Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
WHEN YOU THINK of wearable technology, watches, glasses and clothes would come to mind, but researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has applied this technology to reading.
The project, called Sensory Fiction, allows readers to experience the protagonist’s emotions through a wearable vest.
The vest uses a combination of sensors to convey a character’s emotions through vibrations and other indicators.
Depending on what part of the book you’re reading, any changes in the protagonist’s emotional or physical state triggers feedback either through changing the heart rate, creating constriction through air pressure bags or by changing the temperature.
The prototype book used was a science fiction novella called The Girl Who Was Plugged In by James Tiptree Jr., which won the Hugo Award for best Novella in 1974.
The researchers chose this story as the basis because “the deep love and ultimate despair” the main protagonist experiences throughout the story.
The project was one of many created in the Science Fiction to Science Fabrication class.
(Video: Felix/Vimeo)
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
‘Wearable’ book lets you experience characters’ emotions while reading..
You would be fairly exhausted after reading 50 Shades of Grey……..
Don’t need to be plugged into a book to be able to feel what the character does. You are the character, you share the adventure and feel what s/he feels. You leave your mundane existence for a few hundred pages and let the book take you to places where you can only go in fantasy land.
Tbh ive just read books 1-3 of the Game of Thones. I’ve laughed and I’ve cried I dont need a machine to be able to emphasise with the characters.
Too true ‘Books are mirrors: you only see in them what you already have inside you’. Carlos Ruiz Zafon.
Have people lost every shred of empathy and imagination? Why even bother reading a book if you need a machine to help you “feel” it? Our emotions are one of the few things that separate us from our technological counterparts? We might as well give in and concede to the robot takeover now. This article makes me very sad indeed (better enjoy it while I still can).
Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Sales of Shades of Grey about to increase!
This is a cute idea, but I don’t see it taking off as the next medium of books though. It sounds like a fun novelty, and since it looks like the book is geared towards tweens it might keep them interested in reading.
Take a look here also : http://www.thegeekyglobe.com/wearable-book-connects-you-in-to-characters-emotions.html
Jesus..imagine feeling what a woman feels..happiness..sadness..rejection..angst..lonliness..cold..happy..sad..cold again..anger..happy again..all in the space of one minute..ehh..no thanks
You’d fit the hole bible on the mother in laws frock!
If there’s a fart in the story you hear an audible fart and a waft of foul wind hits you in the face.
have your say