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History Table
image © RCA Equator project
The Equator Project, 2002
DESCRIPTION
Text from the Equator project:
The table cloth draws attention to the flow of objects over a surface in the home by signalling how long things have been left upon it. If an object is left on the table for a while, a glowing halo forms beneath it that grows slowly over time, until the object is moved. This object raises issues about the desirability of using technology to emphasise existing behaviour.
OVERVIEW OF THE DOMESTIC EXPERIENCE
The aim of the Equator Domestic Experience is to develop innovative technologies for the home. Research into IT is largely rooted in the world of work. Whether it be 'office automation' or 'workplace studies', most research has two main aims - to improve efficiency and thus productivity. The ideal of the 'smart' home, in which all chores are eliminated by hi-tech wizardry, likewise regards the home as a place of utility. But that is to take a crude view of both utility and the home. And such views are not merely simplistic, but dangerous. While they promise to 'liberate' home dwellers, they actually threaten to confine them - practically, socially, and imaginatively. The Domestic experience takes three complementary research perspectives on the home. The computer scientists see it practically, in terms of the electronic infrastructure: how it is configured, how controlled, how changed. The ethnographers see it as a social construct, created through routine co-ordination and adaptation. The designers are more interested in imaginative and cultural possiblities, and see the home as a place where we are free to explore deeply personal values. All three approaches stress the fact that homes evolve, and therefore domestic IT systems should not be 'complete'. Rather, they should be suggestively incomplete. They should enable the home dweller to appropriate the technology, thereby creating their own ideal of the 'smart' home. The aim is not to liberate people - it is more modest, more difficult, and far more interesting. The aim is to help people liberate themselves.THE EQUATOR INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH COLLABORATION
The Equator Project is a six-year Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). Equator's central goal is to investigate the integration of the physical and digital worlds by developing innovative systems. The Equator group within the Interaction Design Research Studio at the RCA are exploring technologies for the home. Our initial research involved design-driven research techniques – probes – to uncover people's values and activities. We are now focusing on furniture and furnishings that take a proactive role in the home.PEOPLE INVOLVED IN THE HISTORY TABLECLOTH
Royal College of ArtAndy Boucher
Bill Gaver
Sarah Pennington
Brendan Walker
Rachel Wingfield University of Lancaster
Adrian Friday
Hans Gellersen
Kristof Van Laerhoven
Mark Rouncefield
Albrecht Schmidt
Martin Strohbach
Please contact Bill Gaver for more information at w.gaver@gold.acNOSPAM.uk
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t +44 20 7812 9188, e info(at)loop.ph
Copyright © 2003 - 2009 by Loop.pH Ltd. All material on this website is the property of the contributing authors.