While flying on Emirates today to the Aloha Editor Hackathon, I was wondering why I always get placed next to very boring people and that surely there are some non-boring people on this airplane. For instance, how awesome would it be if I could have spent those 24 hours in-flight collaborating with two entire rows of other web developers. Or if I'm a single spend it with other single people. Or if I'd like to just chat with people with similar interests that would be awesome too! So this is the solution I came up with:
Registration
Details
Name
Photo
Short Description
Interests (keywords)
Job (if you love what you do)
Relationship Status
Email
Links to other social network profiles (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn ...)
Privacy
Show this social information to everyone on the flight:
This is great for people to pre-discuss seating options and get to know each other before the flight; even if you don't end up sitting next to each other.
Show this social information to those looking to sit next to me:
When people are selecting their seat they will be able to see the information of the people surrounding the seat they are considering. - this option doesn't make sense in terms of the purpose and outcome.
I changed my mind; I'm not social, cancel.
Scenarios
Old Scenario
I randomly pick a seat based on seat preference and perhaps through my entire life miss out on sitting next to someone cool.
New Scenario
Cool people are able to socialise beforehand, strategically aligning their seating arrangements and increasing the possibility of actually having 2 rows of cool people, or just two people who are the perfect match to actually meet in the first place.
Imagine the new ideas, possibilities, relationships that can form. No longer will flights be 14-hour boring, stinking, crowded prisons - instead lively, active, intimate, collaborative awesomeness.
The single argument here is also based on seeing a dude on my airplane pelvic thrusting the air while boarding (Sydney to Dubai), so I decided to pelvic thrust him back - all while on the phone with my girlfriend watching and his mate filming. How lucky would that guy be if he got to sit next to some of the single euro girls? Lucky I bet.
The boring argument is me having to sit next between a married coupled on the first flight who just slept the whole time. And the smelly argument is me on the second flight being crammed into my window seat by a obese polish man...
Originally posted on: http://balupton.com/blog/2011-02-19-flights-get-more-social-with-social-seat-selection
Social Seat Selection
While flying on Emirates today to the Aloha Editor Hackathon, I was wondering why I always get placed next to very boring people and that surely there are some non-boring people on this airplane. For instance, how awesome would it be if I could have spent those 24 hours in-flight collaborating with two entire rows of other web developers. Or if I'm a single spend it with other single people. Or if I'd like to just chat with people with similar interests that would be awesome too! So this is the solution I came up with:
Registration
Details
Privacy
Show this social information to those looking to sit next to me: When people are selecting their seat they will be able to see the information of the people surrounding the seat they are considering.- this option doesn't make sense in terms of the purpose and outcome.Scenarios
Old Scenario
I randomly pick a seat based on seat preference and perhaps through my entire life miss out on sitting next to someone cool.
New Scenario
Cool people are able to socialise beforehand, strategically aligning their seating arrangements and increasing the possibility of actually having 2 rows of cool people, or just two people who are the perfect match to actually meet in the first place.
Imagine the new ideas, possibilities, relationships that can form. No longer will flights be 14-hour boring, stinking, crowded prisons - instead lively, active, intimate, collaborative awesomeness.
Conclusion
What do you guys think? For myself I can't wait til airlines implement this - would be willing to undertake this project as a technical director / architect role. Licensed under the Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Australia (CC BY-SA 3.0) and Copyright Benjamin Arthur Lupton 2011.
Easter Eggs
The single argument here is also based on seeing a dude on my airplane pelvic thrusting the air while boarding (Sydney to Dubai), so I decided to pelvic thrust him back - all while on the phone with my girlfriend watching and his mate filming. How lucky would that guy be if he got to sit next to some of the single euro girls? Lucky I bet.
The boring argument is me having to sit next between a married coupled on the first flight who just slept the whole time. And the smelly argument is me on the second flight being crammed into my window seat by a obese polish man...
Yeah... Social Seat Selection FOR THE WIN!!!