Author: Zhiyu Guo

My Definition of “Interaction” :

In order for an interaction to take place, there should exist multiple, at least two, objects. The objects can be either human or robot, but they must have the ability to input, process and output. In other words, the ability to “listen, think and speak” (Crawford). And in the process of interaction, all these three elements should be involved in some ways. As the extension of the thinking process, the interaction should have variability. This is to say that the output of the objects are unique, the output should embody objects’ thinking in the interaction process.

Two examples:

1).

In the project called “Suntory HIBIKI”, there is a special kind of whisky glass that senses tilting, touching, swirling, or drinking from human, and corresponding scenery and changes would appear on a screen. I think this project satisfies my definition of interaction perfectly.

Firstly, the objects are humans and the whisky glasses. Secondly, they all do input, process and output in the interaction. The output of humans as well as the input of glasses is the behavior of touching, swirling or drinking. The showing on the screen is the input of human and the output of the device. The thinking is involved as people has to think about what to do with the glass while the device need to decide what to show on the screen according to the touch it recieves. Also, the variability is reflected in this project. As there are limitless ways to touch with the glass and so many sceneries that the screen can show, the output of every single touch would be different. The figure showed on the screen contains both the thinking of human and the device. Therefore, I think this project meets with my definition of interaction.

https://www.manamana.net/video/detail?id=2030#!zh

2).

The other project is called the “The Shimmering Pulse”. This device contains hundreds of colorful discs that can show the traffic and the pulse of the city of Shenzhen. Users can pick one from the nine districts to have the city pulse showed by the discs. I think this project doesn’t meet my definition of interaction because it doesn’t show the thinking and variability from both of the objects.

Indeed, the traffic of the city is always changing, thus the discs shows the thinking of the device and it contains lots of changes for sure. But the user’s thinking isn’t showed in the image of discs.  The user can choose one district from nine, but this also means that he/she can only choose from the given nine. The thinking process of the user doesn’t relate to the input, the image of the discs, because the user can’t make correspond changes and reacts to the image he/she sees. In this sense, the user isn’t having a complete “input, process, output” course. With the separation of input and output, whatever the user is thinking, the device can only show one of the nine pre-coded situations with current data.

It is also when reviewing this project that I figured one important part for my definition of interaction. That the output of the interaction should contain the variability that represents the thinking process of all the objects.

https://www.manamana.net/video/detail?id=196189#!zh

Works Cited

Crawford, Chris. The Art of Interactive Design. No Starch Press, 2002.

“Suntory HIBIKI.” Mana, uploaded by MH’Studio, 12 Jan. 2018,    https://www.manamana.net/video/detail?id=2030#!zh.

“The Shimmering Pulse.” Mana, uploaded by panGenerator, 8 Sept. 2020, https://www.manamana.net/video/detail?id=196189#!zh.

Components in the circuits:

1. Power: The Power provides the electricity for the whole circuit to function.

2. Capacitor: Capacitors can store the electricity flowing into them. In these circuits, it is used the stabilize and smooth the flow of electricity.

3. Voltage Regulator: The Voltage Regulator changes and stabilizes the voltage for the circuits. In these circuits, it changes the input to be 5V for other components to function .

4. Resistor: Resistors can resist the flow of electricity to control the flow of current. In there circuits, it is used to prevent the speaker and the LED from having too high current.

5. Variable Resistor: Variable Resistors have the same function as Resistors while they can adjust the amount of resistance. In these circuits, it is used to control the brightness of the LED.

6. Switch: Switches can be used to interrupt the flow of current through a circuit. In these circuits, it is used to turn on/off the speaker and the LED.

7. Speaker and LED: A speaker can make sound and a LED can give out light.

8. Breadboard and Wire: They are the essential parts for the electricity to flow through the circuits and connect all other components.

Building the circuits:

In the process of building the circuits, the biggest problems I met are 1) to understand circuit diagrams provided 2) to figure out what each component is and how to use them properly. To name the items, the voltage regulator and the variable resistor are the ones I don’t know how to use as they have three legs. By asking the LA for help, I understand what does the “ground” on the circuit diagrams means as well as how to use the voltage regulator and the variable resistor. In the next stage of putting everything on the breadboard and finishing the circuits, I didn’t face much trouble to have them done. By comparing the circuits I built and those from my classmates, I found that I’m using a lot more wires than they do. I think this is the part that I may be able to improve by using less wires and make the circuits more clear.

Answers to the Questions:

1.After reading The Art of Interactive Design, in what way do you think that the circuits you built today include interactivity? Please explain your answer.

The author uses “two actors”, “listen”, “think” and “speak” to define interactivity. For the circuit to show these different stages, me pushing the switch button can be seen as “listening”, the flow of current through the circuit is “thinking” and the speaker to make sound or the LED to give out light would then be “speaking”. For the part of two actors, I would think me building the circuit involves more about interactivity than pushing the button. As in the process of building, I really have to observe the components, think about how to do it and finish putting everything together.

2.How can Interaction Design and Physical Computing be used to create Interactive Art?

In the example of “EyeWriter”, the Interaction Design would be to let the graffiti writer to draw with his eyes, and what came out last that the graffiti writer could draw again and has his pieces projected on the wall is the Interactive Art. To let the design become a fine art there needs a lot of physical computing such as the computer program and the DIY hardware. Therefore, combing the Interaction Design and physical computing can the interactive art be produced.