research-article

A low-tech sensing system for particulate pollution

Authors:

Stacey Kuznetsov,

Scott E. Hudson,

Eric PaulosAuthors Info & Claims

TEI '14: Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Tangible, Embedded and Embodied Interaction

Pages 259 - 266

https://doi.org/10.1145/2540930.2540955

Published: 16 February 2014 Publication History

Abstract

We present an ultra low-cost sensing system, which enables participants to see and reflect on the particulates in their air. Drawing on prior work in paper computing, we introduce small sensors for particulate pollution that can be easily assembled from common paper materials for less than $1 USD, and mailed by regular postal service to residents of entire neighborhoods, cities, or geographic regions. Recipients collect particulate samples using these sensors and mail them back to a central location, where the particles are viewed and analyzed via a microscope. The data, which includes rich images of actual air pollution particles, can then be broadcast to larger audiences. This paper details the design of our system and its deployment with a local air quality activist community. We conclude by highlighting the tradeoffs between high-tech and low-tech sensing, and suggest opportunities for tangible interaction to support rich, new ways of seeing our environment.

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Cited By

Broscheit JDraheim Svon Luck KWang Q(2023)Sentinel Species: Towards a Co-Evolutionary Relationship for Raising Awareness About the State of the AirProceedings of the Seventeenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction10.1145/3569009.3572748(1-13)Online publication date: 26-Feb-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3569009.3572748
Perovich LTitcomb CHirsch THelmuth BHarteveld C(2023)Sustainable HCI Under Water: Opportunities for Research with Oceans, Coastal Communities, and Marine SystemsProceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3544548.3581291(1-16)Online publication date: 19-Apr-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3544548.3581291
Giustiniani EGiménez LSemmartin M(2023)Residents’ perception and environmental assessment of a waste recycling centre: a case study of Buenos Aires City (Argentina)Environment, Development and Sustainability10.1007/s10668-023-03672-526:10(25113-25131)Online publication date: 31-Jul-2023
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Index Terms

A low-tech sensing system for particulate pollution
1. Human-centered computing

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Published In

cover image ACM Conferences

TEI '14: Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Tangible, Embedded and Embodied Interaction

February 2014

401 pages

ISBN:9781450326353

DOI:10.1145/2540930

Conference Chairs:
Andreas Butz
University of Munich (LMU), Germany
,
Saul Greenberg
University of Calgary, Canada
,
Program Chairs:
Saskia Bakker
Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands
,
Lian Loke
University of Sydney, Australia
,
Alexander De Luca
University of Munich (LMU), Germany

Copyright © 2014 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Published: 16 February 2014

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TEI'14: Eighth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction

February 16 - 19, 2014

Munich, Germany

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TEI '14 Paper Acceptance Rate 46 of 172 submissions, 27%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 393 of 1,367 submissions, 29%

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Cited By

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https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3569009.3572748
Perovich LTitcomb CHirsch THelmuth BHarteveld C(2023)Sustainable HCI Under Water: Opportunities for Research with Oceans, Coastal Communities, and Marine SystemsProceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3544548.3581291(1-16)Online publication date: 19-Apr-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3544548.3581291
Giustiniani EGiménez LSemmartin M(2023)Residents’ perception and environmental assessment of a waste recycling centre: a case study of Buenos Aires City (Argentina)Environment, Development and Sustainability10.1007/s10668-023-03672-526:10(25113-25131)Online publication date: 31-Jul-2023
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-023-03672-5
Rosén A(2022)Relating to Soil: Chromatography as a Tool for Environmental EngagementProceedings of the 2022 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference10.1145/3532106.3533503(1640-1653)Online publication date: 13-Jun-2022
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Liu SCranshaw JRoseway AWakkary RAndersen KOdom WDesjardins APetersen M(2020)Making Air Quality Data MeaningfulProceedings of the 2020 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference10.1145/3357236.3395517(1313-1326)Online publication date: 3-Jul-2020
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