Health Essays’ Time, Topic, Tone

Essays give students a hard time every time it ricochets to this set of elements – time, topic, and tone. Students may do a lot of research and analysis; however, these efforts are made in vain when they do not have enough time, accurate information about and to build the topic, or utilise the accepted [...] [...]

Embodiment. What can we measure? And should we?

[ June 18, 2012; 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm. ] Session led by Linda Stone, Fred Muench, and Steve Dean. How can we measure embodiment, sensing and feeling in a way that is reliable? Can self-reporting help us or do we only rely on quantifiable biometrics like EEG, PET, GSR, HRV and others? Can we use collateral reports from friends and family to let us know [...] [...]

How Cybernetics Helps Us Design

[ June 20, 2012; 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm. ] Sorry folks, something came up and I’ll have to try and reschedule. Lots of good stuff at 6 otherwise: Dave Miller’s session and others. How do we express the interior workings of our body, our exterior behaviors and the behavior of things? Cybernetics provides a powerful framework to abstract complex systems into diagrammatic structures. We’ll cover [...] [...]

Designing for Behavior Change

[ June 12, 2012; 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm. ] When we create a product, a service, or a feature of a product or service, we are essentially trying to get people “to do” something.  I’ll teach you practical skills that you can use immediately and also prepare you to teach others what works when it comes to designing for a behavior to occur. We’ll explore [...] [...]

Tech, health and happiness

[ June 12, 2012; 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm. ] Technology has made our lives easier and more fun — when is it going to start making us healthier? Typing gives you carpal tunnel syndrome, wifi causes headaches and cancer, cellphones fragment our attention, and through social media we unlearn how to have a conversation. What can we, as makers, do to minimize our contribution to these [...] [...]