10 Week Project
Umeå Institute of Design: Fluid Assemblages Course 2019 Mentors: Heather Wiltse, Stoffel Kuenen, Brendon Clark and other UID teachers
My Role
Since this was a one person project I was part of the whole process from start to finish.
Facts
The first 8 weeks of the projects were very explorative, with a lot of group workshops and discussions based on academic papers that were provided to us as part of the course. The final 2 weeks of the project were used to implement findings in something more visual.
How can we create a personal assistant, that is leveraging rich data in intimate ways, such as about our health and emotions, to create space for our well-being in daily life?
Challenge
Create a personal assistant (PA), that attempts not to let tech go between the user and other people (e.g. plans events for many parties), but tries to focus on an individual and their well-being. The ideal would be to create the PA as a secluded system that does not sell or provide the data to third parties. Aim is to let users make their own choices, where technology doesn’t force suggestions on them, but lets them discover opportunities. Priority is to provide full transparency about what data tracking results are, when and where the PA is using them.
Note: This is an attempt to look at how such a personal digital assistants could be designed in the future. I saw this project as an opportunity to explore parts of the above mentioned aspects rather than having the goal to create a PA from the start to the beginning. Many issues are still unsolved and yet to be answered. And I personally still see several aspects as rather critical, which I am happy to discuss in a personal conversation if interested.
Final result
What does it do?
Onboarding
Where could it be implemented in your life?
Do you already want to see some elements of it on the mirror in the morning?
Is it on your homescreen on your mobile phone?
Is the PA speaking to you or is it only visual?
It’s not a calendar (anymore)…at least not how we know it
Adding a new event to your schedule
Discovery vs. Suggestions
Facial and Voice Recognition
Daily reflection and feedback
Slept bad? Review your schedule and adjust your schedule based on your well-being
Planning your week? Make room for your well-being
Learning from interviews specialists: A personal assistant should never move or add events for you without you choosing or approving them.
Got somewhere to be? Reflect on how to get there.
Actively reflect on events where voice and face won’t be tracked.
Busy day? Use your commute to listen to your favorite audio.
Explorations and process - How I got here?
More on this coming soon! Stay tuned or reach out and have a chat with me!