There is currently a terrifying cultural epidemic sweeping across America. Every year, we waste millions of dollars on self-help products that promise to fix all our problems. Each tome makes an empowering claim, yet has so little proof of efficacy.

For my thesis project at ITP, I will be tackling the scams, shams and shames of the self-help movement by developing a suite of self help products that don’t do what they promise. The presence of a motivational speaker, who has the thinnest of credentials, will be implemented into each of the products I design. The motivational speaker’s menu of ancillary products include self-help books and essays, a mindfold therapy mask that you sleep with, relaxation teas, an iPhone app, and a light therapy machine. In addition, I will be developing a satirical web site for the motivational speaker, to help market and promote his physical products. All of Vaughn’s self-help products will be released at his thesis seminar taking place on May 4th, 2010 at ITP.

Self help is everywhere yet it’s nowhere! The Self-Help Movement is an $8-billion-a-year industry that depends on legions of repeat customers. According to Marketdata Enterprises, the market for self-improvement grew an astonishing 50 cent between 2004 and 2009. Today, the self-help improvement constitutes a $12 billion business, up from $5.7 billion in 2000. Between thirty-five hundred and four thousand new self help books appeared in 2003. The higher figure represents more than double the number of new self help titles that debuted in 1998.

Production for my ITP thesis project is well underway! I will be posting details later this week.

I think it is safe to say that for most of us, our relationship with technology is a love-hate affair. Tech gadgets that start out as luxuries quickly become must-have necessities. I have become hooked on invention, ingenuity, and innovative products over the past few weeks while doing research for my thesis at ITP. The question I keep asking myself is whether these problem-solving products actually make the world a better place?

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People have always loved watching screens. The video screen has surged where people love this window onto a whole new world of possibility and opportunity. We are increasingly feeling this attraction with screens. Over the past decade we have seen the emergence of more and more screens with serious multimedia capabilities. Today, we use screens for informing, communicating, entertaining, and connecting. The following are ten of my favorite interactive video art projects that I believe make strong emotional connections with people using screens.

1. Potent Objects
Potent Objects playfully examines the way we ascribe emotion to inanimate technologies. The work parallels current research in ‘affective computing,’ in which the capability of sensing and conveying emotion is built into computing devices. (Work by Camille Utterback)

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A collection of images that will help inspire the design of my thesis project at ITP. Gathered from a wide array of sources, some of the artists’ and designers’ works assembled into my thesis mood board include Han Hoogerbrugge, Rafaeal Rozendall, Morgan Guegan, paperad, Redman, Slick Rick, and Craig Robinson.

You can view each individual image from my mood board on my Flickr page, over here.