Most of the very few non-gastronomical excitements that life in Italy brings me come from IDII, so I’m quite disappointed to miss their Exit//End of Year Show 2005 on June 10. But hey, I’ll be at Reboot in Copenhagen so I can’t complain either. Among the projects to be shown Via Porta Palatina 15, in Turin, are Neighbourhood Satellites, Actively Mobile, Meaningful Patterns of Life, Light Appliances, Family Scrapboook, Experiencing Mobile Images, InstantShareCam, etc.

Here’s another one: Peripheral Needs, by Christian Palino, a set of designs for people with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

For example, a woman who needs to repeatedly check that her electric appliances are shut off can find some mental comfort thanks to switches she can carry with her to bed or while outside the house. Soft velcro-lined RFID-tagged switches are placed on electrical appliances (equipped with an RFID tag reader) to turn them on. The switches can be removed, physically disengaging the power, and carried in various retro-fitted personal effects (handbag, keychain, pillow) that can be physically checked for reassurance when away from the appliances.

When the woman is back home, she can replace the portable master switches onto her electrical appliances.

PDF of the thesis.