Air Quality Egg Update

[Albert Chao]

Hi everyone,

It's been great to have seen so much discussion and interest in this project. It was recently presented at a Meetup in NYC and the support and conversation was phenomenal. This project is also in many ways an experiment in open collaboration; many individuals are researching and working on various aspects of design. Now, therefore, may be a good moment to recap as well as present the current status and future trajectory of the project. 

PAST WORKSHOPS 

Second Open Sensor Workshop in NYC (First was in Amsterdam) - December 2nd:

- Introduction to air quality sensing with a speaker line-up (quick bullet points):

• Ed Borden introduced with his experience in leading the first air quality workshop in Amsterdam. 
• Usman Haque discussed various aspects of distributed citizen sensing in relation to scientific sensing. He also discusses the aim to create not only more data, but scenarios in which individuals can act on the data.
• Tim Dye, from Air Now (EPA) discussed their position in relation to citizen sensing and issues of scale, accuracy, etc.
• Mark Shepard gives a larger context of related work (more info on the wiki).

- Workshop (1st part):

• Teams worked on concepts, which fell into different categories: industrial design, user scenario, interface, distribution.
• The initial concepts of the Air Quality Egg first emerged. Initial ideas focused on creating an object that would be highly conducive to play as well as foster a sense of ownership and empathy.

- Workshop (2nd part):

• Teams reconfigured into aforementioned categories to further brainstorm approaches in those areas.

 

Hardware - Workshop 3 in Amsterdam (led by Ed Borden):

- Tested particular sensors and approaches to calibration.

- Many individuals from near and far attended which just shows the great enthusiasm and interest of others!

CURRENT STATE

Air Quality Egg - Systems list and components:

- Big systems picture:

-       The Egg interfaces with the data through Pachube.

-       We are currently discussing whether to target initial users with a specific interaction or to let uses and applications emerge (or both).

-      For now, we are focusing on outdoor air quality (possibly configure for indoor later).

- Components:

-       Sensors (Wicked Node with 4 sensors for gaseous pollutants such as CO, CO2, NO2)

-       Internet

-       The Egg (RF platform)

-Distribution

-       Kickstarter campaign!

-   There have been discussions also about distribution through a social production service.

-Industrial Design

-       The original concept for the egg was to provide an enclosure for the sensors that would help facilitate a sense of empathy and stewardship.

-       In further discussions, we’ve come to realize that if we want people to develop a relationship to the egg, it should be closer to home (not outdoors with the sensor). Currently, the egg has a button and an LED that begins to also form a more direct relationship with the data.

-    First prototype has been 3D printed at Eyebeam. Following iterations and designs are in the works and are being informed by developments in hardware, interaction development, etc.

 

NEXT STEPS! Get involved!

Industrial design:

- We have 3D printed a first prototype at Eyebeam with Mark Shepard.

- We will continue prototyping the next iterations. However, the physical design (form, buttons, LEDs, etc) are also highly affected by user scenarios.

- In addition, there has been some great research from both the workshop in Amsterdam as well as conversation on the google group about the hardware, power and sensors. This will undoubtedly affect the design.

User scenarios:

- Throughout the first workshop, we've discussed various scenarios in which the data collected can be actionable. Who uses the Egg? What is their relationship to the Egg? What is their relationship to the data and the larger collective? 

Applications/Interface:

- What are other applications of the data?

- What are other forms of interaction with the data? Perhaps more research into developing an online interface?

Distribution:

- Who specifically are we targeting?

- We are planning on launching a kickstarter campaign. How do we market these ideas? These ideas ultimately tie back into user scenario development.

The egg is rolling! The conversations on google groups have been great. Any further ideas of applications or user scenarios? Any feedback on the physical egg/button interaction? Ideas for an awesome kickstarter movie?

Get involved if you are interested in being a part of making this happen!

Cheers,

Albert and Eulani from Air Quality Egg Industrial Design

 

Albert Chao
Graduate of Media, Architecture & Computing (M.A.C.)
Dual Master's Degree in Architecture and Media Study
School of Architecture and Media Study
University at Buffalo
-----------------------------
chao....@gmail.com
www.albertchao.com

[Catherine Harris]

Hi, this is a query about the current state of this project?
I teach in an art and ecology program at the University of New Mexico (ae.unm.edu) and we are working on a citizen monitoring grant from the EPA for an urban wetland in El Paso, TX. I'm wondering where this project is and if you'd be interested a community to use it?

best,
Catherine Harris

On Wednesday, January 18, 2012 12:28:52 AM UTC-7, Albert Chao wrote:
> Hi everyone,
>
>
> It's been great to have seen so much discussion and interest in this project. It was recently presented at a Meetup in NYC and the support and conversation was phenomenal. This project is also in many ways an experiment in open collaboration; many individuals are researching and working on various aspects of design. Now, therefore, may be a good moment to recap as well as present the current status and future trajectory of the project. 
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> PAST WORKSHOPS 
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Second Open Sensor Workshop in NYC (First was in Amsterdam) - December 2nd:
>
>
>
>
> - Introduction to air quality sensing with a speaker line-up (quick bullet points):Ed Borden introduced with his experience in leading the first air quality workshop in Amsterdam. 
>
>
>
> Usman Haque discussed various aspects of distributed citizen sensing in relation to scientific sensing. He also discusses the aim to create not only more data, but scenarios in which individuals can act on the data.
>
>
>

> Tim Dye, from Air Now (EPA) discussed their position in relation to citizen sensing and issues of scale, accuracy, etc.Mark Shepard gives a larger context of related work (more info on the wiki).

[Dirk Swart]

Hi Catherine,

That sounds exciting. Let me respond off list.

Cheers
Dirk

--

[Gavin]

On Wednesday, 18 January 2012 07:28:52 UTC, Albert Chao wrote:
> Hi everyone,
>
>
> It's been great to have seen so much discussion and interest in this project. It was recently presented at a Meetup in NYC and the support and conversation was phenomenal. This project is also in many ways an experiment in open collaboration; many individuals are researching and working on various aspects of design. Now, therefore, may be a good moment to recap as well as present the current status and future trajectory of the project. 

You may want to consider updating the Kickstarter page. The project is 3 months late and theres been no post for a month on there.

[Dirk Swart]

Hi Gavin, All,

Because I am not able to post to the kickstarter page, I have been putting updates on http://blog.wickeddevice.com. The most recent update was October 10th.

Cheers
Dirk



Follow me on Twitter now: dswart

--

[Dirk Swart]

Hi Gavin, All,

Because I am not able to post to the kickstarter page, I have been putting updates on http://blog.wickeddevice.com. The most recent update was October 10th.

Cheers
Dirk

On Sat, Oct 13, 2012 at 12:30 PM, Gavin <rcmode...@gmail.com> wrote:

--

[Gavin]

On Saturday, 13 October 2012 20:23:08 UTC+1, Dirk Swart wrote:
> Hi Gavin, All,
>
> Because I am not able to post to the kickstarter page, I have been putting updates on http://blog.wickeddevice.com. The most recent update was October 10th.
>
>

I appreciate you may not have access to post an update but there is the comments box you used before. The last time anyone posted on there was the 16th of July.

I see someone has posted a link to the blog, but whenever you post to the blog it needs to be posted ot the kickstaer page as well, after all thats where the funding came from.

Gavin

[Laird Popkin]

I'll second this - I back quite a few Kickstarters, and that's where I look for info on their status. And I subscribe to many groups, so I see updates to the AQE group when I check my groups, though there's a lot of random discussion so it's not a great way to maje major announcements. But I'll never get around to checking every project's stand-alone web sites. If you want to get news out to people like me (i.e. who are backing the project), post to Kickstarter or send an email blast out to supporters. Given the amount of money AQE has raised, I'd hope to see updates every few weeks. And reading the blog, it looks like you've been making good progress - just not communicating it effectively to backers. That's much better than not making progress! :-)

If you can't post updates to Kickstarter, then whoever can should do so. Or are you saying that Kickstarter won't let you post updates once a project should have shipped? :-)

- LP