Sensory Time Keeping

Photo Credit: Aron Visuals via Unsplash.com (link)

Photo Credit: Aron Visuals via Unsplash.com (link)

 
 

As time is a crucial element in how human beings experience life, this Time By Design project created the perfect setting for our team to explore the relationship between information technology and time. Throughout the graduate course, our peers and advisors delved into a myriad of ways in which time can implicate and be found in virtually all information systems; we examined various issues ranging from shortened attention spans, internet addiction, longer-term perspectives on data curation and cultural heritage, and generally how technology also plays a crucial role in our daily experiences. From this intensive study, our team then identified a design problem in which time plays a crucial role and we then conducted a design exploration to identify & innovate a potential solution in the form of a design artifact

The current model in which we keep time relies solely on seeing presented time and hearing encoded time. Although these practices have allowed us to utilize time through our circadian rhythm, we underestimate how interconnected our sensory channels are. The world we live in requires the continuous activation of all human sensory nodes. Moreover, there is the potential to use various design methods and frameworks that activates all five senses collectively rather than each individually. Taking this into account, we investigated and researched current materials related to circadian rhythm and sensory design.

The Time Artifacts Synthesis Chart

The Time Artifacts Synthesis Chart

After synthesizing our findings through extensive research, we identified and examined various timekeeping devices that ranged from more traditional artifacts commonly used to those that were more honed to specific sensory channels. By analyzing each individual device’s through a specific critical scope, our team was able to clearly identify each devices’ distinct characteristics, it’s strengths & weaknesses, and limitations that are often overlooked due to over-familiarity and frequent use of the time-artifact.

By the end of our project, our team was then able to progress into focusing our attention to the points of collision and opportunities to better support alternative sensory nodes that are often overlooked in time technology design. We improved an existing time artifact using micro-level improvements and we redesigned a more user-centric, multi-sensory timekeeping artifact from the ground up.


For more details and research materials on this project, please reach out directly to me through the Contact page or download a copy of the full ACM Report below.