For the group project, I defined interaction as “a cyclic process involving action and reaction between two forces.” After everything I learned making my midterm project and experiencing other people’s midterm projects, I’ve extended my definition to “a situation where two people or things communicate or react to each other in a balanced or unbalanced reciprocal manner,” because I realized that the interaction between two forces isn’t always cyclical. The interaction between two forces doesn’t have to be equal, one side could act multiple times before getting a reaction from the other side. Furthermore, one side could exhibit more effort while the other less.
Going back to my blog post from the group project, I mentioned how the Expressive Tactile Controls project fits my definition of interaction but that is no longer the case. This project might fit in with other people’s definition of interaction or even my previous definition, but it does not fit with my current definition of interaction. That project no longer fits in with my definition because I have extended it to imply that the two forces don’t necessarily need to put in the same amount of effort. In other words, the equilibrium of the human pressing a button and getting an immediate response just seems too basic and primal for me. As soon as the human pushes the button, the mechanism responds. I think it is still interaction to a degree, but not as sophisticated as I think interaction can be.
A project that aligns more closely with my definition of interaction is the Oh Still My Beating Heart project involving a very accurate infrared sensor that senses the user’s heart-rate. This project might not seem to be interactive on the surface, but it fits into my new definition of interaction to a T because it involves a “situation,” in this case the reading of the user’s heart-rate, “between two people or things,” in this case between a person and an infrared sensor, “communicate,” in this case the infrared sensor is telling the program the user’s heart-rate and the program is passing it on to the user via a monitor, “in a balanced or unbalanced reciprocal manner,” in this case being unbalanced because all the user needs to do is put his or her finger on the sensor and the program works through a series of circuits and calculations to come up with a result.
Therefore, my definition of interaction has evolved to something more detailed using influence from the midterm projects of other classmates, researching online projects, and my past group project blog post. Instead of just a cyclic process between two forces, my new definition of interaction is more detailed and involves much deeper thinking. Through my preliminary research into the final project, I am able to walk away with some ideas that could work, given my current definition of interaction, and I look forward to putting it to the test.
https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/hardware-projects-processing-p5/