This project is hosted on my older website.
For my latest (still-in-progress) work, visit www.karenasmar.com.
CHI 2019 Microbial HCI —
Social Microbial Prosthesis
Speculating on the hidden dangers and the rising opportunities of microbial interfaces
CHALLENGE
Today, the hype and obsession with our microbiome health has blinded us, distracted us and lead us to give very little attention to the ethical, social and even political implications of microbiome technologies. With private and big tech companies rushing to collect this data, what are the implications of letting these companies have access to this sensitive data?
SOLUTION
I speculate on a future where people interact together solely for microbial exchanges. In this world, I introduce "Social Microbial Prosthesis", a wearable device that integrates microorganisms as computing systems and translates our oral microbiome from our breath into a coded visual system on our chests. This second skin, then, plays a role of an identification system that carries sensitive information. It is also used as a tool for spatial navigation by aiding people to carefully consider who to interact with and who to avoid.
PUBLICATION
Published in ACM Digital Library
in CHI 2019 conference
Mentioned in
“Living Bits: Opportunities and
Challenges for Integrating Living
Microorganisms in Human-Computer
Interaction”
TAGS
Microbial Interface Design,
Biodata,
Microbial HCI,
Critical Design,
"Super Organism"-Centered Design
Key Insights —
Research01 *
Before speculating on the opportunities, dangers and implications of microbes and microbial data, I researched the domain to better understand the potential, abilities and behaviors of these microbes.
Key Insights
01
Microbial Information Cloud / Signature
Studies show that each person has a unique microbial signature that floats around them in a spatial cloud and whose composition is directly linked to one’s health and predisposition to diseases.
02
Input/Output of Microbes
Microbes can receive chemical or physical signals from the surrounding and respond by producing outputs such as change of color, smell, taste or even movement.
03
Gut-Brain Connection
Our microbiome is considered as our second genome, our second brain and even as another organ controlling our body systems and our behaviors.
Problem Space
All these discoveries make our microbiome a very sensitive form of information that easily identifies us. Yet, we live today in a world driven by and thirsty for data. Our genome and microbiome are simply, new forms of this data.
Additionally, this data does not only excite medical professionals but also grabs the attention of governments, big tech companies and other private companies working in all different sectors and fields.
Scenario Building —
Methodology02 *
Based on this research, in order to speculate on the future of biotechnological worlds we might live in, I designed a functional fiction of a world where microbiome technologies become an integral part of our everyday lives and an interface with the world and with each other.
In this future, our biological data, stored by governments and private companies, govern our social systems, redefine our social identities and reinvent the reasons behind our social interactions to an extent that it becomes largely and purely driven by our microbial compositions and our biological need to exchange bacteria.
Socializing is no longer for entertainment but rather becomes an act of survival for the super-organism.
DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS
Concept —
Design03 *
01 Concept
Microbe as Identification System
From Microbial Prints —— To Wearable ID Systems
Social Microbial Prosthesis is a wearable that translates our oral microbiome into a coded visual identity system displayed as a soft robot and second skin on our chests.
It relies on microbes as an interface and responds to changes in its surrounding by displaying. a new pattern of colors on our chests.
02 Form
Microbe as Bio-Interface
This new “skin” is composed of six main compartments that represent the six main phylum categories of bacteria in our oral microbiology. Each compartment then branches out into smaller cells that represent classes of these phyla. Within each pocket is a biosensor that tests for, reacts to and recognizes only one specific bacteria.
03 Function
Microbe as Bio-Computers
Input-Output System
With the mouth being an extension of the digestive tract, the area where there is the largest concentration of bacteria in our bodies, the design relies on our breath as an input.
When a person breathes onto this microbial prosthesis, a unique composition of abundant bacteria will be displayed as a form of temporal identity.
Social, Social, Ethical —
Implications04 *
01 New Communication Language
Different microbial compositions give off information about this person’s social, mental and physical status. This, then, is able to create a new communication language that can be decoded by people to reveal sensitive information.
Spatial Implications
& Effects on Human Relations
Since our interactions play a huge role in the transmission and exchange of bacteria, being able to know the composition of someone’s microbial cloud before interacting with them can impact greatly a person’s behavior and the way they interact with others.
Hence, after this information becomes displayed, it can be used by others as a navigational tool to better identify who to interact with in a space and who to avoid.
This microbial prosthesis allows the wearer to scan their environments as soon as they walk into a new space and explore the space’s microbial composition easily.
Prototyping —
