The use of smells and temperature changes in a space or objects, can greatly enhance the atmosphere of the space and thereby the experience of the people in it.
Context switching is very costly from a cognitive point of view, however especially in open office settings, it is hard to know when someone is in the middle of something or if it’s OK to ask them questions. Here is an indicator light, showing if someone can be disturbed or not. The light can show different colours indicating “busyness level”. It can either be controlled manually or linked to applications on your computer.
A designated wall in your home where you display your personal belongings and memories is also a place for a window into your distant family’s living space. As you approach the wall and start interacting with the person on the other side, the projection view expands and takes up the whole wall.
Overlaying a suitably abstracted rendering of people’s traces gives a sense of where the action is. Data from your friends yields a socially grounded heat map, whereas a broad data collection provides more of a general overview.
