27 September 2015
Calculations
FINAL, CORRECT CALCULATIONS:
People need to enter their weight to calculate the right amount of calories.
Calories burned = (speed * time) * (1,05 * time) * 60 [average person weight]
Energy produced = time [in seconds] * 0.0008 [3W energy produced by the dynamo, divided in seconds]
PREVIOUS CALCULATION ATTEMPTS, CONFUSION AND NUMBERS:
Despite I graduated from a …
22 September 2015
Full bibliography
Here it’s a list of the full bibliography on which I built my research for the final dissertation.
BOOKS:
– BERMAN, D. B. (2009) Do Good Design, How Designers Can Change The World, Barkeley CA: AIGA Press / New Riders cooperation
– BOGOST, I. (2007) Persuasive Games: The Expressive Power of Videogames, Cambridge, MA, London: MIT Press
– CIALDINI, R.…
21 September 2015
The interface is coming up
Here are some first designs for the interface of the app which is going to show users how much energy they produced and calories burned.
This app will be displayed on a IMac placed near the wheel at the exhibition.
First/initial screen. The wheel will be still and the value of calories burned and energy consumed will be null.
2.…
17 September 2015
It’s not only about the wheel
ENERGY CONVERSION:
Besides the big part to build of the wheel, the problem is also the extension of the project, I have to find a way to connect the wheel to a gear of some sort in order to convert the kinetic energy into electric energy.
I looked into it and probably the easier way is to use a bicycle…
15 September 2015
Other ideas and sketches
First idea:
Washing machines powered by bicycles are already considered “DIY” technology in poor countries and eco-villages, however it remains a niche solution, seen as a “remedy for the poor”, which most of the people wouldn’t allow in their luxurious houses, therefore, I thought about adding a simple element which would make it more fun and probably accepted by more…
11 September 2015
Found instructions for the wheel
Quite overwhelmed with the new size of the project, which I don’t particularly like as I simply don’t like to build (in my opinion a designer is not a carpenter), I did the first thing I always do when I don’t know how to do something, I googled “How to build a human-size hamster wheel?” and guess what? I literally…
10 September 2015
Human-sized hamster wheel
After the dissertation, as I mentioned in a previous post, the last big task is to realise a final project related to the thesis, which will be exposed to the public in The Well Gallery at London College of Communication from the 6th till the 8th of November 2015.
After weeks of indecision on what to do for it, today…
13 August 2015
Persuasive games
As I reported in a previous post, Ian Bogost is one of the main opponent to the theory of gamification, claiming that this practice is an impoverishment of games, which are actually a powerful tool to influence and to persuade people. In his book Persuasive Games he talks about videogames completely in a new and enlightening way. He describes why…
6 August 2015
First 2 chapters in 15800 words, way too long!
Here is a draft of the first two chapters, it’s just a lot of materials I found online and on papers and books, but it’s way too long for a dissertation which must be 5000 words long overall. I’ll have to do a big trimming work.
1st CHAPTER – EMERGENCY OF CLIMATE CHANGE
1.1. Climate change should unify everyone.
“The…