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36 S 9 1 n nd io – s08 a t s c e a fac terGurp r n I u l us S yfun van a o l n e PTijme th Lumi e m e 2 m Th dent B3.m Né Large 11 Stuc Yearh Sahilips 0 2 i c P a ber dem Coents m a e c A Cli Dec
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Individual Part Tijmen van Gurp Intro
Pressure cooker
In this part of my report you can read more about my
In my pressure cooker I spend my time to look at the ma-
findings in this projects. I wil emphasise a litle more on
terial provided by Ben Schouten, Bert Lonsain and Hans
the things I have done, seen and discoverd.
Leeuw in the kickoff. These where inspirational videos of
Motivation for project:
artists, interactive concepts, and new ideas. For us it was
Connection is change in color
No connection is your color
Bucket of whater, bubles, affect
shadown on the screen
the screen
the task to start acting out and create new things and to
In the beginning of this semester I still had to choose be-
explore the possibilities as wide as possible within the
tween 3 different projects within the project Sounds like
context STRP festival and the fact that we had to make
play looks like play. Although the other projects were also
visualizations on Lumalive screens.
very appealing for me I choose for the STRP project. This
I decided to go immediately to the workplace in vertigo
had several reasons, one of them was that I like to work
and make something with the materials available over
in teams and this project would be in a team. Working in
there. While making something I thought about what is
a team keeps me motivated because goals are achieved
playful and what is important for me in this project.
together, you deal with the joy and stress together and therefore you can learn a lot of each other. As I had one
The object that I created helped me further in the devel-
year of individual work ( my B2.2 and B3.1 semester) I
oping concepts. It was a start for me to start thinking in
wanted to develop my skills in teamwork and commu-
physical carriers that with manipulating the movement of
nications. I like teaching this has always been a joy for
objects would
me, and I like to do this in such a way that I am a guide
Hanging balls from the ceiling
shadows
wiping it clean
Connect your music
Inject your color
through the process without being too much of an know it all and leave room for mistakes. One threat off this project was that it probably would focus a lot on programming, and this was something which I already did a lot the last semester. This project is in the theme playful interactions, I chose for this theme because I see play as one of the most beautiful ways to learn new things. I think interactive play objects give us the possibility to express ourselves, and it can be a medium to meet new people. In my internship and knowledge agoras project I looked at different ways of showing complex data. In a next nature project I focused more on an interaction that had more artistic qualities than purely functional qualities. I saw the possibilities to combine these 2 directions in this project and develop them both.
Connect your music
Pic your colors , mix physical balls
weight, and jumping as input
Goals for this Project There are multiple things that I ideally want to embed into
an object towards a movement on the screen. I want an
my interaction. I want an interaction that is easy to start but
interaction that is kind of a puzzle, for example: “ do A and
where there are multiple levels of difficulty. People can start
B together C happens. Do A and C together B happens.” I
the interaction easily and there are more things to explore
think the interaction can be in such a way that you explore
once they start. I want multiple inputs that work intuitively
new things by accidently for example clapping your hands,
together. I think there is a power in a direct link of moving
standing on a certain spot etc..
My vision on playful interaction Often we achieve our goals on a nonlinear way, the world is
everyone. I think because of this new dimension there also
in open ended play and how it can stimulate interaction
factors of ideas that I had and thought of possibilities how
dynamic and surprising. In my opinion so are games. People
apply new rules to this situation, what will motivate people
between people. What can it do to us?
I could make it with a technology. I ended with accelerom-
play to have fun, to enjoy life and to learn. Ask random teen-
to engage in an interaction? What are triggers for people to
ager if it would prefer games over homework my estimated
understand an interaction? And how can we invite people
I think that what is true for play is also true for art, in modern
guess would say they would prefer games. The beauty is I
to start a game when the rules are not first explained on
art you can become an participant of the artwork. As the
The advantage of choosing the technology for me was that
think that good games stimulate all our senses and capabili-
paper? I think rules have to be found intuitively or acciden-
audience you are completing the artwork, or in other words
it narrowed down the kind of interactions that where pos-
ties and can therefore teach you a lot. And lately more and
tally before they are understood. But because of the game
the artwork is no art without you. I found this direction
sible. I was motivated for quickly deciding for a technique
more games also enter the physical world by adding sensors
industry and the gadget industry people get familiar with
Papers: lezen wat is de strekking er uit, wat heb ik er aan en
because then I would have time to experiment with the
to game consoles, think of the Wii, Kinect etc. First we knew
a set of interactions which can be used in the interaction.
hoe hebben wij het anders gedaan
interaction and get input from users that would test my
that the computer could react on the keyboard and mouse
When multitouch, speech recognition and gestures become
idea instead of validating something on paper. I chose to
I was searching for a way how to get a link with the physi-
experiment with a combination of Touch OSC a iPhone app
and therefore it was quite a non-dynamic input and even
eters as input.
if the game itself could have different levels and all kinds
second nature to the average human the physical world will
cal world towards a screen based interaction. I wanted to
that could sent the IPhone’s accelerometer data towards my
directions to explore now there is a whole new dimension
be open for a whole range of new interactive situations.
manipulate the screen by a bodily movement which would
computer.
wherein it is not just the keyboard that registries you.
What should we do with these new possibilities? That’s the
effect a physical object which was connected to the screen.
I believe that playful interactions will more and more enter
important question for me as a designer. Research is done
The difficult part was that I did not wanted a interaction that
the public space. Games will be possible everywhere with
was like pressing a button. Therefore I looked at common
Interim exhibition: For the interim exhibition I had chosen to develop a concept with physical object as a carrier for the interac-
Reactions on concept
tion. I used the application touch OSC on my IPhone in
Overall I believe the reactions where positive and helpful.
combination with processing on my computer to make an
People liked that they could engage in a working interac-
interaction wherein objects would move over the screen
tion. The main feedback that I received was that I should
accordingly to the position of my IPhone. My motivation
look at what game you could play with this. Adding another
for using an accelerometer was that it can give very direct
person would make it a more interesting interaction. What
feedback on actions taken. In my case my prototype reacted
would happen if your objects would collide towards objects
on the position of someone sitting in a chair. The content on
of another person? Can you influence the other ones ob-
screen reacted very direct on what happened on my phone
ject? Other remarks where that I should add more dimen-
I wanted to see if people would understand what happened,
sions into the movement, now it was not intuitive enough
and if they would have more ideas within this concept.
because the chair that I used was also able to turn around quite easily, and that is something which my accelerometer
Another important aspect for me was that there are surprising aspects in the interaction which can be found acciden-
didn’t sense.
tally as a sort of Easter eggs. They could happen accidentally
Conclusion
without knowing that you have influence and therefor it
All the things I learned for my concept of the midterm
would show more randomness when there is more activity,
exhibition were extremely useful for me for the exhibition at
or you can pick up that you have influence on the system
STRP. I could reuse most of my code and also implement the
and show it to other people.
things that I learned about what could work in the interaction.
I made a start in this by adding a color change towards my visuals on the screen when the sound level of my microphone would come above a certain level.
From midterm exhibition to STRP festival After the midterm exhibition there where 5 weeks left to create working interaction with the Lumalive panels from Philips. From previous projects I had the most experience in connecting different hardware and software. In the short time we had I decided that it was best to take the role as a technical programmer on me as this would be the most efficient.
http://cmapspublic3.ihmc.us/rid=1K29WCLRL-
When looking back I still this was best for the process
2P4CSK-10NR/processing%20code%20
we had, but it was not ideal for my own development.
sounds%20like%20play%20looks%20
Because of this decision I had not much space for further
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development of the ideas that I had before the midterm
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exhibition. The advantage of this focus was that I truly have better programming skills than before.
Programming: In the main part of this project every important part we
I used my experience from earlier projects with setting up a
have done in programming is explained. In my individual
network which gave us control to change programs during
part I want to elaborate a little further to point out what my
the STRP festival.
role in it was. After making everything work which was done just one day As earlier noted I had the role of technical programmer, this
before the STRP festival I spended all the time left during the
didn’t mean for me that I did not participate in visual pro-
festival to make changes to the visual program.
gramming, but my focus was on getting things work.
The process was focused and there was little room for
In the process I made the Kinect working, and tried out sev-
validation, and exploration. Looking back I would like to
eral possibilities in drivers libraries, and programming lan-
have more time for these 2 factors as I believe that for a final
guages. I shoes for processing as this was an easy langue to
bachelor project it is also important to have more weight
create visuals. I also invested a lot of time in understanding
on research and make decisions on facts instead of my own
OSC ( open sound control) to communicate between differ-
guts.
ent processing sketches on multiple pc’s. Before the festival
Design analyze: Process: Before the midterm our process was more experimental and everybody searched for their vision and ideas on the project. It was more explorative and we had more room for validation. After the midterm conversion of all the ideas and vision had to be done really fast, once we had combined our visions and had and we had decided on the technology we had a linear road to our end goal. Ideally speaking I would have like to put more of our explorations before the STRP festival, this would have succeeded if we would have had more guidance in the programming process as this took most of the time.
Teamwork: The first 2 weeks we all started individual, we explored possibilities, looked into literature and made our own concepts. But right after the first meetings with STRP and Philips roles in the team emerged. As I was between the Master students and First years I saw the opportunity to guide the process . I spended a lot of time helping the first years in the beginning and it took a while before we all found a balance in working together. It was good that we all putted our goals and vision on paper after the midterm exhibition, even though we worked together this helped us to divide roles in our team and it helped to understand each other’s ideas. Because all the roles where so well divided and there was trust towards each other we could all focus on our own jobs without losing track of what everybody was doing. This leaded to a very effective teamwork where everybody’s qualities where highlighted. This lead to a good end result but speaking terms of what we all learned it was difficult to step out comfort zones as there was not enough time for experimenting. For the first years this setup of teamwork was highly effective and I honestly don’t think that there is another first years team that learned so much as this team.
Communication towards Philips and STRP: In the first meeting I decided that I wanted to be the contact
selves if you see on each screen something. While testing we
person towards Floris Provoost. During the process I gathered
figured out that the effect of the interaction had to be bigger,
questions from our team and from STRP and communicated
we could have achieved this by putting the screens closer to
this towards Floris. I think that the communication went re-
each other. The empty spaces in our setup also existed in our
ally well, we had weekly contact and we had enough testing
visualization of processing, because of this a moving visualiza-
points at the HTC with Philips. In the interview in the end with
tion would disappear between the screens. Better would have
Floris he said that he would like to have more contact with
been if all the screens would create one single image, because
also the other team members. When looking back it would
I think this is more recognizable. As it took 2 days to position
have been better if I would forward questions of my team-
them it was not possible to do this during the festival.
mates instead of asking it myself to Floris, because I think now he received the image that the rest was not participating in
There was too much other light in the environment:
the communication.
The effect of the screens would have been bigger when the brightness of other lights in the environment would have
During the process there were several miscommunications,
been lower. Now the screens where a nice decoration at the
they could have been prevented if we had more meetings
ceiling but they did not have enough impact to let people
face to face with all the involved parties. As all the parties had
look up immediately. The only way how we could get atten-
a very busy schedule this was difficult to achieve. For future
tion was when we had a big enough visualization on the
projects like this projects I would suggest to plan in at least
screen that almost all the screens would react on person.
on meeting with all the involved parties 2 weeks before the
The pitfalls with making the visualizations really big was that
deadline.
would be not so interesting to watch for the persons in the
Personal conclusion:
launch. We had to find a balance between making it understandable as interaction and nice to look at for visitors who
I am very satisfied and proud of the results of this projects.
were watching the interaction.
Looking back I don’t see a lot of what if we had done this dif-
We noticed that visitors who were watching for a while rec-
ferent but I see a process wherein everybody worked hard to
ognized that the visualizations on the panels where a reac-
achieve the goal. The only way how we could have achieved a
tion on the movement of people underneath it. I think that
better result would have been with more time and more guid-
because they saw the interaction they were more likely to
ance in the programming part.
participate in the interaction.
I think our interaction was too difficult and not always clear
Other reasons:
because of several reasons.
It was hard to measure if someone was just happened to be
The screens where hanging at the ceiling:
under screens or that this person was trying the interaction.
Because of this we already knew in the beginning that it
The interaction besides that it had different reactions on ges-
would be hard to get the attention because we had to let
tures it did not provide a clear game, this leaded to the ques-
people look up to see what they were generating. The reason
tion by a lot of people what the function of the screens was.
why the screens had to hang at 3 meters high was that they
Possible solutions
were too expensive and fragile.
To improve the visibility of screens at the ceiling it would have been nice to have something reflecting on the floor, in this
The screens hang to far from each other: In our preparation we wanted to light up a big enough space, we thought that the screens where big enough on them-
way you would notice earlier that you control the screens.
Exploration in Research material in the theme playful interactions In the end of the semester after the deadline there was
Tilde Bekker and our interaction is that our feedback was
some time left for me to dig a little deeper into the informa-
through movement in open space, and their feedback was
tion available around the subject playful interactions. Dur-
through movement of an object in your hands. I believe
ing the project there was little time for this as the pressure
people can understand an interaction based on pressing
was high and we had short deadlines to deliver working
a button but the fact that something can measure you
prototypes.
in open space is still quite new. The interaction therefor became quite magical, and interesting because it was not so
One of the main things I notice in the articles I have read,
direct as pressing buttons.
is that technology adds a non-linearity to our world. For example “ Thus players will adapt their game goals and rules
The fact that the interaction was not that clear directly also
and interaction with the object to the opportunities they
meant that people who were interested had to try move-
find in the environment”., (1) Compared to classical board
ments under the screen to see if they would react. In the
games this game they are talking about is created in the
paper Designing the Spectator Experience (2) they talk
moment, the game stimulates users to engage into a social
about the importance of the spectator which is a really im-
interaction to create their own rules. In our installation the
portant factor for analyzing what we have achieved. In our
rules were also not clear and people could explore the rules
observation we saw that the content created was beautiful
themselves. Because there was no physical input towards
to see for the bystanders. In a space to relax the dynamically
the screens I believe the interaction was hard to understand.
changing content raised questions, stimulated engagement,
The main point of difference between the interaction of
and created atmosphere. One thing said was that“ interac-
tion with computers is increasingly a public affair” , in my
possibilities means there are more roads towards one goal.
opinion our findings of how this installation affected the
Sir Ken Robinson in his videos from RSA animate talks about
public space can be of importance for other public spaces
how creative we start as children and the older we become
that have an interaction. We had in one level an interaction
the more we start to judge things on good or bad, possible
that always would happen but if you wanted more to hap-
or not possible. I believe that as a designer I have the op-
pen you would need to do a more extreme movement, even
portunity to bring new concepts in the world that engage
when this movement was shown not everybody would try
you into a diverse world where we can feel like a child again.
it. I believe this also has to do with how comfortable people
I have now learned to look into others work in literature as
would feel in an open space where spectators are watching
I can learn a lot from them how to perform qualitative re-
you. Our interaction was depended on a certain amount
search, and especially how to measure interaction as I think
of peoples, observers could understand the interaction by
this is difficult thing to do if you want to have qualitative and
watching someone interact unintended.
quantitative date at the same time.
These 2 papers where the most relevant for my conclusions
Bibliography
but from what I have read I want to point out the trend that
1. Stimulating physical and social play. Sturm, Tilde Bekker
I see.
and Janienke. Eindhoven : s.n.
All the papers talk about how technology is changing the
2. Designing the Spectator Experience. Stuart Reeves, Steve
world and how this effecting us an how we can measure
Benford, Claire O’Malley. Nottingham : s.n., 2005.
this. Because of technology there is more possible and more