I recently had a number of papers
accepted to the Third IEEE International Workshop on the Social Implications of
Pervasive Computing for Sustainable Living (www.sipc2014.blogspot.com),
including Orchids own Cicada project. I enjoy attending this workshop as it brings together
researchers with a variety of backgrounds together to have stimulating (and
often heated) discussions about the implications of their work.
Another paper discusses my emerging
work on supporting Yoga Practices with pervasive technologies; in particular the
use of ExoBuilding (a prototypical example of adaptive architecture we have at
Nottingham, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAZPQDqr8aQ).
The aim was to explore how ExoBuilding could be used to help teach breathing
exercises and create group cohesion in Yoga. In the paper we talk about some of
the social considerations that should be made when designing and introducing
novel technologies to a Yoga practice. One of these considerations was related
to agency/autonomy and the dangers associated with pushing users beyond their
limits and the conflicting idea of group cohesion/teaching in
what is ultimately an individual and private practice.
Aside of deploying ExoBuilding in
a Yoga studio, the next step in the development is to explore interaction with
multiple users through different software agent controlled actuation points
(i.e. a larger environment with numerous independent servomotors driven by
interaction with different users). This, I would argue, is the beginnings of a
small scale environment-based HAC –
an idea that has yet to be explored in Orchid. Our ultimate goal is to explore
how the physical environment can adapt to users in real time, helping to
communicate information or influence behaviours.
If anyone in Orchid is interested
in knowing more about ExoBuilding, or would even like to get involved (which
would be really great), please do get in touch.