This week’s reading, “Physical Computing – Introduction” and “Physical Computing’s Greatest Hits (and misses)” was very interesting to read because I had never given much thought about physical computations and how interactions work between humans and computers.
In the first reading, the authors Igoe and O’Sullivan described the way man communicates with technology and one sentence stood out to me, which states, “To change how the computer reacts to us, we have to change how it sees us.” The authors also illustrated the way technology sees us, and how they interpret us as nothing more than just two ears, a finger and an eye. (figure 1.1) Communication between technology and man is key, in order for one side to input desired information and for the processing to make logical sense and produce output. Either through analog or through digital input, and the computer then takes the data and produces an output that makes sense based on the information given.
In the second reading “Physical Computing’s Greatest Hits (and misses)” by Tigoe, the author exemplifies numerous ways for interactions to take place between technology and humans. This gives me insight into certain interactivity models and their physical aspects. In particular, the body-as-cursor project stood out to me and reminded me of Wii Sports that I used to play as a kid. Through computational ‘magic’ and code, I was able to match physical motions such as hitting a tennis ball to a mesmerizing digital experience. I think it’s fascinating how the technology is able to track user movement in a given space and by matching it to a visual or audio response and produce output. Wii Sports was one of my favorite video games as a kid. Hopefully, by the end of the semester, I will be able to create a project similar to this type of interaction.