A. You visited the Chronus exhibition where you saw technology-based art pieces. Some of them use the same components you have been using in this course. Discuss the experience you had in this exhibition compared to other exhibitions of non-technology based artwork you have visited before.
Many times when I go to art museums that are traditional and do not include technology, I spend most of my time trying to imitate art (pictures below). I think this exhibit was much more enjoyable because I was able to experience the art instead of just looking at it and moving on. Artificial Intuition specifically was very engaging because it got in the way of where you were walking. Traditionally, art is hung on the walls or is on the floor and this changed this up as well because it was dangling from the ceiling like long tentacles.
<– Circa 2018 showing Chinese exchange students my idea of enjoying art museums
B. Research at least two other interactive projects to serve as inspiration for your Final Project. Find projects that align with what you think a successful interactive experience is and at least one that you think is less successful.
- Discuss why.
- In your research process, you are strongly encouraged to consider interactive experiences drawn from a variety of sources, media, materials, formats, etc.
Whac-A-Mole This project recreates the traditional Whac-A-Mole carnival game by using light-up buttons and a scoreboard. I think this project promotes a good user interaction because it catches the user’s eyes right away with its big buttons. I think this is a slightly weaker successful interactive experience because it does not come with a set of instructions, so anyone who has not played the game would be easily confused about what to do about the buttons and lights, and how the score is related.
Geometry Dash This recreates the game Geometry Dash through Processing as the output and an Arduino as an input. I think this project promotes good user interaction because it’s eye-catching and engaging. What makes this a really great compared to the previous project because it is eye-catching with the screen and keeps the user engaged with on-screen instructions.
I also looked up how to put a video in Processing through this reference. I wanted to find this out because I was thinking about doing my final project about learning Chinese dialects and having these native speakers of the dialect be able to have a visual for the learners. I want to do this project as well to raise awareness about the dying population of local dialect speakers. Less and less children are learning their local dialect because schools are only teaching Mandarin. Many parents are also not teaching or talking to their children in the local dialect because they want to make sure their children have the best chance in school with no issues of getting confused with words. The Chinese section of the gaokao also only tests on the standard Mandarin, so it further promoting the killing of the local dialects. Dialects
C. Go back to your definition of interaction as you defined it during the group project. Based on the initial definition and your experience developing and executing your midterm project, in your own words, explain what an interactive experience should consist of to be successful. Support your explanation by your analysis of the projects you researched in point A and B, and by citing references from the readings, and other artists or online articles you have read.
In my definition for the previous projects, I don’t think I managed to think about initial user thought and how engaged it keeps the user. I only really considered what was going on in the project. After the user testing session and the presentation of the midterm project, I was able to add more to my second draft of defining interaction as I was able to finally see the user side in action, besides using it as a creator. In the Chronus exhibit, the best pieces were the ones that were able to keep users coming back. In the case of the field trip, these two pieces were Artificial Intuition and Beholding the Big Bang because these kept students floating back and forth between the two because of their design and execution. In the projects for part B, I think they are good at keeping users entertained and are eye-catching with their distinct features.