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Becky Stern: My work in wearables started long before the first Fitbit. It doesn't aim to be mass-produced, but rather radically customized through the interpretation of instructions I publish. Wearables are so personal that I think it's heavy handed to suppose that one [product] will work the same way for everyone.
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I get a strange satisfaction from getting ideas and processes out of my head/hands and onto the internet. I've never been able to fully explain my motivation to finish projects and put them online. Readers often give back their own ideas and suggestions; sharing creates an open exchange that's very helpful when I'm stuck or out of my league.
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When coding knowledge becomes commonplace, the gap between technology maker and technology user will begin to close. Consumers will have more critical understanding of their devices and online networks, which will undoubtedly change their behavior, whether it decreases unintentional privacy violations or fundamentally changes tech company's product development and marketing campaigns.Intel announced a collaboration with Fossil on techdriven accessories, and Google Glass is working with the makers of Ray Ban and Oakley sunglasses to develop more fashionable eyewear. What do you think of tech companies' forays into fashion?
These collaborations are inevitable as tech and fashion companies finally learn how to relate to one another. They hardly speak the same language, have vastly different value systems, not to mention business models.You better believe that if there is an activity, there will be a wearable for it soon. I'm sure in the coming years we'll see brilliant ideas executed poorly, and idiotic ideas made mega-popular through great business decisions. I think tech is moving quickly towards the seasonal replacement pattern that fashion has long established, and I find that a bit depressing for the planet, since circuit boards and batteries are far harder to reuse or recycle than out-of-style garments.
I like the idea that shiny metallic EMF-blocking clothing and accessories could become in vogue because they represent data privacy—this is a technological factor that informs a visual one. Building your own wearables definitely makes you understand more about what the big guys are up to. If you learn how to code your own GPS logger, you become painfully aware that your phone is probably logging your every move and uploading that info to a server somewhere, or at least that it could be doing that without your knowledge or consent.I wouldn't say DIY wearables provide an alternative to the big guys, though, as smartphones and other "mandatory" devices of the modern era can't easily be DIY-ed at the level of compact reliability necessary for staying as connected as we like.How do you get people to want to wear your products?
Fortunately I don't have to try to make people want to wear something, I get to try to get them to want to make something. Whether they wear it is often irrelevant to the goal of teaching and helping folks have a good time learning tech and crafts. Creating new use cases that are compelling enough to get people to buy products is a challenge for wearable tech companies: The scenario has to be more compelling than a slick marketing campaign, or the product will fizzle after the first users get tired of it. Motivations for putting something on your body range wildly and are very personal. I think it's easier to put something on your body if you made it yourself than if you bought it—you've already invested a part of yourself in it.See Becky's products on her website.