IxD and Assistive Technology
After almost 3 years of research, I have finally completed the first observational study in the Interactive Multi-Sensory Environment (IMSE) I have constructed. I’ve settled on the IMSE nomenclature to differentiate the space from a history of passive Multi-Sensory Environments (MSEs), like the Snoezelen room. Without …
I had one of the greatest wins of my lifetime arrive this week in the form of a successful HREC application. Now that this giant hurdle is out of the way, I finally get to focus on putting together the observational studies that form the centrepiece of …
A sticking point for my PhD research thus far has been how to identify when children with ASD are expressing an intention through interaction with the environment that I have designed (if they are at all). An area that is proving useful for this problem is …
Recently, I was kindly asked to participate in the first UNSW Art & Design (previously known as COFA) in the new UNSW Galleries on campus. This student exhibition, titled Mighty Healthy, explores Design work that addresses health and therapeutic issues, and takes in a wide …
It’s a good time for me to do a quick technical update on the dome build, now that I have some (temporary) space to fully setup and test the structure. Finally, I’ve been able to layout all 15 lighting heads (RGB par 36’s) and connect them …
Throughout 2014 I will be carrying out the observational study side of my PhD research (finally, thank goodness). The first stage of this will be conducted inside an interactive dome tent, much like you’d see used for camping (the tent part, not the interactivity). Without …
As a part of the observational studies during my PhD, I will be filming participants interacting with the immersive space that I am now in the process of constructing. It is important that the children are able to feel comfortable to behave as they choose. …
Last month, Peter Wildman and I were involved with Electrofringe as a part of the This Is Not Art festival in Newcastle. It was a nice escape from teaching and PhD’ing, and a good opportunity to turn out a work quickly, rather than something that …
I was asked at the beginning of the year to curate a show at 107 Projects in Redfern. I knew that ISEA2013 was on the near horizon in Sydney (I’m speaking at the conference, and will bore you with those details separately) and thought it …
Bret Victor has become a little bit of a hero for me. Previously an interface designer at Apple, it seems that Victor was successful at the tech giant, but realised that his vision and theirs didn’t quite fit together and he left in 2010. He’s …
I have a sign placed prominently above my mailbox: “NO ADVERTISING MATERIAL PLEASE”. It’s regularly ignored, particularly by real estate agents and pizza shops. I decided that a public shaming would be the most effective means of ending the tyranny of wasteful advertising and obviously …
It’s been a while since I created anything tangible, so I was chuffed that the HAHA Industries guys asked me to come up with some visuals for their D&D’s Beat Ballroom night at the Sydney Fringe Festival this month. Given creative freedom, I thought it …
I’ve been playing with a few different methods of tracking over the past weeks. For now, this has mostly been using the screen coordinates of a mouse to indicate movement, but in time it will be camera tracking which is driving the system (probably via …
I bought myself a Kinect sensor this week; I haven’t had much chance to really experiment thus far in 2012, and thought this might be a good place to start. That, and the Kinect is one of the less invasive interactive tracking instruments I can …
Following on from my last post, I recreated a couple more of Josef Albers‘ colour plates from Interaction of Colour. The following Processing sketches give the illusion that they are made up of just two colours. Clicking either will show that the overlaid shapes are …
My research has lead me into the dangerous world of perception. So much of how we interpret the world is based on experience, language, culture, and so on – all very subjective words. If this is true, how would someone that cannot communicate through verbal …
Today I attempted an update to the twitterSpeak patch I created for MaxForLive a while back. Not entirely sure why I picked it up again, but Max is quite excellent at being a vortex that sucks in a good part of your day until you …
Some exciting news for those that came along to Share last year (and those that weren’t able to be there!): Share Sydney will be back in 2012, as an ongoing regular event at Serial Space in Chippendale. Starting in March, Share Sydney will be held …
