Cushioning the Technology – Combining technologies and textiles for the smart home - Einzelansicht

What if your couch could talk? What if your carpet could turn into a display? What if the textiles in your house were connected, smart and able to act?

Ongoing improvements in sensors and actuators enable seamless integrations between technologies and textiles. In this project we will move away from current screen-based IoT or Smart Home devices to explore this new design space and opportunities for novel ways of interaction when technologies are embedded into the home textiles. Examples could include, but are not limited to: seating furniture, such as couches, chairs and cushions; covers, such as duvets and table cloths; curtains or carpets.

We start with a series of ideation techniques that focus on embodied interactions, such as contextual inquiry and bodystorming, before developing a series of prototypes based on their outcomes. In a second step, we will develop criteria against which to evaluate the prototypes, set up and execute a user study to learn how participants interact and experience the prototype

A focus of this project is in gaining experience with user research methods and alternative prototyping methods, as well as evaluation methods. On the technical side, we might be using Arduino, Raspberry Pie, as well as the Lilypad and other boards for textile prototyping. We might be using a wide range of sensors and actuators as well as conductive textiles. A basic understanding of textile crafts such as sewing, knitting/crochet or embroidery is useful, but not essential as they will be covered in the course depending on the concepts we come up with.

Doenja Oogjes, William Odom, and Pete Fung. 2018. Designing for an Other Home: Expanding and Speculating on Different Forms of Domestic Life. In Proceedings of the 2018 Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS ’18), 313–326. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1145/3196709.3196810

Atsuro Ueki, Maiko Kamata, and Masa Inakage. 2007. Tabby: designing of coexisting entertainment content in everyday life by expanding the design of furniture. In Proceedings of the international conference on Advances in computer entertainment technology  - ACE ’07, 72. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1145/1255047.1255062

Bill Gaver, Tony Dunne, and Elena Pacenti. 1999. Design: Cultural probes. interactions 6, 1 (January 1999), 21–29. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1145/291224.291235

Time and place: HK7, time will be negotiated

SWS / ECTS:
10 SWS / 15 ECTS für B. Sc. Medieninformatik, M.Sc. Medieninformatik, Computer Science and Media, Computer Science for Digital Media; M.Sc. Human-Computer Interaction
12 SWS / 18 ECTS für MediaArchitecture, BA + MA Produkt-Design
10 SWS / 12 ECTS für M.Sc. Human-Computer Interaction (PO19)
Participants:
4 Studenten HCI Master, B.Sc. MI, CS&M / CS4DM Master
2 Studenten Produkt-Design / MediaArchitecture

Participants should have basic knowledge or experience of user-centered methods (user studies, interviewing etc.) and ideally some experience in prototyping techniques. Working with textiles and the intersection with technology is a plus, but will also be covered in the project. Moreover, all participants should enjoy working in an interdisciplinary team, want to be creative and be able to converse in English.

PD and MA: Please apply until 09.10.2019 by E-Mail to Britta.Schulte@uni-weimar.de (please include a description / portfolio of your prior experience in relevant areas)!

Active participation and interim presentations, autonomous and self-initiated working mode, project documentation

Master Human-Computer Interaction

Bachelor Medieninformatik

Master Computer Science & Media / Computer Science for Digital Media

Master MediaArchitecture,

Master und Bachelor Product Design / Nachhaltige Produktkulturen