Body Language/Non-Verbal Cues in the Digital Age

There has already been a huge amount of research into non-verbal communication and its importance in our everyday understanding of one another. To a large extent, this has been lost in online communications, which is more and more becoming our main method of talking to each-other.

Biometric technology, as mentioned here, could have huge implications for the way we communicate with others in the 21st Century. In many ways, as we spend more and more of our lives online, our daily experience has become solitary. Maybe if digital communication could be made to incorporate our feelings and moods based on non-verbal cues our experience of using digital media could be less impersonal. A system such as this could have serious benefits for people who are isolated or lonely, living their lives mostly online.

Another area that could benefit from this sort of technology is inter-cultural communication. In different cultures, body language can mean different things. If biometric technology could be used in this way, to translate body language between different cultures, a greater inter-cultural understanding could be reached through the use of digital media.

Fanzines

Fanzines were democratic design for the print era. Maybe it’s time for a digital version of these iconic DIY publications.

A framework could be developed which allows users to personalise their own content and share their publication with others, i.e. a digital zine culture/community—or is that just another name for a blog? Have blogs replaced the need for these homemade publications or is there something still missing?

Steven Heller on Fanzines: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/20/books/review/Heller-t.html

Biometric Technology

A system recently developed by researchers at Concordia university which might be able to determine mood via a person's facial expressions.

An ITBusiness article states, “The system analyzes a facial expression by first measuring the distance between the eyes. Based on that, it is able to map out other regions of the face and set a template. Then, it can process different markers that give away a person's mood. By focusing on specific groups of muscles near the eyes, nose and mouth, the system determines mood without requiring a full facial profile. That means less data is needed to determine a profile than other types of facial recognition.”

Currently, the implications for Airport security are being looked into but perhaps this system could also have applications in personal digital media? Could a biometric identification system be built into our existing interaction with digital media?—In this way our laptops, televisions, iPods could conceivably know what mood we're in.

(via http://inhardfocus.com/inhardfocus/2008/12/9/why-so-serious.html)

Mood Detection/Unsound Science

Thinking about the various ways of collecting data from people, I've been looking into mood detection as a possibility. However there doesn't seem to be much sound science behind it. There is an argument that body temperature is linked to a person's emotional state but this varies from person to person and does not always communicate the same information—the same body temp. can mean different moods.

There is a mood detector App available: http://www.schvarts.com/detectors/mood-detector/ but it's more of a toy (and looks terrible).

Also came across this: courses.engr.illinois.edu/ece445/projects/fall2005/project2_presentation.ppt which is a student's proposal for a system which reads the mood of the user and creates music playlists based around these readings—which is similar to what I was thinking but it's a clunky and invasive system, involving sensors being placed on the user.

A system that could be linked to your itunes and remember what music you listen to when you’re in a certain mood might have better functionality—again though, the science is questionable.

DBA Inclusive Design Challenge 2010

Congratulations to Clinic for winning this year’s DBA inclusive design challenge award. The London based creative agency’s winning concept entitled ‘Sage & Onions’; is a not-for-profit communications initiative aimed at stimulating activity and community participation. It encourages people to trade their time and skills with each other. Individuals and businesses can market events, share experiences and create new networks. A video, that explains the concept in more detail is embedded below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ltty2zlcaE0

Health Care- redesign of an insurance card.....

I was just thinking about a better system for health insurance.

Okay, on the one hand there is the professional discretion

of the medics, but on the other hand I would prefer that every

med is able to see my "history of sick". I think our daily

system is very unflexible and doesn't oblige the patient.

What do you think?

First I was tinking about people having epilepsie. But maybe it

is interesting to think about something like the diary, but in general...

A printer that prints itself

Democratic design, the framework is available to everyone and what you do with it is up to you. Sort of ties in with what we are doing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMhG4fWQnlE&feature=player_embedded#at=444