Shinyoung Park in SF

1. This is the few selected sketches of dust so far.
There are still rooms for improvement. Comments are welcome.

The size and weight is very critical factor to this project. So we are trying to make it as small as possible.

2. For the coding, I drew state diagram to make things clear and easy.

3. Circuit
Michael has done great job making a circuit and testing it.
http://itp.nyu.edu/~mjc497/weblog/2007/04/dust_prototype_circuit.html
Also he is working on circuit design to make the whole piece small enough to attach on the body without any difficulties.

Rather than speaking, writing, Inka chose to knot to record history.
It is another mystery that Inka empire inherited.
Not only is it amazing to see that they used baniary code but also I am curious why they chose to do that. They might wanted to keep it as a secret.
There is also a chance that they want no one to change their history.

Communication is based on rules that people should understand. They need to learn its rules to understand each other. In that sense, I think it is important to understand social, political and cultural context of that era. Understanding other phenomena other than knot would help to understand the grammer of knots.

although one accountant or scribe was all that would have been necessary to keep them, the Incas preferred to have plenty in each village and for each sort of calculation, so as to avoid faults that might occur if there were few, saying that if there were a number of them, they would either all be at fault or none of them. (Garcilaso de la Vega 1966: 331; Garcilaso)

From above article, it seems that they wanted to keep the consistancy among knots.
However, we do not have in the existing literature many serious attempts to address questions such as this.

From their practices, It came to my mind that 3D language to record history could be applied to garment.
Clothing is another language that we communicate with.
It doesn't have to be explicit. Color, material, shape talks about that person. Those implicit language is not only the feeling or status of that person but also can be understood in cultural and social context.

Recording device for personal history.
That might be another role of garment.

ref) http://www.utexas.edu/utpress/excerpts/exurtsig.html

The smell of mom's scarf.
The smell of ex boyfriend's T-shirts.
Those garments are the representation of memories.
The face or voice of people represent the present self.
Clothes present beautiful memories that do not exist anymore.

I went to vintage store this weekend, which I love to go because I can find only one clothes that exist in the world only for me.
Some of them could be older than me.
The smell of used clothes made me think of previous owners.
It seems that those stories, memories, even souls are floating above each garment.
When I buy them, it is also can be said that I buy thier memories imprinted in the clothes.
It is not just fabric anymore.
It has wear-patterns of other people.
I got scared at first and then I thought, "it is fun to be with another soul sometimes."

Some of clothes fitted me well.
Who would the person be?
I bought three of them thinking of invisible people imprinted in the clothes.

1. Making hands as a switch.
When you clap or pray, the LEDs on your palm turn on.
That was the original plan.
However, the led on the left hand didn't work since the thread was touching each other.
So I made the circuit of right hand more precise.
Using regular thread to cover the conductive thread works well.

2. How it works
The light always on and it goes off when you make a fist to make the two conductive thread to touch each other.

As technology develops and the society becomes systematic, humans become one point connecting the big system. The world is like a vehicle going somewhere as if it is going to die if it stops going foward.

Technology prevails human life?

Are we live in the matrix?
I don't know.
For me, everything is true and not true.
I keep journal of my dream.
Who knows if my dream is real and my reality is a dream?
Sometimes, things can not be explained in words.
You can just feel it.
Even worse, some people feel it and others can't.
Who knows my death is the death? (I want my death to be the end so bad though)
One funny story about the invisible sense. I was in front of Tisch building with friends this afternoon.
We were talking about a friend who can feel everybody's aura.
Suddenly, one guy next to us said, " I don't believe anything I can't see."
Leif responded "How about gravity and air?"
He responded " I don't care, I don't pay for that. What art school students think." and left.

Material world, people as tiny modules connecting the whole world, technology invading human senses.
Scared? no, but i think I more appreciate what artists do and how they help the world.

The moment you want to embrace, the feeling you want to keep.
Do you remember that moment?
Do you remember your first love?
Everything first means a lot but it fades out as time goes by.
For people having a love of their lives, not only promoting intimacy to get to know each other in a tricky way but also embracing those special moment was my goal this week.

This guardian always protects her but when you hug her, it goes away.
The name of this guardian is monji (it's dust in korean)
It will protect her when you are away.

1. Where monji came from

2. Making
1) Battery and LEDs soldered into purf board. (yes, I should've been used conductive thread) and the board to tshirts by conductive thread.
2) Switch attatched on the shoulder and connecting switch and the board by conductive thread.
3) Paint the t-shirts so that monji can hug you.


3. How it looks


4. How it works
It lights up when you are alone, it goes away when someone hugs you.

1. Design work requires new stimulus everytime when new problems are encountered.
Sometimes it can be exhausting since it needs mental and emotional energy at the same time.
I love design process. It is challenging but always self-fulfilling to me.
However, the roles of design team members are varied.
As the book says, designers need to be experimental and safekeeping at the same time.
When I work as a project manager, I need to focus on time and task management, which involves a lot of reporting and documentation.
It is hard to be experimental in that position. Even though it is hard, I agree to the book that reflective equilibrium is can not be reached without repeating experimental and safekeeping over and over again.

In that sense, it is important to stay away from the project and look at it from far away objectively. In addition, it is required to take a break from the project once in a while.
I believe I can see a lot more with different perspective.

2. Persistence is the key to success
For example, ipod was not created overnight.
From the first model until it reached masses, the design was the key development factor in the company and they keep trying to be better and innovative.
It is amazing that they didn't stop at certain status or changed its function.
They woked on same device all that years to be perfect.

3. It is scary thrill
The success and failure of one design project can not be anticipated before it is launched. it is a thrill. With so many steps of sketches and evaluations, the
"right" feeling sometimes goes wrong.
Well trained right feeling. That needs devotion and endeavor.
Sensing what is right, it is close to be a master.

I understood this article in a sense of power shift caused by technology not solely in the context of wearable technology.

The ruling parties still have the power to fabricate information to control the masses.
The information fabricated by the ruling party brainwashes the controlled party. It was much easier before, when the media was solely under the control of the ruling party.

However, thanks to online network connecting people through web, different media are accessible to the controlled party. People are not as gullible any more. They are creating their own networks and their own media.  

The influence of virtual world is getting stronger. Alternative media has created for people not only to access different perspective but also to create their own voice to be heard toward the masses through blogs and online communities. I think it is good for the masses, the controlled party who has been controlled by mass media. In that sense, technology helps people to pay less attention to fabricated information of ruling party and make their own perspective and think or at least access different information. For example, in Korea, there are several alternative media groups such as ohmynews (www.ohmynews.com) who publish online newspapers everyday with the perspective of masses. For the case of ohmynews, anybody can register as a reporter and publish the article after the article edited by the editor.

The irony, Situationist might have, is that threat against ruling party can be another dominant power if that does not stop from detournement but spread through network to the masses.

There is no end.

1. Concept
1) Humanizing clothes - Clothes are the closest friends
2) Good posture for geeks
2) Mood: Comfort, Relaxation, friendly

2. Function
1) Sensing
It senses the height of shoulder, the posture
2) Process
When the value reaches certain point, lower than (#)
3) Behavior
Alice whispers to you and pat your shoulder gently.
Randomly it snores and breathe on your shoulder.

3. User scenario
When the user sighes or the shoulder gets lower,
Alice pats user's shoulder and whispers to your ears "come on, sit up straight" so that you can change your posture and relax for a minute.
It randomly breathe and snores on your shoulder.

4. Requirement
1) Small and light enough to carry every day
2) Easy to wear and take off
3) Low power

5. Reference
1) http://www.jennylc.com/blog/?p=86

1. Concept development
One of my friends got mugged around lower east side area at the end of last year.
He got hit by baseball bat so his forehead got crushed.
Now he is normal and healthy but if that happened to me, i can't even imagine.
So l looked around the web how to be more safe on the streets of new york city.

The main purpose of clothe is to protect yourself. However, it is getting hard to protect yourself these days. So I came up with the concept of wearable that can protect urself. Apparently, pepper spray and stun guns are illegal in NYC and one of New York Times article said, the form of self-defense, such as pepper spray etc, could incite attackers to further violence, said Lieut. Jack Kenney of the East Brunswick police. (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C05EED7153FF934A35751C1A960958260)

I found 7 ways to protect from muugers. (Yes, some of them are funny.)

① Have whisle in ur mouth when you walk in the dark.
② Tell ur friends or family where you go and who you meet.
③ When you meet muggers, throw away your bags.
④ Throw away your belongings one by one when kidnapped.
⑤ Don't walk alone on the lonely back streets.
⑥ Rip off your clothes to get attention from other people when you face kidnapping or rape.
⑦ Don't follow your first date.

2. Requirement
1)  Small enough to be carried in the body any time when necessary.
2) Do not hurt the attacker but scared them
3) Making space between attackers and defencer
4) Easily accessible and hidden somewhere

3. Ideas
The medium I could use is sound.
The least dangerous and the most effective way.
It can scatter attention and make mental and physical space to escape from that scene.

4. How
1 I found personal alarm at K mart that is small and loud enough.
The pin needs to be puled out to let alarm go off.
2) I took them apart and tried to figure out where to wear it.

3) Fabric and components integration.
Since most of parts are already soldered I needed to integrate battery part with fabric using conductive thread.

After integrating it, I sew the fabric to make the bracelet.
It was much cult than expected.

4) So here it is.

5) Thoughts
After I finished it, I played with it by squeezing it different ways and pulling the pin out different ways for a test. It finally got broken last night so that I had to solder wire connecting battery again. Now I can have little bit of sense that wearable is far more difficult than installation since people need to wear them. I read E-Broidery last night and I think I should've read it before I made it. It explains how to approach wearable fairly easily.