At the Downtown Project our City Science team had a stated purpose to "measure and quantify collisions" I have always been interested in how to best quantify constructs. In the above presentation I outlined what our operational definition of a collision is and how we were measuring it.
Operational Definition
We have always believed great ideas are simply good ideas with lots of revisions. So our operational definition of collision was formed with the criteria that it can be thought of as some kind of chipping away or processing of an idea.
- Collision: A real world interaction between two or more people where information is exchanged and processed.
Classifications
Collsionable Time
The collisionable time metrics were created by placing geo-fences around public areas where people had the potential to meet each other and share ideas. We would then separate unique totals from these areas, divide them over time and show a measurable return on collisions (ROC) per investment.
Gravitational Collisions
This type of collision had to be identified through passive observation. Often watching an event, business or public area and counting how many people diverted from their intended destination to interact with a friend, colleague or person of interest.
Purposeful Collisions
These collisions were defined as using calendar structure. These types of meetings were setup in advance for a specific purpose, business or personal. This kind of data was collected from personal calendars and surveys.