As if my thesis needed more conceptual evidence of the fickle relationships we have with high tech devices, here’s the the seven stages of owning an iPod or rather being between iPods.
via Valleywag.
Archive for the ‘Stint’ Category
Music sharing in Zune
November 6, 2006
Zune (coming out in stores on the 14th of November) just came out with some really interesting features that replicate a number of my thesis ideas around music sharing between devices. You can locate other wifi-enabled devices in your surroundings and send them songs or pictures. (something iPod doesn’t have yet i believe).
Obviously this has some silli DRM restrictions such as “3 plays in 3 days” so that if you send someone a song you have 3 days to play that song 3 times and then it just remains as meta-data in a “community” section, but in general I can genuinely say that this is a very interesting interface and product. There’s something nice about the personalized background and the large emphasis on content, album covers and the near disappearance of the navigation.
Well done Microsoft!
Stint online
October 10, 2006Finally, after much procrastination, my thesis project is online. This is really not meant to be that academic really, but more of a pitch for the idea as such. Most of the thinking is in the paper I wrote, but everyone knows that people prefer pretty pictures ; )
What's old is new again
September 29, 2006I’m at the end of my present project and looking forward to some down time, looking for more opportunities in London as usual, but mostly getting back to blogging and keeping up with the world in general. I saw and ordered a set of tiny cards from the very sweet MOO project (reminded me of the conversation on the esthetics of cute actually) and I thought that it was interesting to see printing start up again in the world of photography, when the greats have kind of given up in favor of digital technologies. I think there’s a definite link here to my thesis in the way that the physicality of things affords so many interactions and as the fine people at Moo say about the internet:
“You can’t touch it, write on it, or put it on the mantle, you can’t hang it on the wall or pass it to the cute guy on the bus, you certainly can’t give it to your mom for her birthday.
We want to change this.
So we dream up new products, made up from stuff on the web, that help folks take their virtual lives offline. We hope you like them. ”
Funni how things change…
The end of hits
July 11, 2006Great article by Wired editor-in-chief Chris Anderson on the state of the music industry post-peak (before file-sharing). The last “hit” was No strings Attached byN’SYNC surprisingly enough.
End of Year Show 2006
May 24, 2006Ok so here are the final official details about the end of year show!:
Limited Edition
You are invited to experience 17 thesis projects from the final graduating class of Interaction Design Institute Ivrea
Opening: June 7th 2006 (18:30-23:00)
Exhibition: June 8/9/10th 2006 (noon-20:00)
Where: Galvanotecnica Bugatti
Via Gaspare Bugatti, 7
Zona Tortona
Milano 20144
More details: http://milano.interaction-ivrea.it/
info@interaction-ivrea.it
www.galvanotecnicabugatti.it
Thesis paper…
May 24, 2006I’m finally done writing.. which says nothing about the work i have left to do to prepare for the end of year show…hmm so much to do so little time.
You can download my full 52-pages-in-single-spacing report here or read this handy resumé : )
Stint
By Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino
With the global growing concern around sustainability and over-consumption we find ourselves having to question our relationships with high-tech personal devices and the business models that support that industry. Using the mp3 player as a case study, this thesis proposes to explore the design opportunities that surface when we design high tech devices with forgotten behaviors, community, status and emotional attachment in mind, using textiles as a way to display history and emotionally rich platforms. Stint is the result of this.
A music sharing service made of physical tokens that represent links to people’s virtual music that are coupled to a widget that talks to the main music application. Each “stint” represents one friend and is made of leather. By giving it to a friend, one links it to the main player, collecting the stints into a network. By pressing each one, a song from that person’s music collection that she has sent it to you, is played. A song can be sent to a friend by holding both the stint containing that music and the one representing the friend we want to send it to. As you interact with the stints the ones with a richer interaction get used and worn, showing history of the relationship. The online widget will show the listening the origin of each song as well as who you have sent it to and how often they have listened to it since receiving it. This builds a visualization that will help you choose better or more appropriate music for that person or to discover what they’re musical tastes are. Stint creates a meaningful relationship between the user, the container, the content and how they affect each other, allowing for richer and long-term relationships to exist with high-tech devices.
RFID events around the world
May 14, 2006Stumbled upon this interesting collection of RFID-related conferences this year around the USA and Europe.
One last month
May 14, 2006Oh my god I’m graduating in a month!!! So much to do. I have a review on tuesday afternoon to present to my advisors Jan-Christoph Zoels and Heather Martin what i intend to present and develop for the exhibition.
Basically I’m thinking of doing the following:
-3 Video scenarios
- presenting screen shots of an interface
- developing a working prototype of the products
-clearly presenting the service around these touch points
Oh and i have to hand in my thesis report for the 22nd…gulp…
To prototype or not to prototype
May 11, 2006This has been a question that has been on my mind for the past couple of weeks whenever i’ve needed a paper bag to help me breathe (which occurs often enough these days considering i have 4 weeks left to this thesis) or was interviewed by tristam sparks for his thesis prototyping. A mantra of the school, thanks to Gillian Crampton Smith, its founder has always been “JEP” Just Enough Prototyping. This means that you need to illustrate your idea with the right amount of prototyping, and not push it too far, this also implies that you are able to prototype your project yourself and you will know when to say “when” in a way. I find myself however in a situation where i could go 2 ways with prototyping: 1. video prototyping the service i am designing using props and smoke and mirrors, or 2. spend an indecent amount of time trying to come up with a functional prototype that ultimately i do not have the skills to build and will only be asking Massimo Banzi to help me with this.
This is part of my frustration with considering technology in design within the school. I see a difference between understanding what technology can do and designing within those constraints and being limited by what i can personally implement. It’s as if my school was expecting me to develop a skill-set some people spent years developing and that by being able to hack a fridge, i’d somehow be able to infuse more value and meaning into what i am designing.
At this point in time i think that video scenarios have a much bigger chance of explaining the value of my project and the interactions through time than a functional prototype which might be just one touch point of the service. So frack it as my friends would say : )