Telepresence

How do we communicate a ‘thinking of you’ message to someone we care about while they are in a professional environment using ambient technology –you know no personal emails or phone calls , text messaging? Perhaps you could use something they might already have in an office or on desks like framed photos. But rather than being a paper photo behind glass, it would be digital. This would allow the image to be easily changed by the person in the photo or the person at the desk. Meaning, given the proper permissions –i.e. address, I could send a photo to my loved one –whether it’s taken from a digital camera or phone–to the picture frame on their desk. The frame would light up whenever a message arrived from that person, letting you know that they are thinking of you. Whenever, you have a moment, you can touch the frame which triggers the opening of the message, which could be handwritten or text message or a voice message.

The experience would work something like this. For example, you work for a large corporation. Your office is a gray cubicle. You have no windows and natural lighting, only fluorescent. In an attempt to personalize the space you have placed photos of the people you care about -family, friends- on your desk. Your company’s guidelines prevent you from receiving emails or personal calls during the work day. So most day when you need to think of your family, you stare at the picture, try to remember that moment and smile.  The Thinking of You digital frames would allow you and your loved ones to use ambient technology to communicate to each other. Whenever a loved one sends a message or ‘touch’ to you the frame around photo would glow. If there is a message, the clear plate or screen in front of the image would darken, temporarily dimming the image, like a screen saver. A “play message” button would appear at the bottom right image or frame. Throughout your workday, whenever you have a moment, you would press the ‘play message’ button and the message would be displayed on the image or frame. Once you’ve read the message, you would press a button to return the image and frame to it’s normal state - a simple picture in a frame. If you want, you could send a ‘touch’ or message to your loved one which would cause your photo to light up in their location.

This might also be a good thing for parents who are away from their child(ren) for extended periods; like, perhaps, for moms or dads on tours of duty. A means of personal, direct communication even when the sender/receiver have different schedules or are in different time zones.

Seanita

http://www.mindpowernews.com/DreamFactory.htm

Bus or train are the best places to be idle, especially if that’s my daily routine. I always wonder if I could take another route. And some times, I do so. But still limited within 2 or 3 regular ways to go to school, no matter whether in Beijing, or Bloomington, or new york, same feeling.

And riders are all using different ways to get themselves out of the regular experience and teleport themselves to either newspapers, or novels or their own mobile phone or ipod. They get immerged into their own personal ambient environment.

What if I could ride the bus that gives me the experience of riding the bus in different countries? Like riding their city’s bus? e.g. listening to the sound of that route in that city based on my route, say, similar type of cities or environment.

The good thing is some of the buses are wifi enabled. So my idea is:To get on the bus, you can listen to the streaming, the sound of tokyo, or hong kong while passing the times square in new york since those are physically similar places. That’s the automatical mode.You can also select which country you want to be in.

The experience is alive and always recorded and updated by riders, when people listens to the sound on the bus, they automatically record their environment and send to the server for others to select. So you, as the rider can experience different places on the same bus route.

meng

While I live outside of my country, I felt being isolated from my family. Korean society has quiet strong family culture as well as most Asian countries. Although it is slightly changing recently, the family is the nucleus of the community in Korea. My parents are living in Busan, one of districts in Korea, and my older brother lives in Seoul. As usual parents in Korea, my mother always calls and ask daily life to brother and me.There is a wind-bell called “Pung-Kyung” in Korean temples.

It makes clear sounds in the wind and its original function is helping religious purification to monks in a calm temple. The reason of fish-shaped metal is because fishes never close its eyes while they sleep.I would like to use this as a metaphor to connect family members. Make 3 sets of this and hang them on the ceiling of each room in Busan, Seoul and New York. 

     When a person comes into the room, its infrared senor detects people and reacts with blinking LED. Also, there is motor inside of the bell moving in accordance with microphone of other member’s bell through the Internet.So, the other family members are able to know whether a person is come at home or out. User also can convey breath or wind to other members’ home by blow wind to microphone inside of the bell.I may need to concrete this idea more accurately though, I would be happy when I can see my family member’s bell has been turned on when I get back to my empty room.    

Jaeyoon. 

Doggy phone is my suggestion, originated from telepresence for dogs, this is not for people. I had a dog and have some experiences with her. My dog was really dependant and feels lonely easily. While we were outside, she really felt sad and really nervous. Even my mother went on shopping, she yowled sometimes. Generally, dogs are really dependant, I guess. Therefore, I would like to build some technology products which help dogs reduce their loneliness.

This product work depends on the distance between people and dog. This product has GPS system and sounds our voice, if we are specific range, and the volume of the sound is bigger and bigger, when we are close to the home. I don’t know which way is the best for dogs to recognize presence of people. Should it be our image, smell or sound? At least they might feel safe while they are hearing our voice. Off course, we can make a phone call to this product. Most of products expand our function basically, however technology also expands function of animals probably.

Noriaki Okada

In this week’s reading, the authors address an issue which I have personally experienced. In the “Motion” section, they describe the following:

In face-to-face conversations, [there] are utterances or gestures by which a listener lets speakers know how they are coming across: sounds like “uh-huh” or ” um,” a nod of agreement or a knowing smile. Back channel responses are extremely useful, and they are precisely timed. Without them, frustrations may build, all because of an unreality imposed by technology, an unreality that is taken as socially significant by the people experiencing it. All timing problems are aggravated by the fact that people often are unaware that they occur.” (216)

Although the authors are not relating this section to telephone conversations, I find the idea extremely applicable for cell phones.

We all have used phones and found ourselves (unknowingly) having one-sided conversations. Either the call has been disconnected or it is temporarily inaudible. But in both situations, only one user is made aware of this circumstance. The other user simply keeps talking.

An idea I have been thinking about is a signaling feature on a cellular call. The idea is that a user can be notified when the other cannot hear them for whatever reason. One way to implement this would be to display the other caller’s cell signal status on your display. If at any time you think the person might not hear you, you can see how strong their signal is. Another, somewhat simpler, method would be to play a tone whenever the other does not have a strong signal. But I have no idea if this idea is really feasible.

It also might be interesting to share other ambient data to the other person. Location, is an obvious choice, but also weather, speed, proximity to others.

All of this information would hopefully create a back channel and allow technology to improve conversations rather than take away from them.

marc

I don’t want to be fooled into thinking you are here, to be satisfied by some flat technologically-mediated interaction when it can’t replace seeing you, being in the same room with you. I want your presence to be transformed by the distance between us. I don’t want to gloss over the strangeness and unease of separation. When we’re apart, words– spoken into a phone receiver or, more often, typed onto a screen– are our primary mode of communication, our only currency. But l want to know how you’re feeling throughout your day, without stopping to check my email or read a text message from you, without having to decode your words– I just want to know.

AbsenceAnemone is a non-anthropomorphic networked object, most resembling Sci-Fi alien flora or a translucent, glowing anemone dredged from the deep sea. It’s a signaling device that uses movement, LED lights, and subtle sound to express the emotional state of an absent friend. Code associated with the object collects data from the absent friend’s email messages, blog sites, text messages, etc. Data is analyzed for cues about the absent friend’s emotional state, and the result is sent to the Anemone, which:

flickers, glows, fades, flashes, or changes hue;
shivers, wilts, freezes, or waves its tentacles;
sighs, hums, gurgles, clicks, purrs, or shrieks.

(zannah)

This wearable ambient device will provide perspective into the geographic distance separating two individuals. Each participating user will wear a device fitted with a gps receiver and a small color screen. The GPS receiver will be used to determine the degree of spatial separation between the individuals. The scale of separating distance will be customizable making this device usable for people in varying situations where separating distances differ (ex same city vs different country). The distance between the two individuals will be visualized by a color gradient that will be displayed on the small screen. The closer the two individuals travel towards each other, the warmer the colors will become. Similarly, the farther that two individuals will travel from each other, the colder the colors will become (example color gradient: warm colors: red, cold colors: blue).

In a situation where two individuals are in not in the same local environment, variation in the distance algorithm can be made. For example, each unit can calculate its distance from a known set point in each individual geographic area. The following user scenario will attempt to clarify this explanation.

Sam and Jo live on opposite coasts of the country as they pursue their individual educational pursuits. Both are very busy and are often on the move through their distinct urban environments. Regardless, they both have certain locations within their respective cities where they spend the most amount of their time. For Sam, these locations include a personal apartment, the school library, and a coffee shop not far from school. Sam sets these points on her device as “home” locations. Jo on the other hand lives right downtown so he is either out of the house, or at home. Due to this, he only sets his apartment as a “home” location on his device. As both Sam and Jo move through their city’s on a given day, they will be better equipped to understand the setting in which their connected partner is in.

Sam, upon seeing her device glowing a deep blue color will understand that Jo is not at home, and is probably immersed within his daily activities. Throughout the day Jo will watch his device frequently change from a deep blue to a warm red as Sam moves from the library to her favorite coffee shop numerous times a day before eventually traveling back to her apartment (gradually fading to a warm red). Both Sam and Jo, although at opposite ends of the country can better understand where there friend is from a geographic perspective. By setting numerous locations, one can relay to the other individual when they are in a comfortable place where a phone call might be suitable, or where one might be in a more relaxed state of mind.

ameya

A videoconference is good way of meeting with people to get things done—the participants get more.  They get facial expressions, gestures, and movements—all of the visual indicators as well as the voices of the people with whom they are interacting. All are important for facilitating a transaction or something otherwise businesslike. A videoconference is a very literal mediation of presence that attempts to eliminate ambiguity.  But perhaps there is poetry in less—a voice on a cell phone makes us imagine more—makes us fill in the gaps of our experience of that person.  In this case less might be more.  A videoconference leaves little to be expanded upon—it simply is.  A fragment—a voice and nothing more—a picture, a footprint is the impetus for a sketch that our minds expand—it becomes relevant to ourselves because we have participated in creating the meaning that surrounds it.  This is why ambient Telepresence may capture more of the poetry of life—may allow people to connect in ways that are more meaningful through their incompleteness.  In hearing my mother’s voice on the phone her presence is created as much by my imagination as the actuality of her voice—I think of her in the warmest light possible—in a light which probably always transcends the actual circumstances of her call—where she is, what she is doing at that moment—factors immaterial to the quality of our conversation except when the might be forced upon it by too much information.

Plant Presence:

I think a lot abut ways of cultivating and articulating long distance relationships through physical objects. Plant presence is a way of creating a connection between friends or family via a plant that is nurtured (watered) by the actions of another person.   For example, my mother would have a plant in her house in New Mexico that depended on my actions in New York:  every time I performed a specific action (like pushing a button or opening my front door) the plant in her house would such the plant would receive water which would allow it to flourish.  The plant becomes a living affirmation of my presence in New York and adds meaning to an action that brings my mother’s presence to mind every time I perform it.

Kacie Kinzer

the persistent question of the day (or at least of the early evening) at our place is usually something along the lines of “when is daddy coming home?” to this point, “wayward soles,” will give an (appropriately toddler-like) environmental clue as to when i’ll be arriving.

there are two different physical computing paths which the project could end up taking, but in either case the basic idea is this:

a signal that i’m constantly broadcasting - once i emerge from the subway or get close enough on my bike - will be received by a device at home. the information, an indication of my physical location, will then be passed to a physical component - a pair of shoes which are placed in the living room, and which begin to walk in place, getting faster and faster as i get closer and closer to walking in the door.
[disclaimer: this may, however, have no need for client/server relationships]

daniel

The colors can represent my feeling. How you choose your clothes can show what mood you are in the day. If I make the small lighting device has 2 RGB leds in it, and I can choose the color as I feel. The other one is in other place and my family member or my friend can choose the color as they feel too. If we choose different color the color would be mixed and become the one that I or they wasn’t expecting. Those differen’t colors will make users think about each other and cause the next actions(maybe calling or writing).

The fun part is when they choose the same color. It might make people feel more connected. Either way they are going to spend more time caring about others besides just stressed about their lives. Even though they wouldn’t feel the physical presence of their loved ones, the time they spent for each other will have those lonely people feel they are on the same page.

Our experience of presence is many times more related to the absence. The emptiness recalls the physicality, and one can not be without other. Presence extends further from our body. It’s what we write and where, the food remaining on the plate after lunch, and the mess in the room and the clothes left in the wardrobe.

Ambient is related to the environment. How we configure our surroundings tells a lot about ourselves. The choices we made and our everyday customs will leave a trace that will recall our presence when we are no more there.

The mess tracker is a double installation related to all these topics I mentioned above. Basically it keeps a record of the underwear we leave on the floor of our bedroom and transmits this information to another room in a different place, projecting rays of light to the same positions the clothes are.

Underwear seems a practical choice related to the easy tracking of the white color (which would be a first condition of the piece to work). However this election responds to the necessity of detecting something intimate and at the same time kind of ”dirty” in some way. These generates a contradictory relation with the piece, which transforms something negative (mess) in something positive (light) while it establishes at the same time a relation of sousveillance under which one person’s intimate customs are watched by other.

Rodrigo

Video chat is great, but maybe I don’t want to see your face. Or more likely, I don’t want you to see me sitting at my computer in my underwear. A less intrusive channel of communication, like IM, is often desirable but we lose several modes of expression when we only communicate with text. Could a greater sense of presence be transmitted through our most common computer interfaces (keyboard, mouse)? Many of us chat with IM, but using CAPS and emoticons to communicate, lack a level of fidelity to properly transmit a range of emotions. Without any training or instruction, we already convey a large set of emotions towards our devices to express ourselves. We often express our feelings to devices closes to us. We slap our TV, pet our computer, and slam our mouse with frustration, yet these common expressions are ignored. What if we could open a channel of communication for your mouse? What if your mouse gestures could transmit your feelings across to your friend?

TeleCursing is a chat plugin that takes your mouse cursor and simply places it on your friend’s screen. A thin line is drawn on the screen connecting the mouse cursors within proximity. With the cursors on the screen, you can flirt, scribble with frustration, hold hands, play tag, or just know when your friend is active on the other end. The cursor could be customize to be shown in a less distracting translucent cursor or in a more lively avatar-like way with animations based on mouse vector, proximity and clicks.

Other multimouse hacks: DualOsx v.1(hoax?), MPX: The Multi-Pointer X Server

Che-Wei

Earwig is a piece of ambient telepresence. The technology consists of a pair of very low profile headsets. At potentially random times, the units transmit glimpses of the wearer’s aural environment and vocal activity to the ear of the other wearer. The wearer’s have no say in when and what is transmitted. The result could potentially be whispers in the ear, snippets of the other’s world or broken conversations with no context. The effect could be haunting, cinematic, comforting, or possibly just confusing. The experience would be very different depending on the wearers’ relationship with one another. Lovers may find that little snippets make them feel connected and bring a feeling of ambient presence while strangers might find it disorienting, haunting, and cryptic.

Rory Nugent

Do you have your loved one away? Are you bored of his business trips? Are you most often sleeping alone in your king size bed?

PillowSolus is your companion in your bed, giving you the real time presence of your partner right next to you! The pillow, which your loved one uses when he/she is away, transmits the owners head position to the pillow next to you, which shapes itself as if your partner is sleeping right next to you! You will see his/her sleeping, waking up, turns in the bed, stress, and maybe even sweat! (Simply, one pillow is transmitting the position of the head, and the other is taking the shape as if it has the head in the same position)

Sinan

Is less more? Are you more “there” in a telephone conversation or a video conference?

I would like to build a pair of sensors, one placed at the threshold to the kitchen in my home, one at the threshold of the kitchen in my mother’s home. Crossing the threshold in one place would cause the sound of footsteps to sound in the other place.

Ideally I would use vibration sensors on the floor and then a motor to recreate the footsteps.   For an initial prototype I will use an ir sensor and a vibrating motor for the footsteps.  This should stand alone but for now I will send the signal via bluetooth to my desktop computer.

Continuous Partial Attention

Examples

Networked Objects