Capra
Design Research
2018 - 2019
Everyday Design Studio
How do we design for ritual practices around bringing personal digital possessions into the home? How can collections of personally gathered digital possessions be meaningfully experienced? We explored these questions through the design of Capra: a wearable camera that captures time lapses imbued with several types of metadata when taken into the outdoors. Capra is worn on the strap of a backpack or can alternatively be clipped to any GoPro compatible holder. The intention with Capra was to gather a record that affords a new perspective on previously walked hikes and we did this in two ways: firstly, Capra features three cameras; pointing at the sky, the front and the ground respectively. In addition, three parallel sets of metadata are gathered along with the pictures: timestamps, altitude of the device and dominant colour in the images.
These datasets were used to sequence the images on playback. Using the timestamps for sequencing would basically create a timelapse of a hike. Yet, using altitude data or dominant colour would open up opportunities for serendipity and unexpected links and adjacencies between images. But also, the three pictures as gathered by the three cameras would often expose details of the hike otherwise missed.
Capra was a self-initiated, collaborative research project within the Everyday Design Studio. I developed the concept, designed the electronics and oversaw manufacturing. The firmware for the camera was developed by myself and Jordan White. The two of us took the prototype out into the mountains around California, Vancouver, BC, and Portland, OR to test it and iterate on the types of data to gather and ways to play back the images.
Collaborators:
Jordan White
Supervisors:
Will Odom (+collaborator)
Ron Wakkary
This is a project of the Everyday Design Studio and was supported by in part by SSHRC and NSERC.
