Week one,Reading one- Interaction Design Sketchbook by Bill Verplank

 Interaction Design Sketchbook by Bill Verplank

How do you do? How do you feel? How do you know?

Basically what i got from this part of the reading was how to communicate with a design.
These three things are true to physical non- computerised objects too, but when you link it to a design that interacts with you it gets omre complicated and refined. A computer is harder to use and figure out than a physical obect and the way you have to design it needs to eliminate confusion and it needs to almost be instinctual. You need feedback and pathways to navigate and you need to lock into emotional psychological states to educate people on how to react appropriately to the design.

Buttons provide precise definite feedback and precision, while handles (i thought here about say a volume control switch) are a gesture that isnt so precise (expression).

You can provide emotion and metaphor though say video, yet text and print is seen as definite and fact.

And the one which seems most difficult to get right is the pathway/map navigation. When you pick up a video game for example, you don't know how to navigate it by looking at the physical object. You need to get into the program and blindly find your way through. We must provide a familiar, or at least the most obvious, pathway through to allow use of the object. Yet there also must be a side to it which lets you grow and learn. There must be a wide exploration of alternative and mixed solutions.

'The result of an interaction design is displays and controls and the behaviours that connect them (mappings)'

The next part offers up alot to think about.

'Computers are an extention of the self'

COMPUTERS ARE A BRAIN
This talks about the fact that computers are brain that we have accepted as being superior to our own. They work our arithmatic faster, they can perform calculations in a second and they can sort through data with far more precision than we ever could. It talks about 'Artificial Intellegence' and that the next challenge for robots are affect (emotional computers), consciousness (self-aware computers) and soul (spiritual computers). This is something that when you read it, is so alarming. IF you let your imagination run with it this conjures up thoughts of an Isaac Asimov style, I,Robot future where we are subject to the robots will. And honestly, it is somehting to look out for. Humanity is it's own worst enemy. 'With great power comes great responsibility' (while being a quote from a movie or something i'm pretty sure) actually does ring true. The more we grow and learn and discover and create, the more we must learn to use appropriately and control with care. An obvious example is the discovery of hydrogen bomb technology. A great technological discovery strictly speaking, but put in the hands of the wrong people.... and obviously you know the rest of that story.
It all seems like a load a sci-fi and nonsense but we are doing some pretty amazing things with technology and honestly, i don't think some theories that pop up are all too false. This is mainly an internal ramble and train of thought but this is what played on my mind during the reading so i thought i'd share.
But obviously 'We may have better models for language or thought, for emotions and spirit, but we do
not understand the world any better or how we might change it.'
The human mind is complex and honestly i don't think robots could ever hope to function as a human does.


 COMPUTERS ARE TOOLS
Direct manipulation.
Computers are point and click retrieval of information. They are tools to be used at our disposal and they improve our day to day lives by being used a tools for living.

COMPUTERS ARE MEDIA
Expression, persuasion and entertainment. Computers are means of educating, emtertaining and engaging. From television to telephones to advertising.

COMPUTERS ARE LIFE
Artificial life, chaos. Computers evolving, complex behaviours. This is to do with my crazy conspiracy thoeries above.

COMPUTERS ARE VEHICLES
Computers are literally vehicles (cars etc) and also a means of navigating. Through infrastructure and rules. Computers here can mean maps, cars, internet etc

COMPUTERS ARE FASHION
Here is talks about computers being an extension of the self and expression. It's in the cars we drive, the phones we use, our facebook page, our blogs... computers are now a personalised means of expression and personality, rather than just functional simple tools that help us get a job done.

Computer-as-person motivates dialog where the goal is autonomy and
intelligence. Computer-as-tool motivates direct manipulation where the
goals are efficiency and empowerment. Computer-as-media motivates
expression, engagement and immersion.

Week one, the news is evolving

http://eamonnmallie.com/2012/04/how-we-consume-news-has-changed/

This article (written by an amateur i believe, thought still raises a valid point) explains that, basically, the news is not dead and is not going to die.
When you think of consuming news you think about print media, the news on television and news websites. There seems to be concern about whether people are as interested in the news anymore, whether people really actively watch the news every night or read articles online every day. The fact is that news is simply evolving. Maybe the way we keep up to date on the world is by seeing companies, friends and establishment's facebook feeds, maybe even just word of mouth. The truth is that information is still getting out there and always will, we just have to accept that technology is evolving rather rapidly and that the way we consume is simply changing.

Week one, Discovery into Arduino's capabilities

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqDTE6dHpJw&feature=player_embedded


This video shows how someone programmed a bin with a sensor to 'see' the rubbish you throw and zip over to catch it before it misses the bin and hits the ground.
This is a good example of how i think design is heading. I think design is going down the path of adapting and shaping itself around our unconcious lives to make things easier/better. It's the luxury of design that the modern world has started towards, why bend down to pick up your rubbish when a robot can catch it before it falls.
Maybe a worrying sign of things to come, but maybe a vision of a world for the better.
Either way, very interesting and a great example of what we're discovering that this little Arduino board is capable of!

*N.B. The fantastic thing about this board that is apparant, is that it is open source. This means that the culture that surrounds Arduino makes it available for us to source code freely and experiment without restriction and without companies putting rules and fees on resources.
This is so beautiful, it shows a network free from all oppression- just people being people. People being creative and intellegent and inventing. The things that even a child is capable of when given free reign of this is amazing. The future of this whole idea and device seems bright...

Week one, Inputs and outputs exercise

  

The exercise we had to undertake after identifying and understanding inputs and outputs (actions and reactions) was to construsct a visual representation of an input-->output/ action-->reaction.

We took a while to decide which approach to take, trying first to take an input/output and apply a scenario to it, and then after that trying to take a scenario and identifying the input and output. It was all a very confusing endeavour and slowly and accidentally almost, we sort of started to click about what all this meant and stumbled upon the gate scenario as pictured above. I belive it was Felicity's example of something to do with 'a device that notifies a mother when her child has arrived home from school if she is not perhaps around to make sure' that got us onto the shutting the gate scenario. With a gate sometimes if you run through it quickly you may not turn around to check if the gate has clicked into place and whether or not it is shut. This simple input/output construction (pictured) shows a physical reaction or 'levers' made from paddlepop sticks and dowel, held together with rubberbands and plastecine. Basically when the gate was open, nothing was holding up the flag and so the flag dropped out of sight. But when the gate was closed, the gate pushed the lever which held the flag up clearly within view (sybolising that the gate was closed). So ACTION= closing the gate properly and REACTION= flag is raised.


This exercise started to cement in our minds the idea of what interaction design meant and what we were leaning towards.