Community

Jason and I met at Espresso Royale this afternoon to discuss form, function, and budget for our final project. We reflected on Thursday's in-class critique, and quickly drew inspiration from the suggested constraints.  This post is about what we developed.

In class on Thursday, we presented an array of LFSTs that could be controlled remotely with a potentiometer from anywhere in the room.  The general critiques, according to my interpretation, were as follows:

1. The motion of the device cannot be seen from afar.
2. The sound that they make is like the chattering of small critters, and the class loved it.
3. The interior components should be exposed.  The complexity could be beautiful.
4. The value of our project is that we've created a platform for communication and motion that could be applied to a variety of tasks.  Currently, it is not obvious that this is what we've made unless we explain it.

So, why don't we play up the communication and motion, and let the task just be entertainment and curiosity?  We could do this by building 10 clusters.  Each cluster would be a community made of 5 distinct individuals.  Each individual would share the same base form, but each would have a different head that was designed around its function.  For example, the individual that tracks light would look different than the individual that senses movement.  One individual in each community is capable of talking with all other communities/clusters.  The rest of the individuals can only talk with others in their community.

Here are the five players:

And here is a diagram of what they could look like on the wall.  Each color corresponds to a different type.

Since we've decided that the base would be made from a combination of acrylic and MDF, we can use a small multi-color LED in each that lights up when it is playing an active role.  For example, if the motion sensor in one community is activated by the environment, its base lights up.  Then, the communicator talks to all other communities, telling them to let their motion sensor be in charge.  Hence, all motion sensor's bases light up.

This concept seems to answer quite a few of the challenges we've encountered thus far.  Form challenges are answered by giving a distinct function to each individual.  The form should be simple and based on the sensors required to make it operate.  Visualization of conversations between individuals starts to happen as the same individual in each community lights up.

Lastly, this allows us to not spend all of our money in one place.  We only need 10 RF receivers and transmitters, 10 motion sensors, 10 sets of 3 photoresistors, 10 sound sensors (microphones?), etc.  as opposed to 50 of each sensor.  This gives us the opportunity to show how these can be used for a variety of applications.

Most interestingly, this concept is about creating a community of specialized organisms, capable of complex behavior based on a simple, modular design.

Design an Experience

I am a Student Coordinator for UArts101 - Creative Process and Collaboration.  My job is to facilitate class discussion, provide support to professors, grade student assignments, and act as a mentor to students on class projects.  The focus of the class is to get the students to understand their own creative process and teach them strategies to help control it.  This class is interesting, because it could be educational and relevant to people with all levels of experience in creative work.

Yesterday, we asked the students to start thinking about what it means to create a "Designed Experience".  Since I wasn't really sure myself, I developed my own definition.

Conception is the ability to form or understand mental concepts and abstraction.  It is something conceived in the mind.
Perception is awareness or consciousness - the process by which an organism detects and interprets information from the external world by means of the sensory receptors.

I believe that a Designed Experience needs to have both.  And it gets better as the conceptual and perceptual content is enhanced.

In connection to SmartSurfaces, we are designing an experience.  The perception is well on its way.  What about the conception?  maybe.

Form. Array. Color. Fun.