Touchscreen kiosks across Dubai will measure happiness

DUBAI // Dubai’s drive to become a smarter city and make its residents happier is being put to the test with touchscreen technology.

High-tech kiosks will test the mood of the public by offering passers-by three choices: a smiling face, a straight face and a sad face.

With one touch, users will convey their level of happiness to the government.

“The vision was to capture the experience of everyone coming to Dubai, whether living or visiting here, and see how happy that experience was and in a very simple way,” said Aisha Butti bin Bishr, assistant director general at the executive office of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, who leads the Smart Dubai initiative.

“We want to know how your experience was at a venue, an area or with a service,” she said.

Data from kiosks and other sources will be shared with decision makers, both in government and in the private sector, so they can gauge how people rate their experiences.

Full details on the kiosks, including how many of them will be installed, were not readily available at the Arabnet conference in Dubai, where they were on display.

Ms Bishr said that Sheikh Mohammed’s vision for a smart city, along with the role of government, is to make people happy.

“Smart cities are about sensors, data collection, business intelligence, but why do we do all of this? To make people happier,” she said. “We want people to be free during their journey, to reflect on themselves and their family, not to be taken or driven by the busy life of a city.”

“We want to tell everyone that Dubai is a smart city, but also a happy city.”

Dubai has invested heavily in services including the road and transport authority, police and the department of economic development, to have their efforts shifted towards its smart service vision.

These services range from using smartphones and tablets to access medical records and check hospital appointments, to streamlined systems for applying for new restaurant permits.

The government hopes its happiness meter index (HMI), will be able to adequately measure the happiness of people, using data from both “virtual and real-life touch points”.

Information will be collected from government websites, mobile apps, as well as sources with the private sector.