Aware Environments Project
Aware
environments adapt to circumstance, context and/or the environment. An
understanding of the people who interact and awareness of their environments is
used as inputs into the investigation of this problem space.
This is done by:
- Interpreting the participants needs in a
particular context/situation
- Understanding presence: being aware of the people
who use the environment in a particular context/situation
Part
of this involves the ability to react actively or passively to the users within
the environment. Aware environments consider the users experience in an
adaptive or reactive manner to the current their context. The key issue to be
considered this semester involves the distinction of place versus space in the
experience of physical and virtual environments. Explore the paper Re-placing
Space[1] to gain a better understanding of the role of place
versus space, using the paper to explore the context of aware environments.
Part One: Define your context
In teams of three you will brainstorm the idea of
aware technologies around the home. You will do research to investigate
existing technologies and their uses with a focus on energy conservation or
personalizing the home.
- Explore the nature
of everyday activities you do in the home, specifically within your space,
i.e. lounge, kitchen, study or bathroom.
- With this
information, you will identify a need that could be assisted or solved
with the use of aware technologies.
- Look at what has
already been done in this area – research, background and other
work. What works and what doesnt and why? Present ideas back and position own in relation
to these.
- Take note of which
artefacts you use regularly. What are these activities directed towards,
fun, living, work?
- After identifying
your need for your target participants, problem space you will then design
a possible solution. The design will be based around a use case for the
solution.
Expected Outcomes
Report
back on the first four weeks of this project in a manner, which demonstrates
your intent and sells you idea clearly. Your presentation should consider:
- What is your idea? What else has been done in
this space? How does your work relate?
- How does your idea relate to the theme of space
vs. place in aware environments?
- Show the context of your idea - where will you
make it work?
- Define you intended participants - explore how
they may act/react with the artefacts in your idea
Part Two: Prototype time
Explore the details of the problem space. There are
two main areas of focus for this stage: the role, style and engagement of
intended participants and exploring the technology, which relates to this.
Now
that you have established your project ideas you need to explore this idea in
detail. The intended participants should be the focus as you develop these
details. Consider the nature of your intended participants for your idea,
exploring the detail of their potential interaction with your planned
artefacts. The nature of participants, their needs, desires and requirements
should inform all your decisions throughout this stage. Explore the nature of
intended experiences in the context you plan on investigating. The intended
participants should direct the style of your artifact and experience design.
You
need to test the technologies you wish to deploy. The success of technologies
should be tested against ideas you have generated earlier in this stage. It is
important that your group explores the ideas through the uses of the technology
and the limitations that are presented in these approaches.
Dont
let the technology force you to lose sight of your original ideas –
consider how you can work around the problems you encounter to maintain the
experienced desired.
Expected Outcomes
- Demonstrate you have considered the technological
boundaries of your problem space.
- Show that your group has explored the details of
your intended experience with regards to the technology.
Part Three: Finishing
Complete the development of the environment that you
will deploy your aware technology in. You need to think about how will the
public interact with your work and how can the technology be demonstrated and
understood. Allocated and dedicated space in 1-351 will be available -- 4
corner sections or 2 internal wall sections that you begin to build in the wood
working session (and complete that week), so student teams can design their
environment within an actual physical space (as well as designing and building
the actual space). A way to begin might be to select your target environment
and take a slice of that space. So for a lounge, you might have a screen and an
armchair, like a life sized dolls house.
Expected Outcomes
- A holistic, crafted installation, which
demonstrates the groups intent for the problem space through experience
- It must be easily disassembled and durable
- This will be the final step of your project, it
should be completed and have a professional finish
References
http://www.design.philips.com/about/design/section-13586/index.html
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeanbaptisteparis/sets/72157594205446854/
http://www.interaction-ivrea.it/en/news/press/photos/2005/strangelyfuture/index.asp
http://www.sigchi.org/chi97/proceedings/paper/hi-fg14.jpg