Wearable computing and embodied interaction
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The document discusses wearable computing and embodied interaction. It argues that computers currently ignore the human body and make people sedentary. Embodied interaction is presented as an alternative approach where the body actively interacts with technology in specific contexts. The document outlines the history of wearable devices and advocates for designs that consider how technology integrates with and augments the human body. It proposes methods like bodystorming and prop fiction to design for embodied interactions.
Wearable computing and embodied interaction
- 1. Wearable computing and embodied interaction Frederick van Amstel @fredvanamstel Architecture and Design School - PUCPR www.fredvanamstel.com
- 2. Computers are making us sedentary.
- 3. In part, this is because computers are created to interact with the human mind, while ignoring the rest of the body.
- 4. There is an alternative to that called embodied interaction (Dourish, 2001). In this perspective, humans interact with the world through the active existence of their bodies in specific situations, shaped by place, social norms and context.
- 5. Embodied interaction is a lens to look and to guide the development of wearable computers (Van Dijk, 2018).
- 6. This is an abacus ring from ancient China (1616-1911 B.C.), a forerunner of wearable computing.
- 7. The Pulsar Calculator Watch was the first wearable that could calculate, yet not compute (1975).
- 8. Wearable computers became viable and useful in the 1990’s (MIT Borg Lab).
- 9. Steve Mann is a pioneer in this field. His Mindmesh (2012) tries to plug artificial senses to the brain.
- 10. The digital glasses developed and worn by Steve Mann (1999) inspired the Google Glass project (2012).
- 11. A McDonald manager once tried to take away Steve Mann’s glasses and was, of course, captured (2012).
- 12. Google Glass (2012-2015) failed to scale because it did not take the body seriously.
- 13. Apple Watch (2015) was quite successful in approaching the body as a source of behavioral and biometric data.
- 14. Apple also took into consideration that wearables, when displayed in public, are subject to fashion trends.
- 15. Fashion accessories are also status symbols.
- 16. A lot of people are not satisfied with their bodies and they are willing to use technology to change bodies.
- 17. The body has a biorhythm and a social rhythm which wearables must fit in (Lefebvre, 2004).
- 18. Apple Watch still has a lot to improve in this regard (Giovana Gamboa, 2018).
- 19. The Human Processor Model (Card, 1981) and its derived models do not help understanding the human body.
- 20. Cognitivist body • A mere physical support for the mind (Descartes) • A source of emotions that distract the mind (Hobbes) • A disgusting thing you cannot fully control Videodrome (1983)
- 21. Phenomenological body • A being that thinks through the whole body (Merleau-ponty) • A political subject (Foucault) • A producer of spatial relationships (Lefebvre) Existenz (1999)
- 22. Computers are altering the way we understand and interact with our world, much like cities did in the past.
- 23. Everyday activities are increasingly reliant on computers, however, computer ergonomics is quite bad.
- 24. We cannot express and share tacit knowledge properly with computers, like we do in an embodied world.
- 25. Most of the computer information is conveyed through sight, thus requiring a lot of attention.
- 26. The computer reduces the human body to a device with sight, hearing and touch (O’Sullivan and Igoe, 2004).
- 27. Even HCI often reduces the body to an abstract user with no history, no gender, no political views.
- 28. Embodied Wearable Computing • Computing power close to the body • Applications for specific situations • Interfaces that can be used with peripheral attention and senses other than sight • Personalized experiences
- 29. Quantified Self Movement: the right to collect, store and visualize personal data (Feltron Annual Report, 2014).
- 30. Reporter App: and app to register everything you do in the way you want.
- 31. Sleep trackers sometimes make sleep disorder worse by raising anxiety around the habit (Baron et al, 2017).
- 32. Wearables raise ethical questions (Kevin Cruz, Patricia Lupi e Walter Vianna, 2017).
- 33. The body may recognizes its conditioning and freedom through criticism (Gonzatto & Van Amstel, 2017).
- 34. Computer hood for people who cares about privacy (Joe Malia, 2004).
- 35. Embodied Suffering: to feel the anxiety of the other. (Fernando Obieta, Gabriel Bach, Nadine Prigann, 2017)
- 36. Sarotis: wearable soft robots to feel being in virtual spaces. (Maria Paneta, 2016)
- 37. Wearables can replace body functions and create human hybrids (Wearable Artificial Kidney, 2015).
- 38. In sum, interactions always starts from a human body and affects another human body (Hug Shirt, 2002).
- 39. Embodied interaction has the power to make visible these alterity relations (Intimacy 2.0, Studio Roosegaarde).
- 40. Designing for embodied interactions
- 41. Cognitivism reduces design activity to a mental problem-solving procedure.
- 42. Design activity has a long history of embodied interactions in studios (Bauhaus).
- 43. Theater turn any space into an embodied interaction design studio (Gonzatto & Van Amstel, 2017).
- 44. Warm-up exercises • Theater techniques for warming up the body: the poitier bear, human knots and make a bus with human bodies
- 45. Radical Bodystorming • Create an wearable device to assist people with these mental disorders: Amnesia, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Obsessive–compulsive disorder, Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, Hypochondriasis or Narcolepsy • Improvise and record the interactions afforded by the wearable using your bodies • Device's behavior should be represented by one or more bodies
- 46. Prop fiction • Replace device bodies for props • Create a stage with the available furniture • Record a video with a complete use scenario for the wearable device
- 47. Thank you! Frederick van Amstel @fredvanamstel Architecture and Design School - PUCPR www.fredvanamstel.com