Welcome to my first Interaction lab blog. In my group there were 6 of us. None of us have ever had a conversation before this class but because of this group project we became closer. For this project, we looked at The Plague by Yan Leisheng. In the short story, there was a virus that was passed around and when I read that my automatic thought was that they need a virus protection. On Monday the 20th, my group zoom called and talked about our ideas. Victor brought in a good idea that we should make a helmet that can tell if you or the people around you have the virus or not. We then came up with the idea that we will make a helmet that has an AI built in so that that AI can tell you the results. From this, we met the next day to make the product. It was a very fun experience because when we all first met in person, it was awkward. Like I said, we haven’t had a full conversation in person before so it made the experience exhilarating. While making the product, we had a brain fart because we didn’t know how we will make it interactive but we then realized we could drill a hole and make something that will change to negative or positive depending on you or the people around you. Lucas was really good with coming up with designs fo the product. Hansa, Rita, and I worked on painting the products, Victor did the heavy duty and brought his cardboard box, and IIan made his cardboard tv. We worked on the product for 3 hours that day. The night before the performance, we met up again because we didn’t know we had to come up with a skit. We decided to go with family based skit. During pandemics, families stick together and look out for each other so we thought that it would be nice to reinterpret that. Lucas was the friend, IIan the broadcaster, Victor the dad, Hansa the AI, Rita the mom, and I the child. We had a really fun time creating the skit because our imaginations and artist side came out. I came up with most of the story line because creating stories is something that is interesting to me. On Friday, we did the presentation and it went exactly how we wanted it to go. One of the professor pointed out the family part which was good because that was something our project focused on. Looking at our design, I believe it is a good product people can use. The product is successful because it protected the kid from her friend who had the virus. In real life, it will also protect people. What we should have done better was come up with another device that can project you from the virus. Other groups also did something that had to do with helmet so it wasn’t really original and innovative. But in all, making the product and performing was very fun.
Below is the script of the play;
[Father watching the news]
Newscaster: Breaking news! Suddenly we have discovered that there is a new virus on the loose. It has been reported that there are 350 cases in the city and is rapidly spreading. Please wear the hazmat suits provided by the government so you don’t get infected by the virus. There have also been reports of these hazmat suits tearing and not protecting people from the virus. So, watch out for your families.
Father: Oh no, I got to do something about this! [starts to build the helmet]
Mother: Honey, what are you doing? You are making a mess. If you want to do something, go change the light bulbs.
Father: I am creating a helmet to protect us from the virus.
Mother: It’s not necessary, we have survived for this long, we don’t need extra protection.
Father: We do, trust me!
Child: Can we see how the helmet looks like?
Father: It’s not finished yet.
Child: Ok we will come back later to see it.
[after a few seconds]
Child: Can we see now, is it ready?
Father: Yes, this is the helmet [holds up helmet]. It comes with an AI device to detect if the people around you are positive or negative, and it will protect you. The design is family friendly!
Child: So is mom going to wear it?
Mother: Oh no!
Child: I don’t want to wear it.
Father: No, you have to wear it to school.
Child: They are going to make fun of me.
Father: I don’t care, you have to!
Child [wears helmet and goes to school]
Child: Hi friend!
Friend: Hi, what are you wearing?
Child: I am wearing a helmet that my dad made but I don’t know what it is. I guess it detects the virus.
Friend: It looks ugly.
Child: Yeah it does but I guess it works. What are you up to today? We are 13 years old so we have classes.
Friend: Yeah.
Child: So do you want to play the hand clap game?
Friend: Sure!
Child and Friend [before Child even touches her friends hands…]
AI device: Beep, Beep, Beep, Warning, Warning!
Child: Oh no, you have the virus.
Friend: What, no I don’t!
Child: Stay away from me! I am going home!
[At home, father watches the news]
Newscaster: Breaking news! A child has just died! So watch out, these suits are not protective and the virus is very deadly.
Child: Dad, guess what! My friend died today, he had the virus.
Father: I just saw it on the news!
Child: My helmet worked, it detected it and I ran back home.
Father: Oh, good. See, I told you all!
Below is the building process and the final result.
