Happylife was commissioned as part of the ‘IMPACT!’ research exhibition funded by the EPSRC. The project brought designers and scientists together to explore the potential impact of engineering and physical sciences on the economy, public policy, culture, and our everyday lives.
Auger collaborated with Aberystwyth University Computer Science Department (AUCS), whose research project, in partnership with the Home Office and HM Revenue and Customs, was to develop new informatics technologies to assist in the policing of national borders. Happylife speculated on how AUCS’s research could make the transition from the context of national security into a family home, examining how passive-profiling techniques could be employed to display and mediate the most private and emotive aspects of family life. The novelty of this approach lies in shifting design ‘upstream’ from where it normally operates, exposing technological research to critique much earlier in the developmental process.
Happylife is currently undergoing further research in collaboration with AUCS and Shenyang Jianzhu University in China; this iteration will see the technology installed in a Chinese family home for a test period. The project also inspired the group at Aberystwyth to think beyond the context of their original research to write a new research proposal, with Auger and the Mental Health Foundation, examining the impact of their technology when applied to mobile communication and social networks.