17//march//2009//week 3//lecture

the class was interesting today as we were introduced to this web brainstorming portal where everyone from the class can login and contribute to the mind map.

There were a few random generation of ideas which were mainly :

• educational
• energy saving
• environmental pollution
• health
• projection
• entertainment
• exploitation of fear and guilt
• security
• smart house
• communication

We were then asked by steve to choose one project that would most interest us and put our names beside it. Eveyone knew by doing so you will be grouping ourselves in that team and thus no one dared to be the first. Since no names were up he decided that we should all list our names in the groups we wanted and placed it on the mind map. Everyone but lochan was around and there were 4 groups of 5 and 2 groups of 3. Sad to say, my group was the one with 3 and I have my doubts about the strength and balance of my team. Programming was not any of our strength and lochan didn't seem to keen on joining us. Thus we decided to consult steve if we could combine the 2 groups of 3 to form a group of 6. We were rejected but since we were working on the same idea which was 'Smart House' we were given the go ahead to work together. We didn't seem to have much of a choice. All we could do is to cross our fingers and hope lochan decides to join our group.

During the second half of the class, Sean and I came up with an idea. Since Lochan was not going to join us and knowing that we would only suffer if it's just the 3 of us, we decided to spilt up. Andy would join Juan's group while Sean and I would join Vu's group. This seemed like the best solution for all 3 of us. We consulted Andy and he too agreed that this was the best solution. We then spilt into our new groups and started discussion about possible ideas.

Similar idea with what we had in mind.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ga8e91KHNuM

Research materials

http://www.movesinstitute.org/~kolsch/HandVu/HandVu.html#people

http://www.cynergysystems.com/blogs/page/andrewtrice?entry=thinking_outside_of_the_grid

http://architectradure.blogspot.com/2008/10/physical-display-with-deformable-skin.html

cwcw

16//march//2009//week 3//presentation

Fashionable wearables.


Smart fabrics

• Clothes don't just look good, they're starting to think for you as well.


• When you bought your last t-shirt or woolly sweater, you probably noted its
  
  

-colour
-price tag
-washability

It's about to be a whole lot more technical now. Fabrics have become an arena for competition for scientists all around the world. The race is on to be the first to develop new fabrics that will not only keep you warm but also cool, dry, moisturised and free of bacteria, odour and stains while measuring your heart rate.

Eg. Nike's Dri-Fit material

Temperature sensitive textiles

• Fundamental job of clothes is to keep us warm or cool.


• Heat modifying textiles are mostly seen in outdoor gears such as windbreakers and beanies.


• Fabrics that conduct electricity has also sprung up.


• Jackets can also be wired up to monitor body temperature and heart rates.


• Singlets to monitor hospital patient's stats and send them remotely to a nurse in the office.


• How about having a mp3 player in built in your jacket?


• Socks and gloves that keep your toes and fingers at a warm temperature?
  

Points to ponder:

• Comfort
  
• Cost
  
• Convenience
  

Eg. In built mp3 Player















Eg. Wifi Detecting T-Shirt


Wearable instrument shirt.

How does it work?

• The wearable instrument shirt is a conventional black long sleeve T-shirt and the textile motion sensors used by the instrument for monitoring elbow movements and computer interface are not directly discernable in the garment.
• The air guitar works by recognising and interpreting arm movements and relaying this wirelessly to a computer for audio generation. There are no trailing cables to get in way or trip over.
• Textile motion sensors embedded in the shirt sleeves detect motion when the arm bends - in most cases the left arm chooses a note and the right arm plays it.
  

http://www.csiro.au/files/files/p9vg.asx

VIEW THE VIDEO FOR THOSE WHO ARE READING THE BLOG. (i didn't manage to get it running during the presentation)

Fart eating undies

• American Buck Wiemer invented a pair of underpants that filters out the smell of farts from the wearer.


• Won an Ig Nobel prize in 2001 for his unique product.


• Designed the underpants for his wife, who as a sufferer of Crohns disease, found herself embarrassed by her inability to control her gassy emissions.
  
• With the underpants made of plastic, the only place for gases to exit the body is through a triangular pocket strategically placed over the bottom.


• Inside the pocket is a piece of carbon that filters out smelly gases as they pass through, making the wind more pleasant to the nose on the other side.
  

http://reskin.anat.org.au/program
http://www.abc.net.au/catapult/indepth/s1435357.htm
http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts-apparel/interactive/991e/zoom/
http://subtela.hexagram.ca/blog/

cwcw

09//march//2009//week2//lecture

this was what was discussed during a class group discussion.

1. People view technology as a fashion item/ status symbol than a functional tool. Business people and teenagers are the worst offenders. Practically any social context will introduce some element of competition/ bragging rights.

2. Elderly people find technology overwhelming. Due to fear of the unknown, they have little to no exposure to technology, becoming particularly cut off in their homes.

3. People believe the planet's too far gone to save. This is an argument prevalent in anti-environmentalist circles.

different groups in the class took turns to present their ideas on sustainability and to be honest it was really interactive as we can all share what each of our views on the topic. below was a short write up on what i've research about. there are heaps of information on the web and finding the appropriate and suitable for the course.

cwcw

03//march//2009//week 1// lecture

sustainability?
Sustainability, in a broad sense, is the ability to maintain a certain process or state. eg, In an ecological context, sustainability can be defined as the ability of an ecosystem to maintain ecological processes, functions, biodiversity and productivity into the future. The intention of sustainable design is to "eliminate negative environmental impact completely through skillful, sensitive design". Manifestations of sustainable designs require no non-renewable resources, impact on the environment minimally, and relate people with the natural environment. heres an example on sustainability on the use of new media and communication technologies to promote social sustainability and cultural enrichment for location-based communities



sustainable design?

sustainable design is the philosophy of designing physical objects, the built environment and services to comply with the principles of economic, social, and ecological sustainability.


The intention of sustainable design is to "eliminate negative environmental impact completely through skillful, sensitive design". Manifestations of sustainable designs require no non-renewable resources, impact on the environment minimally, and relate people with the natural environment.












http://mobile.mit.edu/en/ridelink http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainability http://viswiki.com/en/Sustainable_design (heaps of videos on sustainable design)

cwcw