Evernote CEO
91 "A computer should at least anticipate what you want, when you're happy or unhappy with something or
you're frustrated. It should have a level of intuition around how you're feeling when you're using
something. That's incredibly difficult - but it's fun to work on." Evernote CEO
HOW WE CAN REPRESENT THE RIGHT QUALITIES IN OUR DESIGNS?
@olishaw
92
We need to be considering how we can represent quality like:
DISCRETION
APPROPRIATE
RELEVANCE
EMPATHY
@olishaw
93Discretion - We need to show discretion with the knowledge we have of the user, protecting and turn a blind
eye to some of their indiscretions, not blurting something out. e.g. Target - Pregnancy
Relevance - We need to have earned our to be welcome, not wrong, not patronising or judgmental
Appropriate - we should be know when to ask the question
Empathy...
HOW WE CAN AVOID THE WRONG QUALITIES
IN OUR DESIGNS?
@olishaw
94
We should not be designing services that are or have the features that:
PATRONISE
CONFUSE
OBSCURE
DICTATE
@olishaw
95confuse, obscure intent, perform malice, and dictate without negotiation…
‘THE DATA MADE ME DO IT’
96
As I consider the coming era of living, thinking, automated services, when the phrase “the data made me do it” is a valid rational.
TRUSTING SO MUCH WE CAN’T TELL
WHEN IT’S WRONG
97
Weather it’s making decisions for us or we are trusting it so much we cant tell when it is wrong.
