The Hills Are Alive with the Sound of Interaction Design
Images: tinker.it’s simple USB sensor interface, by mbiddulph, and a grab of Teddy Bear Remote Control at instructables.com.
The design desirability would be unimportant except that physical computing is way more accessible than it used to be.
The Arduino chipset – cheap and available online – is a simple way to start experimenting with physical computing. This prototyping toolkit, available at tinker.it, is as close to plug and play experimentation as I’ve seen. You slot the sensors on the board, it’s super easy to program, and you can immediately try out having applications on your computer control displays and lights in the world, or sensors on your desk affecting your desktop or websites via your computer.
The knowledge of how to use this technology is accessible too. There’s a strong developer community and traditional of sharing code around the Arduino. And people are sharing how to make products, too. Instructables is one such website. Clear and simple instructions, with annotated photographs, written by members of the community, of everything from how to solder to make a fully wired-up remote control teddy bear.
It’s getting to the point where it’s as easy to get involved in this world as it would be for you to go home, open Notepad, and start writing HTML.