Week 2 - Workshop & Research

Week 2 - Workshop & Research

My Thoughts

During this week, i have started thinking a lot more about the objects around me as i am interacting with them. I have found myself trying to define how it is i am interacting with an object, what sort of sensory feedback i am receiving - and how i value that process. This week has also helped me break down interactions around me to really simple ideas. Such as a traffic light, which essentially is the input of a timer ( or the presence of a vehicle ) which then gives a simple light output.

 

Workshop Activity

This week we brought in objects from home that we wanted to destroy. Our group had a microphone, an early childs learning centre, a toaster and a night light. Once we destroyed these objects, we were left with some interesting pieces which we tried to intergrate into a simple interactive experiement.

The kids learning centre yielded the most interesting components; A small Speaker & a simple yet very cool keypad.

The microphone didnt have to many useful components. We did however salvage a dial from the toaster, and a UV Sensor from the Night Light.

With these components, we decided to try and put together 2 projects.

1) Using arduino, have the dial as an input, to produce sound via the speaker.
2) Keep the speaker, but intergrate a UV sensor, which will trigger the speaker.

We were successful ( see video above ).

Thoughts on Research Aspect of Assignment

Another area we need to look into is the research part of the assignment. Our objective is to study, observe and better understand our 'extreme' user groups. It could be said that access to news, and information is a universal right. Therefore it is important that these groups are considered.

We want to find out about the rituals, routines, thinking patterns and behavior of these groups. We are looking at young children ( which could be said are one of the most important groups, as they are our future users ) the elderly, and less pyhsically & mentally abled people.

My first thought was a sort of interview process. But after considering this, i am concerned that i won't be able to get real, deep and interesting information using this technique. Our participants may feel like they are being 'tested' and try and give the right answers.

i am developing 2 processes. One is an informal 'game'. Whereby i will engage 4 or 5 users in a more comfortable, and familiar setting. We will give them placecards with news stories, and ask that they place them into groups, which make sense to them. Once they have done this; we will ask them to name each group.

What i hope to achieve with this process is to mind map our extreme user groups. This will be interesting to see how they process and catoregise information. After this process, we also want to gain an insight into how they access news and media. One idea might be to ask them to pick a placecard which has a story they are familiar with, and that they heard recently. Ask them to give there idea on what the story is about ( and maybe there opinions to get them relaxed and talking )

After this, find out where, how and when they were exposed to this news. Hopefully this will help flesh out there typical sources of news. It is also beneficial because a story that they know about, means that when they were exposed to it, that the information has obviously 'set in'.

So this is the angle i want to take for research, but for now we are focusing back onto the project at hand. More exciting times to come!