Work Done

This is the first week of the physical computing course. Everything is a new beginning. This week we are mainly focusing on the introduction of the course and inspiring ideas. Class activities have given us a clearer understanding of physical computing, and by looking at some previous students' work, we can also understand what physical computing is and come up with some new inspiration.

• 7 Grand Challenges of HCI

In class, we also discussed seven challenges. In today's society, technology has really changed people's way of life to a great extent. The appearance of new technology brings more convenience to our life. One of the challenges I was assigned was learning and creativity. In this new area, technology will support and promote new learning styles, multi-modal learning capabilities, and lifelong learning. Technology assisted, enhanced and mediated learning is not a new concept, and many types of technology are already being used in schools today. Hardware includes computers, projectors, interactive whiteboards and Smart Mobile Devices, so I think there are a lot of design directions to think about in this topic. Changes and innovations in educational methods can really provide great convenience to people and thus improve their work and learning efficiency.

Another challenge we discussed is Ethic, Privacy and Security. Now social media has become a very important role in our lives. People use social media almost every day. Therefore, in such a social situation, security and privacy for the user is really very important. We're also seeing a lot of news about new scams, mostly by criminals who use social media to exploit security and privacy vulnerabilities. This issue is not just about privacy and security, but also about personal security through the disclosure of important information.

• Card Brainstorming

Another activity we conducted is card brainstorming. what we did for this activity was to draw four random cards in either suit, so one club, heart, diamond and spade, and then generated some potential concepts based on these prompts.

My solution was: Design to 「reveal」 in an 「office 」using「smell」with the quality of 「mechanical」

A device that can detect the degree of intimacy between people based on their smell.

A close friend or family member may also become a colleague. We know that people who live together often share a common smell. So the device can identify employees' odors, match them to the similarity, and see the possibility of closer relationships between some employees.

How it Relates

At this stage, my idea is more of an interesting one. From the perspective of playful, try to create a better interactive experience for users of all ages. Things like light sensors, or interactive sound effects, are all fun and relaxing. In addition, inspired by the learning topic, I also had an idea to design a device for children to receive toys, but this idea is not mature. It could be a physical device that provides interactivity, but at the same time has an APP to assist, or even to increase parent-child interaction. I need to think further about something deeper.

Work to Do

My next work will focus on developing ideas and selecting the most appropriate project from among many ideas for future work. Therefore, I will continue to read some materials, read more cases to stimulate my imagination. Before deciding my personal thoughts, I have many options to think about. Over the next two days I will finalize the ideas and make the necessary sketch for next week's presentation.

Work that Inspired/Interested Me

As far as ideas are concerned, I have not found a specific direction, but in the divergent thinking of the bold to imagine. By chance I saw two good designs designed by a Dutch production group on the Internet and I thought they could give me some inspiration. They are:

• Shylight

This is a lighting installation. The work "Shylight" is inspired by the response mechanism of the plant -- The MIMOSA is stimulated to close up, the ACACIA droops its leaves in the dark and stretches them again at sunrise. Fascinated by the way nature interacts, the artist created this light installation: When the light is turned on, a flower bud shaped chandelier drops from a nine meter high ceiling, with the fall of the show as a epiphyllum-like blooming of the beautiful moment. If the light is turned off, the flower closes its petals gently as the light slowly changes. The whole process has a strong breath of life.

• Flylight

In "Flylight, " the artist uses a streamlined light tube to simulate the flight of birds and a sensor inside the tube to change the light as the environment and the crowd move around it. In the artist's view, the harmony of the flock's behavior is due to the organic interaction between living creatures and their environment, which gives the birds a sense of natural beauty when they fly. The artist tries to use the light to restore the beauty which is born from the organic interaction, and let the viewers experience the wonderful changes of the natural world in the light and shadow flow.