Eccentric Sensing Devices: Using Conceptual Design Notes to Understand Design Opportunities, Limitations, and Concerns Connected to Digital Sensing

ABSTRACTMore things are becoming equipped with digital sensors, central processors, and network connections. Alongside marketing and engineering terminology such as Internet of Things and ubiquitous computing, designers and HCI researchers need new concepts to help understand the design opportunities, limitations, and social concerns connected to digital sensing systems. This pictorial presents an array of conceptual design notes clustered around 5 themes: sensor overreach, layered sensing, floating sensors, upredictable sensing, and sensor attenuation. Reflecting on our creative process, we articulate the methodological concepts of eccentric devices and conceptual design notes. As a whole, this pictorial exemplifies the value of intimate and nuanced depictions of creative processes—details too often omited from final publications and finished products.