Discovery I: Product Hunt

tldr; Report on one _influential_ ‘internet appliances’ (it could be an Internet of Things product, consumer device, a research prototype, a design concept, etc). It should also be something you haven’t seen before, is relevant to the course, and you find particularly interesting. Share the example as a new Post in the #discoveries channel on Slack.

Outcomes: View Now

Learning Objective

Having developed a shared understanding of what the internet of things is (or might be), now we’re going to explore and discover the kinds of ‘internet appliances’ that have inspired the field. As part of this exercise you’re going to search for meaningful connected products, inspiring prototypes and exciting design possibilities, and report back on what you find. Together, we’ll develop a large database of connected products to inform our work in this course.

The goal is to broaden your understanding of the field and deepen your knowledge of prior work that’s relevant to this project and to the course. You’ll be expected to select a couple of works and report on your findings with a critical perspective.

By the end of this exercise, students will:

Instructions

Report on an ‘internet appliances’ (or Internet of Things devices/projects/prototypes/examples) you haven’t seen before, has had some impact or influence (as you define it), and is relevant to the course and you find particularly interesting.

The emphasis here is on discovery. Explore news sites, blogs, aggregator, as well as conferences, journals and scientific papers to find exciting examples of the Internet of Things vision. This could equally be a historical example which informed the kinds of products and scenarios we encounter today, a breakthrough product which has had impact or influence, a current and state-of-the-art consumer device, a cutting edge research prototype, or a speculative proposal for a future device. There’s also no constraints on the sources or places you can look but some starting points are listed below.

Constraint

No two students may submit the same example. Claim early and make sure you review each others work before posting.

Submitting your work:

Create a Post in the #discoveries channel on slack (see this guide on submitting your work for discovery exercises.

Important: Title your post with the name of the project and include the following label at the end for grading purposes “#producthunt” e.g. My example name #producthunt

In the post, embed a video and/or images of the project, and write a short critical reflection on the project (about 200 words) in which you:

Note: Create a separate post for each example.

Note: Follow the instructions carefully as these projects require you to follow the posting instructions to receive full grades.

Places to start looking

By no means an exhaustive list! You should explore beyond these!

Conferences and Research

Labs and Agencies

Online Aggregators and new Sites