Sensing · policy + alerts
Alerts that inform without shaming
A sensor can flag vapor; the school still chooses what happens next. I focused on notifications, logs, and keeping a ping from becoming a public scene.
Power budgets, false positives from cleaners, and service access shaped the story as much as the circuit.
The doc splits sensing science, system behavior, and human outcomes so policy can change without blindly rewriting firmware.
- Role
- Industrial design intent, UX for alerts
- Domain
- Environmental sensing
- Client
- Research / campus initiative
- Stage
- Proof of concept
If you open the technical PDF, come back for ethics and workflow.
Sensing fundamentals
Signal versus nuisance
Early work separated what the sensor measures from what people assume it measures. That gap is where false confidence grows.
HVAC, humidity, and cleaning sprays were modeled as interference, not rare quirks.
1. Baseline capture
Record ambient traces across a week to learn normal variance.
2. Labelled events
Run controlled tests with facilities so positives mean something.
3. Threshold policy
Pair engineering thresholds with human review before automated messaging.
Device and placement
Visibility, service access, airflow
Placement covered ceiling height, dead air, and how you reach the unit. A box you cannot service becomes a false-negative machine.
The enclosure stayed neutral: no punitive icons. It should read as infrastructure, not theater.
Alerting workflows
From ping to documented follow-up
Notifications staged from local staff cues to admin dashboards and audit trails with retention rules.
Copy avoided accusatory tone. The system reports an environmental event; people decide the response.
Privacy and governance
Collecting the minimum useful data
Retention and export rules followed data-minimization ideas. If policy cannot explain why data stays, the feature should not ship.
Workshops included facilities, student affairs, and legal when available. Alignment early beats ethics retrofit later.
Field learnings
What would change next revision
Firmware should expose sensitivity per room profile. Buildings are not uniform.
Maintenance belongs in the rollout plan, not an appendix.
What did I learn?
- Hardware stories need honest uncertainty bands.
- Alert copy is part of the sensor.
- Governance workshops are design workshops.
Stakeholder notes
We cared less about flashy dashboards and more about knowing the alert was real before talking to a student.
- Lead
- Laolu James