Credits: This project started from a simple conversation with my cousin, Steven Sclafani, and my brother, Todd Raffa.

The goals for this project are to provide misinformation in regards to a recent pervasive mobile device, the iPhone 4, encourage people to think beyond what is provided, and begin to ask for more environmentally responsible updates to their daily consumables. The means of accomplishing this is through video, sound, and an accompanying website.

By providing an “instructable-based” tutorial on how to charge an iPhone using this new renewable energy technique as well as a description of why this is important, the hope is that consumers of energy will understand making small changes like this will make a large impact on general energy consumption. With over 4.1 billion global mobile subscribers (Guardian), makers of these mobile devices need to begin considering the impact they can make with simple renewable energy considerations in their designs, their choices, and their manufacturing.

In this video, there are several demonstrations of how to charge an iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS by shaking or spinning it. Similar to self-winding watches, the video shows the user of this phone able to charge it with motion.

With responses such as this from the Youtube posting, I feel that the project has been successful in providing misinformation in such a way that people are thinking beyond what is provided, but the jury is still out as to whether or not the viewers are thinking about environmental issues and how they apply to their mobile devices.

I also created an accompanying website, called wishwewerehere.org. Using a variation of the Pink Floyd album and its imagery, I am hoping to make a positive introduction of how I see our current situation and where our current choices may lead us. This video is the first of a series of “consciousness” pieces that will describe how I would like to see the design community address our growing need to be environmentally aware in our projects.