week 1 - DESCRIBE/SKETCH A POSSIBLE FINAL PROJECT.
PROBLEM
My parents' house has become an "empty nest" this year - we,
children, have grown up
(sufficiently) and left home.
While my parents are in Kazakhstan, we are spread out globally - my sister Saule is in London
(working in a bank), brother Nurjan in Newport (studying in a boarding school) and myself in
Providence (making in a FabLab).
~
Can a device turn an "EMPTY NEST" into a "FULL NEST"?
How can EMPTINESS at the kitchen table be filled?
Does TIME + EFFORT = CARE = PRESENCE ?
Could DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES be harnessed to translate/transfer CARE from elsewhere,
back home?
A SOLUTION
I aim to create a device, akin to Weasley Clock*, for my family.
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*
Weasley Clock belongs to Harry Potter books. It was a clock, owned by the Weasley family, which monitored and displayed the
whereabouts of each family-member. The clock had nine golden hands, one for every member of the household. In place of hours on
the clock's face were a series of possible locations, including "home", "school", "work", "travelling", "lost", "hospital", "prison", and
"mortal peril."
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However,
1. THIS WILL NOT BE AN OFFSPRING-MONITORING DEVICE:
With my device - I want to forgo the "tracking" element.
Its function will be to provide children with the means/outlet/framework/pretext/excuse to
express their consideration/care towards their parents.
All of the check-ins/entries will be done by children voluntarily, in style/format/truth-level
of their own, at their own chosen time intervals. There will be no possibility of
"cross-checking" the veracity of given information, by the receiving party.
2. ADDING MORE "SHARING POSSIBILITIES":
Apart from notifying/informing/calming down parents with/of your location, I want to
incorporate possibilities of sharing other information.
I really like the idea of "See what we see, wherever we are", by swiss designers Kueng-Caputo.
(exhibiting "geographically-distant-shot time-near" images side by side = simple, beautiful)
And plan to experiment with functions, like...
- SEE WHAT I SEE
- HEAR WHAT I HEAR
- READ WHAT I READ
- FEEL WHAT I FEEL
- LEARN WHAT I LEARNED/ KNOW WHAT I KNOW
- UNDERSTAND WHAT I UNDERSTAND
3. NO CLUTTER:
The "sharing possibilities" will be filtered down, to leave only the necessary/desired minimum of functions.
Additionally, there will be some limits to the size/format of each input/entry (eg. Twitter-like limit on characters).
4. DIGITAL: FROM NOT-TREASURED TO TREASURED:
Abundance of digital content leads/led(?) to its devaluation. I also want to address this 'phenomenon' and will
try to design my device (functionally, aesthetically) in a way, that would maximize its chances of being 'treasured'
by its users.
My guesses are that - mechanical elements/details (eg.'cuckoo' figurine appearing from its little house and knocking
on the LCD display, each time a new entry arrives), personalization (might this 'cuckoo' resemble your 'older daughter'?)
and honest, well-ageing materials - could influence the device's 'treasure-ability'.
5. NOT TOO CUTE, PROVIDING A BASE
Weasley Clock's hands are made of scissor-hands. Each of them is engraved with each family member's name.
I will try to replicate this 'cute physicality' in my device. Yet, I will also bear in mind that there should be a limit
to its 'cuteness', so as not to bore/ embarrass the users. The 'cuteness' should come from the changing content,
probably. So, in a sense, providing users with a canvas.
6. SO WHAT IT IS, IN THE END?
The proposed device/system will be a social network (with intentionally limited audience), allowing its users to share
information (text, image, sound) between each other, manifested in a 3d/physical/real-world object.
It will also be a physical life log for the family, which owns it.