This is an HCI class taught at PPGIA - PUCPR.

1. Wearable computing and
embodied interaction
Frederick van Amstel @fredvanamstel
Architecture and Design School - PUCPR
www.fredvanamstel.com

2. Computers are making us sedentary.

3. In part, this is because computers are created to interact
with the human mind, while ignoring the rest of the body.

4. There is an alternative to that called embodied interaction
(Dourish, 2001). In this perspective, humans interact with the
world through the active existence of their bodies in specific
situations, shaped by place, social norms and context.

5. Embodied interaction is a lens to look and to guide the
development of wearable computers (Van Dijk, 2018).

6. This is an abacus ring from ancient China (1616-1911
B.C.), a forerunner of wearable computing.

7. The Pulsar Calculator Watch was the first wearable that
could calculate, yet not compute (1975).

8. Wearable computers became viable and useful in the
1990’s (MIT Borg Lab).

9. Steve Mann is a pioneer in this field. His Mindmesh
(2012) tries to plug artificial senses to the brain.

10. The digital glasses developed and worn by Steve Mann
(1999) inspired the Google Glass project (2012).

11. A McDonald manager once tried to take away Steve
Mann’s glasses and was, of course, captured (2012).

12. Google Glass (2012-2015) failed to scale because it did
not take the body seriously.

13. Apple Watch (2015) was quite successful in approaching
the body as a source of behavioral and biometric data.

14. Apple also took into consideration that wearables, when
displayed in public, are subject to fashion trends.

15. Fashion accessories are also status symbols.

16. A lot of people are not satisfied with their bodies and
they are willing to use technology to change bodies.

17. The body has a biorhythm and a social rhythm which
wearables must fit in (Lefebvre, 2004).

18. Apple Watch still has a lot to improve in this regard
(Giovana Gamboa, 2018).

19. The Human Processor Model (Card, 1981) and its derived models
do not help understanding the human body.

20. Cognitivist body
• A mere physical support
for the mind (Descartes)
• A source of emotions
that distract the mind
(Hobbes)
• A disgusting thing you
cannot fully control
Videodrome (1983)

21. Phenomenological body
• A being that thinks
through the whole body
(Merleau-ponty)
• A political subject
(Foucault)
• A producer of spatial
relationships (Lefebvre)
Existenz (1999)

22. Computers are altering the way we understand and
interact with our world, much like cities did in the past.

23. Everyday activities are increasingly reliant on
computers, however, computer ergonomics is quite bad.

24. We cannot express and share tacit knowledge properly
with computers, like we do in an embodied world.

25. Most of the computer information is conveyed through
sight, thus requiring a lot of attention.

26. The computer reduces the human body to a device with
sight, hearing and touch (O’Sullivan and Igoe, 2004).

27. Even HCI often reduces the body to an abstract user
with no history, no gender, no political views.

28. Embodied Wearable Computing
• Computing power close to
the body
• Applications for specific
situations
• Interfaces that can be
used with peripheral
attention and senses
other than sight
• Personalized experiences

29. Quantified Self Movement: the right to collect, store and
visualize personal data (Feltron Annual Report, 2014).

30. Reporter App: and app to register everything you do in
the way you want.

31. Sleep trackers sometimes make sleep disorder worse by
raising anxiety around the habit (Baron et al, 2017).

32. Wearables raise ethical questions (Kevin Cruz, Patricia
Lupi e Walter Vianna, 2017).

33. The body may recognizes its conditioning and freedom
through criticism (Gonzatto & Van Amstel, 2017).

34. Computer hood for people who cares about privacy
(Joe Malia, 2004).

35. Embodied Suffering: to feel the anxiety of the other.
(Fernando Obieta, Gabriel Bach, Nadine Prigann, 2017)

36. Sarotis: wearable soft robots to feel being in virtual
spaces. (Maria Paneta, 2016)

37. Wearables can replace body functions and create human
hybrids (Wearable Artificial Kidney, 2015).

38. In sum, interactions always starts from a human body
and affects another human body (Hug Shirt, 2002).

39. Embodied interaction has the power to make visible these
alterity relations (Intimacy 2.0, Studio Roosegaarde).

40. Designing for
embodied interactions

41. Cognitivism reduces design activity to a mental
problem-solving procedure.

42. Design activity has a long history of embodied
interactions in studios (Bauhaus).

43. Theater turn any space into an embodied interaction
design studio (Gonzatto & Van Amstel, 2017).

44. Warm-up exercises
• Theater techniques for warming up the body:
the poitier bear, human knots and make a bus
with human bodies

45. Radical Bodystorming
• Create an wearable device to assist people
with these mental disorders: Amnesia,
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder,
Obsessive–compulsive disorder, Dyslexia,
Dyscalculia, Hypochondriasis or Narcolepsy
• Improvise and record the interactions afforded
by the wearable using your bodies
• Device's behavior should be represented by
one or more bodies

46. Prop fiction
• Replace device bodies for props
• Create a stage with the available furniture
• Record a video with a complete use scenario
for the wearable device

47. Thank you!
Frederick van Amstel @fredvanamstel
Architecture and Design School - PUCPR
www.fredvanamstel.com