Leah Buechley, MIT Media Lab
Pervasive Computing, Materials, and Education

Abstract

Pervasive computers can be beautiful, colorful, and expressive. Artifacts like interactive dresses and programmable paper sketchbooks confound our assumptions about what technology looks and feels like, and when we introduce computer science in new material contexts like these, it becomes appealing and exciting to unusual and diverse groups of people. In this talk, I will demonstrate examples of interactive garments and paper computers, introduce tools we have developed that empower students, hobbyists, and educators to work in these new domains, detail how we have employed our tools to attract diverse audiences to computer science, and describe how others can do the same.