What would it mean when an electronic device knows more about your partners state than you do? Or can predict an incoming bout of misery through statistical analysis of accumulated data? When can technology become too invasive?

Happylife demonstrates a scary vision of what the collection and presentation of data can look like. The installation accumulates, processes and displays human feelings and by doing so, it furthermore learns to predict changes in mood and behavior. It’s a research project by EPSRC, Royal College of Art and NESTA and was part of the Impact exhibition, a collaboration between science and design that explores the importance of engineering and physical sciences in all aspects of our lives.

How it works

Real-time dynamic passive profiling technique will be based on the modelling of facial expressions, eye movement and pupil changes in both the visual and thermal domains and link these to malicious intent and physiological processes (such as blood flow, eye movement patterns, and pupil dilation). To facilitate this process, one of the initial aspects of the project is the collection, analysis and development of the dataset used to model the baseline of facial imagery behaviour of the general population against which physiological behaviours in people with malicious intent would need to be detected. Both the baseline and the dynamic profiling will be based on the response to a series of questions.

The data is represented on a visual display linked to the thermal image camera. This employs facial recognition to differentiate between members of the family. Each member has one rotary dial and one RGB LED display effectively acting like emotional barometers. These show current state and predicted state, the predicted state being based on years of accumulated statistical data.

Digging in the Crates is an interactive installation which offers possibilities to explore Sampling as a production technology of modern music. While dynamic data visualizations will be navigated using modified turntables, information graphics as well as auditory contributions helping to understand complex contents and relations.

The minimal visual style, focused on the essential information, achieves to act as display and interface at the same time. Both, the installation itself and the documentation are supported by fine crafted infographics explaining functionality and background of the project.

Digging in the Crates is the Diploma Thesis of Roland Loesslein, student at the University of Applied Sciences in Augsburg, Germany. He’s also the creator of The Human’s Developement, winner of Silver at Malofiej 18 and we’ve covered some of Rolands previous works here.

Flyfire, a project initiated by the SENSEable City Laboratory in collaboration with ARES Lab aims to transform any ordinary space into a highly immersive and interactive display environment.

In its first implementation, the Flyfire project sets out to explore the capabilities of this display system by using a large number of self-organizing micro helicopters. Each helicopter contains small LEDs and acts as a smart pixel. Through precisely controlled movements, the helicopters perform elaborate and synchronized motions and form an elastic display surface for any desired scenario.

Unlike traditional displays that can only be seen from the front, Flyfire becomes a three dimensional immersive display that can be experienced from all directions. This opens up countless possibilities to present data either in an ambient or explicit manner.

Flyfire is conceived as a public space installation, in which the pixels recharge every few minutes and then perform in space. The performance of the display is clearly dependent on the performance of the technology. Battery lifetime and wireless communication are key factors here. It aims to be a step towards ‘smart dust‘ — the idea that computing is becoming increasingly smaller, addressable, pervasive – and persuasive.

The look of Flyfire reminded me of NOVA, an installation at the central station in Zürich created by the Computer Graphics Laboratory ETH Zürich.