Pitch reflection

Our group hand gang pitched our idea through a pre-recorded video via zoom. Both teaching staff and classmates provided really insightful and useful feedbacks. The major concern is about whether the form, hand, would be too heavy in the daily context. This is a point we did not realise before. We were focusing on how to make it sassy and innovative but not portable. This is a wearable device, the portability would be really important part of user experience.

to change it to social context, helping people to make friends. I came up with an idea is like a "hand tinder". this hand can detect who you like and if the person who the user like is approaching him it will wave to them to grab their attention. I think this could be a good solution to avoid the embarrassment that initiate a conversation . it would be definitely helpful for the introverts who want to make friend but is shy to express their emotions.

We were thinking about this "positive" side, but it's a little bit hard to find a balance between friendly and sassy. but definitely, this would be a direction we can look at.

We wanna convey the emotion and meaning via sassy gestures. But Some fellow mentioned the meaning of gesture.might not be universal , It represents different meaning in different country. My group member and I will talk about this, if we stick will the gestures things.

Zoom

It was fun to use this online meeting app, although it crashed at the middle of our class.

The most valuable things I learnt from zoom is the importance of in person teaching. This online teaching experience make me delussional, and hard to concentrate on that. I don't really feel engaged to participate into the discussion.

I think one of the most important value of this course is the physical feeling. People still value the authentic feeling, because It is much easier for us to build compassion or attachment with the physical object rather than digital stuff. Although there are many things are becoming digital, the authentic feeling is not replicable at this stage. If they will like the things they can touch they can feel in the real life.

This online studying experience might be an interesting topic I should discover in the future. why the people feel much more engaged and attached in the real world context.

We formed a team last week named hand gang.

Obviously, the form we are gonna choose would be hand and our domain space would be sassy tech. The hand form comes from "secret handshake" which can open the door though giving correct handshake to the robot hand.

We all think this a really interesting form, in most cases, robot hands are considered as an extension of human hand that do the same thing but more precise and delicate. In our concept, we will assign new meaning to the hand to have a different interaction.

We decide our form first then give it context and function , which is different from normal ideas generating. So we use "why" ideation method to develop our concept.

Form( when we talking about , what we can use and interact with the hand)

Arm

Hand

Fingers

Why sassy tech

Behaviour management

Mental satisfaction

Why hand

hold something

Sign language

Punch, rub, tickle, twist

Features

Stop casual talking

Facilitator

Rules keeper

Timer

What Context

Group discussion

Formal meeting

Contact class

Interaction mode

voice instructing

Concept

This hand will have different modes(school, social, group meeting). In school mode, the hand will point at students who speak at an inappropriate time ,like the lecturer is speaking. Also it could detect who is playing their phone.

We went through world cafe, which is one of my favourite ideation method. We seperate this ideation into 3 rounds which focus on different aspects of our concept, context, target audience, refinement . This a little bit different from what I did before, usually we put the concept sharing similar characteristics together, and sit down to combine or change them to a "new" concept. Although this special change of world cafe allows us to pay more attention on details of the concept, it hard to only change the one aspects without other. The audience group and context is highly related.

Another thing is that there are two different interpretation towards this ideation method. We spend a lot of time to explain to each other to make sure we are in the same page. One is that we should choose a specific idea that we like and develop it. Another one is we can do whatever we want, as long as it belong to this theme. From my perspective, both have the pros and cons. Also learned how to reach a agreement in a short time, ideas are not that important, what matter is how we develop that according to the theory.

Overall, it's an effective ideation method without many constraints, and we do generate some interesting ideas.

Music as metrics(host)

Music playground

this an idea was based on music fountain and the bus composer.

Our target audience changed to the children group. In this music playground, all of the children can play the toy they like to make music. For example string can represent the sound of piano, slides can make shallow sound. although they are playing toy separately, but the melody will be combined together , resulting in an orchestra experience. I do think this really playful and is a transmission way for children to be familiar with classical musical instruments.

I hosted in this table, the second round is about the change the context, the playground setting was changed to athlete centre(including gym, swimming pool and basketball centre). The target audience was athlete. This is concept is also about collective experience, but more appropriately. There is a scenario we generate, a person doing the squat can control the wave of the water in the swimming pool, then his friend can have a different experience of swimming even surfing on this swimming pool. we were so excited to talk about this concept that we lose the core side, music as metrics. although it's a very playful and innovative ideas, there is no music as metrics here . Sticking with essence of the theme is really important.

Digital sensation

My idea "elements" was here, we talked about how to achieve this and make it more feasible.

one of the idea is to combine with VR glass, when the users wearing AR glass and start to do meditation , the glass will show them the natural element like it's raining . that's the easiest to achieve this idea, but I don't really like this, because it's not fun , it's still digital experience , my motivations was to let to get rid of technology to look at them self.

the other idea is a nose piecing which can detach the breath of user. that's kind of fun and gangster style. once the nose piecing connect with the installation it will change the natural elements according to the breath . some elements are easier to get rain and wind, but things like snow and thunder is kind of harder. for the thunder my idea is to use cloud as form, as project the thunder shape on the cloud to simulate those natural elements.

Sustainbility

In this table, I found most concepts more like an advanced technology instead of interactive device like recycling bin which can classify garbage according to the material , smart refrigerator can detect the condition of grocery. What I think really funny is the smart wardrobe which can show you the . And classmates justify that because you can see how you look like with those clothes without buying them, as a result of this clothes production will be decreased. I do think this is a really good point to look at the sustainability. We can give user mental satisfaction to stop them doing certain thing which is not sustainable. This fantasy of having something could be a really good point to be used in persuasive technology. i think persuasive technology would be suitable for the most concept of sustainability. It’s all about how to educate people or inform them the importance of sustainability. In the light of myself, I really think this is a really tough technology, which require various knowledge, neuroscience, public recognition, education and etc. Different people have different mental model which are shaped by their past experience. most persuasive tech remain on really superficial side, positive and negative reactions toward their behaviours. That is really hard to convince users to change their behaviours , everyone have ego especially adult. Even but it will only work for a small group people who share the similar characteristics.

Overall

This a really good ideation method which create a lot of interesting ideas, but it’s really struggling to work with people in round 3”refinements” which require us to make ideas feasible. That’s really hard for me and my classmates , because most of ideas are amazing and ridiculous. And I don’t even have a engineering background.For example It is really hard for me to think about how to connect rain water with breath. Even if we make things feasible, but it will lose it's originality , which cause to be a normal concept.

Class presentation

This week we start to present project concept that we generated from previous week. It's quite hard for me to remeber and leave the comments for more than 50 ideas in 4 hours.

I am do love the concept,Elements, i generated for presentation, because the interaction mode, breath, is quiet novel and and this idea could be used in various context such as home, art gallery, meditation studio. From my perspective, this concept is like a bridge to connect inner-net with natural elements and help people to look at themselves.

However there is still a room for the further development after i listen to other's presentation. The most important thing i did not realise in my presentation is that that target user, who will be the user, how they are gonna interact with this project and is there any difference for them to interact with this project in different context.

In addition, i need to find more research to back up or change my concept. because so far it is just a assumption i made. i think meditation with the natural elements would help people to find their relaxation and inner connection, but it could be also distracted.

The reflection for presentation.

I spent more time on explaining why I am doing that rather than justifying why this concepts meet the requirements. if the Q&A section is for the public audience instead of teaching group, my ideas could be explained much better. This because I received some questions from critique sheets and these questions are the exactly the same like what Lorna asked me in the Q&A section.

Critique

At the first 30 mins, i was quite excited and looking forward to get impressed by the "fun" ideas. Unfortunately, i think most fellows restrict their imgination at this stage, they put more attetnion on how to make a practical ideas instead of making it fun and innovative. I'm not saying this is wrong or not good. it's just a shame to lose the chance to make the "dream" bigger. being practical and making ideas feasible is quite important, but the main purpose of this stage should be more open minded.

In the terms of communication, due to the time limitation, we are not allowed to ask a question or have a dialogue with the presenter. It's a little bit challenge to articulate the all concept in 2 minutes. The poster helps a lot, but some poster are too detailed and wordy, which is hard to understand. The logical sketch would be much better to help audience understanding the goal of the concept.

Feedbacks

There are only a few comments about my concept and other critiques I received are just ticks.

I summarise these comments into two types of question. what is the suitable context and how it could be used in everyday life?

what is the context, if the everyday life is the necessary requirement, the best context would be home. used could have a meditation before they sleep everyday. For the broad use, they Art gallery could be a good place to install, because it could attract more users and let them to look at meditation in different way.

For the everyday life, I think it's a highly personal perspective. This is a meditation installation which could be used for meditation amateur everyday, but also be used by general visitor only once.

Theming

After presentation we had a session for theming idea which put ideas share the same characteristics. My brain was not working well after listening 3hours presentation. so I slightly participate in this session.

Elements

Background

For thousands of years, mankind has been looking to nature for inspiration, motivation and relaxation. Connecting with nature allows man to disconnect from the internet, and connect with the Inner-net. On the path of self experience, nature supports a man's wellbeing by providing a meditative experience. The aim of this immersive experience is to allow human beings to naturally align themselves with the elements of nature, the experience of which can be enhanced through the activity of meditation.

Description

"Elements" allows visitors to do meditation surrounded by different natural elements (eg: thunder, snow, dust, rain, and etc) without get touched in the space. Motion sensors can detect visitors' movements as they navigate through this space and stop to pouring down stuff around the participants.

There are two way to interact with this installation.The breath can be detected to adjust the speed of elements, the more heavier breath will cause heavier effects(eg:heavier raining, bigger snowing). Another way is change the mode of elements by holding the breath for 5 seconds(eg change raining mode to windy mode).

Interaction mode: breath

Context: Home, public installation, gallery

Poster

Inspiration

[rain house]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkvazIZx-F0

[blooming]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXFFvIo7R3g

HCI design challenge

The task that I am assigned is social organisation & democracy which is separated into sustainability, social justice, active citizen participation, and democracy.

From my perspective , social justice is quite related to the accessibility. One of the main definition of justice is to make sure everyone is capable of access the internet regardless their age, gender and etc.

When we consider to design a new project, the target market is not the only thing we need to take into consideration, the circumstances, people around them, the ability of using computer also should be considered.

In the terms of active citizen participation and democracy, I think it is a causal relationship. If the citizen actively participate in the public event dialogue. As a result of this , the level of democracy could be enhanced. This because they have more agency in this political “community”, they can express their thoughts and expectations to influence the public events. But it also arise the concerns of the technological monopolies. In the terms of public participation, one of our group member mentioned that the most important point which I missed before is the trust issue. It is hard to drive the society to encounter with the new technology in sensitive area( politics, health, finance) without fully trust

All the development of the technology is based on the trust, especially in certain sensitive data area. For addressing this issue, the developers ,the tech companies and the government should provide a comfortable and respectable environment for the users.

Group discussion notes( Many thanks for Kelsey)

Challenge 7: Social Organisation and Democracy.

Focused on using technology and creating products in the future with a wider scope, eg. local to global, including more users, awareness of impacts beyond the user.

Four keys areas: sustainability, social justice, active citizen participation, democracy.

Sustainability: how technology can be used to monitor and manage resources and human impact.

Social justice: closely linked to accessibility. How technology can be used to include more users and be aware of other demographics. Also how technology itself can be accessed by more people.

Active citizen participation: including everybody in the use and development of technology.

Democracy: equal engagement between citizens and authority, eg. technology used to give equal voice to government and citizens.

Basically, how technology should facilitate/consider the human population and environment in the future.

Poker Ideation💡

It was a really fun and useful activity, although I was quite stuck with the meaning of the words at the beginning. This because I put too much attention on the definition of the words. For example the words “hear”. My initial interpretation is “using ear to hear”, but after a brief discussion with group members , they interpreted “hear” as everything which can “hear”. For example the smart phone is able to hear, the CCTV is able to hear, the animal is able to hear. Their interpretation do help me to expand the possibilities of my ideas.

The reason why I think in this way is that I restrict myself by the preconceived ideas I possessed before. When I see “hear”, I can only generate an idea which I know before, like hearing aid. It is quite hard for me to jump over my past experience. My usual way to develop an idea is to find different inspirations and then combine them together. However , at the ideation stage, it would be better if we break the conventional rules and embrace any odd stuff to make the ideas "bigger" and "stranger". It is always easier to narrow down an idea instead of expanding them. It is an creative-oriented method, we are not supposed to make it feasible and practical at this stage. Details should be ignored.

Favourite idea of my own

Sentence: Design for training in a bridge using sound with the quality impersonal

It would be a sound project which can respond the different sound according to the place where the user is standing on.

The purpose of this project is to build a better understanding of the structure of the bridge. The different part of the bridge can bear the different weight. By informing them different sound , they can know which part of the bridge would be more fragile that them should put more attention on.

Favourite idea of my table

A training garbage bin in the kitchen which can measure the food waste.

Based on this idea, we changed it to the recycling function. Most of people are not educated appropriately to classify the garbage. we hope this bin can facilitate customers interacting with the garbage bin by applying point system , to make it more competitive.

The most useful part I found from this ideation method is change the characteristics of the idea. we changed the interaction quality to joyful, and we generate a idea which can respond some funny sound like "I don't feel good about this", if the user put the wrong type of garbage into this bin.

Overall, this is a really intuitive method can be used in the ideation stage. it helps me to dissect my idea and put different quality into that. Also this method can be changed easily to fit my personal need by change the keywords.

In my future ideation, I might list all of the keywords which i'm interested in and good at, then to generate a new strange idea.

About me

👋 Hello everyone

I’m zhijiang and I am currently in the last semester of studying mater of interaction design.

Through the studying of past two years, i am really familiar with the design process and most of the design software, Prior to this I did my bachelor degree in fine arts and worked in contemporary museum industry for a year. These experience help me to build curiosities toward digital and interactive art and this is one of the main reason I chose this major.

My expectations in this PhysComp

I have always been intrigued to learn manufacturing skills, because of the authentic experience of shaping the project.

Due to the hectic timetable, I would like to put more attention on learning hands-on tools and advanced visual design skills rather than iterating prototype and enhancing user experience.

An aesthetic and creative project is what I want to achieve in this course.