For people with chronic medical conditions, The information on medical ID jewelry could save their life. Currently, medical ID tags carry a few short, concise, pieces of information: patient name, condition (e.g. \”epilepsy,\” ), and sometimes, an emergency contact. Only so much analog information can fit on the bracelet. In an emergency, getting throrough and accurate medical information in a timely fashion can be difficult. I am embedding a digital tag (RFID) into the medical ID tag. When the tag is read, the bracelet links you to online medical history and automatically calls the patient\’s emergency contact. It would inform them of the your location, that you are seeking medical treatment, and that you records have been accessed.

There has been some patient resistance to wearing an ID alert bracelet because they find it ugly, or they don\’t want to be prominiently labeled by their condition. The challenge is to make the piece attractive, and easily recognizable to medical personnel.

This prototype is made of laser cut leather and rubber, and an RFID tag.

What happens when users look under the hood of the technologies that surround them and get their hands dirty with hardware and electronics?

This research project investigates the possible impact of the democratization of technical knowledge on the fields of consumer electronics. What kind of new approaches, products and models could emerge from a wide-spread movement of more and more people doing-it-themselves? What would be the consequences to the world of design and interactive creation?
In an attempt to contribute to the raise of overall electronic literacy amongst non-technical people, the series of objects I made (ranging from music player to USB charger) explores and refines a methodology of electronic crafts based on practices similar to what is thought at ITP and spreading trough already emerging open source hardware information networks.

What can a craftsmenship approach bring to the future of new technologies?

DressMe is an interactive video installation examining the charged intersection between voyeurism, eroticism and the practice of interactive technologies in art. In this installation the viewer gets to \”dress\” and \”undress\” three parallel video images by moving front and back along three parallel corridors. The installation is looking to raise questions regarding our ever growing moralistic and self-policing tendencies as well as our increasing ambivalence towards the image of the body and the idea of its exposure.

This thesis explores current aesthetics of wearable technology. The current definition of wearable technology is, ambiguously, something wearable that has embedded technology. Products categorized under the heading of “wearable technology” fall into many different categories, including but not limited to: an extension for mobile gadgets, a medium to fuse humans with computers, and a means to shield humans from their environment. A piece of wearable technology, under the current broad definition could turn a human into a cyborg or simply inform its wearer where she can get the best wireless Internet signal. Whatever the technology may be, designers must take into consideration that in order for it to be truly “wearable”, the aesthetics of the technologically enhanced garment must be, for lack of a better word, fashionable. The aesthetics of a wearable should not be compromised by its underlying technology.

eParole is a system to decrease the recidivism rate of recent prison parolees by providing instant feedback if there are further offences, and more comprehensive social services to those that are making an effort to reintegrate into society.

Occupational Therapists currently use pressure garments to apply deep pressure input to the bodies of children with sensory modulation or processing disorders. There are two main problems with the pressure vests currently available, consistency and repetitive manual application. The Smart Hug inflatable pressure vest aims to solve these problems by automating the process of applying and removing the vest making the amount of pressure a child receives consistent and repeatable day to day. An additional goal of the technology is to begin collecting data about how much pressure children need, and to analyze the benefits of pressure garments in therapeutic use.

Inspired by the notion of cellphone as status symbol, Glowscarf is a commentary on our use of technology to transmit messages about ourselves, in this case, our own sense of importance. By giving the cell phone’s ring an external signal, the wearer is free to embrace the status of being in-demand, without necessarily needing to answer the call. The glow of the scarf says, “I’m important”; the wearer can then decide to take the call or to merely bask in its glow.

I am creating a garment that plays with our conception and perception of personal space. The garment will defend personal space when it is under threat of intrusion, questioning our notions of “ownership” over personal space. Like a cat raising its fur or a porcupine its quills, the garment will deploy an array of “spikes” to ward off invaders. The “spikes” both increase the physical space that is under the wearer’s occupation, but also serve as a visual deterrent to encroachment. The system will work by sensing the proximity of objects surrounding the garment, and will trigger a response when an object or body comes too close. The system will be based on a microprocessor, several sensors, and a mechanical system to deploy the array of spikes.

Hacking Couture explores the merging of interactivity and fashion; by applying the concept of open source to the process currently executed to forecast fashion. Once the design elements or DNA of an established brand, like Chanel, is revealed what will creative people do with this information? By the use of contagious media and the web, everyone has access to these codes, allowing the creation of new garments deriving new aesthetics by the sharing of ideas and techniques. These explorations allow room for an alternative system to the traditional fashion forecasting systems that rely their sources on documentation instead of focusing on the framework for emerging and evolving aesthetics.

My thesis lies in exploring memory patterns that become routine to accommodate for my need to carry a wallet, keys, phone, ipod, digital camera, laptop and all their cables and connectors. I am interested in the body, human emotions and the little devices that seem to have a profound impact on me. Remember plays with the space between the physical and information \”self\” through clothing. These outfits are accented with technology that create a sense of presence and absence, balance and imbalance as well as conversation and silence between all these devices that act as our digital second skin.