In this project, we combine design examples
developed and designed with various intentions into an environment to
test ideas about systems of objects and interaction design for ambient
intelligence.
Experiences with everyday things that we wear and are surrounded by
will be transformed as they connect and relate with new media, intelligence,
and information flows. Designing systems of ‘smart’ products,
interiors, and clothing is not only about fitting the technology into
the artifact, it is also about the way we relate to, understand, and
express these new properties of everyday objects. Both computational
and communicative processes are ‘invisible’ to us, and so
a critical question to emerging technologies is how their presence can
be expressed and articulated through design. This is a question of how
we will relate to and understand the computational power that will surround
us.
Within IT+Textiles, we are developing new design expressions for smart
products, with a focus on how textile materials can act as an accessible
and intimate interface for relating to ubiquitous computation and communication.
With 'Systems', we aim to use the different prototypes made in order
to create, investigate and present an environment for interacting with
a collection of dynamic artifacts.
Individually, the artifacts' form and interactive qualities have been
designed in relation to different ideas about use – collectively,
the range of artifacts in the collection represent an emerging palette
of aesthetic patterns, temporal modulation, and interactive behaviours
that can be explore not just as a collection of, but a system of objects.
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Pre-study: Party
In a pre-study, we have been exploring textile materials in relation
to expressions of temproal events. The design of traditional textiles
is often closely related to season, time, even to specific holidays
– they are often used to affect the experience and mood of an environment.
In Party, we explore scenarios and build prototypes to explore interactive
textile materials in everyday life and the design of a new dynamics
of color, pattern, light, and physical behaviors.
Taking scenarios of party environments, we are creating dynamic textiles
where patterns of textile materials change according to the immediate
surroundings and a festive event that unfolds over time. We have explored,
among others, a drapery hung across a doorway that keeps track of how
many people walk in each direction and monitoring activity over time helps
indicate the start or end of the wedding or a transition between events.
Smart-Its technology platform
To explore use scenarios, we are working with Smart-Its
– small, context-aware computers with sensing and ad-hoc networking
capabilities. In initial prototypes, multiple sensors on the Smart-Its
have been used to derive information about the local context. For instance,
input from the thermometer, light sensor, and microphone are combined
to perceive intensity of local activity and patterns of activity over
time.
Several textile 'samples' have been created with sensors, computation,
conductive fibers, and electro-luminescent wire woven into the texture
and pattern of textiles. Interpretation of sensor input from one or multiple
soft furnishings is used to control the appearance and behavior of textiles.
As a party starter, a textile can glow statically or twinkle in varying
and unexpected patterns. As the wedding winds down, the textile helps
to calm festive guests. Newly interactive tablecloths, curtains and tapestries
work together as a system of intelligent artifacts and as catalysts for
emerging and dynamic experiences.
Research implications
Through use scenarios of event-driven systems of interactive artifacts,
we investigate the impact of ambient intelligence in everyday contexts
of use. Party introduces temporal and behavioral dynamism into systems
of domestic artefacts and a language of aesthetics and interaction into
ubiquitous computing.
Link
to our work in the Smart-Its project
Project team
Henrik Jernström, Ramia Mazé, Johan Redström, Linda Worbin