Textile Messages: Dispatches From the World of E-Textiles and Education

Description

Textile Messages focuses on the emerging field of electronic textiles, or e-textiles – computers that can be soft, colorful, approachable, and beautiful. E-textiles are articles of clothing, home furnishings, or architectures that include embedded computational and electronic elements. This book introduces a collection of tools that enable novices – including educators, hobbyists, and youth designers – to create and learn with e-textiles. It then examines how these tools are reshaping technology education – and DIY practices – across the K-16 spectrum, presenting examples of the ways educators, researchers, designers, and young people are employing them to build new technology, new curricula, and new creative communities. Cover Textile Messages Contents Preface Acknowledgments Introduction: Leah Buechley, Kylie Peppler, Mike Eisenberg, and Yasmin Kafai A Brief History Book Overview Vignette: LilyPad Arduino Embroidery An Electronic Sampler Vignette: The Climate Dress Haute Couture Meets High Tech How Haute Couture and Interaction Design Blend A Unique Collaboration Vignette: Know-It-All Knitting Bag Embedding Knitting Patterns in Knitted Objects Knitting as Engineering Community Adoption Section 1: E-Textile Construction Kits Chapter 1: LilyPad Arduino: E-Textiles for Everyone Introduction The LilyPad Arduino Kit Discovering E-Textiles Developing LilyPad Early Educational Experiences with LilyPad Personally Meaningful Technology Diversity Developing LilyPad Part 2 A Look Towards the Future Vignette: FabricKit & Masai Dress FabricKit Masai dress Chapter 2: i*CATch: A Plug-n-Play Kit for Wearable Computing Introduction The i*CATch Toolkit Evolution and History First Iteration: The TeeBoard Generation Two: i*CATch Textile Components Electronic Components Programming the Wearable Computer Educational Approaches Looking to the Future Chapter 3: Traveling Light: Making Textiles Programmable “Through the Air” Introduction Web-Based Development Environment Programming with Barcoded Cards Programming with Color and Melody Programming with Physical Sliders and Buttons Final Thoughts and Future Directions Vignette: Mrs. Mary Atkins-Holl A Marriage of the 19th and 21st Centuries Chapter 4: Handcrafting Textile Sensors Introduction: A “Kit of No Parts” A Library of Textile Sensors Tilt Sensors Tilt Sensor Applications and Examples Stroke Sensors Stroke Sensor Examples and Applications Stretch Sensors Stretch Sensor Examples Pressure and Bend Sensors Pressure and Bend Sensor Applications and Examples Conclusion and Future Work Endnote Section 2: Learning and Designing with E-Textiles Chapter 5: Learning About Circuitry with E-Textiles in After-School Settings Workshop Description Learning about Simple Circuits: Simple Circuit Quilt Square Learning about Series and Parallel Circuits: Persistence-of-Vision (POV) Wristband Moving Beyond the Club Discussion Endnote Chapter 6: Making Connections Across Disciplines in High School E-Textile Workshops Introduction The Design of E-Textile Workshops for High School Students Connections Between Crafting & Circuitry Sewing for Conductivity Tying Knots to End Electrical Connections Connections Between Circuitry and Coding Problem Solving: Is it the Code, the Circuits, or the Crafting? Making Connections Visible: Lessons Learned Chapter 7: EduWear: E-Textiles in Youth Sports and Theater Introduction The EduWear Project—Overview Technology Goals: More Than a Toolkit Workshop Concept Wear & Move—Workshops Involving Body and Mind Dance Conclusion Vignette: The Space Between Us: Electronic Music + Modern Dance + E-Textiles The Nexus of Multiple Disciplines Costume-as-Instrument Chapter 8: E-textiles and the New Fundamentals of Fine Arts Introduction Introducing E-Textiles to Fine Arts Students Overview of the (New) Domain Creative Coding Material Science Electronics Temperature-Sensing Dance Gloves Ruby Slippers Reinvented New Costumes for Performance Art Lessons Learned for Introducing E-textiles in Fine Arts Vignette: Fairytale Fashion FairytaleFashion.org Electroluminescent Garments Twinkle Garments Chapter 9: Bringing E-textiles into Engineering Education Introduction: A Statement of Goals Pushing the “Difficulty Envelope” Popularizing Engineering and Computing in Higher Education Integrating E-Textiles with the Wider Realm of Engineering Disciplines Intermission: A Bit of Lore from Our Own E-Textile Teaching Experience Higher Engineering Education and E-Textiles: A Sampler of Ideas, Predictions, Research Projects, and Themes for Discussion The Power Problem More Actuators, Please! Higher-Level Sensors, Please! Designing the E-Textile Laboratory Futuristic E-Textile Engineering Projects Amirobo Crocheted Robot Chapter 10: E-Textiles for Educators: Participatory Simulations with e-Puppetry Introduction Why Honeybees? BeeSim The BeeSim Design Future Possibilities Section 3: E-Textile Cultures and Communities Chapter 11: LilyPad in the Wild: Technology DIY, E-Textiles, and Gender Textiles and Electronics DIY Arduino LilyPad and Arduino Communities in the Wild Study 1: Customers Study 2: Builders Study 3: Comments on E-Textile Posts Future Research Conclusion Endnotes Vignette: tendrils Sensing & Sharing Touch Chapter 12: Mediated Craft: Digital Practices Around Creative Handwork Introduction Embedded Design Practices Exploring the Processional: Four Case Studies Flexible Inscriptions: The Case of Jane Stabilizing Ephemera: The Case of Katie Marking Ends: The Case of Irene Conflicting Ideologies: The Case of the Knitting Guild Entanglements between Craft and Computing Endnotes Chapter 13: E-Textile Technologies in Design, Research and Pedagogy XS Labs, Concordia University Art, Design, and Performance Design, Research, and Pedagogy Fiber-Based Functionality New Materials, Structure, and Restrictions Conclusion Vignette: Muttering Hat Voices on Your Head Chapter 14: E-Textiles and the Body: Feminist Technologies and Design Research Theorizing E-Textiles: Feminism and Body Theory Sparsh as Research through Design Designing Sparsh A Mixed Method Study for the Sparsh Experience Sparsh and the Body The Performing Body The Extended Body The Inscribed Body Conclusion Chapter 15: Adventures in Electronic Textiles Enticed by Electronic Textiles Media Lab 1996, Before “Things” Early Wearables at the Media Lab Cultural Meaning in Electronic Textiles The Constraints of Electronic Textiles IFM and the PomPom Dimmer Touch Sensing and Art Color-Change Textiles Color-Change Textiles in Commercial Applications Color-Change Textiles in Art Color-Change Textile Process Artistic Reflections on Color-Change Textiles Time and Interaction in Color-Change Textiles The Lifetime of Color-Change Textiles All Technology Fails, all Art Fails, and All Life Fails. Early Adventures in Electronic Fashion Electronic Fashion and the NorthFace A Problem of Technology and Economics An Opportunity for Designers Contributors References Index