The Idea of Our Group
Our interactive invention is software that allows people to travel to different places through a door connected to the software. This idea is similar to one project I found to align with my understanding of interaction in the “Research” phase. That project was about connecting the plant to Arduino to make it sing by using sensors, while our group project is the software connected with different places through a door. They both use something as a medium to make things interactive easily. For the singing plant project, the medium was sensors that sense the plant’s movements and convert them to a melody. For our group research project, people have to push the door which gives access to different places.
Our idea derives from The Veldt. Instead of applying AI to control the whole room as the story described, we chose to invent the software and the door to only give access to real places. The software and the door are just tools for people to travel in this case. This kind of reduces the risk of AI controlling human emotions and then causing tragedies. However, there should be limits to who can use this software and what places can be entered, or there will be much trouble.
In the process of making artifacts, we allocated different tasks to every group member, each responsible for making 1-3 artifacts. I made road signs for the Shanghai Scene, pyramids for the Egypt Scene, and seaweed and shell for the Aquatic Scene. I also held them in the performance to imply what these scenes were to the audience. In general, we cooperated with each other very well and finished our tasks on time. We did some rehearsal before the performance, though we forgot to show the Pearl Tower in the presentation. Our main speaker in the show acted even better than what we’d rehearsed. Her words and interaction with us made our performance more coherent and understandable.
The Performance of Another Group
I was attracted by the group which performed with a helmet protecting the guard from being affected and the eye writer helping affected people to draw the world that they want to live in virtually. The helmet is related to The Plague, which seems to be a greater invention compared to protective clothing. The helmet doesn’t cover your whole body but seemed to work well for resisting viruses. I’m not sure how it works though.
It was innovative to see them using the eye writer to help the patients live better lives. However, since they had two main inventions, it may confuse the audience which invention they really focused on and which story was relevant. The eye writer which creates a virtual world can also be connected to The Veldt. Personally, I’m interested in the eye writer more. They connected the eye writer with the story so well. In The Plague, people affected will gradually lose control of their bodies. However, their eyes can still move for a long time. Eyes are the last part to be stoned. It’s natural to make a connection with the eye writer.
Their performance made it clear to the audience how they were helping the patients, which showed sympathy and care for those people instead of killing them. Besides, they did a good job of allocating the roles for everyone. Each member actively participated in the performance. To improve the performance, I strongly suggest they focus on only one invention instead of two. This would make it clearer for the audience.
Script
Each of our group members was responsible for making certain art crafts. Since our design is software, there should always be one person to manipulate the computer. The other 3 people of us were allocated the tasks of making props in different scenes. Below is the task allocation.
Computer Designer: Sandra
Scene 1- Egypt: Wes – Cactus. Tina – Camel. Sophia -Pyramid.
Scene 2- Shanghai: Sophia – Street Sign. Wes – Pearl tower. Tina – xiaolongbazo.
Scene 3: Aquatic: Wes – shark. Sophia – Seaweed and shell. Tina – Nemo.
The Brief Script:
When we rehearsed before the actual performance, we wrote a script for it. Below is the brief script.
(Sandra is in her room doing homework when she suddenly wants to go get buns at Nanjing Road. )
Sandra: “Ugh, this is so hard. I’m going to take a break. I’m craving some xiaolongbao.”
**Types on the computer and opens the door**
Tina is there with buns and Sophia is there with the road sign saying East Nanjing Road. She asks for a bun and then closes the door.
Sandra: “Hi, I would like to buy 5 buns.”
Tina hands her buns then she goes back to doing homework. She suddenly wants to go to see the Pearl Tower.
**Types on the computer, opens door**
Sandra: “Wow the Pearl Tower!”
She takes a picture with the Pearl Tower.
Goes home and sleeps.
(The next day…)
Sandra wanted to go to the desert.
**Types on the computer, opens door**
*Take a picture with pyramids.*
*Wes pinches her with a cactus as she looks at the pyramid and camel*
Sandra: “Ouch! What was that! Ugh this place is too hot. I want to go somewhere cool”. *Thinks for a moment and types on the computer*
*Ends up in the ocean and sees Nemo*
Sandra: “Wow there’s Nemo!” *Sees a shark*
Sandra: “Oh no, I gotta go!” *Runs out the door to go back home*
In the actual performance, Sandra performed so well and naturally. Her words and interaction with us made our scenes consistent.
Here’s the embed link to the recording of our group performance:
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