Assignment: Final Project 1: Progress Report

Collaborators:

Telephone interruptions have occurred since the telephone’s invention, but the nature of phone interruptions is changing. Whereas telephones traditionally were fixed to a location, mobile phones follow us wherever we go.

In this project I intend to explore the properties of cellphone interruptions through the metaphor of insect bites. Like a mosquito, cell phones typically go with us wherever we are. Sometimes we hear them loudly, and sometimes we hear them softly. But more often, we experience them through touch—the sharp sting of a mosquito bite-in-process or the itch that follows.

Although cell phones often have a “silent” mode, the embedded vibrators are neither silent nor inconspicuous in a quiet classroom or boardroom. It could be said that vibrators are simply not personal enough—we need to explore a more intimate interplay of cell phone and human.

I intend, therefore, to design a bracelet that interfaces with the user’s cell phone. Mimicking the itch and sting of a mosquito bite, the bracelet itches or “bites” the skin through direct contact—an interface that is both subtle, discreet, and silent. As with an insect bite, the user may scratch or slap the device to “silence” the device. Depending on the force of the action, this may either silence the call or send the caller to voicemail.