IxD and Assistive Technology
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 …
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 …
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 …
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, …
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 …
So a brief update on some testing I’ve been up to… first of all the Processing Android (now in official release – get it) questionnaire, which will provide parents involved in the study with a simple means to giving me feedback. Simplicity is something I …
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 …
In an attempt to appease my time management and your sanity, I’ll endeavour to make this fast… This week I began work proper on what will possibly become the ‘core’ of the interactive devices I create this year. After getting some really helpful information about …
This will be the last uni-related post of the year (for my undergraduate degree anyway), but not the last update for this project. The interactive table will be exhibited as part of the COFA exhibition, The Annual, at CarriageWorks next month and needs a few …
Now that I’m on break from uni (at least in the sense of official classes), I’ve had a chance to sit down with my Ardunio, a new soldering iron and the unbuilt Danger Shield. Aside from some basic cable-fixing during a previous life as a …
It’s finally happened: I’ve taken the first steps into the world of microcontrollers, by buying an Arduino Starter Kit. It’s fair to say I’m stupidly excited. As much fun as it is wielding around Wii remotes and playing with PS3 cameras, you get a sense …