Interaction design for supporting communication between Chinese sojourners

In our global village, distance is not a barrier anymore for traveling. People experience new cultures and face accompanying difficulties in order to live anywhere. Social support can help these sojourners to cope with difficulties, such as culture shock. In this paper, we investigate how computer-mediated communication (CMC) tools can facilitate social support when living physically separated from loved-ones in different cultures. The goal is to understand the design considerations necessary to design new CMC tools. We studied communication practices of Chinese sojourners living in the Netherlands and the use of a technology probe with a novel video communication system. These results led to recommendations which can help designers to design interactive communication tools that facilitate communication across cultures. We conclude the paper with an interactive communication device called Circadian, which was designed based on these recommendations. We experienced the design recommendations to be abstract enough to leave space for creativity while providing a set of clear requirements which we used to base design decisions upon

Imagining the prototype

This article reports on the analysis of a design session, employing conversation analysis. In the design session three experts and a designer discuss a prototype of a shirt, which has been developed with the input from these experts. The analysis focuses on the type of involvement of the participants with the prototype and how they explicate the points they make in the discussion with or without making use of the prototype. Three techniques for explicating design issues that exploit the prototype are identified: a. gazing simultaneously with pointing, touching and/or manipulating (moving, stretching, turning) b. demonstrating by taking the prototype into use the way it is supposed to be used c. demonstrating by imitating the manipulation or use of the prototype through gesture - an 'imagined' dealing with the prototype. Based on the analysis, it is argued that these techniques offer different possibilities for discussing design issues

Device for sharing photographs in social settings

A device for sharing photographs in social settings is described. In an example, the device comprises a display surface which extends around a vertical axis of the device such that it provides a cumulative viewing angle of greater than 180.degree.. This enables viewers located all around the device to see images displayed. The display surface may be a continuous display or may be formed from multiple discrete displays. The images displayed comprise sets of related images which may, for example, be accessed from an online image store (such as a social networking site) or other storage device. In an example, sets of images may be displayed in the form of filmstrips, with each filmstrip comprising a set of related images associated with a different user. Where the device includes a user interaction element, detection of a user interaction changes the images that are displayed

Research through design : a way to drive innovative solutions in the field of smart textiles

Research through design allows creating a dialogue with the material. It uses making and reflection on action as a generator of knowledge. Our aim is to explore the opportunities and challenges of smart textiles. The Fablab is our set up, a place that allows us to combine the hacking- scientific-, and design community. It stimulates collaboration and the knowledge exchange needed for the development of smart textile systems. A collaborative prototyping workshop for medical products combined two worlds. The textile world in Saxion aims at incorporating conductive materials into textile structures and functional- / 3D printing to create systems for applications such as flexible heating systems and wearable technology. We combined this with the world of Industrial Design at TU/e, focused on the design of intelligent products, systems and services by the research through design approach. The collaboration between these different disciplines speeded up the process by reducing the resistance to the new and skipped the frustration on failure

On the use of movement-based interaction with smart textiles for emotion regulation

Abstract Research from psychology has suggested that body movement may directly activate emotional experiences. Movement-based emotion regulation is the most readily available but often underutilized strategy for emotion regulation. This research aims to investigate the emotional effects of movement-based interaction and its sensory feedback mechanisms. To this end, we developed a smart clothing prototype, E-motionWear, which reacts to four movements (elbow flexion/extension, shoulder flexion/extension, open and closed arms, neck flexion/extension), fabric-based detection sensors, and three-movement feedback mechanisms (audio, visual and vibrotactile). An experiment was conducted using a combined qualitative and quantitative approach to collect participants’ objective and subjective emotional feelings. Results indicate that there was no interaction effect between movement and feedback mechanism on the final emotional results. Participants preferred vibrotactile and audio feedback rather than visual feedback when performing these four kinds of upper body movements. Shoulder flexion/extension and open-closed arm movements were more effective for improving positive emotion than elbow flexion/extension movements. Participants thought that the E-motionWear prototype were comfortable to wear and brought them new emotional experiences. From these results, a set of guidelines were derived that can help frame the design and use of smart clothing to support users’ emotional regulation

Designing Smart Textile Services through value networks, team mental models and shared ownership

The goal of Smart Textile Services is to integrate existing knowledge from the separate domains of textile (soft materials), technology and services. As no single actor can meaningfully understand and realize the creation of Product Service Systems multiple actors need to team up with relevant partners. The contribution of this paper is to describe the initiation of a bottom-up approach aiming to co-design Smart Textile Services in collaboration with partners from the Dutch textile and technology industry, service providers, creative hubs and academic institutes. The concepts of value networks, team mental models and shared ownership are used to design and analyse two co-design workshops that took place within the consortium: a co-reflection and a co-creation workshop. We will use the same concepts to reflect on how a bottom-up approach can be used for designing Smart Textile Services, and how a designer can contribute to this process. Further, we will indicate how we are planning to pursue this bottom-up approach in future research

Day in the lab : wearable senses, Department of Industrial Design, TU Eindhoven

Wearable Senses (WS) focuses on designing close-to- the-body interactions, specifically designs that incorporate wearable computing or smart textiles. It is a community that feels like an emerging multidisciplinary culture, where practitioners from research, education, and industry help and challenge each other on a continual basis