I received a custom made hat with a scene depicting my PhD research on speech and gesture interaction over digital tabletop displays. Apparently this is a tradition done in many German Universities and started in our by some of our graduate students from Germany.The theme of my hat is focused around speech and gesture interaction around a table. It has a tabletop display with two chairs (made of foam core) and a wooden mannequin attached connected to a series of strings. Pulling the strings on the tassle causes the mannequin's arms to move and also plays a sound.
Sound was achieved by using a Napolean Dyanmite gift card. The hat says a quote from the movie whenever the tassle is pulled "So like, nunchuck skills, bow hunting skills, computer hacking skills". Some matching text was added around the base of the hat that says "critics agree, you got flippin sweet PhD skillz!"
This was certainly a very pleasant surprise, thanks iLab!
