July 12, 2009 • 11:07 pm 0
Tomorrow, we (me and my course mates from Edinburgh Napier) will be setting up our stand at New Designers. The exhibition is at the Business Design Center near Angel and we will be at stand F11. We encourage as many people as possible to come and see our work.
Filed under: Uncategorized , design, exhibition, new designers
May 12, 2009 • 5:24 pm 1
So my package from shapeways arrived this afternoon. Need to just glue it all together now
Filed under: Uncategorized , major project, Models, Prototying
March 27, 2009 • 2:55 pm 0
Today’s experiment was a continuation of mondays experiment. Continuing my research into alternative perceptions i experimented having cameras for eyes. The plan was to pick up two pin hole cameras to attach to my hands and wire them to two LCD screens to act as eyes.
The experiment was to discover what it would be like to see out of different parts of the human body. I choose the hands due to the flexibility of the arms. As i don’t have the experience to wire two pin hole cameras to two small screens, i decided the quickest way to do it was with just a webcam and my laptop screen.
despite focusing on just the screen i could still see parts of my surroundings so the next step was to cover my head and the laptop so i could only see the what the camera could see.
What’s interesting is that due to the flexibility of the hands, it asks questions to what else they could be used for? Could they be used for vision and sensing our environment? The experiment reminds me of pans labyrinth, where one character has eyes on their hands. Using other sensors could the hands become an ultimate sensory device?
Roberto’s Experience- Overall a very interesting experience. The camera was not able to process fast moving objects and as a result you had to take your time whilst walking. Also, the view that is displayed on the screen shows an image greater in size to that of human vision, therefore making objects look closer than they actually are. The experiment is a clever way to highlight perception alteration.
More to come…….
Filed under: camera, design, experiment , altered perception, camera, experiment, laptop, university
March 23, 2009 • 8:50 pm 0
Today I carried on experiment from last week. Instead of using a hidden mirror i used a really obvious one. I attached an actual wing mirror to my forehead so i could see all around me, and people could see that I was doing it. I walked around the bruntsfield area at a busy lunch time period. Again the reactions from people ranged from “what is that thing on his forehead” to “why is he looking at me”. What I reckon though is that through this kind of experimentation we can alter people’s perception of how they see the world around them, and how they interact with the people in that space.
For instance, eye contact is one form of interaction we use in public space, but it’s often quickly forgotten about. People think that they are being stared at and may not like it. By using tiny mirrors and altering our perception of interaction, we could use eye contact more and more for social interactions. More importantly, it could be used in secret interactions, which is one of the aims of my project.
Like with the covert sunglasses, there is an eerie satisfaction when you can watch others watch you – by doing something slightly out of the ordinary (walking backwards etc) the attention drawn to yourself, and the reactions from the public, provide a small level of satisfaction. I knew I had done something slightly different, and normally I wouldn’t have been able to tell what others were thinking but there’s the satisfaction of being able to see other’s reactions. And because people know that I’m watching them watch me, it tends to either change their reaction or enhance it. Think about how you might react to someone watching you in public? Would it be seen as invasion of your personal space or as a way of communication?
In a way, it’s a form of social interaction – if other senses, other than sight, were involved then it could become a whole new way of interacting with people in public. Much is being doing with regards to how we interact with others around us (see blog post ‘physical social networking’). From Anab Jain’ Near Future RFID to Imity and Social Serendipity, our perception of social spaces and social interactions changes by turning it into an interactive playground.
Altered perceptions allow us to think in ways we wouldn’t normally think. Today’s experiment has me thinking about my next moves, which I will post on here. Can design help us sense things that we aren’t normally meant to sense – fear tuners – a critical design piece from Susanna Hertrich – allows someone to “sense global and abstract dangers” that they would not normally be able to detect (Fear tuners – Prostheses for instincts, September 21st, 2008, Hertirch).
Applications of this kind of product could be used in a similar way GPS tracking in people is used. Rather than being applied by the paranoid parents that need to know where their kids are every five minutes, it could be used to make people more aware of who is around them. From the film “Red Road”, which uses CCTV cameras as its main theme, the main character Jackie (a CCTV operator) becomes obsessed as she spots a man from her past on one of her monitors. The film shows how it starts to take over her life at work, until she confronts the man face to face. From the obsession of watching others, and the need to know where people are, it has me thinking about ideas from today’s experiment. Some of the ideas touch on tracking, urban gaming and again secret interactions. I will post these ideas up soon, when I have them developed a bit more.
Filed under: Uncategorized , critical, design, experiment, mirror, public space, sensing, social interaction, watching others
March 3, 2009 • 4:25 pm 0
Designing for social interaction aims to look at a number of issues regarding social interaction. I decided to break the context down and look at issues in relation to it such as darker issues. Whilst looking at darker issues I looked at social phobias and the factors that can trigger them off – such as being watched and being the centre of attention.
In particular I was drawn to the idea of what it must feel like to be watched others watch me. For this I decided to “give myself eyes on the back of my head”. I attached a small mirror (used by cyclists as “wing mirrors”) to see other people behind me.
I went on a walk around parts of Edinburgh, to judge people’s reaction to these glasses, and judge on my own part what it’s like to see all around you.
As a starting point the weather in Edinburgh has been pretty grey, so part of the funny looks could be down to that. As the day progressed it did brighten up and I did discover that people did react. People’s reaction varied – mostly why is he wearing sun glasses, but on my way back through the meadows, peoples started staring at my straight on and then turning round as I passed them. It was interesting to see people react in such a way, in particular, being able to see their reaction from behind. I don’t know for sure if they were talking about my glasses due to the weather or if they noticed the tiny mirror, but it was an eerie satisfaction of being able to see all around.
In a way being able to see all around allows us to judge other things. It allows us to see who’s watching, but it also lets other people know that they’re being watched too. Being able to watch others can satisfy people’s needs to know who’s around and what they’re doing. It could allow people with social phobias to perhaps discover why they don’t want to interact with others.
It changes people’s perspective of what is around them and in what ways they can see in public environment.
Other designers who have looked at changing people’s perspective are Auger-Loizeau (James Auger and Jimmy Loizeau) and Haus-Rucker-Co in the 60’s. Auger-Loizeau’s project social-Tele presence allows its user to see what the other user is doing and where they are. Taking the idea from military use, and placing it in a social context allows an array of uses such as the MP to venture into seedier parts of town, people with a lack of social skills using a ‘rented body’ to go on blind dates. Haus-Rucker-Co was an architecture/art collective based in Austria in the 60’s which designed helmets to change the user’s perspective. I’ve not found any more information on them as the link from this blog is dead.
Changing perception of people in a social context is interesting. Due to the fact that the public always see things from one perspective, changing it allows users to see other from another perspective. In the case of Auger-Loizeau it’s allowing people to venture into their wildest ideas and fantasy without being caught. It allows its user to delve into parts of town, inhospitable areas as a means of exploration.
It could potentially lead to other ideas……more to come
Filed under: Uncategorized
February 13, 2009 • 10:29 am 0
Here is my wall in the studio, it’s been filled with inspirational images, mind maps, and some rough sketches. 
Filed under: Uncategorized
February 4, 2009 • 7:06 pm 0
So the time has come to embark on my major project. There are ideas floating about all over my head. Mainly ideas that derive from my dissertation. The idea that design can affect how social we are with others is a big idea. The other main idea (and most interesting) is design for chance encounters.
What design for social interaction intends to do is to encourage social interaction between two or more people. Through the use of electronic products, furniture or other products.
Design for chance encounters is designing an object that could set people up for a random chance encounter – be it with someone they’ve never met, or someone they’ve not seen for a long time.
Both of these subjects intertwine with one another – chance encounters lead to interaction for example. They both have positive and negative qualities. To make sense of what i wanted to do, i started a mind map. I generated a few ideas and a few routes that i may want to take whilst doing this.
One route to take is to produce something with the ideals of device art. Device art is described by Carla Diana as
“allows designers to make user experiences that are carefully crafted, mass produced, and guided by artistic vision rather than a corporate brand or market niche.” [1]
Major players in the device art field are Maywa Denki and Art. Lebedev Studio. They aim to create products that give a user experience and can be mass produced. If i were to take a device art approach to my major project, i could design a small product that aims to promote interaction through experience. A small device that could be used to discover other similar people.
I really like the themes behind critical design as well. Critical design is design that provides scope for other designers and professionals to debate over. The term was first used by Anthony Dunne in “Hertzian Tales” [2]. By designing for chance encounters in which other designers could debate its use, could be provide some scope on how people interact today.
I will post some pictures later when i’ve photographed my big mind map etc. I’ll also post my ideas when i get some drawings done over the next couple of days.
[1] http://www.core77.com/reactor/07.07_deviceart.asp
[2] Dunne A. (1999) Hertzian Tales: Electronic Products, Aesthetic Experience and Critical Design, London, RCA Computer Related Design Research
Filed under: Uncategorized , chance encounters, design, major project, social interaction
December 14, 2008 • 5:12 pm 0
I’ve been looking through some papers recently and discovered a number of companies that are taking social networking into a physical environment.
Cityware use bluetooth enabled devices to bridge social networking into the physical environment. Users build a profile through an application on ‘Facebook’ and register their bluetooth identifier number. ‘Cityware’ can then display the users encounters with other ‘Cityware’ users. If a user recognizes a device then they can tag it – this links it to a ‘Facebook’ account and that of the owners account.
Imity is a similar project, but draws its influences from Bruce Sterlings ‘Spimes’ and Julian Bleeckers ‘Blogjects’. Sterlings idea is that of objects becoming networked – an internet of things – whilst Bleeckers ‘Blogjects’ places objects into everyday conversation via blogs. ‘Imity’ is described as
Devices seen are “socially activated” through tagging and a public guest book/comment system – and the server responds to observations with data about the devices seen relevant to the observing client, e.g. shared history, previous tags and comment history. Through the shared recordings of all signed up users of Imity, the server is able to construct a shared digital historyfor the devices seen. We use this shared history to build context for our users (Practical ubiquity with mobile phones, Claus Dahl)
‘Imity’ also brings up questions such as “How deep is our social relationship with the device? Is this a device we only meet during working hours, a chance encounter we have seen only one?” (Practical ubiquity with mobile phones, Claus Dahl)
By attempting to bridge online social networking into the physical environment, we are able to change our relationships with each other and the devices we carry with us. Firstly, it moves people from their their computer screen and into real world interactions. Secondly, it’s a more memorable experience than mobile social network already being used (Facebook mobile and ‘bebo’ mobile to name a couple). Thirdly, it also sets people up for more ‘chance encounters’ with people they may not normally speak to. One ‘physical social network’ matches people together who share similar interests. When these people are within range of each other (the service works via bluetooth) the users phone vibrates shortly to alert the users of the people they don’t know, but probably should (Social Serendipity: Mobilizing Social Software, Nathan Eagle, Alex Pentland, 2005).
Filed under: Uncategorized , cityware, imity, mobile technology, physical social network, serendipity, social interactions
December 3, 2008 • 7:34 pm 1
I’m looking for people, over the age of 18 to fill out out a survey for my dissertation. The survey is about people’s use of public transport, mp3 players and their preferences on speaking to others. It should take less than five minutes to fill out, and I would really appreciate everyones input. Thank you.
Filed under: Uncategorized
November 11, 2008 • 10:31 am 0
As my dissertation touches on the subject of RFID tags, I found this article on core77 about social networking for dogs.
It works by, tagging your dogs collar, and the tag collates information about your dogs interactions with other dogs.
Filed under: Uncategorized
