research-article

Electronics as material: littleBits

Authors:

Ayah Bdeir,

Paul RothmanAuthors Info & Claims

TEI '12: Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded and Embodied Interaction

Pages 371 - 374

https://doi.org/10.1145/2148131.2148220

Published: 19 February 2012 Publication History

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Abstract

Electronics are everywhere. We produce, consume and throw out more electronic gadgets than ever before. Yet, creativity with electronics starts when they can be thought of as sketching materials like paper, screws, and cardboard.

This Studio will allow participants to create prototypes of interactive gadgets using a diverse library of materials: littleBits (an open-source kit of pre-assembled electronics that snap together with tiny magnets), combined with traditional design materials (foam, fabric, paper, cardboard, etc).

The Studio structure is in several phases. The participants start by conceptualizing an interactive object or small-scale installation, break down the interaction, and build it using familiar and unfamiliar materials. Participants will then present their creation and discuss the process of expanding their materials library to include light, sound, sensing, motion and logic. Finally, the participants will come up with ideas for new littleBits modules to suggest or contribute to the open source kit and community.

Reference

[1]

Electronics as Material: littleBits, TEI 2009, ACM Press (2009).

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Flechtner RKilian J(2024)Making (Non-)Sense—A Playful and Explorative Approach to Teaching AI Intuition for the Design of Sensor-Based InteractionsProceedings of the 6th Annual Symposium on HCI Education10.1145/3658619.3658643(1-9)Online publication date: 5-Jun-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3658619.3658643
Cochrane KNguyen CCao YRoestel NJones LGirouard A(2023)Adaptive Soft Switches: Co-Designing Fabric Adaptive Switches with Occupational Therapists for Children and Adolescents with Acquired Brain InjuryProceedings of the Seventeenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction10.1145/3569009.3572734(1-14)Online publication date: 26-Feb-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3569009.3572734
Read JMcelroy LBolsee QSmith BGershenfeld N(2023)Modular-Things: Plug-and-Play with Virtualized HardwareExtended Abstracts of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3544549.3585642(1-6)Online publication date: 19-Apr-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3544549.3585642
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Index Terms

Electronics as material: littleBits
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Interaction design
    1. Interaction design process and methods
      1. Interface design prototyping

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Information & Contributors

Information

Published In

TEI '12: Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded and Embodied Interaction

February 2012

413 pages

ISBN:9781450311748

DOI:10.1145/2148131

Conference Chair:
Roel Vertegaal
Queen's University, Canada
,
Editor:
Stephen N. Spencer
University of Washington
,
Program Chairs:
Ylva Fernaeus
Swedish Institute of Computer Science, Sweden
,
Audrey Girouard
Carleton University, Canada
,
Sergi Jordà
Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 19 February 2012

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TEI'12

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SIGCHI

TEI'12: Sixth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction

February 19 - 22, 2012

Ontario, Kingston, Canada

Acceptance Rates

Overall Acceptance Rate 393 of 1,367 submissions, 29%

Upcoming Conference

TEI '25

Sponsor:
sigchi

Nineteenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction

March 4 - 7, 2025

Bordeaux / Talence , France

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Cited By

View all

Flechtner RKilian J(2024)Making (Non-)Sense—A Playful and Explorative Approach to Teaching AI Intuition for the Design of Sensor-Based InteractionsProceedings of the 6th Annual Symposium on HCI Education10.1145/3658619.3658643(1-9)Online publication date: 5-Jun-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3658619.3658643
Cochrane KNguyen CCao YRoestel NJones LGirouard A(2023)Adaptive Soft Switches: Co-Designing Fabric Adaptive Switches with Occupational Therapists for Children and Adolescents with Acquired Brain InjuryProceedings of the Seventeenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction10.1145/3569009.3572734(1-14)Online publication date: 26-Feb-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3569009.3572734
Read JMcelroy LBolsee QSmith BGershenfeld N(2023)Modular-Things: Plug-and-Play with Virtualized HardwareExtended Abstracts of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3544549.3585642(1-6)Online publication date: 19-Apr-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3544549.3585642
Jeong YCho HKim TNam T(2023)AutomataStage: an AR-mediated Creativity Support Tool for Hands-on Multidisciplinary LearningProceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3544548.3581408(1-16)Online publication date: 19-Apr-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3544548.3581408
Sørensen MFog BMusaeus LPetersen M(2022)KnitxCode: Exploring a Craftsmanship-driven Approach to Computational ThinkingAdjunct Proceedings of the 2022 Nordic Human-Computer Interaction Conference10.1145/3547522.3547680(1-5)Online publication date: 8-Oct-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3547522.3547680
Lundström AFernaeus Y(2022)Making Crank-Powered Interactions: Methods, Demonstrators, MaterialsProceedings of the 2022 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference10.1145/3532106.3533453(913-924)Online publication date: 13-Jun-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3532106.3533453
Eriksson EBaykal GTorgersson O(2022)The Role of Learning Theory in Child-Computer Interaction - A Semi-Systematic Literature ReviewProceedings of the 21st Annual ACM Interaction Design and Children Conference10.1145/3501712.3529728(50-68)Online publication date: 27-Jun-2022
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Schwartz LMaquil VJohannsen LMoll C(2021)Enseigner la pensée informatique avec Kniwwelino : Étude exploratoire de terrain en milieu scolaireProceedings of the 32nd Conference on l'Interaction Homme-Machine10.1145/3450522.3451250(1-11)Online publication date: 13-Apr-2021
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Boer LBewley HCahill BTrier SKaltenbrunner MMurer MWolf KOakley I(2021)Smörgåsbords for Physical ComputingProceedings of the Fifteenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction10.1145/3430524.3446077(1-12)Online publication date: 14-Feb-2021
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Jones LSturdee MNabil SGirouard AKaltenbrunner MMurer MWolf KOakley I(2021)Punch-Sketching E-textilesProceedings of the Fifteenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction10.1145/3430524.3440640(1-12)Online publication date: 14-Feb-2021
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