Abstract:Smart garment and wearable e-textile prototypes are difficult to co-design because of the variety of expertise needed (garment design, sewing skills, hardware prototyping, and software programming). To help with this, we developed a toolkit for prototyping wearable etextiles, named Wearable Bits, which enables co-design with non-expert users without demanding sewing, hardware or software skills. We developed a low-fidelity and medium-fidelity experience prototype of the toolkit and ran a series of workshops wh… Show more
“…All of them are roughly concerned with material resources, albeit in different notions. One invites the field to understand thermal stimuli as a designerly component [58], two provide tool-kits supporting different aspects of designing for embodied computing [57,115], one develops building blocks for flexible technological structures with the potential to be included in fabrics [29] and one discusses the potentials of human bodies (specifically hair) as material [27]. Table 3: Papers in the corpus along contribution types.…”
Section: Bodies As Materialsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Even if on a language level, bodies are present, in figures, they are largely reduced to partial aspects (predominantly hands) or entirely absent. In that, two papers attend to bodymind differences in perception and sensemaking [58] or physical characteristics [57]. All visible bodies or body parts are light-skinned or white and appear youthful.…”
Section: Bodies As Materialsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…7 Material contributions to embodied computing at TEI are generally oriented towards experiences and exploration of options and opportunities for designs. Norm-setting is more implicit, though in cases where physical differences are explicitly reflected (e.g., [57]), toolkits and building blocks can materialize an expectation of bodily diversity, whereas others privilege technological perspectives to the point where safety considerations for any body appear to become secondary [29]. Particularly, when elements of human bodies are understood as a material resource, researchers seeking to make contributions to this space need to actively consider different experiences of oppression and existing norms around bodies not just within their immediate lived experiences.…”
In the few decades since the first mainframe computers, computing technologies have grown smaller, and more pervasive, moving onto and even inside human bodies. Even as those bodies have received increased attention by scholars, designers, and technologists, the bodily expectations and understandings articulated by these technological artefacts have not been a focus of inquiry in the field. I conducted a feminist content analysis on select papers in the proceeding of the ACM International Conference on Tangible, Embedded and Embodied Interaction (TEI) since its inception in 2007. My analysis illustrates how artefacts are implicitly oriented on unmarked bodily norms, while technologies designed for nonnormative bodies treat those as deviant and in need of correction. Subsequently, I derive a range of provocations focused on material bodies in embodied interaction which offer a point of reflection and identify potentials for future work in the field.
CCS CONCEPTS• Human-centered computing → HCI theory, concepts and models; Interaction design theory, concepts and paradigms; • Social and professional topics → User characteristics.
“…All of them are roughly concerned with material resources, albeit in different notions. One invites the field to understand thermal stimuli as a designerly component [58], two provide tool-kits supporting different aspects of designing for embodied computing [57,115], one develops building blocks for flexible technological structures with the potential to be included in fabrics [29] and one discusses the potentials of human bodies (specifically hair) as material [27]. Table 3: Papers in the corpus along contribution types.…”
Section: Bodies As Materialsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Even if on a language level, bodies are present, in figures, they are largely reduced to partial aspects (predominantly hands) or entirely absent. In that, two papers attend to bodymind differences in perception and sensemaking [58] or physical characteristics [57]. All visible bodies or body parts are light-skinned or white and appear youthful.…”
Section: Bodies As Materialsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…7 Material contributions to embodied computing at TEI are generally oriented towards experiences and exploration of options and opportunities for designs. Norm-setting is more implicit, though in cases where physical differences are explicitly reflected (e.g., [57]), toolkits and building blocks can materialize an expectation of bodily diversity, whereas others privilege technological perspectives to the point where safety considerations for any body appear to become secondary [29]. Particularly, when elements of human bodies are understood as a material resource, researchers seeking to make contributions to this space need to actively consider different experiences of oppression and existing norms around bodies not just within their immediate lived experiences.…”
In the few decades since the first mainframe computers, computing technologies have grown smaller, and more pervasive, moving onto and even inside human bodies. Even as those bodies have received increased attention by scholars, designers, and technologists, the bodily expectations and understandings articulated by these technological artefacts have not been a focus of inquiry in the field. I conducted a feminist content analysis on select papers in the proceeding of the ACM International Conference on Tangible, Embedded and Embodied Interaction (TEI) since its inception in 2007. My analysis illustrates how artefacts are implicitly oriented on unmarked bodily norms, while technologies designed for nonnormative bodies treat those as deviant and in need of correction. Subsequently, I derive a range of provocations focused on material bodies in embodied interaction which offer a point of reflection and identify potentials for future work in the field.
CCS CONCEPTS• Human-centered computing → HCI theory, concepts and models; Interaction design theory, concepts and paradigms; • Social and professional topics → User characteristics.
“…Wearable Bits [5] offers more creative freedom. This kit consists of felt squares with pre-sewn components with which students can configure different types of wearables (eg.…”
Section: Background and Related Work On E-textile Prototypingmentioning
E-textiles, which embed circuitry into textile fabrics, blend art and creative expression with engineering, making it a popular choice for STEAM classrooms [6,12]. Currently, e-textile development relies on tools intended for traditional embedded systems, which utilize printed circuit boards and insulated wires. These tools do not translate well to e-textiles, which utilize fabric and uninsulated conductive thread. This mismatch of tools and materials can lead to an overly complicated development process for novices. In particular, rapid prototyping tools for traditional embedded systems are poorly matched for e-textile prototyping. This paper presents the ThreadBoard, a tool that supports rapid prototyping of e-textile circuits. With rapid prototyping, students can test circuit designs and identify circuitry errors prior to their sewn project. We present the design process used to iteratively create the ThreadBoard's layout, with the goal of improving its usability for e-textile creators.
“…Sun et al showcase another example of an exploration into prototype creation through an interdisciplinary workshop [51] They work with textile artists to realize beautiful aesthetic prototypes while also validating their fabrication process outlined in the paper. Jones et al also discuss the unique nature of co-designing wearable and e-textile prototypes [30]. Their solution was also to create a platform or prototyping toolkit for creating together called 'Wearable Bits'.…”
Working or WERKing on a wearable technology project in a transdisciplinary group can be an effective way of learning new skills and collaboration techniques. This paper describes a case study of running a wearable technology group project within an undergraduate course entitled Wearable Technology and Society. The computational media students in the class collaborated with outside performance artists (drag queens and a street dancer) to create interactive performance garments. Design methods such as the use of boundary objects aided in communication of ideas and cooperation across disciplines and cultural barriers. The requirement that the interactive garment function appropriately in a real performance lent urgency and gravity to the experience, motivating cohesive and expedited problem solving in the transdisciplinary group. The use of these methods on a project
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