Yuru Chen(Lindsay)
Professor Marcela Godoy
Interaction Lab
12 March 2019
Definition of Interaction
As far as I’m concerned, interaction is a communication between computers and human beings with thinking and reflecting involved.
One project that aligns with my definition
Smile TV—-Works only when you smile
Reference: https://vimeo.com/99151611
I think this is an interactive project that requires human’s interaction, which is smiling, with the computer(TV in this case). This TV only works when the people who sit in front of it smile.
One project that does not align with my definition
Digitally grown 3D printed wearables that could embed living matters.
Reference: https://youtu.be/9HI8FerKr6Q
In my opinion this is not a interactive project, because during the process there is no interaction between people and the computer. The figure it presents grows automatically, without the communication, or instruction of human beings.
What specifically triggered my understanding of interaction is that the communication between human and the computer. In the first project, which is the Smile TV, the TV will be activated only if people interact with it, or to say, communicate with the computer, telling them to work by smiling at it. This specific face expression can also be seen as a “language” between human and computer. So in my group project, we use the actual language–us talking to the device–to communicate with the computer. This is a kind of interaction between people and the computer because this process involves “listening, thinking, speaking”(Crawford). However, the second project, which is the digitally grown wearables, does not align with my definition of interaction because during the process there is no human-computer communication. Computer completes the digitally grown project alone without our intervention.
Our Project
For our group presentation, we made a little robert using cardboard and wires. Basically, this robert can feed people who interact with it by sound. For example, we can activate it by calling its name, Sfeeder. Also, it is able to recognize the food and deliver the food to us by listening to the name of the dishes. All we have to do is to say the name of the dish and it will be delivered to us. what’s more, Sfeeder have a built-in health risk evaluation program, which can warn you when you are eating too much junk food. I think that this project relates to the definition of what I proposed to be an “interactive” project because I think that during the process people are communicating, “talking” to the computer, and the computer is “listening” to our instruction. As far as I’m concerned, the most important elements of interaction are “listening, thinking and speaking”(Crawford), which are already listed above. In our design, we import all those three elements into the device we designed, making it interactive.
Works cited:
Crawford, Chris. “What Exactly Is Interactivity?” The Art of Interactive Design. 1st edition. No Starch Press, December 2002, San Francisco, pp. 1-5, NYU ITP, accessed 12 March, 2019. https://itp.nyu.edu/~ym349/pc/theartofinteractivedesign.pdf
“A unified approach to grown structures”, Youtube, uploaded by deskriptiv GbR, 26 Nov 2014, https://youtu.be/9HI8FerKr6Q
“Smile TV”, Vimeo, uploaded by David Hadberg, 2014, https://vimeo.com/99151611