NETWORKED OBJECTS | ITP | WINTER 2007 | instructor TOM IGOE

fred bennenson

lara muzicant

carolina pino

HMWK 2>>>The Future of the bedroom clock in a networked world

- You are to re-imagine the bedside clock and propose an alternative.

- What is the most effective way to wake a person up into an invigorated state?
- What outside factors could affect a person's waking up? What if the meeting was cancelled?
- What aesthetic standards do people apply to objects they'll allow in their bedrooms?
- If you're a cell phone clock person, what are the shortcomings of this, for you, and how could you address them?
- Can your bedside clock travel with you?
- Who else does your bedside clock affect?
- What external information or media is useful or pleasant to have with you while waking up?

PROCESS>>>

How we would like to be awake? ------smooth and slowly.

Some quick ideas came up:

-8hours rather than time based

-Networked to determine sleep debt. SMS to alert to go to bed now?

-the empathic-clock: it would empathize with your mood and let you know if the meeting or day is worth it, maybe it's a better idea to stay in bed (Does the clock have to be reliable?)

-Adjustable time on real time, 10 minutes missing here can be 10 minutes extra there, then the world would change while you are always on time.

-Some funny toys-like things would come out the ceilling and tell a story? scream? -etc. (like old wooden clocks)

-WHAT MAKES YOU WAKE UP? ---things to do ---things to be change

for Fred it's things he feels he can change today///political situation?///Laura and Carolina thought it was a "dark-clock", too sad, so we talked about making something that could change through "wake-up stages"

CONCEPT>>>

images > words + images from the news projected on the ceilling + statistics speech = WAKE-UP NOW CLOCK!

We decided to divide the interaction with the device in 3 steps according with the WAKE-UP STAGES OR STEPS we take to wake-up:

hear, open your eyes, sit down, stand up.

-first sketches

From this "other reality" that is to sleep, we become conscious of the world by hearing the enviroment, then open our eyes and be able to look this enviroment, finally, we add some physical motions to "get" into this "real" reality. What cab be more real than news? We came up with the idea of having a device that could bring us from sleeping to reality, as fast as possible, making us the ones that finally could control this phase of waking-up, by deciding the images/audio display from bad to good news.

NO ALARM!!!!!------ BUT TRANSITION - being able to be conscious of where we are today.

EXAMPLE OF STATISTICS (audio/image) and STEPS OF ACTIONS WHILE WAKING-UP ------------------------------------------------------------

>>>Bad / hear-open your eyes

* Number of sad people, abandoned infants, roller coaster accidents, deaths in Iraq, people shot to death, cut trees down in rain forests, chance of meteorite hitting earth, quality of air your children will breath in 50 years, African deaths through hunger, etc.

>>>Medium / sit-down

* Number of increased Life Span, sunny days, reunited family members, people who spit on streets, people who work on sundays, etc.

>>>Good / stand-up

* Number of puppies saved, happy people, highest lottery jackpot today, chance of meeting your true love today, time spent smiling a day, country where people kiss most in the streets, chance of finding a $20 bill on the way to work today, poeple over 70 that still have sex, etc.

Sensors underneath our body in three main points according to main action: lie down - sit down - stand up from bed.

clock would be thin and long, like back of the bed----