Francine Gemperle
Mobile & Wearable Computing & Human Computer Interaction
Wednesday, October 31 , 2001
Building 8 Auditorium - 3:30 PM
(Refreshments at 3:00 PM)

Goddard's Office of the Assistant Director for Information Sciences and Chief Information Officer announces the next GSFC Information Sciences and Technology (IS&T) Colloquium presentation of the Fall 2001 Series. Francine Gemperle, will talk about Mobile and Variable Computing and Human-Computer Interaction. A wearable computer is one that is constantly available, it can be used while the wearer is in motion, with one or both hands free and exists within the corporeal envelope of the wearer. Wearable computers also have a host of other requirements, including: light weight, low temperature, low power and a wearable form factor. An ever expanding and diverse group of people are pursuing work in wearable computers, addressing these and other issues. These people range from fashion and textile designers to electrical engineers. They are creating wearables for computer users ranging from fashion conscious teens to aircraft technicians. She will provide a broad overview of this wearable computing industry and report on the latest work from the 5th International Symposium on Wearable Computers held in Zurich in early October 2001 Within this international group of wearable computer developers lies the Wearable Computing Group at Carnegie Mellon University.Who have been building wearable systems for 10 years. She will go over some of this group's past development efforts and usability testing of wearable computers. She will also show their latest wearable computer, Spot. Spot is a wearable research platform designed to support further development in wearable interaction design, power aware computing and wireless networking. This 9oz computer runs a Strong ARM processor and boasts a large bank of memory, quilt in radio + antenna and unlimited connectivity. Finally she will discuss plans for wearable interaction design research and development with the Spot platform. The interaction design studio has been pursuing ways to provide information to users that is minimally distracting. Projects include development of a spatial audio desktop and a wearable tactile display.

Francine Gemperle has been working with the Wearable Computing Group at Carnegie Mellon University for 5 years. She holds a BFA in Industrial Design from Carnegie Mellon University and is a member of the Industrial Designers Society of America. Francine is an expert in designing products for wearability and is currently developing her expertise in the area of Tactile Interaction Design. Her contributions to wearable computer design and envisioning the future of human computer interaction have been published by the Association for Computing Machinery, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and the international, popular press. In addition, her design work has received awards from IDSA and The New York Foundation for the Arts.

IS&T Colloquium Committee Host: Mike Seablom, mseablom@pop900.gsfc.nasa.gov