Last we had a group project. For this project, we need to make a device that reflects how we interpret “interaction”.
Understanding of Interaction
My understanding of “interaction” is quite simple. In my view, interaction is the loop of information receive and response between two actors. The article The Art of Interaction Design inspired me a lot. According to it, interaction is “a cyclic process in which two actors alternately listen, think, and speak”. I agree that interaction must happen between two actors (usually human and machine). However, I think that the input of interaction can be something rather than listening, such as seeing, smelling, or even reading brain waves. Moreover, the output can also be something else than speak. Most importantly, interaction is cyclic, which means that the input and the output are in a loop cycle rather than one line. I think in the real interaction, the output will somehow affect the input we give next time. That’s what cyclic means.
Project one
I think this project fail to fit my interpretation of interaction. This project really has lots of aesthetic value, it doesn’t have the key factor of interaction. It involves two actors–human and the table itself. It receives whether the cup is placed as input, and it changes the color of some blocks on the table as an output. However, such a progress of input->process->output is not cyclic. In other words, the color of the block won’t affect the way we place the cup in the future. So there is no closed loop of input and output. It’s reacting to input, but not really interactive.
project two
I think this project better fits my view of interaction. Though the device’s principle is not very complex. It just detects the user’s motion and changes the position of the person in the game. However, it involves two actors and has both input (motion) and output (screen). More importantly, the position of the man on the screen really affects the player’s decision. So the output will continue to affect the input in some way. Consequently, there is cyclic progress here. I think this project is a good example of interaction.
our group work
As for our group project, we mainly designed a helmet which can read the user’s brain wave and respond to him/her through brain wave. We had this idea because we wanted to emphasize that the input and output of interaction are not necessarily those traditional ways. It can also be brain wave reading and writing. In the performance, we tried to illustrate some communication between the AI in the helmet and the user’s brain. We think it still forms interaction.
Another point we wanted to emphasize was that interaction is always cyclic. The user and the helmet can communicate back and forth. The input determines the output, while the output changes the way the user inputs next time. It’s like operating a computer. The user must look at the screen to decide where to click next time. That’s how output affects input. And that’s what we wanted to show.
