Lots and lots and lots to do!!!

Okay, so to briefly summerize my progress for the past tw days- I have now finalised all the details of my installation, and created a proposal/guide to work from. I have also created the Flash interface, but need to get the timeout function to work correctly. I have pushed myself really hard to research as much technical set-up ifo as possible, going as far as to research average user heights for the screen display, floor panel size and overall material sizes required, how to dismantle a keyboard, how to map a keyboard encoder, how the installation will function ect, and I am happy that I have applied enough consideration to these issues. I now want to create illustrations depicting this, and translate my written info into a flash based slideshow. It will include these categories:

SYNOPSIS OF IDEA
AIMS BEHIND THE IDEA
CONCEPT IMAGES
LAYOUT OF THE INSTALLATION SPACE
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE SAMPLE INTERFACE BEING HANDED IN, AND THE INTERFACE AS IT WOULD BE IN A GALLERY
TECHNICAL SETUP AND SAFETY
CONNECTING THE PRESSURE SENSORS TO THE KEYBOARD
RIGGING THE PRESSURE MATS TO THE FLOOR TILES AND ENCASING THE WIRES
USERABILITY AND DISABILITY CONCERNS
REQUIRED EQUIPMENT AND COST OF SELECTED COMPONENTS OF THE INSTALLATION

I also had plans on a 3d animation of the space, but I am now not sure if this is needed, since my concept images will display this perfecty well, and I would rather devote my time to perfecting the flash interface.

I also need to log my construction progress into my work book, print and bind it, and write source pages for each item of research in my workbook detailing why it is relevent.

AND, I need to write the 500 words required by the brief

AND, I need to print out my blog enrtires from this project

AND, write a self evaluation and a contents page

EVALUATION OF CHRSITMAS PERIOD AND GOALS FOR WEEK FIVE

I have not been able to achieve quite as much as I had hoped deliverable wise over the break, but am really pleased with the state of clarity I have reached regarding my dissertation, and this project. I know exactly what I want to achieve, and how to do so. I also think it conveys very important considerations regarding interaction, and will be a successful and appropriate realization of my research and ideas/thoughts. I still need to clarify a little regarding the visual style of my final outcome, but I know what needs doing and will be able to get right into it. With that in mind, my goals for the new week are:



- Brainstorm ‘visual themes’ for installation space- pick one

- Create the Flash interface (5 - 10 screens, time dependant: quality will be more important than quantity)

- Create the space in After Effects as an animation, or as an interactive space that can be navigated via DVD.

- Create the document detailing the way the installation will work technically.

AIMS OF MY FINAL OUTCOME (in order of importance)

• To use digital media as a tool to encourage good communicative interaction between humans. They will need to work together to complete the task (this is human – human interaction, and human-computer interaction)

• To produce mental interaction with one user and physical interaction with the other.

• To encourage trust. One user will need to do as the other user instructs, and show complete trust in order for them both to win the game. The other user will need to rely on their partner to follow instruction in order for them both to win the game. A balance of power will be installed in this way. (This trust is mainly human/human, but will mirror my ideas about balance of power being important with regards to interactive media.)

• To get across the idea that interaction is not just sitting at a computer screen- it is psychical, mental, and human.

Opinions I have formed about interactivity that I want to convey in my final outcome

I think that in order to create a meaning full final outcome, I need to be clear about my aims. These will be to show what I have learnt and opinions formed that I consider most important about interactivity. So, in a nutshell:

Interactivity is something we engage in within every aspect of our lives, it is often perceived as computer/person relations, but in actual fact can be created in simple mundane tasks such as turning a tap on. It is not just physical either, enjoyable mental interaction is crucial to a satisfying interactive experience, and sometimes the user is not even aware of this. Computer games are hugely interactive mentally, and yet they are mostly seen as interactive because of the technology that they are created with. A physical game such as football is not really regarded as an interactive game in the same way, yet in actual fact it requires much more physical interaction, human interaction and possibly just as much if not more mental interaction.

People can interact with each other simply by having a conversation, and this is a very important part of human / human interaction. Early interactive machines that have led to digital media were created for the goal of aiding humans, not replacing them, and so perhaps we should see digital media as a tool for human/human interaction to improve, rather than try desperately to humanize the machine itself.

Control is also a big issue in terms of computer interaction. Many people see interactive applications as threats of manipulation, or cleverly disguised ploys to control people’s thoughts. True, interactive media is a tool can easily manipulated and abused, but it can also be liberating and unique in the experiences it offers. To me, the essence of good digital interaction is a balance of control between the author and the user, much like the shared power in a human-human conversation.

These are thoughts that I want to convey in my final piece, and so having now explained them as simply as possible, I will draw up a list of AIMS.

Choice of idea

After much consideration, I have decided to go with the idea I previously wrote of at the end of term, about a two person installation puzzle game. The deliverables will be:

1. An instruction manual on how to technically set the installation up, including price projections
2. An animation/interactive 3D area of how it might look
3. The flash game interface, but working with regular mouse or keyboard clicks for presentation purposes
4. And maybe a demo of a sensor activating a button to show I am capable of creating this, price/time dependant.

I have chosen this idea despite earlier doubts and dilemmas because in the time I have had over the past 2 weeks to step back from the project and come at it again from a fresh perspective, I have found myself able to visualize the creation of this one a lot more excitedly. A comment I read in ‘Simplicity: The art of Complexity’ about simplicity being not about simple processes or meanings, but more about the simplest way to get across a complex meaning, inspired me to think that this is something I should be applying to my own work. I have been in quandary somewhat recently about trying to decide exactly how complex or simple my final outcome, and have found re-evaluation my idea of ‘simple’ very useful. I need a clear meaning and a piece of work that tailors itself to this directive. I think that this is an idea that can do that, even if I am unable to fully create the installation. It is how well that my ideas shine through in the final outcome of my work that is important, not the complex simplicity of my practical deliverables. With that in mind, I think what is in order to do first is assess exactly what my most important discoveries about interactivity have been in this project, and list them as clearly and simply as possible. The aims of my piece will to be to convey these as simply as possible, in the most appropriate way.

Hurrah! Completion of Dissertation plan

So, I have spent the day researching and reading and going over all my ideas and notes thus far, and have managed to hammer out a well structured ( I hope!) essay plan that I feel extremely able of following and getting into. It's quite a few pages long, and so I won't post it, but below is a general outline of what y dissertation will be about:

“What are the key themes and ideas connected to anthropomorphism, and how important is their relation to interactive media, looking at modern interactive examples?”

My aims will be to illustrate that anthropomorphism is a multi layered subject rather than one simple way of thinking. The dissertation will identify what areas within the subject can be related to the development of interactive media regarding the way it functions and the ways it is still developing, looking at both positive and negative impacts that it has had.

My main argument will be that anthropomorphic ideas regarding the way humans relate to technology are important considerations in every aspect of interactive design development because they are crucial to the understanding of it’s practical use and therefore it’s success and development.

I will look at not only the dictionary definition of anthropomorphicism as the idea that the act of humanizing inanimate objects or animals, but at the idea that it is a subject area which relates to thoughts, emotions, psychical acts and religious beliefs in a way that has a profound impact on the way we develop our media technologies. It is not enough to say that humans try and make machines more lifelike inb their apperance or by giving them names. Actions themselves within a human/computer relationship are results of design decisions based on anthropomorphic thinking. Just the way a website works can be asscoiated with the studies of anthropomorphism because of the way in which it was designed. The author puts a level of human thought into it's structure, and creates if to appeal to a humans way of thinking, rather than a computers. This is avery raw comment, as I'm still researching and have not yet fully formed my argument, but I am going to look into various areas within interactive design, and at how they can be realted to theories that I will be presenting as anthropomorphic themes/theories, including form, interaction, social studies, psychological studies, theory of the mind, primitive categorization, ANT and the theory of social construction of technology.


My time plan is as follows:

21st of January:

Completion of note making from all research so far regarding section one

Research visual examples for use in section two

Research visual examples for use in section three

Plan out which theories can be related to which examples to best support my argument

Creation of a 4000 word draft for submission at end of January (I will include a completed introduction, completed conclusion, and each other section will be half completed)

20th of February:

Further research based on feedback

Creation of a full second draft

31st of March:

Further research based on feedback

Creation of a final draft

14th of April:

Completion of final dissertation
Binding of dissertation
Research to be organized and bound

21st of April:

Hand in date. Any loose ends tied up

Current Project and the Dissertation.

I am finding the dissertation difficult to get into. I love writing, and I can easily form opinions on most subjects, and get very verbal about things I am passionate about. I loved the essay projects for the last two years, and am really looking forward to writing the dissertation. MY problem is that I have been doing so much theoretical research, and am feeling so involved with my interaction project, that all research I do in prep for my dissertation ends up becoming research for the interactive project. In a way this is fine, I can use it for both subjects, howevcer this leaves me feeling like my dissertation is created from crumbs and leftovers of thoughts regarding my interaction project, which is bad. It needs it's own 'spirit' I suppose, to inspire me.

With that in mind, there are a couple of links to recent news that I have been considering in relation to interaction, and skirting around in the ideas of my dissertation:

1. BERMA -

It recently came to my attention that Burma is a country that does not have free internet access. The authorities there have put impossible resrictions on it's use, because it sees the internet as a weapon. It does not want it's inhabitents to educate themselves on the ways of Westurn free will and democracy, because it wants to keep control over the population. I thought this interesting in terms of our class debate on free will on the internet, because this is an exampe not of manipulation and false ideas of free will through site design, but of actual eradicated free will regarding the internet. Further research led me to discover that in total, 45 countries have similar restrictions on it's use. I think this is a subject that could easily be give alot of consideratin for this project, and gives alot more food for thought on the ideas of how the internet is perceived from other cultures aside from our own perspective.

Twenty Enemies
Internet Filtering


2.

Someone recently infromed me that the Popes Christmas message was about how he wants to start training up a team of excorsists to get rid of evil spirits that were being encouraged by rock music and the internet, which gives people to much oppurtunity to think for themselves.

This angered me greatly, I think the internet is an amazingly powerful tool, that can do as much if not more good than it does bad. ( See post on control/freedom ) However, I did some research and discovered this information was not entirely true in the way it was presented. I have not found any evidence of him saying that we should not think for ourselves, and I am not going to research the subject further because it would be too off subject for the project in the limited time left, I need to focus on production and directly relvent research now, however below is the actual quote from the paper:

"The Vatican is particularly concerned that young people are being exposed to the influence of Satanic sects through rock music and the Internet. Quote taken from the Daily Mail