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SPACE10 + IKEA released a new batch of digital experiments on Everyday Experiments focused around the theme of Privacy & Trust. Collaborators were tasked with imagining how people can have meaningful relationships with technology in their daily life while preserving a sense of agency over, and privacy and trust in, their own homes.“Throughout this past year, technology played its most integral role in keeping us connected to our families, our work, our hobbies. At times we felt enabled by technology, other times it felt hard to escape. At IKEA, home should always be about people first. By letting technology into our homes, we wanted to explore how it can be part of our everyday lives while making sure we still feel safe and free in our spaces. It is integral to us at IKEA that as we continue to stay better connected with people through technology, that we place a high value on privacy and preserving the boundaries between public and private,” says Fredrik Axén, Digital Manager Core Business Franchise, Inter IKEA Systems B.V.
A series of digital experiments, EverydayExperiments sets out to explore the role of technology in the home and take the everyday and make it extraordinary. Conducted by some of the world’s most innovative design and technology studios, the experiments focus on AI, Machine Learning, Augmented Reality and Spatial Intelligence.
“I have read and understood the terms & conditions” is perhaps the most commonly disregarded phrase on the internet, but what if we had a virtual buddy that could alert us to when data was shared without permission? Imagine that devices on a wifi network were realized in augmented reality as creatures and characters living in our house. What if sound bubbles acted as partitions to be freely added, contracted, and expanded to allow more privacy and personal space? What if the objects you own could share their entire history with you? The new experiments aim to bring transparency to our use of technology and even help safeguard us from it.
“The inherent nature of spatial computing is to use data to create contextual and meaningful experiences. However, that is intrinsically tied to the sensing, storing and application of personal information, and pervasive presence. How do we make sure that home continues to feel free, safe and respectful of our privacy, while still allowing us to play with and enjoy technology in our homes?” shares Georgina McDonald, Lead Design Producer, SPACE10.
Through projects with forward-thinking collaborators, SPACE10 and IKEA aim to design innovative solutions for tomorrow by sparking discussions and challenging conventions through new collaborations between technology studios.
Sound Bubbles by Yuri Suzuki
Sound Bubbles would allow you to construct silent zones of privacy within the home using spatial audio. Now, more than ever, we find ourselves using the home for a myriad of activities. A living room becomes an office; a kitchen becomes a call center. Such a constant presence of activity challenges our sense of privacy, not only regarding personal space but also sound. Using a tablet, the experiment envisions that you can scan your room and create a zone of localised silence in any given area.
Digital Buddy by Field.io
Digital Buddy would leverage artificial intelligence and augmented reality to create a 3D avatar to help protect your interests and privacy online. As third parties control more and more of our lives online, Digital Buddy would be a permanent companion – an entity independent of any brand or platform – performing with your best interest in mind. Someone to act as an advisor, providing guidance and breaking down the many complexities that come with living in an increasingly digital world.
Invisible Roommates by Nicole He + Eran Hilleli
Invisible Roommates is an augmented reality application that would visualize how the devices in your home interacted with one another. The application would make use of existing technology to portray the different devices connected to your network as little living characters, playfully illustrating how these pieces of technology communicate and making it easier for you to understand what is happening in your home.
The new Privacy + Trust series will launch on the Everyday Experiments platform on 26 May. The website will continuously shift and grow to showcase technological and innovative design experiments that spark new ways of looking at the spaces we live in.
What do you think?