Sensory Threads
Principal Investigators: Giles Lane (Proboscis) & George Roussos (Birkbeck)
Team: Alice Angus, Orlagh Woods, Sarah Thelwall,
Partners: Proboscis, London Knowledge Lab/Birkbeck College (Computer Science Dept)
Funding: applications pending (shortlisted for a Wellcome Trust Sci-art award)

Outline
Sensory Threads aims to excavate and visualise the layers of relationships between people, their health, the local geographic context and the environment they live and work in. The premise is to make the issues of sustainability more understandable to the person on the street by making visible the links between their own health, the 'health' of their local environment and their choices of consumption.

Methods
The project will achieve this by working across a range of 'layers': through collaborations with a local community to build up a Social Tapestry of local knowledge of the area and its environmental history; by testing personal biosensor networks with individuals; by collecting local environmental data (using such platforms as the Feral Robots); and by correlating this local, micro-scale knowledge with broader macro-scale public health and environmental data.

The project will build upon the partners' core competencies and previous work: with Proboscis providing social and cultural context, community collaboration and public engagement; and with London Knowledge Lab/Birkbeck College providing technical expertise (hardware and software development for biosensors and online visualising tools).

Outcomes
Sensory Threads aims to stimulate public debates and discussions on these issues through the local collaborations and the public dissemination of ideas, evidence and knowledge contributed by participants. The project aims to create replicable techniques for engaging people in addressing their own impact on the environment, as well as prototypes for the kinds of tools (such as the Biosensors and Feral Robots) that could help stimulate a stronger sense of connection between individuals, their patterns of consumption and the local environment.