INDN 212: Form

I have decided to go with the idea of a model that measures your heart rate: Because this thing is so small and the shape is completely up to me, it needs to be perfect. The form has to be link back to the original themes/ideas/concepts that drive the design, things like the body and expanding its abilities and the heard and cardiovascular system (try and find an aesthetic direction from that!?)

The first ideas looked at the shape of the hexagon and how the lights would be incorporated onto the form of it with circles. Even though it is very geometric, the hexagon reoccurs in nature quite allot, bees obviously come to mind, but there are also rock formations and snow flake patterns that are hexagon shaped.


The ideas need further development from here but they are a solid start.

INDN 212 Project 2: feasability

I found an article on forbes.com  about the implementation of RFID chips in peoples hands, which proves that putting tech in people is not only feasible but could also be quite easy. If I could find a way to streamline the implementation it could make it alot more accessible to people and also less of a painful ordeal.

hmmmmmmmmm more food for though.

INDN 212 Project 2: Research and ideas

I have been doing alot of research into body modifications like subdermal and transdermal implants for ideas on how implanting things in the skin will work. I've been learning about the types of metals that the body is more likely to accept (there is always a risk of rejection with this stuff).

I have come up with two ideas so far that I would like to work on;

1. Heart moniter
I thought of the idea of having a small light in your arm that would light up to the beat of your pulse, I looked at these sports watches and how they read athletes pulses, I don't think it would be too hard to gut one of them and reverse engineer it to work with a simple LED under the skin. The focus of this idea is just to have a constantly available reference for your pulse instead of having to read it with your fingers, plus having a constantly blipping light that you knew represented your pulse would probably be quite soothing. It would obviously need some kind of battery cap thing so that the battery could be replaced, bu that could be in the form of a transdermal part with a removable cap.

2. USB storage
Another idea was that I could implant a USB under my skin, I have the horrible ability to be able to loose nearly portable storage device I get, but if I had it implanted in myself then I wouldn't have to worry about that. This would have to be an entirely transdermal device and it would mean that I would need to have a plug in my arm and carry a USB cable around with me at nearly all times, but unless I could come up with some kind of very compact cord that could unwind?
Wheres the light? well when USB devices are being accessed by a computer they usually have a fashing light to reassure the person that they are indeed working. Yes the idea is a little bit shallow but it needs more development and exploration, but that's the intention.

These ideas are still very young and need more exploration, but they are a start.

INDN 212 Project 2: Implants and their relation to the project

My project is going to revolve around the idea of functional subdermal and transdermal implants. I will give a quick definition of them here;

Subdermal implants are implants that are placed under the skin (dermis) entirely covered by the skin, their main use today is in the Norplant contraception implant which is a series of bars placed under the skin in the upper arm in women. However they have formed a bit of a more devious reputation in the underground body modification scene; people have gotten silicon molds of certain shapes surgically implanted under their skin. After it is completely healed the person has that shape protruding from the surface of their skin. The problem with these more drastic aesthetic modifications is that the people who perform the operations are not licensed to use anesthetics and so the only relief you can before they cut you open is a bucket of ice if your lucky.

Transdermal implants are implants that go underneath the skin but are also on the outside aswell. One of the most interesting uses for them: Pierced Glasses by James Sooy and Oliver Gibson where they pierced a bar into the skin in their noses. This then gives them a frame from which to hang the lenses of a pair of glasses, meaning that you will have a persistent pair of removable glasses (they can un-clip from the bar in the nose), but that will not fall off.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

However these do have a similar underground group like the subdermal implants, some people get "horns" inplanted in their skulls. There are still issues with this though in that there are no qualified surgeons willing to do the procedure, so your stuck with another bucket of ice.

WHY!?

I decided to go with implants and the idea of body modification because it is something that I find incredibly fascinating and an idea that hasn't really been pushed far enough in my opinion, but also because of its potential to create a very strong project. When you start working with the human body there is the potential for so many different outputs and inputs, for so many different responses as the brief says. When working with peoples skin and body there is the potential to add whole other ranges of senses that people have never even though a human could experience before, just look at the example of people implanting small magnets in their fingers. It gives them the ability to feel electrical fields through proximity, once a sense restricted to some fish and eels this is now something that humans can experience aswell (something incredibly relevant to our digital age).

I want to explore the idea of adding depth and functionality to the human body itself, not just the things that we surround it with.

Sensory ethnography: Project 1 Final Submission

Well this took a long time, but at least its done. My final submission for CCDN 231 Project 1: Senseory Ethnography is as follows:

P.S. Its better to look at the images than just read the text (I spent alot of time on them!)

With this assignment I Documented the ethnography of putting on a jacket with five different participants, the intention of this was to research the different ways that they “unbunched” the jacket on their back and also the different areas on the jacket they touched while the whole process was happening.

In order to record this information I got each participant to put the jacket on with their hands covered in chalk so that their hand-prints would show up on the comparatively dark material of the jacket. This process was also filmed from start to finish and then the areas of the jacket that were coated in chalk were then photographed, the results are as follows:

Participant 1:
David Kirschberg

Participant 1 grabbed the jacket from the collars right side with his left hand which allowed him to put his right arm through the right sleeve. This then gave him more freedom to control the jacket with his right hand once it was through the sleeve –he is right handed- allowing him to adjust it while his left hand through the left sleeve. He then used the momentum of the jacket travelling up his left arm to assist him in unbunching the back by rolling his shoulders and tugging the bottom of the jacket back down. This left very little of the overall jacket touched by chalk as a lot of the movement was done by his shoulders. Commendations should be given to Participant 1.

Participant 2:
Gideon Soares

Participant 2 was less confident with the jacket than Participant 1, he first grabbed it with his right hand by the collar and then swapped hands in order to insert his right arm into the right sleeve, he is also right handed. However Participant 2 did this differently, he lifted his right arm up and used gravity coupled with his left hand on the right half of the chest of the jacket to pull it through. He then reached back with his left arm and pulled the left half of the jacket forward as he had not pulled the right half all the way to his shoulder. He then employed a similar “rolling” technique to Participant 1, however this also was not as effective as the shoulders were still slightly bunched up which had to be manually repaired by the subjects left hand. This was followed by much more fluffing about trying to get the chest to sit right. This resulted in a very high chalk coating on the jacket after the subject  had finished, however Participant 2 did do something unexpected that the previous had not; he popped the collar. Participant 2 understood that style must still be taken into consideration.

Participant 3
Jaemyn Toa

Participant 3 approached the jacket cautiously, first picking it up with two hands. However once he seemed sure that it was harmless he dived into it, inserting his right and then left arms increadibly fast. However this created a problem in that Participant 3 had not employed (or even attempted to employ as in the case of Participant 2) any kind of “roll” or subsequent technique to alight the back and collar of the jacket accurately. This meant that Participant 3s initial vigour was followed by a lot of tugging at the chest and collar to make it sit properly. In the end though, Participant 3 did seem to be proud of his accomplishment as he looked down at himself proudly and then also the camera for approval. While far from a perfect performance the jacket was sitting well. Approval was given.

Participant 4
NIlesh Lala

Participant 4 was the participant that seemed most at home with a jacket; his overall demeanour towards it was welcoming and he wasted no time covering himself with it. Unfortunately this relationship did not seem to be mutual as the jacket turned out to be a few sizes too big for him. However this did not hinder him and his right arm was soon in the jacket. This should be noted as Participant 4 was the only left handed subject but did not lead the insertion with his left hand. His technique for arm insertion was similar to Participant 2 in that he lifted his right arm up and used gravity coupled with his left hand pulling on the chest to pull the sleeve right up his arm. He then let the left shoulder continue around his back until it was resting in its rightful place first, before inserting his left arm into its sleeve. This allowed him to avoid the whole bunched-up-fabric-at-the-back issue that had been such a sticking point for the other Participants. After some minor adjustments Participant 4 was standing with an overall clean Jacket. It should be noted that his collar was also popped.

Participant 5
Ricky Situ

Participant 5s behaviour should be noted as it was the quickest form of jacket application. He employed a swinging technique that started with him inserting his right hand into its sleeve and pulling the collar around the back of his body with his left before his hand was even through to the cuff of its sleeve. This meant that there was very little bunching up of the back of the jacket and he had his left arm in swiftly with minimal adjusting. All that was required was a simple tug at the collar and bottom hem of the jacket and it was sitting perfectly with a collar that was pre-popped by the momentum of the swing.

INDN 212 Project 2: Ideas

One thing that I find incredibly fascinating is the idea of functional body modification. The idea that the body is a blank canvas is one that many people believe and is becoming more and more socially acceptable as things like tattoos and piercings enter "mainstream" society. But for me it still feels a little bit shallow, there is so much potential to add functions or abilities to the body with body modifications, but for the most part people have just stuck to aesthetics until very recently. Right now you can get tiny magnets placed under the skin in your fingers that give you the ability to "feel" electric feilds and there is also research going on to allow UV "nano-tattoos" to allow doctors to glean an insight into how your body is functioning.

There is so much potential to add or modify the functions of the body and so that is what I am planning on doing with this assignment, and before you start wondering the answer is yes: I am fully prepared to get this modification for myself.

After all, who knows how far it could go?

Well crap

Literally moments before taking photos, when the model was fully complete this happened:

I dropped it.

Initially I was going to try and fix it, but glueing this together would make it look like Frankenstein's monster. There's not much left to do but talk about it, so that's what I'm going to do.

Next time:

On rebuilding this object I would make it stronger. There is a problem with some of the parts in at they are very thin, this is what led to some parts being broken and is something that needs to be fixed. Obviously only to a certain extent as this is a necklace and something that is to be valued so there is no point making it incredibly durable. Maybe making it out of rubber would be a good idea? Though that doesn't really help the idea that is valuable though, something like stainless Steel or silver would be a better idea.

Also I won't drop it next time