For Tuesday's studio class, we had a stand up as per usual, talking about how far along our team have come in the process and what we are planning to do next. I find these stand-ups to be wasteful given that we spend a lot of time doing something that does not move our project forward. I would prefer it if each group had their own breakout room and a tutor came by to check in on the progress as this would be far more valuable.

After the stand-up, we moved on to an online exercise using the tool MIRO. Our task was to find a way to conduct user research in COVID times and how to get valuable first-hand data without the need of meeting face-to-face. For this task, I looked up a youtube video of passengers on a train and observed their behaviour. Although I can see why the teacher team wanted to make us student open our eyes to the possibilities that still exist, I didn't find it overly helpful as the exercise wasn't relatable to conducting a prototype test, which is the next assessment piece in the course. I find that I get the most value out of meeting- and discussing with the team instead of performing stand-ups and these types of tasks as they take away time that we could have spent on our project.

The next task on MIRO was really helpful to us. Even though we already had a good understanding of our concept, it is always nice to map out the complexity and fully comprehend the quirks and commonalities of the project you are working on. Our team sat down together and went through our concept and tried to map out as much as possible to further define our concept as can be seen in the pictures below.

From this exercise, some new questions emerged that we had to take into consideration when working on our prototypes and conducting user research. These questions were such as: "does it need to be a ball?"; "is flashing lights the best metaphors for incoming messages?"; "is sound the best input and output?"; "Can it be anything else than a bowl?"; "Is squeeze the best interaction?"; "Is the living room the best place for it?" and more. These questions are important to consider moving forward and to include in our upcoming user research. Moreover, from this exercise, we did figure out that our target audience was rather vague and needed more working on.

On Thursday we had a Arduino tutorial. Having already worked with Arduino previously I found the content too basic and decided to instead focus on refining the assignment prior to delivery. Moreover, our team sat down to order the parts we needed so that we could get them in time for our next deadline. We decided to purchase our parts with express delivery to get a headstart on the prototype.

Finishing the proposal

The last week before the break, my team and I manage to finish the proposal. The week before we had finished the team part of the writing so this week I wrote my individual part. It was much harder than writing the team part because of all the uncertainty and lack of knowledge on what you are doing exactly and what you need/expect to happen.

Starting on the project

My team decided to go for the first option on how to divide the project which was working on the one concept just divide the different part between us. The part that I was allocated was creating a server to which the devices will upload and download the content on the balls and also develop the upwards trow which indicate the sending of the information currently stored on the ball. During the mid-semester break I managed to create a server on UQCloud which was more challenging that I anticipated. I have made zones before, but this time I only needed a server and not a webpage so I decided to install an image (Ubuntu) instead of the regular one, but what I didn't know was that neither npm or node was install on this one so it had to be done manually through the terminal. There was also some concern on whether or not a vpn had to be used every time one accessed the server but this was later revealed to not be necessary. To create the server I used socket.io which was a request by one of the team members who had some previous knowledge on it.

The next following weeks I plan on finishing the prototype and developing the throwing motion with Arduino and also conduct some user research and maybe starting on the video for the presentation.

Week 5

I had a rough week 5 because my accommodation kicked everyone out due to rising cases in COVID-19 in Queensland and for safety because of which I couldn't attend either the Tuesday's session or the Friday's session. I had informed my team about this and was trying to keep my communications as quick as possible. My team had communicated with me and had decided that we will be proceeding with the Option-2 for our team concept and individual prototype building part.

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Week 6

This week, I had to finish the team part and the individual part of our proposal report. We had decided that I will be doing the problem space/concept part of the report. I had started researching more about global warming and its cause. I was trying to think about what are the different things that we can use or we can inform children about global warming. I found out stuff such as plastic contributes to greenhouse gas emissions at every stage of its lifecycle, from its production to its refining and the way it is disposed of. Meaning that it's not only bad for the ocean and environment, it also contributes to global warming.

After the team part, I worked on the individual part of the report. I read all the feedback again. Kasey had copied all the feedback and put it on our google drive which made things a lot easier.

As we hadn't finalised any input method, my plan for the break is to come up with a system of input, and output response. A system which should be interactive and fun for children. Although it is easier to come up with the output method from the globe of our concept, I will look into different sensors that can be used as well.

Tuesday

In the studio session we learned about how to conduct different types of fieldwork during a pandemic and how to use a Miro board.

Miro Board

This is what my team mate and I came up with. Additional information about our projects will be added in after we determine the details of our form.

Individual

My Project - Spud

Spud is a small robot that sits on the user's shoulder and uses its body language and facial expressions to show its sassy personality.

User Testing Ideas

From the background research I have done for the proposal, I got an idea of getting participants to show what body language they think is suitable for an emotion. Participants will be given a figurine/teddy bear to move its limbs to create body postures and paper cut outs of eyebrows to position it on its face to create different facial expressions.To find the best method of a shock factor, different methods of shocking participants will be used. For example, the Jack-in-the-box with springs, glowing red, showing teeth, etc.

All of these testing will be done with my housemates during the mid semester break so I can start building Spud as soon as possible.