Making Things Public

Creole technologies and global histories: rethinking how things travel in space and time

Human traces in domestic spaces

What Your Phone Knows About You

Blogjects discussions

Making bridges talk (a practical approach to using a simple social network platform like Twitter to let things talk)

For those working with space, neighbourhoods, publics:

The social life of small urban spaces

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For Alice
Case of RFID used as a universal payment (within a closed system)
Also look at U-City

For Kyrre
Smart touch catering service for elderly
Lots of accessible NFC applications

For Knut
Some research on the body as interface
Tangible Interactions Design, space and place

For Fan Fan
Previous project on visualisation and ‘decoration’ with radio waves
Tic tac textiles: ideas for interaction in interior spaces

For Natacha:
Manual of signage design
Giulia’s project on locating everyday objects
Loc8tor

For Marianne
The age of point at things
RFID and the social life of objects
The social life of objects
The RFID Ecosystem project

For Bo
Treat your sick doll with RFID
Little Tikes RFID kitchen

For playful RFID
Hyperscan
Probably the first use of RFID in toys (the Star Wars Commtech range)
The coming age of magic

For transactions and infrastructure in public space
Touch and travel (interesting because the infrastructure is rolled out using simple (and probably cheap) interfaces that are glass and RFID tags. More here and here.
Aneace’s blog, he’s an expert in transactions
Touchable services task

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See also Christer’s links pulled from the second half of the lecture.

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1. The landscape of tangible interaction

This week we will look at the history of design and technology with a focus on ubiquitous and tangible research, products and services. The course literature provides you with a comprehensive overview of some of the history and contemporary practice of interaction design. We expect you to reflect on the general themes contained in this literature.

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2. A simple RFID interface

This week we will build a simple RFID application. We want you to explore three aspects of RFID interactions:

* the form of the tags
* the form of the reader
* the interaction feedback

We want you to explore the possibilities for physical tags in terms of material, shape, colour, weight, etc. and how this relates to a reader and screen-based interface.

The focus of this excersise is to explore the mapping between physical objects, readers and feedback (on screen and with sound). You must avoid designing a complex service and instead work with simple and satisfying experiences with one-to-one mappings. Consider colour, time, sound, weight, iconography, character as starting points for simple relationships.

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3. The conscientious consumer

What kinds of mobile services could be developed to support conscientious behaviour in shopping? RFID and barcodes can easily connect mobile phones with products and shop displays, so how should services be created around this interaction?

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4. Interactions of transactions

This week we want you to re-design the ticketing system for the Oslo sporveien considering the use of RFID cards.

* Study the existing Oslo ticketing systems and interfaces in context. Document the interactions at the buses, trams, T-bane and Oslo S.

* Re-design one of these interfaces to include the use of RFID tickets: how do people buy, top-up, manage, visualise and cancel the various options in the system? What kinds of structure and visual language are required to create satisfying experiences?

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Most of the content below is available online, at least in the form of important sample chapters.

History & background

Some selected perspectives on technology from history. Here we see some evidence of the eternal ‘proximate future’ in both the foundation of electricity and of ubiquitous computing. We also question the development and sustainability of contemporary ubiquitous information infrastructures.

Wonders of the Future by Nikola Tesla (full text online)
Tales of tomorrow (from the Acme Novelty Library) by Chris Ware (sample images online)
The computer for the 21st century by Mark Weiser (full text online)
In the Bubble by John Thackara (sample pdf chapter online)

Ubiquitous computing

Contemporary perspectives on ubiquitous computing (ubicomp) as an area of research and development. Here we see critical perspectives of the field from architecture and interaction design, and some observations on the nature of ubiquitous computing in practice.

Digital Ground by Malcolm McCullough (sample pdf chapter online)
Everyware by Adam Greenfield (introduction pdf online).
Yesterday’s tomorrows: Questioning Ubicomp’s dominant vision by Bell & Dourish (pdf online)
Getting out of the City: Meaning and structure in Everyday Encounters with Space by Bell & Dourish (pdf online)

Tangible, social and embodied interaction

A brief history of interaction with computers including the development of the original mouse. An example of the design of tangible interfaces, including the creation of interaction models, and a simple manifesto for curious, playful interfaces.

Where the action is: the foundations of embodied interaction by Paul Dourish (sample pdf chapter online)
Designing Interactions by Bill Moggridge (chapter 1 – the mouse and the desktop + video)
Emerging frameworks for tangible user interfaces by Ullmer & Ishii (pdf online)
The Curious Interface: A Design Manifesto in Favor of Play by Jane McGonigal (pdf online)

Products, services and artefacts

Contemporary products are increasingly computational, interactive and social. We start with a strong vision of a sustainable future of things, then we explore how the internet and products are influencing each other including social software, service design and mobile devices.

Shaping things by Bruce Sterling (sample pdf chapters online)
3C products, The life of products and Experience hooks by Matt Webb (weblog posts)
On the Ground Running by Adam Greenfield (weblog post)
Mobile essentials by Jan Chipchase et al (paper and weblog post)
What makes a good social object? and Why some social network services work and others don’t by Jyri Engestrom (weblog posts)

Method

Introducing a wide range of methods for interaction design and interactive products. We look at the role of qualitative research in design processes, developing fictional products, using cultural probes, ‘hackability’ and the ethnographic study of mobile objects.

Design Research by Brenda Laurel (introductions to qualitative and quantitative methods)
The importance of fictional products by Allan Chochinov (article online)
Cultural probes and the value of uncertainty by Bill Gaver et al (pdf online)
Portable Objects in Three Global Cities: The Personalization of Urban Places by Mizuko Ito et al (pdf online)
Design for Hackability by Anne Galloway et al (pdf online)
Don’t design for ‘mobile’ – design for mobility by Adaptive Path (weblog post)
Making Things Talk by Tom Igoe (entire book)

Further reading

In addition to the material above we also include The Invisible Computer, The Design of Everyday Things, RFID Applications, Security, and Privacy and Spychips as important background reading.

See also more RFID books, weblogs and resources at the Touch weblog.

Online

See the list of weblogs and interviews.

“When developing a games console, a human-machine interface isn’t just a necessity, it’s an intrinsic part of the whole process. So, a number of years ago I created somewhere between ten and twenty teams, each consisting of around three people. These teams were given free rein to couple a dedicated controller or peripheral with a GameCube title, and then see whether or not the end result was marketable.”

Matt Webb on making things and why innovation is hard

“When we engage directly with the material – whether that’s plastic or code – we test the grain of the object. We see that wooden buttons don’t want to be pressed, and we’ll need a different operating mechanism. When a material thing sits in our sweaty palm, or on our cluttered desk, we test the grain of the world.”

The making of the iPhone

“It may appear that the carriers’ nightmares have been realized, that the iPhone has given all the power to consumers, developers, and manufacturers, while turning wireless networks into dumb pipes. But by fostering more innovation, carriers’ networks could get more valuable, not less. Consumers will spend more time on devices, and thus on networks, racking up bigger bills and generating more revenue for everyone.”