The workshop was held by the Stockholm-based Interactive Institute alongside the Berlin-based design-research firm IxDS. The activities were concept building based and as groups we brainstormed up ideas for smart products and services to make people aware of their use of energy. There were also tangible examples of energy wise interaction design at the accompanying Visual Voltage exhibition, which the workshop was a precursor to.

The ideas brainstormed during the sessions were posted on display for the exhibition opening party. You can check them out here. The 2 days were great fun and I learned as much from the participants own work stories and insights as the seminars and activities.

More info at www.visualvoltageworkshop.de

In Finland, the homeland of Nokia, mobile phones are referred to as Kannys, which literally means “an extension of the hand”. I would like to make this extension of the hand very visceral by combining Nokia's N900 with retro virtual-reality peripheral, the Nintendo Power Glove. The resulting hardware hack would enable hand gesture based interaction with the N900, controlled through the glove interface.

In order to answer a telephone call, the user makes the 'telephone gesture' and their hand becomes the handset, bringing a whole new meaning to "talk to the hand"!

Also as part of ISEA 2009 I'm running a workshop on 'Hacking Toys Into Tangible Interfaces' at Dundalk IT. We'll be building unique game control gizmos by adding usb connections to cheap electronic toys. The workshop is an introduction to physical computing, covering some basic interaction design theory along with practical hardware hacking techniques. There's more on the workshop and everything else that's happening as part of the conference at isea2009.org.