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iRosary by Tino Dobra
An interface for praying the rosary on the iPod.
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The rosary prayer
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In the Catholic church, the rosary is the name for a string of special prayer beads similar to those found in all major religions. It is a loop strung with various beads which serve to count the prayers spoken. Bead prayers are used to focus one’s attention and intensify religious experiences. The rosary has its origins in the Hail Mary prayer in the early Middle Ages. The prayer is grouped in three parts as five mysteries. Various mysteries are included in the prayers depending on which day of the week it is. For years, the rosary prayer has been losing its great significance in folk piety because this kind of prayer fails to appeal particularly to younger people as they find it monotonous.
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The iPod
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The portable iPod MP3 player by Apple is one of the few objects in pop culture which has achieved an almost religious status. It is without doubt the most well-known and most popular representative, acts as a symbol for the concept of a portable audio player and has been clearly stylized to become the latest craze.
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iRosary
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iRosary—as a critical conceptual design—uses the advantages of the iPod to make the rosary more attractive and flexible for younger believers. At the same time, however, it reciprocally uses the significance of both objects as practical commodities on the one side and symbolic signs on the other and only changes the objects to a minimum extent.
The most important distinguishing feature of the iPod, the white earphones cable, becomes a string on which only one bead is now found. This bead can be shifted. The position of the bead can be measured and heard as "audio beads" on a sensitive range of the cable. Due to the technical possibilities of the iPod, the new rosary can help a person to learn the prayer; the right mysteries are inserted automatically and there are various modes for choosing the degree of difficulty.
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The right mysteries are inserted automatically due to iPod's integrated calendar. If one selects the mode »Infidel« the entire prayer text is read aloud for the listener to join in, in the mode »Believer« only the right prayer with the mystery is displayed and in the mode »Shepherd« the different beads become audible as simple sounds so you can pray while listening to music.
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The appearance of iPod's white earphone cable and the haptics of the rosary stay almost the same.
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