2013 – Temperature Scarves and Afghans

On January 2013, Kristen Cooper Nutbrown from British Columbia had the idea to create a temperature scarf by knitting one row every day using a color that encodes the temperature of the day. At the end of the year, the scarf visualized local temperature readings for the whole year. Soon after Kristen pitched her idea, Arlene Cline, also from British Columbia, started to create a temperature afghan (a blanket of knitted or crocheted wool). Temperature scarves and afghans became quite popular in […]

On January 2013, Kristen Cooper Nutbrown from British Columbia had the idea to create a temperature scarf by knitting one row every day using a color that encodes the temperature of the day. At the end of the year, the scarf visualized local temperature readings for the whole year. Soon after Kristen pitched her idea, Arlene Cline, also from British Columbia, started to create a temperature afghan (a blanket of knitted or crocheted wool). Temperature scarves and afghans became quite popular in the knitting community, and several tutorials exist on how to make them. The temperature scarf on the left photo above is from ravelry.com user SleepyEyes (completed 31 Dec 2014). The afghan on the right is from Sharon MacDermaid (completed 31 Dec 2016). The popularity of temperature scarves rose again in 2017 with the Tempestry Project, a reaction to Trump's hostility toward climate science. Also see our other entries on data clothing, fabric and weather. Sources: Kristen Cooper Nutbrown (2013) Knitting!: My Year in Temperatures -Scarf- Kristen Cooper Nutbrown (2013) My Year in Temperatures -Scarf- on ravelry.com Arlene Cline (2013) temperature afghan-c Michael Sellick (2017) Temperature Afghan (tutorial with video) Left photo posted on facebook and twitter by Ellen Bacca, right photo from SleepyEyes.

Added by: Pierre Dragicevic, sent by: Andy South. Category: Passive physical visualization Tags: data clothing, fabric, temperatures, textile, weather

2014 – x.pose: a Wearable Dynamic Data Sculpture

x.pose is a dynamic wearable data sculpture that makes the collection of the wearer's location data visible in real-time in the physical world. From the project webpage: x.pose is a wearable data-driven sculpture that exposes a person's skin as a real-time reflection of the data that the wearer is producing. In the physical realm we can deliberately control which portions our bodies are exposed to the world by covering it with clothing. In the digital realm, we have much less control of what […]

x.pose is a dynamic wearable data sculpture that makes the collection of the wearer's location data visible in real-time in the physical world. From the project webpage: x.pose is a wearable data-driven sculpture that exposes a person's skin as a real-time reflection of the data that the wearer is producing. In the physical realm we can deliberately control which portions our bodies are exposed to the world by covering it with clothing. In the digital realm, we have much less control of what personal aspects we share with the services that connect us. In the digital realm we are naked and vulnerable. How it was created and how it works: The first step was to build a mobile app and server to automatically collect my data over time. Done using Node.js and PhoneGap. Second: the recorded data set was used as the basis for the generative aspects of the personalized wearable couture. The output is an abstract 3D mesh armature of my location data points collected over about a month. The dataset was fed into processing to produce the pattern and exported to Rhino to make the 3D mesh. Lastly, the mobile app and server is used to provide real-time data transmission through bluetooth to an Arduino, which controls reactive displays that change in opacity to reveal the wearer’s skin. This occurs in proportion to the volume of information that is passively generated. Source: x.pose is a thesis project for the ITP program at the Tisch School of the Arts, NYU, by Xuedi Chen in collaboration with Pedro G. C. Oliveira.

Added by: Yvonne Jansen. Category: Active physical visualization Tags: 3d printing, data clothing, data sculpture, location data, real-time, wearable

2014 – Data Clothing: Dresses Show Air Pollution

Laura Perovich explored the concept of data-driven clothes as part of her Master thesis at the MIT Media Lab. The fashion dresses above show the concentrations of 100 chemical contaminants measured in the air of a particular household (left image). Chemicals are mapped to small squares and relative concentration is mapped to square size. Squares are repeated to create lace patterns (right image shows the concentration of several factory-related pollutants). In her thesis Laura Perovich […]

Laura Perovich explored the concept of data-driven clothes as part of her Master thesis at the MIT Media Lab. The fashion dresses above show the concentrations of 100 chemical contaminants measured in the air of a particular household (left image). Chemicals are mapped to small squares and relative concentration is mapped to square size. Squares are repeated to create lace patterns (right image shows the concentration of several factory-related pollutants). In her thesis Laura Perovich discusses how data clothing may be used in the future to raise air pollution awareness: One can imagine the print on your shirt changing as your chemical exposures change; your clothing changing shape and stiffness to become uncomfortable and encourage you to leave a heavily polluted area; or your clothing increasing its protectiveness by offering air filtration in polluted spaces. These types of projects would increase understanding by giving ongoing relevant information and prompting action based on these understandings. Sources: Laura Perovich (2014) Dressed in Data. Laura Perovich (2014) Data Experiences: novel interfaces for data engagement using environmental health data.

Added by: Pierre Dragicevic, sent by: Yvonne Jansen. Category: Passive physical visualization Tags: air pollution, data clothing, digital fabrication, environment, fabric, textile

2016 – Accomplishments

Accomplishments is an exploration of personal data tracking, wearable art, wearable technology, social media, and data physicalization. Each day accomplishments were tracked, first on paper then by sewing spheroid masses onto a dress worn for four months. By hand sewing each accomplishment onto this dress, they became a part of the wearer's physical presence and identity. The work juxtaposes the immediateness of social media posts, and the separate identity we create for ourselves online which […]

Accomplishments is an exploration of personal data tracking, wearable art, wearable technology, social media, and data physicalization. Each day accomplishments were tracked, first on paper then by sewing spheroid masses onto a dress worn for four months. By hand sewing each accomplishment onto this dress, they became a part of the wearer's physical presence and identity. The work juxtaposes the immediateness of social media posts, and the separate identity we create for ourselves online which is often detached from our physical presence. The work also spoke to the use of wearable technology and the ability to track daily steps, sleep, emotions and other personal information as a standard practice. This data is often shared publicly online, however, these devices often remain invisible by their small size, camouflaged as watches, necklaces or hidden in pockets. Sources: Michelle Sylvestre, Accomplishments. University of Lethbridge (2016) Artist wears her heart, and her accomplishments, on her sleeve.

Added by: Michelle Sylvestre. Category: Passive physical visualization Tags: data clothing, fabric, textile

2019 – Sleep Blanket

A visualization of my son's sleep pattern from birth to his first birthday. Crochet border surrounding a double knit body. Each row represents a single day. Each stitch represents 6 minutes of time spent awake or asleep. Also see our entry 2013 – Temperature Scarves and Afghans. Source: Seung Lee (2019) Twitter thread.

Added by: Pierre Dragicevic, sent by: Steffen (@s1effen). Category: Passive physical visualization Tags: baby, data clothing, fabric, self-logging, sleep

2019 – Self Knitted Scarf of Train Delays

The mother [of] Sara Weber knitted this scarf during her daily train rides to work in Munich and used different colors depending on train delays. Every day two rows: Grey, less than 5 minutes delay. Pink, 5 to 30 minutes delay. Red, both rides delayed or one more than 30 minutes. The huge red area was during construction work, where the train was substituted by a bus. Side note: The tweet went viral and at the end she sold the scarf at eBay and gave the money to the "Bahnhofsmission" who take […]

The mother [of] Sara Weber knitted this scarf during her daily train rides to work in Munich and used different colors depending on train delays. Every day two rows: Grey, less than 5 minutes delay. Pink, 5 to 30 minutes delay. Red, both rides delayed or one more than 30 minutes. The huge red area was during construction work, where the train was substituted by a bus. Side note: The tweet went viral and at the end she sold the scarf at eBay and gave the money to the "Bahnhofsmission" who take care of homeless people at trainstations. Sources: Sara Weber on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sara__weber/status/1081950904671240192 Zett Newspage: https://ze.tt/mit-einem-selbst-gestrickten-schal-zeigt-eine-pendlerin-wie-haeufig-ihre-bahn-verspaetung-hat/

Added by: Steffen Haesler. Category: Passive physical visualization Tags: data clothing, delays, fabric, knitting, textile, transportation