My reviews for Shadow Monsters and BrightT

The Shadow Monsters
The Shadow Monster’s learning table has been designed for children aged 4-5 and the working planning and research they have done into this age group really reflects on their design for the table. When they initially presented their project in the proposal they were debating on the best place to put all the technology (RFID readers, projectors etc) for the table. Their first initial idea was to place all the technology underneath the table, but after their observation of little children in classrooms, they clearly understood that safety would be a main concern which lead them to placing all harmful objects and equipment out of reach above their heads mounted on the ceiling. In terms of design the group has obviously show signs of careful thought process on how children normally use designated work spaces, this shows in their further ideas on placement of the table (in a corner) in the learning environment.
My only suggestion at this point is careful consideration on what objects they use to put RFID tags on for children to identify. Children especially at such a young age are prone to breaking things and in the process hurting themselves. So I suggest that any objects you use not being fragile, breakable objects with sharp edges. These objects should also be familiar with them in everyday life so that they have some idea of what the object is, however children should learn more about objects they don’t come into daily contact with so one or two of the objects would be good if they had no prior knowledge of what it was or what it did. I’m looking forward to seeing your table in action and little children learning in amazement.

BrightT
The BrightT concept has come very far since we last saw it in the project proposal, when we first saw it all I new is that you were planning to design t-shirts with LEDs embedded in them. I was a little unsure on how LEDs would work in clothing, in terms of suitable situations where it would be useful or acceptable to wear them, as well as the idea of washing clothing with electronic devices sewed into them. However focusing on how the shirts will be used in terms of connecting with others overlooks all those practicality issues.
The designs shown in the presentation for the boys and girls t-shirts where interesting with the LEDs embedded in certain locations on the t-shirt, though I was confused on whether these shirts would sensor the proximity or whether they were purely decorative. The only thing I can think of to suggest at this present time is to make sure you figure out a way to hold the phidget and battery pack for the LEDs in a carefully concealed and not in the way method. From the ideas you mentioned in the presentation, I don’t think creating a pocket on the back or side of the shirt to put it in would work as it would make one side of the shirt heavier than the rest and thus stretch the shirt. Maybe creating a pouch to put the phidget and battery pack in it with a clip to attach it to the back of their jeans or hooked in a belt loop would work better, although I can’t say for sure as I haven’t felt how heavy it all weights. Apart from that I’m looking forward to seeing how people wearing the shirts interact with eachother.