This morning, my patience was rewarded when I received a foreign-looking envelop with a very smooth and soft texture. The sender was without a doubt: Spoonflower, as was indicated with their logo in the left top corner. And I must say - unpacking the sample was quite some experience. As the pictures show, at Spoonflower a lot of attention is dedicated to the presentation of the product.

The sample is protected with a piece of very thin paper - you know that kind of paper very expensive clothes are wrapped in - and a sticker with the Spoonflower logo on top!After gently opening the package, you first stumble upon a little piece of fabric with again the Spoonflower logo printed on. And I must say, it looks great and if I’m honest it looks better on fabric than on my computer screen (the details of the logo are more visible on the fabric than on the website).
Another pleasant touch is the handwritten ‘thank you‘ of Danielle on the shipping receipt! It makes me feel just a bit special and not customer number 0000036450.
So Danielle of Spoonflower; you’re very welcome!

But the most important thing is of course the order: the business cards! How does it look? Are the expectations fulfilled? Are the colours the same as the ones on my computer screen? …. Although I liked the concept of Spoonflower from minute one, I have to admit that I had some reservations! But today, they all have vanished like snow on a sunny day.

The sample of our business cards looks just great. The colours are the same as on the original file. For one moment, I panicked since there seems to be a difference between the colour an font of my name and Niels’ name. But when looking at the original TIF-file; it also shows those minor differences. It’s a very strange thing: when I print the file on a piece paper, you don’t see it, but when printed on fabric, they become visible!

So my conclusion: I’m very excited about the Spoonflower service: the sample exceeded my expectations and I’m positive that those samples go in production!

My colleague Rudi has blogged at Hunting a Snark on the LilyPad Arduino.

The Arduino modules are popular because they are very hands-on and it takes little effort to learn to use them. I see a lot of my non-tecchie students using them to use sensors etc.

The LilyPad Arduino is a variant of the Arduino modules, it consists of “sewable electronic components that let you build your own soft, interactive fashion”. It was created by Leah Buechley at MIT.

As one can connect sensors, LEDs, accelerometers to the LilyPad Arduino board and sew it into your bag, hoodie, T-shirt,… the possibilities for building interactive textiles seem unlimited.

Check out Leah Buechley photos on Flickr.

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

The concept of a worldwide network which enables its users to shop, chat, share info,… without the limitations of time or place is what we now call the internet. The video below features Jean D’Arcy who as the director of the Audiovisual Department of the United Nations in 1969 predicted the coming (and impact) of the internet.

The documentary was part of the television program ‘Eureka’ and features predictions of e-learning, video on demand, network gaming, online shopping & e-mail.

The documentary starts from the television as the main technology, but it becomes clear that this prediction goes beyond the limitations of television. At the end of the movie D’Arcy correctly indicates that this evolution needs its own name and that their is a great difference in the passivity of television and the active participation this new ’system’ needs.

UPDATE: I received a smaller English version of the movie from my Macedonian friend Darko.

It is not our intention to post in Dutch (though it is Katriens and my mother tongue), but we are in search of people to participate in our research project. If you are interested in fashion (buying and/or designing) or in online shopping contact us.

De Media en Design Academie (KHLim)  is partner in een Europees onderzoeksproject - Open Garments (http://www.open-garments.eu/) - dat handelt rond kleding en het ontwerpen ervan door gebruikers.
In het kader van dit onderzoek, plannen we 3 focusgroepen (groepsinterviews), die plaatsvinden te Hasselt.

17 februari: focusgroep met eerstejaars cursisten kleding of mode.
18 februari: focusgroep met mensen die regelmatig kleding online of via postorder kopen
23 februari: focusgroep met mensen de geïnteresseerd zijn in mode en kleding

Elke focusgroep vindt plaats in Hasselt, gaat van start in de vroege avond (vanaf 18.30) en duurt ongeveer anderhalf uur tot twee uur.

Het spreekt voor zich dat elke deelnemer een vergoeding voor zijn/haar deelname krijgt (kilometervergoeding en cadeau).

Indien je bereid bent hieraan mee te werken of nog wat meer info wil, aarzel dan niet om ons te contacteren (via comment of niels.hendriks AT mda.khlim.be of katrien.dreessen AT mda.khlim.be)!

Via Robin Hamman, blogging at Cybersoc, I found a great presentation on the use of Twitter called “How Twitter changed my life” (by Minxuan Lee).

Most interesting elements of the presentation are:

* The 5 stages of Twitter acceptance (Denial - Presence - Dumping - Conversing - Microblogging)

* The fact that it’s not about the question “What are you doing?”, but about “What has your attention?”

* About the open API: “For every pain you face, there is a Twitter app. Otherwise, create it!”

via: Cybersoc

Social media play an important role in sharing experiences, thoughts, feelings … During Obama’s Inauguration Day a lot of people used social media to get/stay connected with others and thus being part of that historical day. Some numbers:

During Obama’s inauguration Twitter reported five times more tweets.

But also on YouTube, this week only 332 000 new videos  containing the tag “Obama” were uploaded and 17 000 with the tag “Inauguration”.`

The full report can be found on Mashable