Using the Domestic Probes returns as a catalyst for developing design proposals the RCA developed a number of workbooks of scenarios, proposals and issues. Ideas for proposals came in a number of ways, for example by abstracting probe returns, by building semi-fictional narratives and by developing extreme characters to create designs for. Ideas covered issues ranging from 'smart appliances' that would automatically update their own software, to sensor-based systems for diagnosing the homes' emotional and spiritual well-being, to devices that would allow new engagement with pets and plants within the home.
Several of the proposals took a fresh look at 'smart products.' Perhaps products could take charge of updating themselves with the latest software. Or perhaps, if they could track how they are used, products might periodically advertise themselves to neglectful owners.
A number of the proposals featured weight as a way of indicating activity in the home. This struck a chord with the computer scientists in Lancaster. They had conducted a survey of research into smart environments (available at www.equator.ac.uk/domus/lancs), and had found that the research community tends to consider only location sensing and computer vision as means of tracking activity in these settings. Both are intrusive technologies. Could something less invasive, but equally powerful, be made of the seemingly limited measurement of load? By building an experimental environment with load-sensitive floors, tables and shelves, the computer scientists demonstrated that they could use load not only to identify people and objects, but also to model activities on and across these surfaces.
The use of load sensing to sense activities on surfaces resonated with ethnographic studies identifying distinct types of surface that routinely play a role in the sequences of action that make up domestic routines. The ethnographers have been studying the relationship between such routines and mundane technologies in the home, and they perceived an exciting opportunity to combine the two through the development of a range of distributed surfaces which are themselves pieces of domestic technology. Designers at the RCA were also inspired by the Lancaster weight surface work. They started to think about surfaces that sense objects via shifts in their weight as a starting point for design. This lead to the development of weight furniture prototypes that could be tried out by volunteers. |
