Author: Citlaly Weed

Title:

Ball of Confusion

The purpose of my partner and I’s project is to highlight a few problems in the world; for example, global climate change or border issues around the world. The purpose is not only to identify these issues, but to stimulate a player to be aware and have an active role in change. The audience that is targeted is more or less anyone because anyone can make a change in the world, but more it targets adolescents and young adults who are the upcoming leaders of our world. Since the mass shootings in the U.S. and students in lower income school acknowledged the unjust treatment within their community. I believe that this could possibly broaden their understanding of what it is happening not just in their communities, but also the world. Living in the U.S. when the school shooting that took place in Florida happened I remember participating in the school walk out with my classmates. I just remember how passionate the people around me were and I want to spread inequalities and justices to young adults so when it is our time to be a leader we can be the actors of change. I have also watched YouTube videos about Block high school, a high school in the U.S., where the kids there have recognized the injustice of underfunding has affected their education and their future; also how they are tired of it. Learning of the struggles they must face inspires me to do something so I just hope that maybe someone can see and ask, “well why am I collecting this wall”, and the learn about the border crisis on the U.S,/Mexico border or Dominican/Haitian border. I hope that the youth can learn this information to inspire them and to not depress them that change is not possible; change is possible all it needs are motivated, kind people.

So basically I want at least be able to prototype my idea; I know all that I want to be will not be possible with my (Olivia’s skills will be the better out of the two of us) skill. However, the general concept will be similar to Mario in aesthetics, but the dirt is moving the wrong way and instead of trying to gain coins or beating up/avoiding “bad guys” you are trying to collect them. Anyone knows of the game Mario, or at least people within the Melnial/Generation z generations, here the design nostalgically triggers a confused sentiment when playing because it is not exactly the same as the old game they remember. Hence, the confusion part of the title, but also I decided the character you play to be a ball that can be genderless, sexless, and raceless. The bad guys you are going to catch will not be easy, but if you can get them then you can get to the end card that will be world peace. I was also thinking that once you get a “bad guy” that a screen pops up with information that tells you what the world problem is. The plan is to basically get as much coding help as possible, I want to emphasis POSIBLE, I really want this to become a reality so I know not to expect too much. The construction of the Arduino portion will be vibration sensors that are attached to a wooden platform strong for stomping. When someone stomps hard then their character moves down and when they jump up lightly they move up. I want to complete this part this weekend after I have a meeting with Andy to see where I can get wood. I am currently still thinking of what problems I want to highlight in this game, but I want to do the brainstorming with my partner. By the end of this week, I want us to have gotten together compose our ideas and begin the coding process. Please watch out Young because I will be bothering a lot. the timeline for working on the code can not stop we just got to get a usable rough idea of our project out there.

Picture Ideas:

                                     

The IMA show from the last semester not only inspired me to take the class, but a few projects inspired my ideas. One project inspired the use of vibration sensors to force a more active interaction with the person and the game. Also, the second project inspired me to use multiple “bad” characters, but instead of avoiding them you try to collect them. The project uses my flexible definition of interaction to attempt a positive impact. Also for my past definitions of interaction, I believe that our project also qualifies because the game depends on human life variable human input so that the processing/Arduino responds with either an up or down movement. I do not think that I am recreating the Mario game, but using its aesthetics toward triggering nostalgia and using that to draw attention to different injustices that are happening in the world. Again the purpose is for young adults and adolescents to become aware of the injustices of the world and feel motivated to be the change. I actually really hope that our project can actually inspire some people, or even inspire people who are actually good at coding to improve what we made. I am really excited and I hope the outcome is not a flop. I also want maybe that we can find many different people from different places because it is impossible to be completely aware of all injustices in the world, so the number of “bad guys” can be added improving the amount of learning. The goal is to inspire and make the future’s leaders to become activist for world peace.

Wow, I can not believe that I made an Etch A Sketch! I was pretty cool because I actually got inspired and might want to use it in the future to make a pointillism piece. When making the circuit I remembered the circuit from Thursday so I just added a second one and put it into A1. Man, the whole processing to Arduino and Arduino to processing is so complicated! thank the lord that we have the example code, but I still have a hard time conceptualizing how to get my ideas of what I want the code to do to actual code that is in the language. The interaction for coming up with the code was between me and Olivia when we would talk about what it possibly could be. Then we also had tons of help, but Olivia got the last part of the code all by herself!  When it came to actually interact with the Etch A Sketch it was pretty straight forward turn one potentiometer to control the x-axis and the other controlled the y-axis. For the buzzer, the interaction is even easier where you can just touch the mouse pad in whatever direction and it changes the pitch of the buzzer. That particular interaction that uses touch and sound would be great to annoy my mom.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXCjUkHP43o&feature=youtu.be

                  

My group’s first definition:

At least two actors, an animal actor being one, engaging each other with many different inputs and outputs causing both being interdependent of each other.

My extension on that definition when writing the individual blog post:

At least two actors, an animal actor being one, engaging each other with many different inputs and outputs causing both being interdependent of each other. Crawford states that there are different levels of interaction, which I agree with. 

( “The Art of Interactive Design” by Chris Crawford )

My definition after completing the Midterm:

My definition of interaction needs to have one of the actors in a two to more group be human and allow there to be space for different levels of interaction.

My current development and ideas on interaction:

I feel that my definition has evolved to be more flexible yet complicated from the initial group definition.  The flexibility comes from the idea of there being layers, but complicating it by having one of the actors human. From the Interaction of Design Foundation agrees that interaction is a human to production conversation. So the human element is important

The first interactive project I researched did not exactly inspire my idea for the Final Project, but after reading it taught me many things. The project is “Click Canvas, an Interactive Wall” by Natthakit Kangsadansenanon. This project taught me the challenges he faced when he was creating his large project, such as when he had the debugging for hours and could not eat. Also the challenge he faced directing people. with his experience, I have been motivated to not give up when I do the Final Project (lots of giving up was felt during the midterm) and that working with people can be hard. I also learned with communication in creating being clear in what you say is very important. This lines up with my definition of interaction because this type of interaction has a living part (the people) who were allowed through the use of touch as an input and color as outputs to draw/ create! 

the second project that did fule my current idea for the Final project is actually a combination of two I saw at last semester’s IMA show. The first one was where two people were competing by banging on the desk to send as many vibrations to the vibration sensor. The one who banged the most won. The second was from a friend of mine where a person had to wear a headband with a type of motion sensor that could sense that back and forth movement of the person’s head. On the screen, the player would be controlling a serpent and was trying to avoid things falling from the sky to get to a finish line. From these two sprouted my idea to use the vibration sensors to move a character to a desired goal. Both of these projects are in line with my definition of interaction. The first one had two human actors work against each other to send more vibration input than the other. It also made the people very competitive, as so did the second project making the interaction meaningful through fun. The second project created a goal for the person to get to the finish line with the challenge of being able to move your head back and forth fast enough (something I could not do). Both interactions depend on the type of inputs from the human side to decide who was either a winner or was getting to the finish line.

Here is a picture of the 2018 fall semester class that inspired me:

one last project that I researched and found on a website that claimed to be listing “8 Exceptional Examples of Interactive Product” by Cassandra Michael. Ironically I found a product that was supposed to be an exceptional example of an interactive product; however, it did not have the one requirement from my already fluid defintion of interaction. That was the Bellroy ‘slim your wallet’ was missing the living component. The wallet I believe cannot be categorized as an interactive where there is no transaction of ideas of feeling. The wallet is just slim. On their website, they have a feature where you can compare your fat wallet to the slim one. Here is a type of interaction because a human has to compare the two visually, but the wallet itself cannot be an interactive product. I also believe that the use of interactive may be defined differently, but for my definition, the word interactive is used incorrectly.

My new definition of interaction I believe needs to be even more flexible by including all types of alive life as one of the actors, but still complicated that one actor must be able to respond with; for example, excitement or with a physical change. I want to change my idea of different levels of interaction to different types of interaction and add that to my definition of interaction. Here I am now disagreeing with Crawford by stating that no single interaction is better than another, but the interaction is just expressed differently. For example, in the Interaction of Design Foundation’s definition of interaction, there is a list of 5 dimensions of interaction design that work together to create the overall end product. Different types of interaction are not in competition, but are in use for different desired outcomes.  I believe that my new definition of interaction is very inclusive. I am not trying to make a concrete definition for interaction. I want to also point out that the Interaction of Design Foundation states that a broad definition exists because the field is broad itself. I would hope that people use a flexible concept of interaction to make something that has a positive impact. 

websites used:

https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/what-is-interaction-design

https://www.hackster.io/natthakit-kim-kang/click-canvas-an-interactive-wall-04332c

https://usabilla.com/blog/8-exceptional-examples-of-interactive-product-pages/

https://bellroy.com/explore/slim-your-wallet

When it was Friday I was stressed out of my mind because I had spent the whole lab trying to figure out how to simply figure out how to pulsate an ellipse. I had amazing help from Jingyi who was patient with me, but unfortunately, I had asked for help too late and we had to leave. She emailed me and I tried my best to understand; however, I could not wrap my brain around it so I then was able to do some changes from an example code from  http://vormplus.be/blog/article/an-introduction-to-processing-part-ii   .There were parts that I had to change because the code online actually had mistakes. I learned that the” Errors” tab is better for me to understand my mistakes over the “Console” tab. I had to change the int name because they used a different make in the actual code and I also had to change some quotation marks. Like the video below says I could not figure out what thing changed the speed of the color changes so I am sorry about that. I also incorporated the keyPressed(); code from class and also the spinning rectangles from class. I would say that what I made it very psychedelic. I had fun combining them and hitting play to see what my Frankenstein did. I know the way I code is not really coding, but I enjoy the mixing of different things. I must say also, processers I am sorry that my code is a complete mess.  Once I go on learning more I promise to improve my mess as a more controlled mess.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OGYomOrMik&feature=youtu.be

Here is the code where the rectangle is spinning I think I like it more than the last one where it is cool that you can control the circle, but the rectangle is not spinning.

https://gist.github.com/tati222/b90d5470d4b69da43ad1f4e2d9e939c1

Make your Heart warm

The previous research project taught me how many different interpretations of interaction went into the development of a project. Many of the projects I found were really interesting, so I wanted to try to be able to make something that could meet half the coolness of the other projects. There were interactions between a human and software that could either give you automated generated outputs or could receive and interpret your variable inputs.  What I learned from the projects is that for me interaction had to involve a human as one of the actors of two or more actors. I believe interaction can not only be like a conversation between actor but instead, there are different levels. Another level where I would categorize our project’s level of interaction as not only one that has a generated response but depending on how hard you press the sensor that is sewn into the bear a message that was made for that pressure is blinked or beeps the morse code. Here this interaction is not only just responses, but the part of the human actor’s job to be able to learn more code to understand what the potential answer is. I believe the morse code was a significant part of our project. During user testing we were told that the morse code was really a special part of our project and to stand by it, so we did. From that response, I saw the morse code as not a sign of our weakness in coding, but a strength that we could be able to find another form of communication other than speech. Here we were not only able to tell the participant a sweet message but able to teach a cool new language that they could use; expanding the number of people who know morse code. The intent is not only to teach you something cool and interesting but also to send you uplifting messages when you feel down. Also because morse code is not as popular the message can feel personal and maybe a little secret between you and the cute bear. I personally thought of sad college students as the target audience, but college students are not the only ones who are sad, so literally, anyone who is sad and needs a little pick-me-up can use the bear.

Because on the box I made it say to press the bear’s paw I tried my best to put the sensor in the paw. It was a little difficult of the person to find the sensor, but they eventually got it. I believe turning from the 3D printed bear to a stuffed one was a good move. The stuffed bear added warmth and cuddliness that the 3D printed one could not provide and also attaching the sensor with the stuffed bear was much easier than taping to the 3D bear, which did not stick very well.  At first we wanted to try 3D printing; however, laser cutting a box ended up being the best decision because not only could we use it to put the instructions on it, but also put the whole morse code alphabet so that the person could really learn morse code. 3D printing the bear turned out to be an unsuccessful choice, but it lead us to the stuffed bear and the laser cutting of the box. Although we did not use the 3D bear in the final project the bear itself came out great! I was really proud of it and many people complimented how cute he was. The box itself was really frustrating because at the end I ended up with more wood glue on me than on the box itself and the top and bottom would not fit together! I used the template, but I guess something went wrong (very sad). However, the circuit my partner did including finishing the rest of the code off did an amazing job!  

 

We got tons of feedback, which was great. The main ones we got and took were: make it a stuffed bear, add two types of senses activator (not just sight with the light, but also add a buzzer, audible, or motor, touch), spell out where to touch ( we put that on the box), what morse code was (the alphabet on the box), and add a longer delay to allow the person the prepare for the morse code. I would say most were decently productive, but maybe we could have added even longer delay at the beginning on top of the delay we added. Even with all the changes, we stood next to our choice of morse code and the wholesomeness of our project. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8yIHBxzpZI&feature=youtu.be

The goal:

To have a representative, the bear, share love to a sad person not only uplifting their spirits but also teaching them a cool skill, morse code.

My definition of interaction needs to have one of the actors in a two to more group be human and allow there to be space for different levels of interaction. Our project may have not been on the level where there are infinite inputs and outputs that best represents a conversation, but our project does have different variable inputs and outputs that mimics a conversation the best it can. The interaction with the audience was great for me because no matter if they struggled to understand morse code it pushed them to figure it out.  I feel like the struggle to understand results that when you eventually get it the reward is even better. There may have been an infinite list of things that we could have done different/better, but adding more messages, having the box fit together, and the sensor more apparent is to name a few important changes. I would have also liked to add the motor idea, but the buzzer was okay. I have definitely learned that communication is crucial to saving you from going crazy. So when we improved our project we decided to better spread out the workload so no one felt that the whole project rested in their hands. Overall I am super proud of what we did because we were lost the whole time, but we eventually came together and made something pretty unique.