What do we miss by ignoring the factthat public toilets are also the site for a variety of socialpractices?’A Public Inconvenience’ will explore the experience and affect ofpublic toilets in an urban environment, in this case Amsterdam.Through observation and engagement we will consider how public toiletsare shaped by, and themselves shape, cultural practices, values, andattitudes…. That is, the placesand times that are often on the periphery of everyday life – thejourney to work or the time spent queuing in a shop.To be considered for participation, researchers and practitioners areinvited to send us a compelling public toilet story (see The Storiessection of the website for inspiration), an optional toiletphotograph, a brief biography, and a short rationale outlining yourinterest in the workshop.
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…at least, my favorite examples of physical computing.Durrell Bishop’s Marble Answering Machine – A really nice example of using tangible elements not only as memory tokens, but as physical interface…. This one comes from a link on Sriam Subramaniam’s homepage, but I think they may have gotten it from Rachel Abrams’ paper.Toshio Iwai’sPiano – As Image Media – The interaction is quite simple, and even traditional, in computer interface terms (a trackball), but the effect is beautiful.Tad Hirsch’s TripWire – I love the fact that it’s relevant to the city it was designed for, and attempts to address real political issues in that town with just the right level of seriousness and humor.Maywa Denki’s BitMan – The behavior seems entirely natural when you play with it, as the little man moves from one side to the next as you rotate the object.
Comments closedIt talks in response to email messages, it wiggles its ears, and it lights up…. The nifty thing: they’re a product, and they’re less than $100.
Comments closedUbisense makes a real time locating system (RTLS) that can locate objects with 15cm accuracy in 3 dimensions. To do this, they attach a tag to each object that has a built-in radio, and a series of radio receivers around the space that they’re tracking in. The receivers receive signals from the tags, and triangulate their location based on readio signal strength.
One Commentwas a one-night event staged by Eric Paulos (Intel Research, Anthony Burke (UC Berkeley), and David Ross (UC Berkeley). It was a party at which all the partygoers wore RFID tags.
Comments closedThere’s a new report out from the Social Science Research Council’s Information Technology and International Cooperation program, “Civil Technologies: The Values of Nonprofit ICT Use,” by Ken Jordan and Mark Surman with funding from the Ford Foundation. This report is the last in a series of three major reports on the Internet, governance and civil society that were published by the ITIC program.
Leave a CommentThe public air quality indicator is a public display that indicates the quality of the air in a city. It’s highly localized, and a good example of an ambient display that has some practical use. The details of its construction are online and openly available as well
Comments closedRuth Ron has done a number of interactive installations bridging telecommunications technologies and architecture, many of which are focused on dematerializing architectural structures — walls into windows, windows into views into remote spaces, and more.
Leave a CommentSajjadah 1426 is a prayer rug woven with electroluminescent wire that increases its brightness as it’s pointed more toward Mecca. A compass module built into the rug senses the orientation and changes the brightness of the EL wires.
Leave a CommentElliott Malkin has done an interesting project on Eruvim in Manhattan.
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