My team and I were inspired by “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” by Ursula K. Le Guin. This story got us to think more about our dreams since it can be said their entertainment(the room) was somewhat like a dream state. Based on this as a group we decided to make our artifact a helmet that replays your dreams, this is for people who often forget their dreams or want to relive their dreams. The individual would be relieving their dream in real-time. This helmet also saves people’s dreams permanently. This intertwines with my definition of interaction as I said it was something that acts or is controlled by what the user does, in this case if the user puts the helmet on their head the artifact interacts with the user by replaying a dream of the user’s choice. Our invention is unique and imaginative as this does not exist in real life and is only featured in sci-fi movies. So with a concept like this, it is really up to us what this helmet is like. In real life I do think, it may be possible but not as a replay maybe as words or a hard sketch of the main idea as I don’t think technology can get into someone’s brain like that. This is a very foreign concept far from reality at the moment. With this invention, a problem I see is that someone with a very weak mental condition or PTSD has a nightmare that they don’t remember and the helmet can help them vividly remember and relive it. This wouldn’t be good as it would negatively impact their mental health. In a more farfetched scope, it can be used to reveal one’s secrets or emotions as dreams can be about personal things in our lives, which can be used against us in a discriminatory and persecuting manner.
Below is a sketch design:
This is the sketch that showcases our ideas, we decided to go with our first model because to us it was very straightforward. We added a visor to the helmet in the theme of being asleep. We also added wires to it to showcase how it senses what goes on in the brain and we added boxes on the sides(Arduino and battery holder) to show that the dreams are being stored.
Below is the artifact throughout the building process:
Below is the final product and a teammate wearing it:
A failure of the artifact would be the lack of decoration, by that I mean that it wasn’t painted over to make the design sleeker but my team didn’t have access to supplies to do this. The successes of this artifact are the sci-fi look, the fit of the helmet, and the creativity of the design. When asking outside individuals they could tell in which realm our artifact is supposed to be. I contributed to this process by giving my opinion and helping with the design of the helmet to make it better fit people’s heads. I also helped create the sketches and script. The process my group used to work together is meeting multiple times and having discussions, then creating our craft. All of our roles intertwined as we all worked on each thing to an extent, as everything was done as a group and in a group. No one has been tasked with one thing to do alone.
Below is our script, my team did go a bit off script as we had intended for only two people to put on the helmet but during the performance, we realized it would be too time-consuming and boring:
Script Interaction Lab Group Project
I will now be providing a critical analysis and assessment of the performance of the group who had a mind control helmet set during the Black Plague and inspired by “The Plague” by Yan Leisheng. The artifact is not that relevant to the story in the fact that they could have made something to control the spread of the plague or assist those with the plague. I did like the way they connected mind control to people’s will and the black plague, it was a different scope as it was more about having to do necessary things that can be immoral to you. This perspective on this artifact can help people be more successful in life, although as shown in the skit can have drawbacks. I do think they meet the criteria of the assignment as they were able to showcase what the artifact does and how it could go wrong. Although in the feedback one of the instructors said that the performance didn’t showcase the positives of the artifact I would disagree. As said before being able to give someone the will to do things can help their growth. I think the design was very aesthetically pleasing and showcased what it does I was able to assume in what realm the artifact would be. Through the wires and circles in the helmet, it showed the themes of mind control. An improvement I would suggest is something on the artifact to activate it.