The Humanisation of Technology

THE HUMANISATION OF TECHNOLOGY: inclusivity in a divided world

EMILY WRIGHT THE FUTURE LABORATORY

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METHODOLOGY

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SNAPCHAT

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SECTORS

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GAMING

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GENDER

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RETAIL

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WEARABLES

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CASE STUDIES

- WHIRLPOOL 2.0

- AUDI PROLOGUE

- MONUMENT VALLEY -MSSNG

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THE FAMILY TABLE

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BOARD GAMES

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CURRENT CONSUMER

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THE INDIVIDUAL-ILY

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PILLARS -ESCAPISM -EDUCATION -DISCOVERY

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‘COUNTER 3.0’

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‘COUNTER 3.0’ POTENTIAL

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SCRIPT

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METHODOLOGY

By using Snapchat to ask people their thoughts on Gaming and Gamers, gave us their first thoughts as the application is an opportunity for instant question and answer.

We found the group ‘Drink Geek’ on a local search of Nottingham on a meet up website.

They are a group who meet up in a social situation and discuss their current gaming activities.

We decided to get in contact and ask to be invited to a meet up with the regulars in order to get a better idea of how they feel about the gaming industry.

As a group of three girls who do not game regularly, it was vital to get all angles of how people view gaming and where the problems lie with people.

Paris Stalker is a 24 year old independent game developer.

By speaking with him and viewing his games first hand, we can gain more knowledge. How someone who has gamed their whole lives and now is producing new innovative work, where they think the gaming industry is going, and what they think needs to happen for audiences.

GameDevMap is a website which provides a search engine for developers, publishers, organisations, mobile/hand-held and online developers in order to view their work and get in contact.

We made sure we considered the independent developers as well as the mainstream gaming companies, as these hold the potential to grow and could show the feel of future gaming.

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By using Snapchat to ask people their thoughts on Gaming and Gamers, gave us their first thoughts as the application is an opportunity for instant question and answer.

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SECTORS From our previous presentation, we continued to look into our sectors of Feminism, Gaming and The Bionic in order to choose one to strengthen.

After looking at our sectors again, we decided that we would focus on the gaming sector. As although the game releases with new technologies are rapidly growing, the way gaming is retailed and who is included within this industry hasn’t changed in about a decade.

Inclusivity will stay our focus of the project as we feel this is something which will be fundamental in the future of humanising technology.

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GAMING Looking into what words people currently associate with gaming, we can then look into what needs to change with peoples stigmas.

We found that a lot of words were repeated, showing that the mutual feeling towards gaming is that its for males and adrenaline based games for those to escape.

When asked about gaming, respondents automatically assume we mean games consoles and often didn’t include their thoughts on mobile gaming.

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ITS CLEAR SOMETHING NEEDS TO CHANGE IN THE GAMING INDUSTRY.

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GENDER As recently suggest technology has aspects of gender division. We feel this has to stop.

Retail is mainly aimed at women whilst gaming has a dominant male following. Mainly male designers, producers and players.

Leaving little room for women to flourish in this area.

As with gaming, retail struggles to find a middle ground that males can fully relate to. Store layout and consent has not adapted to the modern man.

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RETAIL

retail is a sector that is struggling to find an appropriate balance for both men and women.

Gender neutral fashion is becoming current, with popups such as Agender by Selfridges.

Gaming shops are not engaging women and not attempting to make them their target audience. After speaking with a gaming shop manager, he stated that the layout of his store has not changed in over a decade.

An aim for this project is to include genders in areas which they were not once considered included.

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WEARABLES

Wearable technology has been a consuming aspect of our life. Apple’s watch is the latest and greatest to emerge.

They keep you aware of your body but not everybody around you.

This type of technology is for individual use only. Becoming reliant on a device that serves only you can be detrimental to our social inclusiveness, no longer asking friends for advice or information.

Due to the recent political climate it is key that people remain a community as much as possible.

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WEARABLES Companies are implanting microchips into employers for use around the workplace.

Microchips can be embedded into your body, tracking your every move and health concern.

As technology moves further into treatment with remote consultations, monitoring and operations, robotic treatments, and advanced digital diagnosis, Google has seen the opportunity to apply its own eye-wear technology to the healthcare field. The next step from their ‘google glass’.

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WHIRLPOOL 2.0 Whirlpool announced the Interactive Kitchen of the Future 2.0.

A concept cooking environment where the back splash and worktop connects you to your social networks, favourite websites, and recipes for customised meal and guest planning.

The interactive back splash also has personalised touch screens that enable you to live ‘chat’ with friends and family when you’re in need of some cooking help.

This Whirlpool kitchen also includes an oven that will turn on just in time to ensure dinner is ready, as well as a refrigerator that sends an alert notification when food is at its freshest.

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AUDI PROLOGUE It is progressive and highly emotional; it expresses the technological competence and quality claim of the brand perfectly. The Audi prologue is its first proponent – it is a ‘signature car’ for Audi.”

The car recognises the users climate, seat and music preferences in order to be personalised for all users.

Along with handle-less doors, The new type of front passenger display enables digital interaction between the driver and front passenger for the first time.

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MONUMENT VALLEY

Referred to by The Guardian as ‘a beautiful thing’, Monument Valley is an architectural puzzle game created for iPhone and iPad. The game guides players through light, abstract shapes and visuals, with a unique, artistic design elements running throughout.

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The game has won critical acclaim from reviewers, journalists and App Store rates and has been selling with speed, topping Apples paid charts around the globe.

Monument Valley provides solid proof that a game not marketed and created with the stereotypical gamer in mind can still be a profitable success.

MSSNG Designers, artists, and technicians have been taking elements of the sectors and adapting them as their own.

Technology is changing the way art is made from laser beams to data gathered on air pollution.

This one example shows how an artist has used both sectors to produce an exhibition which tackles the views of autism.

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THE FAMILY TABLE

“The decline of family meals has led to the erosion of social skills among youngsters, despite the fact that it is increasingly becoming clear for the future that an ability to get on with people and share ideas will be just as vital in the workplace as the ability to master English and maths.�

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BOARD GAMES

The decline of traditional family meals is robbing children of vital social skills Boys and girls are growing up lacking the ability to make conversation with adults, share ideas and use good manners because of a drop in old-fashioned dining arrangements, it is claimed.

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PARIS CONSUMER PROFILE 24 YEARS OLD

FOUNDER OF ‘ALL IN’

ATTENDS NEW GAME EVENTS

CURRENT CONSUMER: Paris Stalker is a 24 year old game company founder.

When asked what he thinks is missing in gaming, Paris replied: “Probably more female perspectives, and big budget games that don’t focus on hyper violence and shooting as their core game-play. It’d be like if Hollywood summer blockbusters were the only big budget films in existence. I think this is all gradually changing”

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“When you live your life on Twitter and Facebook, and are only friends with like minded people on Twitter and Facebook, you are not living in the real world. You are living in a narcissistic echo chamber. No wonder it has come as such a surprise to so many that not everyone shares the same world view."

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THE INDIVIDUAL-ILY

From the words individual and family The Stalkers are a family of 5 adults.

They struggle to communicate and spend quality time together.

Aims to illuminate this type of exclusion.

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ESCAPISM

EDUCATION

DISCOVERY

Our research led to use trying to understand how women and men game differently. The results showed, they don’t.

Entrepreneurs, designers and producers who were instrumental in forming the commercial game industry—now seem to be using their talents to build social impact games and educational games.

Video games are increasingly as much an artist’s medium as an adolescent pastime.

Gaming can encourage multi-player interaction as well as escapism into a virtual world. This version of gaming is what interested us the most.

Many gamers do not associate with the word ‘gamer’ due to the negative stigma attached to the word.

Video games are essentially complex systems that very young children can learn to navigate very quickly.

What if we could leverage the skill with which games teach players to play. What if we could use similar strategies to help students to master traditional academic content?

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Technology and App explosion has given a canvas for some artists to make some gorgeous, brutal, and astonishing work using video games. A platform which was not always available.

Gaming can also be used to discover traits about yourself that you never knew you had.

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The current gaming retail sector has gone round in circles in terms of growing with social changes.

Retail outside of gaming is growing with the hope to include more audiences, however little has changed in gaming other than the technologies used to game.

Games are still orientated to either adrenaline or diamonds and flowers, something which we would not accept in other areas such as apparel, so why gaming?

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COUNTER 3.0 IS REINVENTING WHAT WE KNOW AS THE FAMILY TABLE.

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‘Counter 3.0’ reacts to human presence with a series of 1000 motors built into its frame.

Restaurants have begun to sweep interactive tables. Touch technology replaces human contact.

We were supposed to have ‘paperless’ offices over a decade ago. Electronic paper is changing the way we read.

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You can share, introduce and exhibit the games you are immersed in for your family and friends to see. Interact and edit the graphics and be in control of your own world whilst being in an inclusive environment.

This product will change the face of gaming as we already know it, giving ‘non-gamers’ the opportunity to game interactively.

Sensory activation means that users are not restricted to remotes and sitting down.

‘Counter 3.0’ acts as a digital sheet and is transportable.

Domestically, the sheet will become materialised in the families house hold.

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Counter 3.0 reacts with Heat sensors the counter can detect moods, stress levels and even health problems. Concerning individuals but jointly refining the situation.

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“SKIN CONDUCTIVITY, HEAT, TEMPERATURE, BREATHING PATTERNS AND EMOTIONAL STATE ALL EFFECT THE AESTHETIC OF THE PIECE, JUST AS OUR NEURAL EMOTIONS EFFECT OUR SKIN COLOUR ETC.”

‘Counter 3.0’ can strengthen you, improve you, and enhance you.

Swarovski Gemstone helmet by The Unseen can sense brain activity and detect feelings and emotions.

Users will not be restricted by remotes and controls, allowing the product to grow with you.

Counter 3.0 will recognise used through the use of a fob or finger print technology This can then be transferred in the future to different platforms once ‘Counter 3.0’ has the chance to develop.

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The future of ‘Counter 3.0’ will change the way you shop, the way you prepare food, the way you teach and how you game. This product will be implemented in all sectors which can benefit from the idea on inclusivity, connection and physical interaction helping to create a more exciting technology based community for generations to come.

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Gaming designers and producers are mainly men, we have understood that they don’t ‘hate women they just don’t understand them.’ This has have a ripple effect on how games are sold to women and how they play.

Retail contributors assume that men hate shopping, which again presents the issue that they are not understood. Which when in fact, men enjoy shopping, however are more tactile and display different behaviors when they shop.

Finally, this research will lead us to a concept that is inclusive, educates and continues to encourage discovery,

INTRODUCTION The gaming industry has become an entity marketed directly towards a specific tribe of straight, tech-savvy, males. Over time through graphics, content and advertising gaming has slowly developed an exclusive community and a faithful following.

This excludes a wide spanning selection of outside consumers. Not only does this perpetuate the gender division that is present within industries such as fashion and the economy. It also affects the technological progression of the gaming world. Due to games marketed towards a specific stereotype being perceived to be more profitable, it stunts the progression of diverse more innovative genres, characters, and visuals.

This is where Counter 3.0 will intervene. With the positive agenda of inclusivity at its core, Counter 3.0 is a concept which eliminates the stigma of gaming being merely an escape mechanism for the teenage geeks. It provides an experience tailored the needs, wants and aspirations of consumers as a collective and not just an individual.

In the last presentation inclusivity was discussed against the gaming sector and technology. We found that gaming can make an individual feel more included within society where they may have once struggled. Gaming can be used for educating ,discovery, and introducing a completely different world. From interviews we discovered that gaming can provoke emotion and feelings that one cannot achieve through normal life settings. The visuals allow a consumer to become apart world and culture that is not reachable.

As mentioned, retail is a sector that is struggling to find an appropriate balance for both men and women. Like gaming, retail has shown examples of excluding genders through visuals and characteristics.

This acknowledgment showed us how gender neutral fashion is becoming current, however not extremely popular, with many brands attempting to break this market.

We looked into Nike’s new sports collection and Selfridge’s gender neutral retail department. Observational research showed that the area was extremely small and therefore ineffective. Many people were confused with the concept, with no real education on this area.

The gaming and retail sector delivers the same type verdict. Gaming shops are not engaging women and not attempting to make them their target audience.

The main aim for this project is to include genders in areas which they were not once considered included. To blur the lines between ‘this is for boys only and ‘girls should do this.’ The outcome will focus on making gaming a platform which holds no gender divide.

- Gaming The future of gaming is predicted to grow in terms of user technology and multiplayer choices. Gaming as a pillar is a social trend that represents the sense of community an individual can feel when gaming. It represents how many people are using gaming as a means to escape. The stigma currently attached to gaming is negative, most participants refused to admit that they are a ‘gamer’. This is a view that we want to challenge.

-Education Designers are beginning to use gaming as a tool for education. They are aiming to build social impact and teach people through a creative and diverse platform. Unlike any other platform, gaming allows an individual to change their image completely, acting as an altered version of themselves. We have seen how technology is being used to educate communities. This will be discussed further into this presentation.

-Discovery Video games are increasingly becoming a medium for an artist to be expressive and creative. The digital boom have given a canvas for some artists to make video games, these games are pushing the boundaries of modern art.

To conclude, our research beforehand has led us to believe that the gaming sector is one that has tons of opportunity which has not yet been considered.

BEFORE 3.0 -Wearable technology has been a consuming aspect of our life. Apple’s watch is the latest and greatest to emerge. Giving consumers the option to always track their actions.

-We use wearables to monitor our health, productivity, and finances. Allowing people to become fully immersed in themselves. However, they keep you aware of your body but not everybody. Proving to act as quite a selfish device.

-This type of technology is for individual use only. Becoming reliant on a device that serves only you can be detrimental to our social inclusiveness. We have found that people who use wearables tend to connect less to people. For example, not asking people for advice or help, not having an exercise partner etc.

-We do not want to say wearables are completely negative, we want to show that there is a gap in the market to expand on the technology which provides for you.

-A Swedish company this year have implanted microchips into their employers which allows them to pay for their lunch and use the photocopier.

-A massive technological trend has made it easier for people. Encouraging people not to worry about passwords and different cards which connect them to technology.

-Microchips are embedded into your body, tracking your every move and health concern. Like the wearables, the chips are mechanism of technology that is for individual use only. This technology does not include you or encourage any of the above social trends.

52% of all gamers are women. Women age 18 or older represent a significantly greater portion of the game-playing population (36%) than boys age 18 or younger (17%) 62% of all gamers play games with others. 32% with their family and 42% with friends.

PARIS Paris is a 24year old from Canterbury. After studying game design at university, he has now started up his own independent game company called ‘All In’ with his brother. He games from all areas of the industry, however he likes to support independents and up and coming games with different genres, also attending events where he can learn about new games which aren’t available from the main retail sector.

When asked what he thought was missing from gaming, he replied with “Probably more female perspectives, and big budget games that don’t focus on hyper violence and shooting as their core game-play. It’d be like if Hollywood summer blockbusters were the only big budget films in existence. I think this is all gradually changing”.

PENDING 3.0 After re-evaluating our feedback it became clear that we needed to look into new innovative forms of gaming expression to inspire our execution. Monument Valley provided a brilliant case study into more emotive gaming and acted as necessary visual inspiration for our own concept. Referred to by The Guardian as ‘a beautiful thing’, Monument Valley is an architectural puzzle game created for iPhone and iPad.

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The game guides players through light, abstract shapes and visuals, with a unique, artistic design elements running throughout. The game has won critical acclaim from reviewers, journalists and App Store rates and has been selling with speed, topping Apples paid charts around the globe. Monument Valley provides solid proof that a game not marketed and created with the stereotypical gamer in mind can still be a profitable success.

environment where the backsplash and worktop connects you to your social networks, favourite websites, and recipes for customised meal and guest planning, without added devices or books. The interactive back splash also has personalised touch screens that enable you to live ‘chat’ with friends and family when you’re in need of some cooking help. This Whirlpool kitchen also includes an oven that will turn on just in time to ensure dinner is ready, as well as a refrigerator that sends an alert notification when food is at its freshest.

The Individual-ily We touched upon our potential middle man consumer in our prior presentation, now we have delved deeper into his character and from him have been able to create a consumer tribe that encompasses not only him as an individual but his family dynamic.

Individual-ly is the modern family unit. 1 mother and 4 children living fast paced, busy lifestyles that aren’t always easy to intertwine. With school, university and work, this collective are always on the go, using technology as a tool for communication between them, however what sets them apart from the majority are their strong family values.

P3 will take this consumer tribe and create an environment where they can interact with each other and technology finding common ground amidst their diverse tastes, interests and age gaps.

Inspiration from designers such as MIT. This shape-shifting device reacts to human presence with a series of 1000 motors built into its frame.

Restaurants have begun to sweep interactive tables as a way of changing regular dining experiences. Touch technology replaces human contact We were supposed to have ‘paperless’ offices over a decade ago. From early starts like Sony’s eReader to the all-popular Amazon Kindle, electronic paper is changing the way we read.

COUNTER 3.0 The ‘counter 3.0’ has been developed with its future potentials in mind. Products that stand the test of time, grow with the times and this is how ‘counter 3.0’ is the future of humanising technology.

Counter 3.0 was born from the classic piece of gaming equipment and 3.0, web 3.0 being “not only communicative, but also cooperative.”

As the original concept is a domestic product, this opens the potential for it to then be introduced into public sectors such as travel and hospitality. Although this could mean ‘counter 3.0’ could lose it’s morals. In order to keep ‘counter 3.0’s integrity, it could be used as at restaurants for more than one diner for example. As ‘counter 3.0’ is merely a concept, the opportunities for it to develop into further products other than the table.

The possibility for ‘Counter 3.0’ to develop into something that isn’t domestic is also an option. Looking at the history of board games, they are an object, which can be taken from location to location such as holidays and gatherings. In the future, this could be the case for taking ‘Counter 3.0’ to more unconventional events such as festivals and days out.

The potential ‘counter 3.0’ is something that is infinite, as the idea of inclusivity within the family; to then grow into the public is welcomed. Looking at the adoption times of technology since the radio, being 38 years to get to 50 million users, to Facebook, which took 3.6 years and then to the iPad, which took 80 days. We can see that the time is only decreasing and new releases in technology are more frequent then ever.

Holding hope that once new elements or locations are released for ‘counter 3.0’ the public will adapt rapidly.

The option to collaborate at some point during ‘counter 3.0’s lifetime is something we have considered. 49% of Millennials support social tools for workplace collaboration.

Actually, about 40% of Millennials (who are soon to make the majority of the workforce) would even pay out of pocket for social collaboration tools to improve productivity. Inclusivity is important to collaboration as bringing people together in order to avoid the over use of communications such as email.

Stats 974 million twitter accounts 500 million tweets sent per day

We were inspired by the concept of the family dinner table and how we could reinvent the physical elements with a technologically innovative edge. However after researching the case studies about the progression of the ‘table’ within retail and understanding the advances that had already been made, the physical use of a table became an unnecessary feature in our execution, whilst the concept of what the table represents, i.e. family and inclusivity became our priority.

Board games are part of all our childhoods. They remind us of Christmas, rainy weekends and English holidays. We agreed that our families feel more together around a board, reinforcing family time no matter how old you are.

-With the incline of tablets and smart phones the younger generation are missing out on gathering around a table and interacting.

-This was a valuable part of our research process which has shaped our concept.

We have noticed gaps between technology and art where the lines have been blurred.

Designers, artists, and technicians have been taking elements of the sectors and adapting them as their own.

Technology is changing the way art is made from laser beams to data gathered on air pollution.

This one example shows how an artist has used both sectors to produce an exhibition, which tackles the views of autism.

The project marks collaboration between Autism Speaks, an autism advocacy organization, Google, and the Centre for Applied Genomics. The database, the world’s largest, is an unprecedented attempt at trying to shed a clearer light on an oftenmisunderstood disorder We discovered restaurants that adopted interactive ordering systems whereby diners place orders from an illustrated food and drinks menu projected onto their table surface. Furniture is developing with technology more than every before, adapting to the advances in other industries and creating a quicker more fast paced environment for families within their homes.

WHIRLPOOL Whirlpool debuted the Interactive Kitchen of the Future 2.0, a concept cooking

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AUDI Small aluminum mirrors integrate open-door sensors, so the handle-less doors open automatically when they sense someone approaching. Inside, the vehicle’s “butler” – a software program that identifies passengers based on their smart phones – welcomes them politely and adjusts seating preferences, climate-control settings and music accordingly.

COMPONENTS -Based on other existing technologies, Counter 3.0 has many components that will strengthen you, improve you, and enhance you.

-Firstly, Counter 3.0 offers sensory activation meaning that no user will be restricted to remotes or controls. This is so all people can use the concept and not just game players. The sheet will react by your body, giving you full control and allowing the product to grow with you.

-Like the Swarovski Gemstone helmet by The Unseen, our product will sense brain activity and detect feelings and emotions. The helmet shown absorbs energy loss from the head and changes colour depending on the individual and circumstance. “Skin conductivity, heat, temperature, breathing patterns and emotional state all effect the aesthetic of the piece, just as our neural emotions effect our skin colour etc.”

-Counter 3.0 is unstoppable. With the finger print technology allowing a consumer to activate, complete control will be in their hands. The counter will also detect the status of the other users to you individually. Soon the fingerprint recognition will be used across different platforms, users will be able to connect to their account when shopping, eating, traveling and more.

POTENTIAL Our main target is audiences that are in large families which can’t always find time to interact and socialise. We have seen the importance in togetherness and inclusivity.

Counter 3.0 is for the man/women who wants to be with their friends and family, sharing their interests and playing. Social trends have displayed patterns in areas of education, discovery and technology which is something Counter 3.0 thrives in. We understand that Counter 3.0 is not for every game player, but it does exist for many individuals who need a product such as this.

49% of Millennials support social tools for workplace collaboration 40% of Millennials would pay for social collaboration tools Counter 3.0 will change the way you shop, the way you prepare food, the way you teach and how you game. This product will soon be implemented in all sectors which can benefit from the idea on inclusivity, connection and physical interaction helping to create a more exciting technology based community for generations to come.

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GAME OVER

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