IxD and Assistive Technology
By most reports, 2011 was madness: there were more violent revolutions and celebrity terrorist deaths than ever before; the Earth made many attempts to rid itself of us through fire, flood and famine (usually in successive weeks); the US realised that Apple was making more …
I’m starting my PhD at COFA in 2012. For the last couple of years of my undergraduate degree (Digital Media), coding has been a building block of just about everything I do. Having said that, I don’t see myself as a programmer, not even as …
Curiously, the short thesis required for BDM Honours at COFA is due a full 6 weeks before the physical work that it is partly documenting. I’ll save my thoughts on why that doesn’t make sense for another time. For now, my paper is finished and …
Next month I’ll be presenting my Honours thesis at two separate conferences. First of all in Newcastle at Critical Animals (part of the TINA festival) and then a few weeks later for what will be maiden voyage to Perth for the Curtin University Humanities Graduate …
The second iteration of interactive device is now in the participants’ home. Based on the feedback I received from Device 1, the next step is to explore more specifically what it is about tactility and vibration that the child finds appealing. To do this, I …
I’ve started a great many blog posts with the words “it’s been a while since I last posted…”, but once again those time honoured words come to mind. It’s crunch time for the Honours year, with our thesis due in just a handful of weeks …
A couple of updates as I head into the final session of my Honours year: The first iteration of the interactive device is up and running, and I’m now preparing to deploy it in the participants home. I’ve probably written enough on the electronics process already, …
There’s been quite a lot going on during the uni break, so I thought an update might be in order. Particularly so I could publicly thank the Sydney chapter of The Awesome Foundation for giving me a massive helping hand, by way of a $1000 …
I’ll keep this brief, because I feel as though I’ve gone well and truly into marketing mode and the Bill Hicks in me is starting to unleash some self-loathing. In spite of that, I would like to cordially invite you to our first effort at …
Just a quick wrap-up before I disappear into the darkness of the month or so of mid-year break (which means I’ll actually have a chance to get some work done and hopefully come out the other side with an up and running prototype)… First up, …
A big couple of weeks just jetted by. Assignments coming out my ears and scrambling to now get this project underway. Yep, I’ve finally met with my little participant (she’s just 2 years old) and so now the real (as in ‘physical’) work begins. I …
I’ve spent most of the past week trying to brainstorm entirely hypothetical interactive devices. By this stage, I was hoping to know which children I would be working with – and therefore, what sensory issues I would be focusing on. Unfortunately, due to circumstances out …
There have been precious few blog posts from me of late which have been a good, solid rant. Let’s be honest: why does one start a blog, if not to air their overblown opinions? Thank goodness there are still ballbags on the interwebs, helping to …
Week 06 marks the quarter-mark for this year, which frankly, is damn frightening. It’s also the point at which everyone starts to prioritise each and every assignment (letting the less important ones slide), which is why I’ve combined 2 weeks of posts here. There are …
So I finally dipped my toe into some ‘real’ output in the last few days. If the virtual can be considered real. I picked up my first Android phone earlier this year: a Sony Ericsson X10. Certainly not the speediest unit around, but it was …
I’m now traversing the prickly world of research ethics. I won’t make this a post complaining about bureaucracy though. Working with an at-risk group such as autistic children, it’s important to take their involvement with the project very seriously. To apply for research approval from …
Unlike the undergraduate sessions of my degree, the structure of Honours centers around a single project. There are classes that will focus purely on the construction of this project (Honours Studio class), and others which directly or indirectly help to build my academic research ability, …
Just a week until I begin my Honours work and final year of uni (at least for quite a while). But the planning process has been underway for some time… At its core, my Honours project for 2011 will look at children with sensory disabilities, …
2011 got a bit of a start on me. Not wanting the year to get all showy about it’s freshness, I decided that a new-year-blog-facelift was in order. 2010 marked the end of my undergraduate degree (though technically the forthcoming Honours is an extension of that) …
End of an era. Last Digital Theory & Aesthetics assessment, last assessment for the semester and the last essay I’ll do as an undergraduate. It’s a shame the word limit was so small, I could’ve ranted for pages. Maybe not worthy rant, but extensive nonetheless. …