peripheral awareness
7 posts
A camera monitors a section of a greenhouse and feeds the images to a system capable of determining if the plants are healthy or not. Currently there are for example sensors to automatically tell if the plants are too dry but this takes in the whole plants' appearance, including diseased leaves etc. If a section is deemed to have unhealthy plants, the light changes in that area to make the caretakers aware of the problem without having to go look at a terminal or getting intrusive alerts.
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.
As a simulation of events following a major accident is unfolded by an instructor, the participants in training manipulate the physical model of a hospital ward with representations of patients and of medical care resources.
Information that changes over time and that is peripheral most of the time is aggregated into the color of a desk lamp that sits in the periphery.
By integrating displays thoughtful into cities and matching their purpose with exactly the needed solutions, they become ambient. Not using (moving) screens supports the ambient character.
Energy consumption of objects, that can be perceived in an 'ambient display' through light representing and making visible the actual flow of electricity.