May 10 & 11 5pm-9pm
Spring Show 2005
721 Broadway
at Waverly Place
4th Floor
South Elevators
New York, NY 10003
For additional
information email
itp.inquiries@nyu.edu
or call 212.998.1880
| Web are you? - Networked emoticon device | ||
|---|---|---|
| Author(s): | Mauricio Melo |  |
| Instructor: | Igoe, Tom Menderson, Peter |
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| Class: | Networked Objects Materials and Building Strategies |
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| URL: | http://www.mauriciomelo.com/contents/interact05.htm | |
| Documents: | Networked Emoticon(JPEG) | |
| Keywords: | networked objects, emoticon, mood device, interactive communication, smiley icons | |
| Networked emoticon physical device. You connect to it through the Internet or a cell phone, submit your mood state, and let your other significant at home know if something at work or at school has made you happy, sad, so-so, or upset. | ||
| Ideally there are two devices even though one device can work fine. You set one up at home somewhere where it can be seen by any of your family members and plug it to your home network. Set the other one at your office location and plug it to your office LAN. At any given time during the day, press one of the icons and your home device will reflect your current mood state sharing it with your other significant or a family member. If there is only one home device, it can be accessed through a regular webpage or cell phone. | ||
| Personal Statement: | On a personal note, the nice thing about this project is the fact that it was born out of a personal necessity to communicate with my partner. | |
| Background: | Some times you would like to know how your partner is doing during the day and vice versa, especially if you spend most of your day out at work or school. The main idea is to use a communication channel that doesn\'t require an immediate response from the other part. In no way it has to be a synchronous or real-time type of communication and it\'s not conceived as a vehicle for critical or emergency messages where phones or email should take over. It\'s more of a company or presence; communication is there but in a very subtle way. It\'s a reminder once in a while during the day of each other\'s delayed mood state. Like a snapshot that shows a smiling family member even though that state might not have an up-to-the-last-second update but obviously not as static. | |
| Audience: | Anyone that has someone closely related and to whom would like to express different mood states during the day.
Typically, your other significant which does not exclude family members. For show purposes, anybody can try it and see how it works. | |
| User Scenario: | If there is only one device, the user logs onto a web page, and from there picks the mood icon to send to the physical device.
If there are two devices user A activates remote device by activating switches on his local device. On the other end user B can perform the same tasks. | |
| Technical System Description: | The devices are connected to the Internet through an Xport controlled by a Microchip that handles the basic communications. A series of switches reciprocally activate four LEDs that light the transparent emoticons. Either device is accessible on the web through its proprietary IP address meaning it could also be reached from a web page or through a cell phone. These options are still under development though. | |
| Conclusions: | This is a very personal type of communication, so it\'s hard to know if it would appeal to a broader type of user.
Although the concept is somewhat playful and is at its first stage, the best way to find it\'s weaknesses and strengths, is to make it work and actually test it for a reasonable period of time. It\'s a nice little object to be accompanied by. | |