An Update on the Kickbee...

For the last week, @Kickbee has been in the spotlight, and I appreciate every comment and critique I’ve heard or read.

I think one of the problems with Kickbee being publicized so early in its production was the fact that it still looked cold and uninviting.  I had always intended to make the Kickbee soft and comfy, but the fleece cover was the last of my priorities while I was attempting to make it actually work.

At the ITP Winter Show 2008, however, I was able to present the Kickbee to the public as it was intended…as a piece of interactive maternity clothing:

That’s my beautiful wife, Ellen!  I’m no seamstress, but I hope the cover characterizes the Kickbee as a safe and comfortable garment.

Of all the criticisms I have heard, the only ones that have bothered me are those that assume I created the Kickbee to advertise the fact that we’re having a baby and should therefore be paid attention to, or that I was attempting to “control” or even “fix” my wife’s pregnancy in some way.  I assure you, the Kickbee was created for one simple purpose:  to provide a way for me to connect with my wife and our developing child remotely.  The ability to share the activity with the public is just incidental.  In fact, the technology itself is incidental.  It’s not about utilizing sensors, Bluetooth, or Twitter…it’s about using tools available to us to reach out in ways never before possible.

This has become even more important to me when talking to people interested in Kickbee.  One gentleman who left a comment on my last Kickbee blog post wrote to tell me how he had to go overseas for two months for work, and would be missing the final months and birth of his second child.  Kickbee could afford him a way to connect with his wife and baby.  And what about the thousands of men in our armed forces who are stationed abroad and are not able to put their hands to their wives’ bellies to feel that little nudge underneath?

Additionally, I have heard from several new and potential mothers and grandmothers that are eager to use a Kickbee to help monitor fetal movements for medical reasons.  I’m not sure Kickbee is at the point where I would trust it to register every kick, nor do I think it would sense the rolling and turning movements inside the womb that are nearly imperceptible to external touch, but I can see how using a properly-optimized version of Kickbee could potentially assist mothers and their doctors by acting as a fetal movement monitor.

I would also like to dispel some misinformation that has been spreading about the Kickbee and myself.  While I have mentioned that Kickbee could easily update Facebook, it currently does not do so, nor do I believe that it would be a good solution.  This would run counter to my intention of not imposing our baby’s activity on an unwilling public, as updating a Facebook Status would push the “kick” out to each and every Facebook friend, and they would have no way to prevent it.  I would also like to clarify that I am not a PhD candidate at NYU, I am expecting a Masters degree.  (No “Dr. Menscher” anytime soon!)

I would like to thank all those who have responded to me personally, whether via comments, email, or who visited me at the ITP Winter Show 2008.  I am completely humbled by the attention and responses Kickbee has generated.  I am also extremely grateful to the faculty and my amazingly talented fellow students at ITP.  The support of the ITP community is second to none!  And of course, I’d like to thank my wonderfully supportive wife, Ellen…who not only “gets” the project and why I created it, but sat for four hours each night of the ITP Winter Show to model it.  She even did a lot of talking about the project without me!  Between the three of us, it was definitely a family effort.