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Recitation 1 Post

Recitation1 Report

Sharon Xu

Instruction:

For your documentation, create a blog post and that includes the following information based on your experience in this recitation. For each component in the circuits, write down what it does and why it is included in this circuit. In addition, please include pictures and or videos of the completed circuit working, as well as a diagram of how the components are connected. Describe the process of building the circuit: Did the circuit work? Were there any moments where something failed? How did you solve the problem? Write down what worked and what didn’t. Take time to reflect on this week’s readings and the recitation exercise. Publish your answers to the following questions along with your documentation.

Question 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.

Question 2:

How can Interaction Design and Physical Computing be used to create Interactive Art? You can reference Zack Lieberman’s video or any other artist that you know .

Partner: Isaac

Circuit 1: Door Bell

Components:

  • 1 * 12 volt power supply
  • 1 * LM7805 Voltage Regulator
  • Jumper Cables (Hook-up Wires)
  • 1 * Buzzer
  • 1 * Push-Button Switch
  • 1 * 100 nF (0.1uF) Capacitor
  • 1 * Barrel Jack

Circuit 2: Lamp

Components:

  • 1 * 12 volt power supply
  • 1 * LM7805 Voltage Regulator
  • 1 * 220 ohm Resistor
  • 1 * LED
  • 1 * Push-Button Switch
  • 1 * 100 nF (0.1uF) Capacitor
  • Jumper Cables (Hook-up Wires)
  • 1 * Barrel Jack
  • 1 * Arcade Button

Circuit3：Dimmable Lamp

Components:

  • 1 * 12 volt power supply
  • 1 * LM7805 Voltage Regulator
  • 1 * 220 ohm Resistor
  • 1 * 10K ohm Variable Resistor (Potentiometer)
  • 1 * LED
  • 1 * Push-Button Switch
  • 1 * 100 nF (0.1uF) Capacitor
  • Jumper Cables (Hook-up Wires)
  • 1 * Barrel Jack
  • 1 * Arcade Button

Function of the components(what they do & why they are in the circuit):

  • Breadboard: provide the base for making electronic connections
  • LM7805 Voltage Regulator: control the amount of voltage in a circuit,to stable the voltage in a circuit
  • Buzzer: act as a speaker, make sound
  • Push-Button Switch: control the connection,or the current flow of the circuit, to control the work or stop of the circuit
  • Arcade Button: control the connection,or the current flow of the circuit,to control the work or stop of the circuit
  • 220 ohm Resistor: to resist the flow of electricity, control the current from being too intense
  • LED: serve as a light source
  • 100 nF (0.1uF) Capacitor: wave filtering
  • 10K ohm Variable Resistor (Potentiometer): resist the flow of electricity and can be controlled how strong is the resistance, so to control the current size of the circuit, so to control the brightness of the LED
  • 12 volt power supply: supply power, giving a 12 volt voltage to form the current and run the circuit.
  • Barrel Jack: to connect the circuit to the power
  • Jumper Cables (Hook-up Wires): to carry electricity in the circuit from on point to another, to connect the electronic components in the circuit
  • Multimeter: An instrument that can measures voltage, current, and resistance

Process of building the circuit:

Circuit 1: Door Bell

What I learned from building the circuit & moments where something failed:

  • First, we analysed the circuit diagram carefully and put all the components depending on where the current goes from + to -. At first, we connect the wire to the negative pole to do earthing. But soon we realized and corrected it. After building and checking the circuit, we connected power supply. But nothing happened. So we checked the circuit again and again and seeked help from instructors. We changed the components in case that one of them is broken. But we failed to find the problem. Finally, it turned out that our two voltage regulators are both broken and there are only two regulators in the case that couldn’t work. We are so LUCKY 🙂 After changing the third voltage regulator, I finally heard the most wonderful buzz I have ever heard.

. We learnt that it’s better for us to reduce the amount of wires because too many wires will make the circuit to look confusing. For me, I think next time we can put all the important components on the breadboard and then connect them with wires so that it would be more clear to know the structure of the circuit. And when facing failure, don’t be anxious and discouraged. Using the multimeter to do tests is a good way to find the problem.

Result: The circuit runs successfully.

Circuit 2: Lamp

What I learned from building the circuit & moments where something failed:

  • The LED light is dim at first and we asked the professor, and realized that we used the wrong resistor. And then we changed it and had another try, but we still failed. Making lots of efforts, we couldn’t find the problem, which made us confused. Finally, with the help of Eric, we found that we put a wire in the wrong hole which is not in the horizontal line so the circuit was  disconnected.

Result: The circuit runs successfully

Circuit3：Dimmable Lamp

What I learned from building the circuit & moments where something failed:

  • We built the circuit based on the circuit 2, just adding the variable resistor. It went smoothly.

Result: The circuit runs successfully.

Question 1:

First, according to the author, here’s a the a point about the interactive process: there are two “actor”s(The Art of Interactive Design, 5)– the circuit and I. I push the switch, or I told the circuit to be connected and run; then the circuit gets fully connected as a closed loop, or it processed; after that, the speaker buzzed or the LED lighted, as a respond to my pushing the button telling it to work. The circuit I built includes steps of a conversation, and the process cycles back and forth as I loose the button or push it again. So according to the definition the author gave in the text, interaction is “a cyclic process in which two actors alternately listen, think, and speak.”( The Art of Interactive Design,5), the circuit I built includes interactivity.

Question 2:

Zack Lieberman introduced three artistic projects: Drawn, IQ Font, and the EyeWriter. On the base of Physical Computing, people can make their artworks move by touching, make a drawing by a car driving, or even paint with a pair of glasses that can catch the movement of one’s pupil.

As is mentioned in the video, artistic practice is a form of research and development for humanity. People can use interaction design to think of a way an art piece be designed, and realize the design by physical computing.

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Week 1: Response to Sophie Woodward – Hanna Rinderknecht-Mahaffy

I found Woodward’s approach to sustainability very interesting. She argues that ethnography studies of peoples cultural, social, and personal fashion choices can be a good tool to create more sustainable fashion. As part of her argument, she discusses how most people who buy jeans do not think about buying “ethical” denim, however because of peoples’ personal attachments to their jeans, they often are used for many years in a much more sustainable way. Woodard argues that, “This suggests that a more instructive way of understanding sustainable fashion practices emerges from a focus upon what people do with clothes they already own. The ineffectiveness of policy initiatives to provide more ‘information’ about sustainable fashion comes from a misunderstand of what the consumption of clothing is. Instead…how we consume arises more out of routinized or repetitive actions than individual deliberations” (135). While I at first was slightly skeptical of Woodward’s “accidental fashion” approach, I began to be convinced, through her examples such as peoples’ jean habits, that purely providing people with information about what the “ethical” choices are, is not necessarily enough. Part of me is pessimistic about the fact that people do not take ethical actions when provided with enough information, however I do appreciate Woodard’s argument that perhaps there is another approach to sustainability. While I do think that the environmental crisis in our world today is serious enough that her approach is not sufficient by itself, I do think it may be a good starting point to get every day consumers thinking more about sustainability in their own lives. 

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Recitation 1 (Megan Rhoades)

Circuit 1: Door Bell

Parts: 

  • Breadboard: Provides a base for the connections in a circuit
  • LM7805 Voltage regulator: Controls voltage, allowing for consistent output
  • Switch: When pressed, connects the circuit to allow power to reach the speaker
  • Speaker: Vibrates, creating a sound, with the introduction of electric current
  • Jumper cables: Provide connections for the circuit
  • Barrel jack: Connects power supply to outlet
  • 100 nF (0.1uF) Capacitor: Stores (and helps regulate) electric energy
  • 12 Volt Power Supply: Provides power source

Process:

  • While this was the simplest circuit, we had to acclimate to using the components and building circuits. The biggest challenge for us in this aspect was figuring out the difference between the power and the ground, especially when connecting the voltage regulator. Finishing the circuit also provided some difficulty, as we were initially unsure of how power was flowing to the ground from the buzzer and switch. Moving on in the class, I know that I will have to put more effort into distinguishing which wires should be ground. Despite this confusion, we finished this circuit fairly quickly after getting used to the components. 

Circuit 2: Lamp

Parts: 

  • 220 ohm Resistor: Reduces current flow
  • LED: Emits light with electric current
  • Multimeter: Used to measure resistance

Process:

  • The most difficult process in this circuit was learning to measure the resistor with the multimeter. Since our fingers effect the reading of the multimeter, we asked for advice and found that measuring the resistor in between our fingers gave an accurate reading. After finding the correct resistor we simply made small adjustments to our previous circuit in order to add the LED and the resistor.

Circuit 3: Dimmable Lamp

Parts:

  • 10K ohm Variable Resistor (Potentiometer): Allows for interaction, with a turn of the dial adjusting the strength of the electric current

Process:

  • This circuit was the easiest of the three. After adjusting the position of the light, we simply added the variable resistor. I did feel that I learned something from observing the interactivity of the resistor — this technology is basic yet I had never put thought into how it works. For that reason, this circuit was the most interesting to us. 

Push-Button Switch

Process:

  • After finishing circuit 3, my partner and I disassembled our circuit. For this reason, we had to reassemble the circuit for the inclusion of the new button. We had some difficulty with this new circuit. Again, we found ourselves confused with the difference between ground and power. We also found ourselves debating ways in which we could cut down on the number of jumper cables, simplifying our circuit. Although we had some difficulty we did eventually create a new circuit and I found the process useful in practicing the building process.

Question One

The interactivity reading introduced the idea that interactivity comes on a spectrum. This felt very clear to me thinking on the different circuits we built in recitation. The third circuit, which included a dimmable light, felt more interactive than those which had only a switch. Although all required action from a human (the press of the switch) to operate, this circuit was more responsive, giving not only the option of on/off but also the ability to control how much light was emitted. 

Question Two

As someone who is very interested in music, there are many interesting interactive possibilities. One idea that I have seen in an exhibit in my hometown in Ohio is an orchestra made of “electric instruments” — one example being a harp which sensed the movement of a human finger in a certain place and played the correct tone in response. I think this idea could be developed to help disabled musicians, similar to the EyeWriter being used to allow a disabled graffiti artist do his work. These examples which combine human creativity and electronic tools are especially interesting to me.  

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Electric Circuits, Electrical Components and Interaction – Monika Yosifova Response

My experience in my first ever Interaction Lab Recitation was not what I expected. I didn’t know that there were so many people taking that class and it was truly exciting to actually get to meet new people. The girl that I was working with on the electric circuits project is called Tiana, and we both worked really hard to understand how both soldering and building circuits operated!

Circuit 1:

For the first circuit we used a Breadboard to help us organise our electric circuit. We connected this breadboard to a 12 V power cable which was the source of electricity for this circuit. We connected the red cable from that 12 V Power supply to the positive charged slots on the breadboard and the black cable we connected to the Negatively marked slots on the breadboard. This made everything that was connected to the Negatively charged slots ground. Then Tiana and I plugged in the Voltage regulator in the breadboard, it controlled the amount of power output throughout the breadboard. We connected sections 1 and 2 of the Voltage regulator together with a 100 nF Capacitor which condensed and stored some of the energy throughout the circuit. I then used a black cable to connect section 2 of the voltage generator to ground. Managing to get the Switch Button to work was more difficult as we had to watch the placement for it more carefully. We made a few mistakes with it’s placement and needed help figuring it out. Lastly, we put in the Speaker, plugging it in with energy from the 3rd slot of the Voltage Regulator. When we pressed the Switch Button after we plugged the circuit into the power, we heard a rather loud “WOOOM” sound and we celebrated.

Note: We originally hadn’t plugged the Voltage Regulator in and were wondering why it wasn’t working. We were being too careful with it cause we though we’d break it.

Circuit 2:

Circuit 2 personally gave me the most satisfaction to make. I love lights and as someone who never studied physics before, it was always amazing for me to see how people made a light turn on. When Tiana and I managed to get Circuit two done correctly, with no help, I felt like a Air-bender or a wizard (only for electricity). 

Similarly to circuit 1, our group utilized the Breadboard, the 12V power source, the Voltage Regulator and the capacitor  in a  way similiar to before. Section two of the Regulator was plugged into ground while section one was plugged into  power. The Capacitator was again used to connect Sections 1 and 2.  It got more interesting once Tiana and I had to figure out which resistor to use. We had been provided with two and had a difficult time finding out which one was the best. Professor Cossovich came over and explained the color-coding on the little resistor to us and we were good to go. This 220 Ω  resistor reduced the flow of electricity along the circuit and we connected it to one end of the little yellow LED light bulb that we were supposed to turn on.  Tiana then put in the Switch button, connecting one of the ends of it to ground while the other one was connected to the LED. Once we pressed the Switch, the little light turned on.

Circuit 3: 

Circuit three was by far the most complicated, but after being able to successfully make the previous two circuits, Tiana and I were really excited and just got on with the job. Class had already ended, but we were so curious about what the next little challenge was that we just wanted to construct it.

Similarly to the last two circuits, we utilized the Breadboard, the 12V power input, the Voltage regulator and the Capacitor, connecting Section two with the Capacitor to ground. Section 1 of the Voltage Regulator was connected to Power. Section three we connected to the 220 Ω Resistor again, with red cables, and then we connected it to section two of the Potentiometer. The potentiometer allowed for more control around the circuit as we connected its third section to the Led light. The LED light we then connected to the Switch Button again. There was a black cable that connected ground to the Switch on the other end. When we connected the circuit to the power, the LED automatically switched on, which was a mistake. Professor Cossovich then told us that we had, again, plugged in the Switch Button wrong.  After fixing that, the circuit worked!

Responding to Question 1:

I really had a laugh with some of my friends after reading “The Art of Interactive Design” article.  I though it was an engaging read. 

The circuits that we build in the Friday Recitation class were highly interactive as they created a level of concentration among the pairs that were building them. I had never worked with Tiana before, but the two of us were listening to each other, thinking about how to make the circuits work and communicating what we though was the correct way. It was a good project that brought me closer to someone I never honestly thought I’d work with, and I enjoyed it a lot! 

Responding to Question 2:

Interaction Design and Physical Computing be used to create Interactive Art in many ways. People get shocked and impressed by little things, an example for that would be the “Open Mouth” idea that Zach Lieberman explains to us when he presented his interactive music art to other people. Physical computing and Interaction design, if used correctly and coded properly can revolutionize art and expand people’s imagination and belief of the possible. I know it sounds cheesy, but I like to make people happy, and art that is produced in a way that the audience can interact with it always pleases people. 

Thank you for an awesome first week!

Monika V. Yosifova