Things Behind Glass
Fabiha Ahmed, Dina Khalil, Myra Khan, Antonio Guimaraes
April 23rd, 2020
What did you build this past week?
- Wrote down some guidelines for recording the perspectives.
- Emailed Sarah Lowenburg, the manager of Education of Louisiana Museum, and her team to get the recordings.
- Created a digital file for box laser cutting (picture below).
What will have ready to show next week?
- 4 polished recording of 4 different perspectives.
- Add the recordings to the audio box.
User journey
1. The user approaches the kiosk.
2. They find a ledge protruding from the wall. On it is our audio tactile installation.
3. They locate the components of the installation which includes a button panel on the bottom right, and a 3D rendering of the artifact behind glass occupying the rest of the space.
4. The visitor explores the 3D rendering first with their hands.
5. Next, they place their focus on the button panel.
There are three buttons from left to right: previous, start, next.
Above the previous button is a headphone jack labeled headphones.
6. The user plugs in headphones provided by the museum staff.
7. They press the start button and the first message plays the name of the piece, and the first perspective. At the end of the message, the speaker says “press the next key to continue. The next key is a button arrow pointing to the right.
8. The user presses the right arrow to continue, and the next message plays.
9. They listen for about 15 seconds and are not interested in this message. They press the next key to move on.
10. The next message plays, and the user listens to the end of this message.
11. The speaker reminds the user to press the next key to continue.
12. The user presses next a third time, and the next message plays.
13. The user wants to refer to the previous message, so they interrupt the now playing message with the press of the previous key.
The system plays the previous message.
14. The user hears the piece they wanted to get to, pulls their headphones out of the jack.
15. The user goes around the artifact to feel it from different angles if they want and then moves on to the next exhibit.
What else needs to be done?
- A draft of our final presentation.
- Draw the artifact (stove) as a 3D digital file.
What areas do you need help with?
- Wait for the requested artifact dimensions from the museum team.
Remaining timeline with dates
April 30th:
- Finalize the final presentation
- Draw the artifact (stove) as a 3D digital file (when we receive the dimensions from the museum team).
May 7th:
- Present the final
April 16TH, 2020
Last Thursday, we virtually met Sara Lowenburg, the manager of education of Louisiana Museum, and her team, and it was a very fruitful meeting. The Louisiana Museum team suggested that we use the stove (picture below) as our artifact to sketch digitally and share different perspectives about it, using the audio box.
One of the questions we had for the museum team was how long should each recording be, and they suggested to not go over 90 seconds for it to not be too long and so the user doesn’t lose interest.
Since we’re going with a stove as our artifact, we thought of implementing scent as one of the sense, so we can engage as many senses as possible for an enhanced and an ideal experience. The museum team loved that suggestion and offered their help by connecting us with “smell artists” that could help us perfect that element.
At the end of the meeting, we requested the following:
- 4 descriptions of the chosen artifact (in this case, the stove).
In other words, 4 different perspectives can be from a patron, historian, artist and so on.
And if possible, maybe an additional recording from a person who does historical cooking.
These can be texts recorded by either us or the museum team.
- Dimensions of the stove to be drawn digitally.
- A list of food that used to be cooked in that oven to generate its smell.
MARCH 26TH, 2020
WHAT WE DID THIS PAST WEEK
- Got two buttons to work using Arduino.
- Added a sample audio
- Calculated the expenses that were spent on this project
A DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF OUR VISION
Our plan is to build a high fidelity replica of an artifact (picture below) that includes multiple perspectives.
This week, it was very hectic, but we managed to have a group phone call to decide what should be done next. During the call we agreed on focusing on perfecting programing the Arduino and building a box to contain it. We now have a box with 2 buttons that are functioning using an Arduino. To recap, an Arduino is basically a small computer that is programmable and mainly used to build electronic projects. 
One button is for playing a sound file, and the other button is for skipping to the next one considering we’ll have more than one perspective.
We all agreed on recording 4 different perspectives to give a thorough explanation of the artifact. Mainly, these explanations would be from patriots, artists, and so on.
For the placement, we picture a standalone kiosk, with the artifact placed on top surface, and has a divider to differentiate between artifact region and the interactivity region. This would be beneficial for users to see the artifact and have an experience in 360 angle and also for more users to see what’s going on rather than one user at a time.
The following pictures are of a rendered sketch of the kiosk 3D visual – it shows a round kiosk with buttons of Play and next on both sides with a glass top and the artifact of crown molding sitting on top for people to come and touch/feel/view etc. Accessible to people with wheelchairs, measurements are taken from the Smithsonian guidelines.
EXPENSES
- 1 Arduino Uno, R3
DEV-11021
$22.95
Sparkfun
- 1 Sparkfun MP3 Player shield
DEV-12660
$26.95
Sparkfun
WHAT WE’LL DO THIS COMING WEEK
- Figure out how we will work together outside of school
OUR REMAINING TIMELINE UNTIL MIDTERM
- Auto CAD the chosen artifact on Sketchup
March 12th, 2020
What We did This PAST Week
- Wrote code to play different tracks
- Chose an artifact we want to continue with
- Agreed on the placement of the artifact
User Journey
1. The user approaches the kiosk.
2. They find a ledge protruding from the wall. On it is our audio tactile installation.
3. They locate the components of the installation which includes a button panel on the bottom right, and a 3D rendering of the artifact behind glass occupying the rest of the space.
4. The visitor explores the 3D rendering first with their hands.
5. Next, they place their focus on the button panel.
There are three buttons from left to right: previous, start, next.
Above the previous button is a headphone jack labeled headphones.
6. The user plugs in headphones provided by the museum staff.
7. They press the start button and the first message plays the name of the piece, and the first perspective. At the end of the message, the speaker says “press the next key to continue. The next key is a button arrow pointing to the right.
8. The user presses the right arrow to continue, and the next message plays.
9. They listen for about 15 seconds and are not interested in this message. They press the next key to move on.
10. The next message plays, and the user listens to the end of this message.
11. The speaker reminds the user to press the next key to continue.
12. The user presses next a third time, and the next message plays.
13. The user wants to refer to the previous message, so they interrupt the now playing message with the press of the previous key.
The system plays the previous message.
14. The user hears the piece they wanted to get to, pulls their headphones out of the jack.
15. The user goes around the artifact to feel it from different angles if they want and then moves on to the next exhibit.
Areas we need help
- We need to get large buttons for playing tracks.
- Need help with meeting and testing
What We’ll do this COMING week
- Figure out how we will work together outside of school
OUR REMAINING TIMELINE UNTIL MIDTERM
- Working on the model – auto CAD on Sketchup (Hopefully!)
- Add a sample audio
Project Proposal
Project Name: Things behind Glass |
| Student Names:
Fabiha Ahmed, Dina Khalil, Myra Khan, Antonio Guimaraes |
Complete this form for 3 different pitch ideas:
Pitch Idea #1
| Solution (Describe your idea in one short sentence.)
Living Artworks: reenacting artifacts and artworks as an audio story performed by actors in character from the era or context. |
| Target Audience (Who does this solution satisfy?):
-Visually impaired. -Students. -The elderly. |
| Competitive Analysis (Do solutions already exist? If so, describe them and explain why your solution is better. Two sentences max.):
An app called Aira* exists on smartphones that provide verbal item descriptions. However, it lacks the storytelling aspect that would help the user get a clearer image of a room. |
| How it Works (How are you going to build it? What support do you need?):
Actor would reenact the story of key players in relation to the artifact. This would be recorded and stored to be played for visitors next to the artifact on an arduino with a play button. |
*https://blooloop.com/features/accessible-museums-using-technology/
Pitch Idea #2
| Solution (Describe your idea in one short sentence.)
A High Fidelity 3D model of different items augmented with textures, smells, and atmospheric sounds. |
| Target Audience (Who does this solution satisfy?):
-Visually impaired -Kids -The elderly |
| Competitive Analysis (Do solutions already exist? If so, describe them and explain why your solution is better. Two sentences max.):
Solutions of similar ideas exist e.g. at the Museum of Natural History- consists of rocket replicas which people can touch and upon touch an audio recording plays explaining that part of the rocket. Ours is more personalised in terms of tertiary, visual and audio experience, and you can feel the model details(e.g. Fabric,paint etc.), while experiencing the historical figure’s roleplay recording. |
| How it Works (How are you going to build it? What support do you need?):
3D Print Model Add textures to space e.g. fabrics, paint textures(can be felt and smelled) that can be felt. Add audio/play buttons. |
Pitch Idea #3
| Solution (Describe your idea in one short sentence.)
Discover an artifact from multiple perspectives, as told through audio by the artist themselves, docents, historians, educators, and patrons. |
| Target Audience (Who does this solution satisfy?):
-Visually impaired. -Students |
| Competitive Analysis (Do solutions already exist? If so, describe them and explain why your solution is better. Two sentences max.):
Online reviews can be viewed to get an idea of the piece. Our solution is like a social exercise connecting people who go to museums and want to share theirs and hear others’ experiences. |
| How it Works (How are you going to build it? What support do you need?):
Patrons can use hashtags given to them by the museums to describe the artifacts they loved, visitors who are blind can listen to the descriptions online or in the physical museum with the touch of a button. |
Detailed timeline
March 5 th – Plan of execution
March 12 th – Finalizing artifact and how it’ll be built.
– Code be written by then
March 19 th – Working on the model – auto CAD on Sketchup
-Add a sample audio
March 26 th – Box assembly of the Arduino
-User testing
April 2 nd – 3D model is printed and ready.
– We’ll have a sample recording by a make belief historian explaining the
significance of the artifact