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Wearing your heart on your sleeve: a wearable computing primer (of sorts)
How our brains see us
Somatosensory homunculous, first formulated by Wilder Penfield in the 1950s. This model shows what a man's body would look like if each part grew in proportion to the area of the cortex of the brain concerned with its movement.
Personal Space Intimate Personal Social
Public In his work on proxemics, Edward T. Hall separated his theory into two overarching categories: personal space and territory. Personal space describes the immediate space surrounding a person, while territory refers to the area which a person may "lay claim to" and defend against others. Taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Proxemics
Fabric Fabrics are interesting in
that they are almost nothing but surfaces in contact with our skin. Image credit: ecstaticist (license:CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
SIXTH SENSE Sixth Sense MIT’s
Sixth Sense projects takes a literal approach to the “every surface is a potential interface” concept. http://www.pranavmistry.com/projects/sixthsense/
Eudaemons The Eudaemons were a
group of UCSC students who created (another) gambling-oriented wearable computer in 1979. In his Nicomachean Ethics, (1095a15–22) Aristotle says that eudaimonia means ’doing and living well’. It is significant that synonyms for eudaimonia are living well and doing well. On the standard English translation, this would be to say that ‘happiness is doing well and living well’. (Wikipedia)
Steve Mann The father of
wearable computing. Inventor, teacher and researcher. Full-time cyborg. further references: http://www.interaction-design.org/encyclopedia/wearable_computing.html
Operational modes Constancy Left: Dome
computer continuously records the wearer’s life. Right: Microsoft Research’s SenseCam is based on the same concept. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SenseCam
Google’s project Glass is one
of the most highly publicized examples of wearable computing with augmentation as a focus.
“The Borgs” from MIT Media
Lab were wearable computing pioneers during the 1990s. Some of them are now working on Google’s Project Glass. http://articles.boston.com/2012-07-15/business/32664324_1_microoptical-wearable-head-mounted-displays
Self expression Wearable computing offers
many opportunities for dynamic self expression (Image: LED jackets by Cute Circuit) http://www.cutecircuit.com/category/videos/
Quantify Computers are obviously good
at dealing with quantitative information. Wearable computers are already helping us quantify our daily activities.
remixing senses RYOTA KUWAKUBO http://www.youtube.com
Ryota Kuwakubo: With Silifulin, the artist explores the feeling of limbs lost to evolution (tail) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ck5K0A6RZgM&feature=player_embedded
remixing senses Stelarc I think
metaphysically, in the past, we've considered the skin as surface, as interface. The skin has been a boundary for the soul, for the self, and simultaneously, a beginning to the world. Once technology stretches and pierces the skin, the skin as a barrier is erased." -Stelarc
Oscar Pistorius copyright Washington Post
In the future it won’t be unusual to see people with some kind of body modification/enhancement that surpasses our bodies’ natural abilities.
Territories Different parts of the
body have specific sensations, different possibilities and meanings. Wearable computer designers need to to know this territory.
Pioneering aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont famously
commissioned Cartier a wristwatch to make it easier to check time while piloting an airplane, at a time when wristwatches were only seen as a fashion accessory for wealthy women.
Remix Eyesight is the prevalent
sense in contemporary culture, but other senses also offer lots of untapped possibilities...
Exploiting the brain’s plasticity Brainport
Brainport is a device for the blind that turns visual information into electrical pulses that can be sensed with the tongue. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNkw28fz9u0
New ways of reading -
RSVP Rapid serial visual presentation is a method to serially display visual content (images, text) that could be applied to small screens (e.g. wristwatches)
Networking Personal area network Body
area network We can use the notions of personal space and territory to create new forms of networking and data transmission.
Flexible electronics Our skin prefers
soft, flexible materials (like fabric). Technology is starting to catch up with this need. Image: http://2011.lope-c.com/en/picture_downloads/
Smart textiles copyright Rachel Winfield
Another long term possibility is that computer logic, sensing and actuation can be carried out by the fabric itself without the need of external components.