Studios

The TEI 2011 Studios program is an opportunity for members of the TEI community to share and explore common interests in hands-on activities. The TEI 2011 Studios offer novel practical experiences to conference attendees covering a diverse set of techniques, skills and technical knowledge levels. TEI 2011 Studios will take place on Sunday 23rd of Jan 2011 and the program includes investigations of novel toolkits, experimentation with paper prototypes, game design exercises and much more – browse the list below for full information.

We are also pleased to announce that studio attendance is included in all TEI 2011 registrations – you can select three studios (in order of preference) during registration to TEI 2011 at no additional cost. (Some studios may have a small fee to cover the cost of materials)

Finally, while we hope to be able to ensure that all TEI 2011 attendees get their first choice of studio, available places will be subject to demand and this may not always be possible. Register early!

Studio List


Studio Abstracts


Studio 1. A Toolkit for Tinkering with Tangibles & Connecting Communities
In this hands-on Studio, you’ll explore Modkit, a new toolkit for creating tangible interfaces (e.g., bike handlebars with interactive lights and sounds). Modkit makes it possible for novices and experienced programmers to bring tangibles to life by offering graphical command blocks inspired by the Scratch Programming Environment. Modkit tools work with the Arduino platform’s C/C++ library to enable users to participate in a community rich with project ideas and sample files. Modkit supports multiple representations of code – graphical command blocks can become editable text-based code to offer additional avenues for learning and sharing. The Studio welcomes members of the research, industrial, academic, maker, and I-just-want-to-have fun communities of all experience levels to participate. Participants will have opportunities to use Modkit in personally-meaningful ways. Participants who wish to extend Modkit tools with new functionality will have opportunities to do so. The organizers will conclude the Studio with a discussion around activities, example projects, and approaches to adapting the toolkit to different settings. Participants will contribute to brainstorming about potential uses, future directions, and collaborations.
Edward Baafi (MIT Media Lab) & Amon Millner
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Studio 2. Bizarro Game Controllers Studio
Tangible interfaces are increasingly becoming commercially available products in the current generation of game controllers like the Nintendo Wii Remote, Microsoft’s Kinect, and Sony’s Eye. Tangible interaction researchers and designers can push the envelope of game controllers by thinking creatively about input device design. At the same time, the constraints of controlling a playable game can provide us with a fun, engaging, and useful design exercise.
Amanda Williams (Wyld Collective Ltd/Concordia University) & Eric Kabisch
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Studio 3. Building Interactive Systems Using Unconventional Electronics
Many interactive systems use “conventional” silicon- based sensors and electronics that limit their functionality and scalability. Organic, amorphous inorganic, and other “unconventional” electronics are ideal for applications that require mechanical flexibility or large-area sensing. In this studio participants will use simple control electronics and a range of unconventional materials to design and build a custom interactive system that combines organic light-emitting diodes and piezoelectric pressure sensors.
John Sarik (Columbia Laboratory for Unconventional Electronics) & Ioannis Kymissis
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Studio 4. Cardboard Modeling
Central to this studio is the question of how to design for rich and embodied (meaningful) interaction. We approach this question from a designerly perspective and find inspiration in the theory of ecological perception and in the domain of tangible and embodied interaction. As we aim for a meaningful interaction style that is firmly rooted in human experience and the diverse human skills, we present cardboard modeling as a designerly exploration tool that offers experiential insight into the solution domain of a given interaction design challenge. The studio has two distinct parts: part one aims at familiarizing the participants with the cardboard modeling technique and part two emphasizes the use of the cardboard modeling technique as an instrument to explore meaningful interaction. During the second part of the studio also the quality of the interaction solutions are discussed through presentations. The studio runs from 9.30h to approximately 17.00h.
Joep Frens (Eindhoven University of Technology)
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Studio 5. Do-it-Yourself Creation of Pervasive, Tangible Applications
As technology advances and becomes more pervasive, the DiY (Do-it-Yourself) paradigm that emerged on the furniture & home decoration market in the 70’s is now experiencing a second birth in the digital realm. Continuing from the prosumer paradigm, where people are allowed not only to surf a network obtaining content and information, but also (co-)create such elements themselves, the user-centered participation is expected to further increase beyond the Web 2.0 as we know it. In line with the supporting ITEA2 DiY Smart Experiences (DiYSE) project, this studio aims to offer participants the opportunity to create, design and share pervasive applications within the smart space ecosystem provided by the DiYSE framework and its development methodology.
Ivan Marsa-Maestre(Universidad de Alcala, Spain) & many
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Studio 8. Fine Bookbinding Meets Electronics
As technologies, finely bound books are compact, durable forms that get passed from one generation to the next. As handcrafted objects, they exemplify manual control and dexterity, patience and care, and continuity with the past. Paper-based electronic books, by contrast, are relatively new objects that enable novel interactions with material. Here we explore connections between centuries-old and contemporary building techniques by adding electronics to traditional binding. What kinds of details would be interesting to learn about the past? How could we use conductive fibers to talk to the future? What could gilded edges tell us about our interactions with books? In this studio, participants will build basic bookbinding and e-textiles skills to enable new material explorations.
Daniela Rosner (UC Berkeley) & Hannah Perner-Wilson, Jie Qi, Leah Buechley
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Studio 11. Napkin Schematics
In the Napkin Schematics Studio, tangible interaction designers who have basic experience with microcontrollers (for example, Arduino) will brainstorm about project design and development with the guidance of an experienced electronics designer. Each attendee will receive a free kit of parts for building. Then, working in small groups, the participants will build working prototypes of selected designs from the brainstorming session.
Nathan Seidle (SparkFun Electronics)
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Studio 12. Prototyping with Microsoft Gadgeteer
Microsoft Gadgeteer is a new prototyping platform that makes it easier to construct, program and shape new kinds of computing objects. It is comprised of modular hardware, software libraries and 3D CAD support. Together, these elements support the key activities involved both in the rapid prototyping and the small- scale production of custom embedded, interactive and connected devices. We propose to organize and run a studio at TEI 2010 where participants are introduced to the platform and its capabilities. Participants will work in groups, assembling electronic modules, writing software and designing a case or enclosure for their device. The end-result will be that each group develops a fully functional device, which can be exhibited at the TEI demo session.
Nicolas Villar (Microsoft Research) & James Scott, Steve Hodges
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Studio 13. SketchChair
“SketchChair” is an application that allows novice users to take part in the entire process of designing and fabricating their own full-sized usable chairs from scratch. During the studio, participants will be able to design, build and take home their own scale model paper chair. Participants will be introduced to “SketchChair” whilst learning how to use a paper cutting plotter to make slice form models. Furthermore we will discuss the considerations around designing tools for customization and CNC production.
Greg Saul (Igarashi) & Takeo Igarashi
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Studio 15. Hack Your Seeeduino Film
Have you always wanted a smaller Arduino for your project? Seeed Studio brings you the Seeeduino Film, an Arduino compatible development board on Flexible Printed Circuit that can be cut, chained, and rolled up to fit in your most compact design. Participants for this hands-on studio will receive their own Seeeduino Film, work in small groups, and create interactive applications. Various electronic components, some code snippets, and just enough inspirations will be provided to help you hack. Projects will later be exhibited to the TEI community.
Cheng Xu & Paulo Coelho
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