I'm a research fellow in the Culture Lab within Newcastle University. At present I'm working on the PATINA project, exploring how pervasive technologies can transform the process of research, and the research space. [more]
I'm a research fellow in the Culture Lab within Newcastle University. At present I'm working on the PATINA project, exploring how pervasive technologies can transform the process of research, and the research space. [more]
Pretty excited at the moment because the research agenda for the shyness project is coming together nicely.
Very broadly we're exploring whether technologies can support social interactions, and in particular interaction opportunities that shy people might feel comfortable taking part in. We're currently developing a wearable technology with the Lilypad Arduino toolkit. The wearable is worn on the wrist monitoring the hand and arm movements of the wearer using accelerometers. A visual representation is then created based on the wearer's movements of his or her hand and arm and embellished when people wearing the device mimic (or mirror) one another's movmements.
What we're particularly interested in is whether this technology has any impact on the social interaction between wearers, and especially the level of rapport they experience with one another.
We're submitting a demo proposal to Ubicomp 2009 today, so fingers crossed we'll be in Florida in late September demonstrating the technology.
