A Very MAD Blog
Month
I have been slacking off on my blog posting so here is an update on the gas sensor.
My Idea, Smartsence, is a small personal gas detection device for use in industrial environments where toxic or explosive gases may be a threat. Gas sensors exist that are extremely accurate, however, these are generally fixed in place, extremely expensive, or have a narrow range of gases they sense. The target audience is mainly rescue crew or industrial workers as they have the highest risk and need for such a device, especially rescue crew who may not know what they are walking into. Chris Ramsay is helping me with the business side of this device currently. We have a prototype with our own custom circuitry and programming that is now ready to be tested.
We showed the prototype off at Colab mid-year showcase along with a promotional video that we made (shown above). The video could have been a lot better but due to time restrictions, we ran out of time to make it better. Many people were interested in the device and idea. A few people even gave us their contact details, one of which we are meeting up with next week. The next major stages for this product is testing and design. I will keep posting updates under #Project-Smart-Sense.
Domestic violence is a huge issue across the globe. I hope this video can serve as another voice speaking this problem, making it more known to the general public who don’t see domestic violence as a problem. Also for people in such a situation, I hope this video can show them to an escape or at least be another thing that adds up to an action.
I spent a large amount of time in the planning phase of this video, picking the right images and the best way to phrase my ideas that I wanted to get across. This was crucial as this is a very sensitive yet important topic. The video outlines key aspects of domestic violence and supporting facts.
The Fourth Annual Report: January 2013 to December 2013 By Wellington: Health Quality and Safety Commission was the report that really hit me that this was a huge issue in NZ. I spent a lot more time than I thought I would selecting images for the video, all the images needed to fit with what was being said and with the rest of the video. As I’ve learned in the past, all material in the video is royalty free and has no copyright. The facts I learned from making this video were shocking and depressing, something really needs to change. There are even people on the internet criticizing New Zealand for the shocking domestic violence rates.
I would have liked to have spent more time on this video, refining and adding. However, I am happy with the outcome. This video changed my way of thinking a little, I knew all about domestic violence before, but, rather than just getting depressed over it, now I want to make a difference. This video may not, but, maybe I can eventually to someone, someday.
References:
Agre, P. E. (1997). Toward a Critical Technical Practice: Lessons Learned in Trying to Reform AI. In Bowker et al (Eds.), Bridging the Great Divide: Social Science, Technical Systems, and Cooperative Work. Erlbaum.
Committee, Family Violence Death Review. (2014). Fourth Annual Report: January 2013 to December 2013. Wellington: Health Quality and Safety Commission. Retrieved from http://www.hqsc.govt.nz/our-programmes/mrc/fvdrc/publications-and-resources/publication/1600/
Leask, A. (2017, 3 26). Family violence: 525,000 New Zealanders harmed every year. Retrieved from The New Zealand Herald: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11634543