W/C 14.01.19
2. The Eyes Have It |
Weekly Event: |
Riddrie Day centre
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This week’s design technology event was replaced with a visit to Riddrie Day Centre - research for another project. Although not intentional course content, I gained insights into design and technology in a unique context.
The centre provides day care to adults with learning disabilities and complex needs. The main use of technology is to help service users communicate since they often can’t do so verbally. A lot of the technology was pretty basic; we were shown various sound buttons, recording devices, and an interactive projector mat; most of which I think could be vastly improved by a bit of design thinking – some potential pde projects? Perhaps the most advanced technology they were using was eye gaze, which uses eye movements to control a PC. It got me thinking about how eye tracking could be a really powerful tool in lots of products – maybe smartphones of the future won’t require our touch; eye controls will save our thumbs from straining to reach that top left hand corner. When using a PC with dual monitors, I often wish it knew which screen I was looking at, as I start scrolling and typing on the wrong one. There’s definitely a place for eye tracking in the future; designed in an unobtrusive, marketable way to avoid any repeat of the google glass failure! It was overall a really insightful visit, I was left feeling that Riddrie Day Centre is a place that could hugely benefit from design and technology. And, actually technology they use may well predict the future of mainstream consumer products. |