Following is based on what arose in the Brainstorming Session 1, June 30:

• repeated travel, do it every weekend
• lots of conversation, know each other well
• eating in car, stop and get food
• will they spend a lot of time on the phone with other friends?
• will they be taking and sending pictures?
• the journey itself becomes something they are all sharing, through ephemeral use of media.
• the shared journey maybe marked by the ephemeral use of digital photography… Image making and the exchange in conversation.
• often there are many different cars and there may be the space to connect two journeys…
• the journey is marked by both anticipation and memory. The car becomes the space of presentation--a space for the circulation of memorys through image, video and sound.
• in such "extreme sports" there is a need for higher quality images, video to be delivered by more and more compact gagets…
• listening to music
• checking with other friends, arranging places to stay, etc.
• anticipation (of the fun ahead) and memory (of pervious trips)- high quality images so cameras (and video cameras) instead of phones, documentation of the trip and of the activity- these aren’t watched much except for IN the car, because while you’re there you’re DOING it not watching it.
• HP ‘ubiquitous media’- blurring the distinction between the event and the media.
• Intel lab at Berkeley, ‘familiar strangers project’ document people in a space over a span of time, who goes repeatedly, how they change their movements different times, etc. ephemeral nature of travel combined with oddly permanent nature of repetition.
• this is interesting temporally, because these things don’t often get looked at later (or independently of the repeated event), but as part of the event they are VERY interesting during travel, as you plan or remember the event itself.
• are these likely to be shared outside the group (either in the moment or later?

From Roadandtravel.com's review of the Honda Element:

Honda claims the Element was designed by a bunch of 20-something California surfer dudes for other 20-something surfer dudes. And the shape, they say, was inspired by the famous Baywatch-style lifeguard stations which dot California's beaches. (I don't see the resemblance, but if they truly wanted to be clever, they could have stowed a first-aid kit in one of the Element's many storage spaces.)

And while the official target audience may be fun-loving males with a taste for extreme sports, the reality is that once you get past its quirky looks, the Element is so versatile that is has something to appeal to most everyone.

So, while snowboarders at the end of a long day shredding half-pipes may admire the water-resistant seat fabric, so too can any parent who has tried to clean up a fumbled grape juice box.