Tinkering in London
I have just arrived at the end of a few weeks in TinkerLondon helping on, and observing the beginnings of a project called ‘HomeSense‘. This is an open research project, enabling user led innovation in the Smart Home sphere. It is a collaboration between TinkerLondon and EDF. Why? This is where my PhD seems to be directing itself to and as such I have been observing a more industrially focused attitude towards this type of approach to innovation. My findings have been interesting and somewhat surprising to say the least.
Homesense brings the open collaboration methods of online communities to physical infrastructures in the home. Instead of having products forced on them through a top-down design process, selected households will create their own smart homes and live with the technologies that they have developed themselves without any prior technical expertise. My role in this has been to consider the toolkit design.
I’ve had a lovely time with the Tinker team, they really are the people to watch. Thank you!
Go follow @TinkerLondon and @Home_Sense now!
Design your own smart home?
Hello!
I’ve been observing the beginnings of a project by TinkerLondon involving DIY smart homes which will run over autumn of this year, and I wondered if you might be interested (or know other folks who would be)?
The project involves giving 6 homes across Europe a research kit of the latest open hardware tech, and training in how to use them. They then have up to 3 months in the autumn to play with the tech, make interesting things, and share their experiences through blogs and videos. Each household will also be partnered with some local technology experts who will help them throughout the autumn and provide support where-ever’s needed.
It doesn’t matter if you don’t know anything about technology – all of the kit and the training is designed so that folks with any amount (or not) of tech know-how. We’re actually really interested to see what kind of things non-techy people would make and how they make it. There’s no constraints on what toys people can build: people could track their cats, their plants, measure how often the fridge door opens, and anything else they fancy.
There’s more information here - www.homesenseproject.com – and do give me a yell if you need to know more. We’re on a pretty tight deadline to find our final round of households so do let us know soon if you fancy it, and please please do pass this on to anyone else who might be interested!
Cheers,
Natasha
Details available here:
http://www.homesenseproject.com/about/
Sign up here:
_Households
http://www.homesenseproject.com/make-me-a-smart-home/
_Experts
http://www.homesenseproject.com/become-an-expert/
Democratic Design
Ikea lauded as ‘democratic design‘ is a commonly cited argument, but one which has not rested so well with me recently. It must be noted that those arguing for Ikea as democratic design do make convincing arguments. Ikea’s pricing model is democratic in that it clearly enables ‘the masses’ to own designed goods. Ikea enables users to ‘participate’ in the construction of the final product in it’s supply of flatpack, while Hacker and Maker communities demonstrate ‘participation’ (a fundamental element within democracy) in ‘design’ in widely blogged ikea hacks.
So while it is reasonable to suggest that ikea enables democratic consumption of design, and that by virtue of it’s pricing model reduces the barriers to hacking and customisation. I suggest that this is not strictly democratic design. Participation in the construction of flatpack furniture is not democratic design, nor is hacking a product designed as complete.
Obviously this is a difficult and perhaps contentious argument to posit, rendered difficult to defend as there is no universally accepted definition of democratic design. So why do I make this argument?
To work from the following definition, ‘Democratic implies ‘characterized by, advocating or based upon the principles of democracy or social equality’ thus, as demonstrated, arguments of democratic design as applied to ikea are flawed. Of course, truly democratic design is not necessarily achievable or desirable, however beyond Ikea, there are better examples of democratic design.
These include but are not limited to; crowdsourcing, as found with organisations such as Innocentive, Hypios and Local motors. Social product design models as found with Quirky. Democratic design spaces such as FabLabs. Platform or toolkit provision such as Arduino or Shapeways creator. Generative design systems such as those provided by Nervous System.
Provision of blueprints, such as those provided in the stores of Shapeways and Ponoko. Modules in which the final product is built by the end user. Incompletes where the user must participate in the design of the product to finish it, such as Droog’s ‘Do Create’.
Time to define ‘democratic’ design?
The Observer; 1984 with a twist.
Product Designer Lee Murray has created an application for CCTV surveillance with his concept, The Observer; a public access viewing station allowing any member of the public to watch others via CCTV cameras. The object explores the potential social implications if all CCTV cameras were monitored by the public.
Using web camera & internet technology to bring the concept to life, Lee hopes that ultimately the entire system would be connected to the nations extensive network of CCTV cameras. Constructed from sheet steel & aluminium, this concept makes interesting nods to ‘people watching’ and crowd sourced surveillance. While the Observer’s design has been inspired from classic science-fiction books & films such as “Brave New World”, “1984″ & “Brazil”.
‘Industrial Design Rights’ in a culture of file shared industrial design.
Whilst writing a paper for Fiscar 2010 I have been exploring the issues surrounding development of a file sharing culture in the design profession (more specifically the product or industrial design profession). I suggest that as personal fabrication becomes more commonplace, a trend we are observing, that the value (for the average citizen) of product design files will increase and consequently a file sharing culture might emerge.
I spoke previously of “The Product Bay‘ established by the founder of the ‘Pirate Bay’, an action which demonstrates that a file shared product design future is not only feasible but also considered commercially viable. While open source development of Makerbot and Fab@Home, among other open source development of personal fabricators is bringing personal fabrication closer to reality. Consequently, I am considering the implications for the design profession, implications that are wide ranging and to date unconsidered by the profession itself.
To be presented at Fiscar 2010 in Helsinki from May 23-25th 2010
Conversations about innovation
A HighWire forum with Monika Buscher, Daria Loi, Alexandra Deschamps-Sonisino & Lucy Suchman took place this week. Opening with an introduction by Monika we proceeded to discuss innovation.
Alexandra CEO of Tinker.it spoke of the Arduino chip and the growing community of tinkerers who engage in projects using this chip.
‘Arduino is an open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software. It’s intended for artists, designers, hobbyists, and anyone interested in creating interactive objects or environments.’ Arduino
This platform is interesting to consider in terms of democratising innovation, the community which grows around it provides a source of support and information for individuals working on projects using the chip, and the open source chip facilitates innovative use. Within this elements of participatory design, collaborative design and prototying emerge.
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