CHI Competition, Virtual Window

Role:Researcher,Designer,Primary Prototyper

Entity:Computer Human Interaction Design Competition

Location:Ann Arbor, MI

Skills Used: UX research, group collaboration, design theory concepts

A big part of the University of Michigan's School of Information program is pushing students to take part in national competitions. This paper displays the results of my groups part in the 2011 CHI design competition. The concept was to think about the potentials for the implementations of the functions that exists in the tablet and smart phone markets, in relation to a television sized object. Smart sensors along with the app platforms that exist within the iOS and Android environments have a unique potential in this realm.

Results included thinking about whether static objects like this, existing massively could provide warning systems about local dangers (earthquakes via accelerometers, fires from heat sensors) and exist as a more aesthetic and pervasive object rather than an invasive one. Televisions purely invite viewing, while computers demand interaction. Our goal was to layout an object that would invite an opening between views within homes passively so that communication wouldn't demand a start and an end but rather would be an open, continual process. How this would work with information costs is questionable though :).