warmware : mnemonic art and design research a presentation by Professor Judith Doyle, 2006 Part 1 ( ) : Orientation Devices for Amnesics Research Designers : Judith Doyle (OCAD) Mike Wu (University of Toronto - Department of Computer Science, Knowledge Media Design Institute) with Dr. Guy Proulx (Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care) Dr. Brian Richards (Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care) User Participant : Robin Len Humphries, AOCA Course Context : Virtual Communities, OCAD Interdisciplinary Studies / 3rd Year / 2005 Professors : Judith Doyle (Art) Martha Ladly (Design)

At Toronto’s Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, Dr. Brian Richards heads Memory Link. His clients with acquired brain injury experience problems storing and retrieving new memories and can be “marooned in the moment”, as Carolyn Abraham writes.

Mike Wu at the University of Toronto and his colleagues are developing computer tools to offset the memory problems amnesics experience.

Prototype 1 : Memory Book with buzzer-type detachable alarm. OrientingTool screen.

Amnesics also experience problems remembering emotion. Artists have expertise in emotional representation and embodied memory, and so can help create richer memory scaffolding. The Virtual Communities class at OCAD worked on several assignments with Mike Wu, Dr. Brian Richards and user-participant Robin Len Humphries, posting these assignments to the class blog

Assignment 1 : Choose memory impairment problems to address, and tools to solve the problems with.

Assignment 2 : Create a set of multimedia “emoticons” (reminders for feelings).

Assignment 3 : Create a memory map using multimedia signposts from OCAD to a nearby destination.

Assignment 4 : Convert these ideas into simple instructions in recipe format.

warmware : art and design of emotional content for memory augmentation tools RESEARCH PROPOSAL (In Progress - Summer 2006) 1) Development of collaboration methodologies with art and design researchers, medical researchers, clinical practitioners, user- participants and engineers, focused at the Ontario College of Art and Design, the University of Toronto and the Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, Toronto.

Judith Doyle, stills from ‘Foxscape”, in progress, We will explore smart albums, handhelds, wearables and novel uses of gaming environments to enhance memory. For example, Judith Doyle’s interactive navigatable “foxscape” project, created during her CanWest Global Fellowship at the Banff New Media Institute, uses videogame programming and 3D modeling as a context for archival and family photographs.CanWest Global Fellowship

Students and team participants will prototype warmware interface designs including screen shells (inspired by jewel boxes, framing and bookbinding), sensitive interfaces and wearable technology for smart mnemonic albums and memory aid technologies on the handheld scale. For further information, see : or contact The Ontario College of Art and Design.Judith Doyle can be contacted directly at Ontario College of Art and