Monthly Archives: September 2007
Open Beacon – Open active RFID
It’s basically an open design for actrive RFID:”OpenBeacon is a free design for an active RFID device which operates in the 2.4GHz ISM band…. The intention of this project is to offer a wide range of use cases such as visitor or item tracking and wireless remote control with a free self-contained and low-cost RFID design.”Thanks to Massimo Banzi for the link.
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Designing Movement
Ben Hopson has a good site detailing his work on his masters’ thesis at Pratt on designing movements.
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A Public Inconvenience
What do we miss by ignoring the factthat public toilets are also the site for a variety of socialpractices?’A Public Inconvenience’ will explore the experience and affect ofpublic toilets in an urban environment, in this case Amsterdam.Through observation and engagement we will consider how public toiletsare shaped by, and themselves shape, cultural practices, values, andattitudes…. That is, the placesand times that are often on the periphery of everyday life – thejourney to work or the time spent queuing in a shop.To be considered for participation, researchers and practitioners areinvited to send us a compelling public toilet story (see The Storiessection of the website for inspiration), an optional toiletphotograph, a brief biography, and a short rationale outlining yourinterest in the workshop.
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A Few of my Favorite Things…
…at least, my favorite examples of physical computing.Durrell Bishop’s Marble Answering Machine – A really nice example of using tangible elements not only as memory tokens, but as physical interface…. This one comes from a link on Sriam Subramaniam’s homepage, but I think they may have gotten it from Rachel Abrams’ paper.Toshio Iwai’sPiano – As Image Media – The interaction is quite simple, and even traditional, in computer interface terms (a trackball), but the effect is beautiful.Tad Hirsch’s TripWire – I love the fact that it’s relevant to the city it was designed for, and attempts to address real political issues in that town with just the right level of seriousness and humor.Maywa Denki’s BitMan – The behavior seems entirely natural when you play with it, as the little man moves from one side to the next as you rotate the object. Continue reading
September Travels
I’ll only be there for the Sunday, to co-host a workshop on ubiquitous sustainability with Jen Mankoff from CMU, and Allison Woodruff and Jay Hasbrouck of Intel Research. In Berlin (Potsdam, really), I’ll be attending a fritzing workshop run by Prof. Reto Wettach and André Knörig of the Interaction Design Lab at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam, Germany.
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