Anthropologists and archaeologists working in Peru have highlighted two known cases where quipus have continued to be used by contemporary communities, albeit as ritual items seen as "communal patrimony" rather than as devices for recording information.
The Khipu system, being the efficient method of social management it was for the Inca, is also a link to the Cuzco census, as it was one of the primary methods of population calculation.
This also has allowed historians and anthropologists to understand both the census and the "decimal hierarchy" system the Inca used, and that they were actually 'initiated together,' due to the fact that they were 'conceptually so closely linked.'
Smart
embroidery digitizing textiles can be broken into two different categories: aesthetic and performance enhancing.
Aesthetic examples include everything from fabrics that light up to fabrics that can change color.
Some of these fabrics gather energy from the environment by harnessing vibrations, sound or heat, reacting to this input.
Then there are performance enhancing smart textiles, which will have a huge impact on the athletic, extreme sports and military industries.
There are
digitizing fabrics that help regulate body temperature, reduce wind resistance and control muscle vibration – all of which help improve athletic performance.
Other fabrics have been developed for protective clothing to guard against extreme environmental hazards like radiation and the effects of space travel.
The health and beauty industry is also taking advantage of these innovations, which range from drug-releasing medical textiles, to fabric with moisturizer, perfume, and anti-aging properties.
Many smart clothing, wearable technology, and wearable computing projects involve the use of e-textiles.
The word textile is from Latin texere which means "to weave", "to braid" or "to construct".
Most textile arts begin with twisting or spinning and plying fibers to make yarn (called thread when it is very fine and rope when it is very heavy).
The yarn is then knotted, looped,braided, or woven to make flexible fabric or cloth, and cloth can be used to make clothing and soft furnishings.
All of these items – felt, yarn, fabric, and finished objects – are collectively referred to as textiles.