ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Sharon Baurley

Interactive and experiential design in smart textile productsand applications

Received: 15 February 2004 / Accepted: 9 April 2004 / Published online: 25 June 2004� Woodhead Publishing Limited 2004

Abstract The technical textiles industry in the USA andthe EU is growing. As we advance into the knowledgeage, objects and material technology will disappear intoour material environment, turning unintelligent objectsinto active and intelligent participants in our lives. Asmuch of our environment is made up from textilematerials, they will be the targets of smart engineering.The future of smart textiles will rely on the convergenceof electrochemistry and textiles in order to processelectronic polymers into fibres and fabrics. The inte-gration of smart functionality into clothing and othertextile products will radically change the culture sur-rounding these products, fundamentally altering peo-ple’s relationships with them and the way they use them.Smart functionality will also have an impact on the wayproducts are designed and the materials developed.

Keywords Hybrid industries Æ Ubiquitous intelligence ÆInteraction design Æ Experience and emotion

1 Introduction

This paper suggests that shifts in the textiles, electronicsand information and communication technology (ICT)sectors will give rise to the area of intelligent textiles andclothing. The technical textiles industry in the USA andthe EU is growing. The western clothing market hassegmented into two distinct areas: low cost, high vol-ume, and high-end specification goods, for example,

sports performance and designer-led fashion. The tex-tiles industries of the USA and the EU are focussing ontechnical textiles for high-specification products partlyin response to the approaching end of the Multi-FibreArrangement1. In recent years, market growth in cloth-ing has been fuelled by the emergence of new fibres, newfabrics and innovative processing technologies. Thistrend is set to continue where technical innovations intextiles will become more important than the fashioncontent itself. The market has also been boosted bychanges in consumer lifestyles. Much of these newdevelopments have come from the technical textilesindustry. High-tech fabrics must continue to cross theboundary into everyday fashion apparel as well as intohome interior furnishings to meet the challenge of futurelifestyle needs and consumer requirements. Productsthat win will be those that enhance the quality of life insome way, and have added value in terms of function-ality and performance. As we advance into the knowl-edge age, objects and material technology are forecast topervade our material environment. The market fortechnology products generally is growing. Consumerrequirements of products are changing, gravitatingtowards higher order needs that stimulate the intellect,such as experience and sensory and emotional fulfilment,and are set to become the new commercial imperatives inthe developed world.

The integration of smart functionality into clothingand other textile products will fundamentally changecultures of clothing and interior products. It will alsoradically alter people’s relationships with them, and,hence, on the way, these products are designed and thematerials developed. This paper highlights key devel-opments in computing, such as ubiquitous computingand human–computer interaction, and suggests that thedesign of textile products will converge towards

The full version of this will be published in Wearable electronicsand photonics, Xiaoming Tao (ed), published by Woodhead Pub-lishing Limited, Cambridge, UK

S. BaurleyCentral Saint Martins College of Art and Design,The London Institute, Southampton Row,London, WC1B 4AP, UKE-mail: s.baurley@csm.arts.ac.ukTel.: +44-207-75148525

1 Since 1974, world trade in textiles and garments has been gov-erned by the Multi-Fibre Arrangement. This provided the basis onwhich industrialised countries have been able to restrict importsfrom developing countries. It will expire at the end of 2004.

Pers Ubiquit Comput (2004) 8: 274–281DOI 10.1007/s00779-004-0288-5

computing and the field of human–computer interactiondesign. The areas in which textile materials developmentmight occur, how different industry sectors will need tocollaborate, and possibly converge, for these develop-ments to happen and the implications for thedevelopment process are also highlighted.

2 Knowledge age: dematerialisation of informationand communication technology and the riseof ubiquitous intelligence

We are advancing into a knowledge-based economy,where ideas and information mean capital and infor-mation access and communication systems are the driv-ers. Science is increasingly impacting on and permeatingall aspects of our lives through products and services, asthe market for technology products expand. Accordingto Philips Electronics, Netherlands, ‘‘our environment ofthe future will consist of invisible interactive systems thatwill be embedded in our living spaces and clothing, cre-ating an ambient intelligence that could form a naturalpart of our life’’ [1]. The silver and black plastic productsthat currently house electronics and computers are set tovanish as technology dissolves into our material envi-ronment, i.e. interiors, buildings, furniture and clothing.As technology becomes dematerialised and embeddedwithin these hitherto dumb products, they will becomeactive and intelligent. They will be the future mediatorsof technology. Our contact with these everyday objectswill become a central focus in our lives, facilitating newmethods of accessing entertainment, knowledge andcommunication. New methods of information accessengaged with how people access computer intelligenceembedded within everyday objects and devices, whoseuser interface is intuitive, have been in development overthe last 20 years in the areas of ubiquitous computing,wearable computing and human–computer interaction.A good example of the ubiquitous computing vision isSmart Paper by Gyricon, which combines the best ofmodern computing technology with the best of estab-lished technology, the book. The vision of the paperlessoffice never materialised; in fact, we use more paper nowthan ever. This is because no one wants to read text off acomputer display; the printed word on paper simplylooks better. By coating paper with electronic ink, thecontents of a book or a newspaper can change on com-mand or continuously, by downloading it wirelessly. Outof ubiquitous and wearable computing has arisen thefield of human–computer interaction design. ‘‘As productsand services are increasingly being created using infor-mation technology, interaction design is likely to becomethe key design skill of this century’’ [2].

3 New commercial imperatives

Running in parallel with, and complimentary to, the riseof ubiquitous computing and information access are

changing consumer requirements. The societies of thedeveloped world are gravitating towards a culture thatwill be focussed firmly on human senses; it is becomingepitomised by a requirement for more intensive experi-ences and higher order meanings as we diverge from apurely material culture. According to Maslow’s Hierar-chy of Needs there are two levels of need on the scale,basic and meta, along which people constantly strive tomove. Now that basic needs have been met in thedeveloped world, people are striving to satisfy meta orhigher order needs. Meta needs include cognitive, aes-thetic, self-actualisation and self-transcendence. Hence,the transition from making and marketing a product todeveloping non-tangible concepts that satisfy thedemand of higher order needs, such as ideas, sensoryand emotional fulfilment, cultural experiences andentertainment which stimulate the intellect, is underwayand gaining momentum. ‘‘The experience economy is anew stage of economic offering’’ [3]. Pine [3] suggeststhat consumers must be drawn into the offering, muchlike a viewer watching a theatre performance, but theviewer must also be an actor and participate in theexperience.

Elements that stimulate our senses (sight, touch,sound, taste and smell) form our experiences of ourenvironment. Products have always engendered somekind of sensorial quality. Intelligent materials will pro-vide a new array of sensorial qualities, which will impactboth on how we experience our surroundings and howwe interact with them. An intelligent world will be one inwhich our interactions with products become ever moreintuitive, using materials and systems that are responsiveto our methods of communication, such as touching andthe use of body language. Intelligent materials willimprove our control over our material environment andfacilitate our creative interaction with it as we seek to beco-creators, tailoring experiences to correspond to ourvarious moods. Gershenfield [4] states that, ‘‘in thelaboratory and in product development pipelines,information is moving out of traditional computers andinto the world around us, a change that is much moresignificant than the arrival of multimedia or the Internetbecause it touches on so much more of human experi-ence.’’ As a result, we are seeing the rise in the industrialdesign community of what is termed, experiential design;a method engaged with the value of the experience thatthe user derives from using a product. Designers have toinvestigate how people use, engage and feel about thingsand places to build a body of knowledge with which toframe experiences.

4 A new language for textiles: combining the realand the virtual

Given the vision of dematerialising ICT, and the factthat much of our living environment is made up fromtextiles, which are familiar and ‘‘friendly’’, soft andtactile, the ICT industries are now expressing keen

275

interest in textiles. One of the concerns that consumersoften have of new technology products is their tendencyto become more sophisticated, thereby, making themdifficult to use and adapt to. Therefore, high-tech mustnot make our products more complicated by havingmore components; rather, they should become seam-lessly integrated into everyday objects, without alteringtheir character, and enhance their function. This sectionlooks at how the design of textiles and clothing canconverge with ICT and play a key role in this emerginggenre of intelligent products and environments.

Embedded intelligence will completely alter people’srelationship with our everyday products and environ-ments. No one yet knows how people will react to, orengage with, technology on their bodies or integratedinto their homes. Intelligence has no tangible form.Seamlessly embedded intelligence will change the waydesigners design and develop products, as it will nolonger be just about the physical form of the product,but about intangible features, such as the notion ofexperience and emotional fulfilment that affect all thesenses. The designers’ task will become one of givingform to virtual content. In the realm of human–computerinteraction, content is seen as service, experience, com-munication and information access. Intelligence will givethe designer greater scope for creativity, a new tool withwhich to explore and apply computer intelligence in newways. Will the designer become more of a facilitator andenable users or wearers to be inventive by means of thetechnology?

There are a number of fundamental issues that needto be understood before technology can be applied tothe body or integrated into people’s homes in a way thatis truly meaningful. Addressing these involves a multi-disciplinary effort, which examines conventions andcultures of product use and experience. ‘‘As the human–computer interface becomes more pervasive andintimate, it will need to explicitly draw upon cognitivescience as a basis for understanding what people arecapable of doing. User experience and situation shouldbe integrated into the computer system design process’’[5]. To examine the established roles and places thatobjects have in our everyday lives, and the psychology ofinteraction and cognition of products, should involvethe human sciences and the designer of clothing andproducts from the outset of the design of systems andmaterials.

Referring again to Smart Paper: ‘‘We’re just learninghow to use a lot of new technology to match perfor-mance of the mature technology in books, transcendingits inherent limits without sacrificing its best features.The bits and atoms belong together. The story of thebook is not coming to an end; it’s really just beginning’’[4]. By building on what we know about existing prod-ucts, we can begin to extend and augment the utility ofclothing and other textile products, such as furnishingsand building materials.

The author’s research in this paper explores theinterface of intelligent technology, as well as extending

the application of computer intelligence through theapplication of existing technologies, such as wirelesscommunications, textile antennas, chromic displaymaterials, textile switches, textile circuits and micro-component welding technology, in new ways, whilstbuilding on existing cultures of clothing and products.Disseminating concepts and ideas in the public domainhas the potential to excite market demand and, there-fore, materials development. It is well known that tex-tiles have their own language that is tactile, sensorial aswell as visual, which textile and fashion designers havetraditionally exploited to engineer or express a look, aconcept or idea, by carefully composing and manipu-lating the many facets of its special vocabulary. Thetextile language will be expanded exponentially as aresult of the integration of electronic technologies tobuild smart textile systems. This research aims to dis-cover what new codes of interaction and experience willarise when textiles are transformed from a passive intoan active, intelligent state. The notion of clothing as atool boxwill be conceptualised. These tool boxes willenable the user to experience a sense of being creative,communicate more expressive and emotional messages,and engage in social interaction and gaming. The visuallook and haptic qualities of smart clothing and interiorenvironments can be customised by the user throughnon-verbal channels of communication that are intui-tive, such as gesturing and touching. The research seeksto rationalise the function of ICT content together withconventional interaction with, and cultures of, everydayclothing and map one onto the other to ascertain whatnew interactions and experiences will arise.

The interaction design process is an iterative one,where known conventions of people’s product use andexperience are used to map a conceptual framework forcontent—form and experience. The method used heremakes reference to methodology explored by the Uni-versity of Art and Design, Helsinki, Finland [6]. Theframework is based on observations and research on:how people use, interact with and experience conven-tional clothing and interior environments; social psy-chology of people’s clothing use and behaviour; sensoryperception of textiles; how people communicate theiremotions through non-verbal channels, such as bodylanguage; how people communicate through wirelesscommunications systems, such as mobile phones and theInternet; how expressive communication is portrayed incontemporary culture in terms of language, moods andcolours. User group tests are based around a seminar inorder to test conceptual assumptions. The results are fedback into the framework, which is then used to buildprototype designs. These are also tested on user groups,and are again fed back into the framework.

The following design scenarios suggest a way inwhich textiles and clothing can converge with ICT. Thescenarios make reference to a newly emerging area ofexpressive interaction, interpersonal and haptic2 com-

2 Sense of touch.

276

munication, and gaming. For example, the Super CiliaSkin is an interactive membrane developed at the MITMedia Lab. The skin functions as a computer outputdevice, capable of visual and tactile expression, allowinggesture to be seen or an image to be felt via an array ofactuators mounted onto an elastic membrane. ‘‘Mostcomputational tools rely on visual output devices. Whilesuch devices are invaluable, influential studies in neu-rophysiology have shown that physical experience cre-ates especially strong neural pathways in the brain.When people participate in tactile/kinesthetic activity,the two hemispheres of the brain are simultaneouslyengaged... assuring that new information will be retainedin long-term memory’’ [7]. Another example of inter-personal communication by use of haptic technology isComTouch, again developed at the MIT Media Lab.ComTouch is a handheld device that translates fingerpressure into vibration, thereby, augmenting voicechannels of communication. ‘‘A device that conveystouch might allow for more expressive interactions’’ [8].

4.1 Tools for remote interpersonal communication

The aims of this scenario are to develop: a clothingconcept that facilitates the sending of expressive mes-sages to friends or partners by conveying a sense andexperience of touch or presence through clothing;clothing that is a mobile aid that facilitates the expres-sion of other aspects of human communication, sup-porting the user’s need for subtle communication andcomplementing existing communication channels.

This scenario is built on conventions and cultures ofclothing and textiles in being expressive media, and onthe close bond we have with our clothing, which con-nects people through touch and gesture. One of the mainattributes of textiles is their huge range of tactile quali-ties (cool/warm, hard/soft) as well as acoustic properties,having certain effects on the way people feel and respondto them. Sensory science, or psychophysics, is anemerging area of experimental psychology that was firstapplied to product areas such as food. It is now beingapplied to textiles to measure people’s subjective expe-riences of textiles when touched. Touch is an importantpart of human interaction and communication; forexample, warmth and affection are often conveyedthrough touch. Also, people communicate through ges-ture or body movement, which constitute a type oflanguage, a ‘‘language of emotions’’ [9]. Clothing is an

emotional medium; it envelops us, is our second skinand is, in some way, an extension of our body. ‘‘Dress isthe way in which individuals learn to live in their bodiesand feel at home in them. Dress is... an intimate expe-rience of the body’’ [10]. The conceptual framework isillustrated in Table 1.

Sending the message The signal sent is based on therelationship of the sender with the recipient. The mes-sage can be purely non-verbal, an expression of how thesender is feeling or a feeling that he or she wants toconvey, or illustrative, reinforcing verbal messages overthe telephone. The sender’s interactions (or switchingactions) with his or her clothing are based on conven-tions of touch and gesture associated with expressivecommunication and/or touch or gesture that serves toconcretise verbal communication. For example, emo-tional expressions that demonstrate affection could beconveyed through touch and body gestures, such as anembrace or stroking an arm/sleeve. The garment consistsof pressure-sensing and gesture-sensing textiles con-nected to a textile antenna by a textile circuit, to which acommunications chip is welded. When the pressure-sensing textile is pressed or stroked, or when the gesturesensor senses a gesture or movement, a signal containinga code is sent to the communications chip. Each type ofpressure or gesture is assigned a code.

Receiving the message The change effected in therecipient’s clothing is based on translating the expressivemeaning of the touch or gesture into colour or tactileconfigurations, realised in a chromic display material.The pressure or gesture code is picked by up the receiver’santenna, causing the communications chip to send asignal to the display on which a colour appears. Theemotion expressed by the sender is translated into acolour, which is based on known colour psychology andcultural values of colour. Colours are purported to haveemotional, physical and behavioural values; for example,in many western cultures, the emotional value of red islove, vitality, courage, passion and danger. Colours havepositive and negative effects on us, caused by their energyentering our bodies. By being able to effect a colourchange in the receiver’s clothing, the sender can either letthe recipient know how he or she is feeling, or influencehis or her mood. The receiver’s garment is composed of atextile antenna and communications chip, which areconnected to either display materials or actuator textilesby textile circuits. Touch and gesture can be conveyed

Table 1 Tools for remoteinterpersonal communication Emotional expression

or moodSending message/switchingaction

Receiving message/change effected(in recipient’s clothing)

Display Actuator

Warmth Gentle squeezing of arm Yellow Squeezing sensationLove Stroking of arm Red Soft tactileAffection Embrace/arms wrapped

around the wearerYellow Hugging sensation

277

more literally using actuator textiles; for example, anembrace sent could be conveyed through the contractionof the textile fibres, causing the garment to hug the body.Touch can also be tactilely sensed; for example, wheredifferent haptic qualities of textiles can be conveyed.Configurations of haptic qualities are based on researchconducted on the sensory properties of various types oftextiles. The concept could also be extended to includeinterior environments, where a sense of presence can beconveyed via furniture and furnishings.

4.2 Tools for social interaction and social gaming

‘‘Social interactions are the focus of our existence. Weare social animals, and for any technology to be useful,it must eventually support socialization’’ [11]. The aimof this scenario is to develop clothing concepts thatfacilitate social interaction by provoking and elicitingemotional responses. People can interfere and interactwith the clothing of others in the vicinity by changingthe visual appearance (colour, pattern), tactile quality orshape of the clothing.

This scenario is built on conventions of clothing as anexpressive medium and on the social nature of humans.Clothing facilitates social interaction, as it is a means ofmaking the body social. It can create a sense ofbelonging or enable anonymity through a processof managing personal appearance to form a total com-posite image. Clothing can be used as a channel ofcommunication, where ‘‘one person would say some-thing to another person with the intention of effectingsome change in that other person. ...the effect on thereceiver is important in that it is the effect on the receiverthat constitutes social interaction’’ [12]. The effect can bean emotional response, or change of behaviour or stateof mind. People express and communicate their emo-tions through their behaviour and body language.‘‘...bodily, non verbal communication operates within asocial context, but also that the messages conveyed bybodily expression are about the society itself’’ [13]. Theconceptual framework for this scenario is based onpeople’s clothing behaviour as well on explorations intothe social behaviour of people. This scenario is also builton the emerging area of personal electronic dataexchange, and gaming becoming more of a socialactivity. The vCard is an electronic business card, whichis a new means of sending business cards to people via

electronic devices. Electronic games developers, such asSony, are looking into making gaming less of a singularactivity and more social. The conceptual framework isillustrated in Table 2.

As in the previous scenario, interactions betweenpeople are based on gestures and actions as communi-cators of emotion, which serve to trigger changes ineither the sender’s or the recipient’s clothing.

4.3 Tools for creativity and gaming

The aims of this scenario are to develop clothing andinterior environment textile concepts that facilitate asense of being creative by allowing the user to be aco-creator. The user or wearer customises the visualappearance (colour, pattern), tactile quality or shape ofthe textile, thus, giving the wearer a sense of self-expression.

This scenario is built on conventions and cultures ofclothing. Clothing facilitates individualistic expression,allowing individuals to differentiate themselves and todeclare their uniqueness. ‘‘...it seems that more and morepeople are becoming addicted to the feelings they getwhen they wear something new. Those feelings may beof increased or reinforced uniqueness or of pleasure inpresenting a different appearance to the world. Indi-viduals may also derive aesthetic pleasure from either‘creating personal display’ or from appreciating that ofothers’’ [12]. Clothing can also serve to reflect, hide orgenerate mood. Sometimes, by expressing a mood, thewearer can influence other people’s moods. This sce-nario is also built on celebrity culture or limelight syn-drome, prevalent in western cultures and the gamingfield. Sony and Microsoft are looking at ways of makinggaming more interactive and fun; for example,researchers at Sony are investigating the use of gesturesas game commands to replace the joystick. The con-ceptual framework is illustrated in Table 3.

Clothing can be customised whereby aesthetics, col-our, pattern, shape and size of clothing can be alteredaccording to size, taste and mood. The wearer can beexpressive by changing aesthetics and effects; for exam-ple, changing light, colour and patterns, shapes andtextures. Gaming or role-playing can be enhancedthrough mediated environments, where the space is alsosmart or active, delivering content. In a mediated envi-ronment, the user can live out fantasies and engage in

Table 2 Tools for social interaction and social gaming

Emotional expression or mood Sending message/switching action Receiving message/change effected

Display Actuator

Being playful/attractingattention

Squeezing or tapping arm,shoulder

In recipient’s clothing: orange In recipient’s clothing:squeezing sensation

Sending personal message Positive body language In recipient’s clothing: yellow In recipient’s clothing:pressing sensation

Social/cultural groups gaming Gaming actions In recipient’s clothing: hit spots In recipient’s clothing:hit sensation

278

games, sport, performance or role-playing/acting in theirown homes; for example, where body actions are readand sent to a wall display. By monitoring performance,the clothing can augment sports activities; for example,by embedding sensors in running shoes or in the floor-ing, facilitating feedback on technique and performance.Clothing can also enhance performance by providingextra strength, which may have particular benefits forthose with injuries or disabilities.

5 Technology enablers

The scenarios are explored using currently availabletechnology to build smart textile systems, such as

wireless communications, textile antennas, chromicdisplay materials, textile switches, textile pressure andgesture sensors, textile circuits and micro-componentwelding technology. Testing of textiles is being carriedout in collaboration with Cliff Randell, Bristol Univer-sity and Matthew Chalmers, University of Glasgow, aspart of the EPSRC-funded Equator project. See Fig. 1for the location of active materials.

However, there are many electroactive polymerscurrently being developed by the electrochemistryindustry, a convergence of electronics and chemistry.The electrochemistry sector is developing electroactivepolymers for what are being termed as plastic electronics.The future prospects that these polymers can enable, iftransferred to the textiles industry, will be soft intelligent

Table 3 Tools for creativity and gaming

Emotional expression or mood Switching action Change effected

Display Actuator

Customising aesthetics:personal display

Virtual paint box: drawinghand down sleeve effectsbrushed colour changes

User’s clothing:any colour

User’s clothing: change in size,shape, tactile quality

Role play/fantasy: celebrity,icon, film character

Role play actions Mediated environment:provides context

User’s clothing: force feedback

Game/sport: performanceenhancing and/or monitoring

Gaming/sport actions Mediated environment:provides game context

User’s clothing: force feedback

User’s clothing:hit spots

Fig. 1 Location of activematerials in clothing and in anenvironment

279

textile products that will permit a broad spectrum offunctions and capabilities. Light-emitting textile displayscould be engineered through applying electrochormic orlight-emitting diodes to inherently conductive fibres. Iffibres could be fabricated from actuator polymers, tex-tiles that change shape, surface texture could be realised.Plastic electronic circuits could be fabricated out ofpolymer transistors, as well as sensors and memories forsmart devices. The future of truly smart textiles lies inthe potential of technology convergence, where theseelectroactive polymers or molecular electronics areprocessed into, or fabricated onto, fibres and fabrics.The realisation of intelligent functions into textiles usingthe aforementioned electroactive polymers will rely onnanotechnology. Nanotechnology will be the nextindustrial revolution following the knowledge age.Nanotechnology is the creation of functional materials,devices and systems through control of matter on thenanometre (nm) scale. Research is going on into modi-fying fibre surfaces, grafting materials onto fibres tocreate multi-functional, responsive and adaptive fibres,in order to tailor a hybrid nanolayer of polymer film thatwill afford a number of functions and properties; forexample, colour change. The electronics sector is devel-oping nanowires that are grown from vapours of atomicingredients, and act as diodes or other electronic com-ponent.

If the predictions are correct, a life where intelligenceis embedded into everything is going to make thedevelopment processes of products and materials muchmore complex than has been the case, as it willencroach on different sectors and involve many complexissues.

‘‘Dozens of smart fabrics and interactive-textiles- en-abling technologies are under development today, yet, fewof the OEMs or end-users of SFIT-enabled (smart fabricsand interactive textiles) solutions know about thesetechnologies’’ [14]. In other words, formal channels ofcommunication do not currently exist between the usersand the developers, nor do between discrete sectors thatwill be involved in the development of materials.Electronic textile development is underway withindefence research agencies in the USA, but it may besome time before they are spun out into the commercialdomain.

To address this lack of dialogue, there is a need formechanisms that bring the different industries closer. Forexample, the author coordinates the network, SmartTextiles for Intelligent Products, funded by the Engi-neering and Physical Sciences Research Council, UK.This network is a think tank for future intelligent or smartconsumer products and applications in the context ofsocietal futures and future markets. It seeks to create newformal channels of communication by bringing togetherall sectors that will be involved in the design, developmentandproduction chain into anew hybrid community. Theseinclude: application-based industries (sports, clothing,medical, automotive, gaming, architectural and interiorenvironments), defence agencies, cognitive science,

social science, computing, electronics, electrochemistry,textile and fibre engineering, the design community(fashion, textile, industrial, interior designers and archi-tects), economists, business and markets specialists andlifestyle trend forecasters. The various industries havediscrete cultures, whose time scales for development andproduction vary hugely, as well as languages. Through itsworkshops, the smart textiles networkaims to breakdownthese barriers. Technology special interest workshopsbring together users with different fields of expertise re-quired to develop smart textile platforms; for example,textile actuators and sensors, anddisplays. Thisworkshopbrings together the potential users and designers with thematerials developers. Workshops that look at the biggerpicture explore projections of the future of society, life-style, work, travel, economics and markets, whichmembers can use collectively to brainstormabout possibleproduct scenarios for the future. It is hoped that thesescenarios will set a trajectory for the development of smarttextiles.

This paper is a result of research being conducted bySharon Baurley, supported by the Arts and HumanitiesResearch Board through the AHRB’s Fellowships in theCreative and Performing Arts scheme, UK.

Published in Wearable electronics and phonotics,Xiaoming Tao (ed), published by Woodhead PublishingLimited, Cambridge, UK.

Copyright belongs to Woodhead Publishing Limited.

Bibliography

Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London. http://www.csm.linst.ac.uk

Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), Palo Alto. http://www.parc.xerox.com

The Disappearing Computer (DC) Initiative, European Union.http://www.disappearing-computer.net

IBM Almaden Research Centre, San Jose. http://www.almaden.ibm.com

Media Lab, MIT, Boston. http://www.media.mit.eduSmart Paper by Gyricon, Ann Arbor. http://www.gyriconme-

dia.com/SmartPaper.aspInteraction Design Department, Royal College of Art, London.

http://www.interaction.rca.ac.uk/Interactive Institute, Ivrea. http://www.interaction-ivrea.it/en/

index.aspThings That Think Group, MIT, Boston. http://ttt.media.mit.eduSony Computer Science Laboratory, Tokyo. http://www.csl.sony.

co.jpMaslow AH (1968) Toward a psychology of being. D. Van

Nostrand, New YorkEPSRC Network smart textiles for intelligent products. CSM,

London. http://www.smartextiles.netKaiser SB (1997) The social psychology of clothing: symbolic

appearances in context. Fairchild Publications, New YorkPhilippe F, Schacher L, Adolphe DC (2003) The sensory panel

applied to textile goods: a new marketing tool. J FashionMarketing Manag 7(3):235–248

Department of Kansei Engineering, Faculty of Textile Science andTechnology, Shinshu University, Japan. http://www.tex.shinshu-u.ac.jp/faculties/kansei/kansei_e.html

Polhemus T (ed) (1978) Social aspects of the human body. Penguin,London

280

Hickson ML III, Stacks DW, Moore N-J (2004) Nonverbal com-munication studies and applications, 4th edn. Roxbury,Los Angeles

Valdez P, Mehrabian A (1994) Effects of color on emotions. J ExpPsychol 123(4):394–409

vCard, Internet Mail Consortium, Santa Cruz. http://www.imc.org/pdi

Randell C, Baurley S, Chalmers M, Muller H (2004) Textile toolsfor wearable computing. In: Proceedings of the 1st internationalforum on applied wearable computing (IFAWC 2004), Bremen,Germany, March 2004

Plastic Logic, Cambridge. http://www.plasticlogic.co.ukCavendish Laboratory, Cambridge University, Cambridge. http://

www.phy.cam.ac.ukSchool of Materials Science and Engineering, Clemson University,

Clemson. http://mse.clemson.edu

References

1. Marzano S, Arts E (2003) The new everyday: views on ambientintelligence. 010 Publishers, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

2. Macdonald N (2003) About: interaction design. The DesignCouncil paper. http://www.designcouncil.org.uk

3. Gilmore JH, Pine BJ II (1999) The experience economy. Har-vard Business School Press, Harvard

4. Gershenfield N (1999) When things start to think. Hodder andStoughton, London

5. Selker T, Burleson W (2000) Context-aware design and inter-action in computer systems. IBM Syst J 39(3/4):880–891

6. Mattelmaki T, Keinonen T (2001) Design for brawling—exploring emotional issues for concept design. In: Proceedingsof the 1st international conference on affective human factorsdesign (CAHD 2001), Singapore, June 2001. Asean AcademicPress, London

7. Raffle H (2003) Super Cilia Skin: an interactive membrane. In:Proceedings of the conference on computer human interaction(CHI 2003), Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, April 2003

8. Ishii H, Chang A, O’Modhrain S, Jacob R, Gunther E (2002)ComTouch: design of a vibrotactile communication device. In:Proceedings of the symposium on designing interactive systems:processes, practices, methods, and techniques (DIS 2002),London, June 2002

9. Darwin C (1965) The expression of the emotions in man andanimals. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

10. Entwistle J (2000) The fashioned body: fashion, dress, andmodern social theory. Polity Press, Cambridge

11. Ark WS (1999) A look at human interaction with pervasivecomputers. IBM Syst J 38(4):504–507

12. Bernard (1996) Fashion as communication. Routledge, London13. Douglas M (1971) Do dogs laugh? A cross-cultural approach to

body symbolism. J Psychosom Res 15:387–39014. Venture Development Corporation, USA (2003) Smart fabrics

and interactive textiles: a global market opportunity assessment

281