Reading Reflections Set #1
Reflection #1 : AI Impacts Design & Architecture | Molly Wright Steenson | Talks at Google
Molly’s talk was a nice overview on the history of AI and the manner in which the ideas presented in AI today have been around for a while. Her discussions about the perceptions of AI in society today were interesting, because I personally feel as though the populations is quite split in terms of their trust and willingness to incorporate AI into their lives. It is generally an unaccessible idea to those not in the tech field and something that needs to be explained to those not in it, so that the polarization between people in their perspectives of it could be bridged. Additionally, seeing in this talk how ideas about machine intelligence have existed even before the technology that would make them possible existed was interesting to see how ingrained these ideas are, the ability of humans to create these things.
Reflection #2 : BROKEN PROMISES & EMPTY THREATS: THE EVOLUTION OF AI IN THE USA, 1956-1996
This article further brought to light the points in Molly’s video and the growth of AI in this country. It feels like humans feel as though they can make anything, and “fulfill the promises” that previous pioneers of AI technology had not yet. I will never lose my question: to what ends? It is also scary to think of AI as the next “arms race.” AI is in of itself a form of “power” and a tool that could be used for extreme domination, so I am curious as to how the world will come together to deal with the consequences of boom 3. There is so much emotional attachment between people and AI, it almost feels like we love the “risky” game we’re playing here, seeing how far we can push things before it breaks, and the world as we know it changes forever because of AI. And we’re sitting here, waiting for that to just happen.
Reflection #3 : Enchanted Objects: Design, Human Desire, and the Internet of Things p. 390 – 412
Calling objects that have intelligence, “enchanted” adds a level of mysticism and “magic” which is highly contrasting to the heavily scientific nature of AI. Additionally, I appreciated the classification of the 6 different types of objects that will emerge in the future, but it is frustrating to think about how much we want to make this world bend to our will. I’m curious if every project that comes out of this studio will fit neatly into the 6 buckets David Rose names in this book. The examples are all focused on human progress and desire. I am personally super curious to see if, with this project, I can create a provocation about overarching ecosystem wellness, including nonhuman stakeholders? Is that too much to take on though, or something I do not want to get mixed up with AI?
Reflection #4 : Anatomy of AI
I have read this reading before for a different class and it was incredibly impactful for me. We tend to think of actions in isolation, something without lasting impacts on the rest of the world. We have also made many of our actions, like voice interactions with Amazon Echo, immaterial. This immateriality makes it feel as though those actions don’t have an impact, and we only feel that way because we are not dealing with the impacts of those actions. The manner in which this reading made those “immaterial actions” material again is quite amazing.
However, it is also incredibly crippling. It feels as though nothing we can make with AI will ever be equitable or impactful in a manner that will outweigh the costs of creating that form of AI. Is there anything that AI can do that will not be exploitative of somebody in some form? Also, in terms of creating something, I want to use existing things, our devices already ingrained in our lives because at leas that wouldn’t require the creation of a new material product. But regardless that will have some sort of material consequence as everything, every action taken by us does create that.
This further makes me want to not create AI for the consumer, or as a consumer tech product. I want to explore many different things in relation to AI as a speculative provocation, some sort of educational thing that at least makes people aware of the massive impacts of the device they are using.
Phase # 1 : Determining a Research Question
Brain Dump of Topics of Interest
I have absolutely no idea how to create specific questions in relation to this that also bring in intelligence. Also, no idea how these would be consumer technology. I could create products that are uncomfortable, but what specific discomfort do I want to highlight?
Idea #1 – Decoloniality & AI
Potential Inspirations for a Question
“supporting a critical technical practice of AI”
“establishing reciprocal engagements and reverse pedagogies”
“Reverse pedagogies create a decolonial shift from paternalistic towards solidaristic modes of working that can be achieved by systems of meaningful intercultural dialogue.”
“how technology can support society and culture , rather than becoming an instrument of cultural oppression and colonialism”
“renewal of affective and political community”
How might we create an intelligent system that exposes the user to other ways of knowing and cultures to start meaningful intercultural dialogues?
Creation of an AI system that challenges the current “whiteness of AI”
Speculative design of an intelligent home device made for non-american homes?
Creating images of the world inspired by BIPOC futures + AI
Exploration of AI as “power” – provocation of it
Exposing the user to other “things” of other cultures based on what they interact with – food, music, TV shows, movies, etc. – break out of individual siloed bubbles
Idea #2 – Individual Sustainability + AI
How might we design an intelligent system that encourages the user to adopt a more sustainable lifestyle?
Pushing reflection on consumption choices
Could be narrowed down to cooking meals + kitchen actions as a whole
Choosing items of clothing
Exposing users to the stories behind the items that they get
Case Studies:
Idea #3 – Placemaking + AI
How might we design an intelligent system that facilitates deeper connections between people and the place in which they live?
How might we design an intelligent system that pushes us to reimagine our relationship to our bioregion and/or nature?
Previous Personal Exploration of College Students + Community
This was an exploration in 2050 but there are certain aspects of it that could be reproduced in today’s society
Placemaking in relation to bioregional awareness + communication with nature
Placemaking in relation to social interactions + understanding other communities (in a reciprocal manner, not exploitative)
Case Studies:
Plantix – communication between farmers + their crops for greater yields
Diagrams of Intelligence in Environments
What is intelligence?
Does it learn?
Does it respond to its environment & conditions?
Does it surprise me?
Does it challenge me?
Is anything with a soul/all nature intelligent?
Phase #2: Ideation
Initial Ideas:
AI as marginalized bodies – the same way we treat bodies of marginalized communities as we do AI
AI as communal tech – question idea of ownership of AI systems, create communal AI
AI that deepens our connection with nature + pushes us to see the natural relations that we do not tend to see in the world
How might we design an intelligent system that pushes us to deepen our connection with and better understand our relationship with the natural world?
Readings Set #2
March 31, 2021 Reflection: Designing the Behavior of Interactive Objects
This reading was really fun. I appreciated the focus on bringing personality to objects, personifying them in a way that pushes us to examine our own behavior in relation to them. The 5 axes that the reading determined in types of personalities that could be attributed to the interactive object will be helpful in creating our own intelligent artifacts. The 5 traits were:
openness to experience
conscientiousness
extraversion
agreeableness
neuroticism
I am curious if there is anything that is left out from these 5 overarching buckets. However, for my personal project, it gives me a couple of starting points to jump off from which I appreciate. I do wonder if the reliance on stereotypes, while helpful in painting an image, could become harmful, especially as we as a society are trying to shift away from stereotypes.
Deciding Traits of My System
Encourages openness to new experiences + fosters imagination
Playful & agreeable – create an open culture for education
Calming – meant to be calm + leaning into stories + satisfied with the world the way it is + spiritual
Case Study – Power to the Plants
This project is one done by CMU design masters students. It has a similar goal to mine, with similar components to what I plan to incorporate into my final design. The project uses AR, spatial design, and projections to help the user understand and connect more to the plants specifically within the Carnegie Museum. They used Spark AR for their prototyping which would be useful for me to play with in my project.
The user uses an app for the bulk of the experience, allows users to go through this journey together (creating a social aspect), collect plants throughout their journey in the museum, walk through plant evolution, and finally receive an end artifact which represents their whole journey. It’s a very end to end contained experience which mine will not be, which could be an interesting way to think about how to keep users engaged.
Building off of An Existing System – PlantSnap
An app called PlantSnap already exists that demonstrates this technology is possible and that much of the data I need for my system already exists. The personal question is if I build a completely new system separate from this app or add onto its features. It has a current partnership with snapchat for AR features, but I believe this could be expanded upon.
Questions for My Project
How do I show users the interrelated parts of nature through augmented reality?
Is this something that should be an app or another product?
There is an educational aspect here that I could really highlight – encourage the user to really understand the space that they inhabit (using all the senses) – prompt them to listen, to look, to smell, to (respectfully) touch – a truly multi-sensory experience
Is gamification the best method for this? (collect them all) or is personal growth and development better?
How can the intelligence push the user to learn, not just rely on the AI to show them things?
How can this not be a gimicky thing? How do I have this system grow with users overtime? – is the joy in seeing things that you used to not be able to see
Do I bring in the history of the plants? Their age? The things that they have seen? Whether or not they are native or invasive? Highlight if there is a specific story related to them in Indigenous culture? – just focus on the ecosystems
Is it just about plants or is it also about other parts of the bioregion? – all flora and fauna?
How much information can I give the user without it being overwhelming?
Is this something the user is prompted to do randomly, or something they set out to do explicitly?
How do I continually highlight that this is for the ultimate goal of appreciation of the region, which is related to the overarching sustainability question? Does there need to be an action item past what is prompted within the experience?
Should I create a virtual assistant that is personified within the digital platform? – self prompting, not about assistant
How do I balance between the user looking at their phone and actually looking at the world around them?
Milestones – things that come up as you get more used to the system + nature – awareness + education
Consider creating a journey throughout a space – like a path through schenley park – paths that allow you to see something new each time.
Storyboard #1
Questions: is it ok if this experiences uses AR glasses?
Is it something that needs to be a commercial product? – yes because that is where the education can play in?
April 1, 2021
Pivoting & Narrowing My Focus
There are a lot of aspects I could focus on within this project – I need to narrow down the objective of what this project is attempting to do and not deviate from that.
Focus – Materializing the Intelligence of Plants
Show the Interconnections of Nature (put the Human back into as a part of nature?)
Show how the ecosystem exists + how the human has agency in that
Reading for Inspiration
“That on a small patch of ground there could be so many different ways to exist. Each plant seemed to have its own sense of self, yet they fit together as a community.”
“I’m learning from plants, as opposed to only learning about them.”
“The idea is to pay attention to the living world as if it were a spider’s web: when you touch one part, the whole web responds.”
“The indigenous observer is asking the bee, How are you living out your responsibility? And what about you, flower?” – what is the human’s responsibility here?
“I like to think of my own research as an interview process, a conversation” – a back & forth a conversation (call and response, input and output)
The importance of observing the thing at its place, in the correct context – what I want to do
“We don’t understand plant intelligence very well, so we tend to dismiss it as nonexistent or primitive. But we also used to think that the world was flat. If we would embrace the possibility of plant intelligence and investigate it without any anthropocentric bias, we might be surprised by what we learn.”
“As a society we are plant-blind. It’s just green wallpaper to most of us. We don’t distinguish one species from the next, let alone appreciate that there’s a reason the leaf of this plant differs from the leaf of that plant; that a tree’s leaves change shape as it grows from a seedling to maturity; that bark can be thick or thin, smooth or rough.” – goal to alleviate some of the plant blindness
“It has to do with the realization that we are all beings on the same earth, and that we all need the same things to flourish.”
Not a Consumer App but a One Time Experience (Exhibit)
Other points of Inspiration
Similar intention, but about animal and plant connection, once again separating the human
Seems passive, like you are watching things happen, not causing things to happen
In context, but removed from the context
Incorporating into my Concept
The one time experience aspect
The mysticism in the visuals, but more grounded
The wearable pieces with natural elements – but think about more senses + haptic signals
Questions:
What & Whose story am I trying to tell?
Should I narrow in on a native species?
What exists in Schenley Park right now?
What gifts do plants give us now – how do I highlight those gifts?
Are humans nature?
April 3, 2021
Updated Concept
How might we materialize the intelligence of plants to people through an immersive multi-sensory experience?
How do Humans Interact with Nature – Forms of Observation
Touch – hands through touching things + feet through walking on things
Hearing – listening to the sounds of nature (leaves rustling, bees buzzing)
Smell – smells we associate with other things too, but we don’t necessarily know that they mean
Sight – what we rely on – seeing the colors of plants, seeing the texture
Exploring Schenley Park
Today, I went to Schenley to develop an understanding of the place in which I wanted to situate my design. And I realized that I had chosen a poor time to do this project. It is the start of spring with most of the trees still barren from this past winter. So this is little greenery present at the moment, few trees really blooming right now.
With this journey, I wanted to determine what type of plant I would focus on with this project. I want to deep dive into a single species, to ensure that I am accurately portraying its life and processes. Due to the state of the park, I decided to photograph species that were somewhat thriving right now and then identify them.
Potential Plants:
Limited options unfortunately, but look at the moss (middle image)! It is thriving. There is such a complicated ecosystem on just that small of a section of a rock, it is incredible.
Research on Moss
“Mosses have, in the ecological sense, very low competitive ability, because they’re small, because they don’t grab resources very efficiently, and so this means that they have to live in the interstices. They have to live in places where the dominant competitive plants can’t live.”
“Because mosses are not good competitors at all, and yet they are the oldest plants on the planet. They have persisted here for 350 million years.”
“…has to do with their ability to cooperate with one another, to share the limited resources that they have, to really give more than they take. Mosses build soil, they purify water, they are like the coral reefs of the forest, they make homes for this myriad of all these very cool little invertebrates who live in there. They are just engines of biodiversity. They do all of these things, and yet, they’re only a centimeter tall.”
April 5th, 2021
Reading Reflection: Re-examining Whether, Why, and How Human-AI Interaction Is Uniquely Difficult to Design
For example, this definition describes AI as “learning” from data, yet does not specify what counts as “learning.”
Interesting paper and glad it provided some insights into how this task could be made somewhat less daunting to designers as a whole. Since, my project is drifting away from AI in a traditional sense, it was less helpful to me. I wish the paper also expanded on the “Anatomy of AI” aspect, because I believe that the biggest challenges that AI faces right now is the ethical questions.
Reflection on Topic – Not Moss, but instead the whole ecosystem, using Schenley as the place to base the experience
Reiteration on the Project Design Goals:
Help people develop a deeper understanding of the complexities and intelligence of the forest
Make people more empathetic to the life/processes that is within forests
Engage people through multiple senses (gamification) to pull in a somewhat different audience than those that typically notice/care about forests
Educate people in a way that is more fun & immersive
Wearable Concepts (Just form, maybe not functionality for prototyping)
The way you interact with the moss sends signals back to you (touch the moss, get a signal back, see the photosynthesis, feel the warmth of the process)
Something that engages sight, sound, & touch (connects them all)
As you observe things, other things get revealed – revealing the complicated aspects one after another to develop a deeper understanding of it
Quick Sketch of Wearable Elements
Importance of Integrating Nature into Form
Purpose of the natural elements – feels as though something so high tech doesn’t fit, but it is helpful for the experience – so making the actual item/object feel more in place with the actual context.
Importance of Being in Context
Place based interactions make it more real – situating in context lets people truly see the world, something you cannot get in a museum – the importance of immersion and the nuances of the context and things you will only be able to see in Schenley
Overarching Concept – Take the user through the Lower Panther Hollow path in Schenley Park and using their different senses and different processes of the forest to highlight the overarching forest intelligence for them.
Sources:
April 6, 2021
The Forest Story
Stop 1: Setting up Context in terms of Climate (Large Scale)
Location: Lower Panther Hollow Trail
Temperature – warmth output + temp in degrees
Light – sight – how many light particles are in the air (more particles equal more light)
Humidity – feeling ? + sight – follow the water to next step?
Visualization of Sunlight Draft #1:
On Smaller Section
On Larger Path for Context
Two ways of doing next part: Big to Small or Bottom to Top or Top to Bottom
Ending is connecting everything the user has seen?
Stop 2: Soil Health (Mid Scale) – Landslide area
“Pittsburgh’s geology is unlike any other city. Millions of years ago Pittsburgh was situated on the shifting edge of a shallow sea. As erosion in rocks and the earth’s plates shifted and slid, Pittsburgh’s topography was molded into steep slopes and valleys. The soil in this area consists mainly of shale and claystones.” – sediment deposits take us to the river
Stop 3: Water Cycle – Panther Hollow Run
User follows the path to the stream – Panther Hollow Run.
Water goes into the ground going through pores in the soil until it reaches the water table
Stream is where the water table intersects with the surface – see flowing surface – accentuated with sound outputs for the user (go alongside the river flowing)
Stop 4: Photosynthesis – Plants near the river (Small Scale)
User walks a little to next stop on the path
Time: takes 30 seconds
Focused on one plant + their processes of photosynthesis
Following the water in the soil – see the cycle of the water through the plant
Things to say: The current gap in the canopy allows the light to reach the understory of the forest. The plant responds to its conditions – light as energy – user’s own CO2 gets taken in by the plant
Let’s look at something bigger – follow something to that point.
Stop 5: Wildlife & Plant Interaction – based around a Tree – Follow Light to a tree
Find a NATIVE species of trees that is flowering on the Schenley path to base this on – white ash, Northern red oak
Pollination, flowering, dispersion (April – November)
Watch the pollination process – bees + pollen in April
Then leaves appear
Fruits appear August – October
You disperse the seeds in September – November
At end brought back to reality – demonstrates your role in the process
Stop 6: The Interconnected Web
Showing all the aspects of the forest in one shot – the water, the sunlight, the soil moisture, the oxygen, the carbon dioxide, the pollen, the seeds, the flowers in an interconnected web
One living breathing system – responds to the world around it – can interact with it to see how it responds
Takeaway about Plant intelligence
Stop 7: The End + Physical Takeaway
Seed paper card?
A mini forest ecosystem? – thats a lot
Something Digital? – Final image of the interconnected parts – digital interaction that reminds you what you just experienced
Video of your whole journey + what you saw – compilation of what you collected
Reflection on Dina’s Crit
Dina is not convinced by the gloves – just touching the nature with bare hands is enough of a sensory experience
At the beginning of the project explain what you mean by plant intelligence
Lean more on sound – different things trigger sound output
AR glasses is good – prototype with after effects + adobe aero
Time could be an interesting thing to play with – makes sense for just the tree experience though
Encourage more exploration + touching things with the forest
Scavenger hunt – collection of things for the experience takeaway
Elements potentially needed for Interaction UI
Time controller
Collection bag – what you have collected from the experience
Trigger different basic elements – light, water, temperature, soil moisture to see what they look like in that moment
Zoom in and out (scale shifts) Maybe?
Map – with different stops
Sample Visualizations
UI Draft #1
Midpoint Presentation Reflection
When giving the presentation to Brett and Daragh, my goal was to see if the project concept was resonating with them as a whole. Their main critique was around the intended audience for my project. My goal with this experience was to make it something that could resonate with all people, but in my effort to make it appealing to people who may not have a natural affinity for the forest, I made it quite gamified, and therefore, somewhat childlike. Additionally the processes I focused on for displaying plant intelligence are ones that are reminiscent of elementary school childhood, and therefore also less appealing to adults. So, I realized I should lean into what I have already created and design something to be an educational experience for kids.
In that respect, I think I should shift back to an app rather than a one time experience to account for all the complexities of an educational experience. I also want to make it something that grows with the user overtime, and now that I have a set audience I can start designing something that caters more directly to that demographic of people. I can also still integrate the AR element, but increase the accessibility by making it something that most people have, a smart phone.
Updated Research Question:
How might we design an educational experience for kids that demonstrates the intelligence of nature?
Target Audience
All kids – the degree of difficulty/information changes based on age range
Secondary Research
Encourage curiosity
Learning by observing + interacting
Encourage kids to come to their own conclusions through their observations
5 main camps of reasons – can center my narrative around respect for the planet
Ted Talk – How Trees Talk to Each Other
Complexities of networks between trees + intelligence in the form in which it communicates
Symbiotic relationships
Note To Self:
Everything will have a flaw in some capacity, you cannot design something that is perfect
You need to decide what is the value in what you have done and work with it – it is not worth scrapping everything now, what is best is to narrow in on the best parts of what you have made and expand from it
It is ok that you have to use technology to demonstrate what you are trying to do – this is how your brain works and that is ok – accept it as something that works in this case and you are designing something with value
An app or a One Time Experience?
Redefine project goals with new intended audience
Clarify intended audience
Research education app principles
Plan out aspects of the app that cover the educational aspect
See how the app grows with the user overtime
Integrate the work you have done this far
Clarify why you have chosen an app for this medium this exists on – address the accessibility question + technology in nature question
Define the purpose for the app in terms of plant intelligence + education for sustainability
No keep the one time experience – flush out the app aspect
A new way to take a nature walk – keep all the work you have done just flush it out to be better and exist on an app
Questions to Answer:
How to integrate the communication between plants element
How to integrate the time element
What are the user’s collecting? – Information + transcript of the experience
How to account for users? – personas + teams
How to integrate curiosity? – asking questions element?
Place to Ground the Identity
Pittsburgh Park Conservancy
Already have existing educational programs – an initiative I could fit into their existing system
Same values + goals + education programs
Already partnered with schools + existing educating programs
So think about how to leverage tech in their initiatives + experiences – maybe as a marketing/intro to their educational programs (pop up educational initiative)
Pull more people in to educational initiatives – base the takeaway around that – This is just the beginning – appealing to parents
Example of one of their programs
Updated User Journey Steps
Wireframes
How do I incorporate curiosity?
At the stops, anyone has a chance to ask questions?
Or should I quiz people?
Scavenger hunt element to it – encourages exploration + curiosity
The Group Element – Field Trips or Families?
allows you to see where others in your group are
When one person activates it you will be able to see – Billy found the factor
Feedback from Daphne
4/22/21
After talking to Daphne today, I realized I was in a good place with this project! I just needed to think more about how the experience fits into the existing system of the Pittsburgh Park Conservancy. If it exists as a new educational initiative, then I could play more with how it operates in different seasons. It could also build off of the gamification element, adding a levels element that brings people back to the experience and keeps them engaged.
It also solves my issue of the takeaway only being on an app, but with the incentive to come back during other seasons would allow the experience to last over time as well.
So the experience fits into the Pittsburgh Park Conservancy education initiatives. Daphne was also not convinced by my changing the non physical elements interaction, as it would be something that would work better in a VR experience. So I need to rethink what my stops and narrative should be around the stops. Also just looking for more elements as a scavenger hunt situation is enough interaction for the kids. I can keep the microclimate stops the same though. I wonder if I need to create a profile section for each person – probably doesn’t need a login or anything
Narrative Themes:
Narrative ties around importance & life sustaining need of the things in the natural environment
Catchy Card names that you are collecting – happens 4 times a year, once a season
Education based – all about learning
Narrative & Stops
Experience Introduction – Schenley Park Visitor Center
Onboarding Ticketing
Forming groups for the adventure (make personas) either field trips or families – unlikely the kid will go by themselves, but JIC have an option
Can choose the degree of information given based on age group (I am prototyping out for like age 8-11)
Where should this be?
Stop 1: The Sunlight – Our main energy source – Prototype out fully
Prompt when nearing the stop: First, we need to understand the forest’s microclimate. At this stop, we will be introduced to the first nonphysical factor that affects the forest ecosystem. Find the marker to see this factor!
Characteristics of the stop: An area with more sun and shaded area to show contrast?
On the Card: Our Energy Source – Sunlight! – Life on Earth could not exist without the sun. It provides us with the light and heat all living beings need on this planet. In terms of plants, it provides them fuel to grow and become an essential part of our ecological web. The Schenley forest has varying amount of light each day. Through this lens, you can see the concentration of sunlight here. It’s warm today!
Interaction: Group looks for marker that triggers the card. Once they get near it, it will trigger, giving everyone the card and showing the sunlight AR interaction. There will be more particles at the top/open areas, less closer to the ground and blocked by the shade.
End of stop: Time to move on to the next stop! Look back up and experience Schenley! You’ll feel a buzz when you’re near the next stop. (Based on stops)
Stop 3: The Soil Nutrients – the light green
Visuals: Just the smaller specks in the soil
On the Card: Staying Grounded with our Soil – Every plant here is rooted in the soil, a place that houses the nutrients need for them to grow. The nutrients available depend on the mineral composition of the land, here at Schenley, the ground is filled with shale and claystone.
Stop 2: Water Vapor – Prototype out fully
Prompt when nearing the stop marker: The next important factor that sets up the forest’s microclimate is something you can see and can’t see. Look around for the marker to see this factor.
Characteristics of the stop: Panther Hollow Run
On the Card: A Water Filled World – Wherever you water flows on this planet, you are sure to find life. While you can see the water running in Panther Hollow Run, there is also water up in the air that you can’t see. Through this lens, you will see the water vapor in the air today. There’s quite a lot, it’s humid today!
Interaction: The marker is near the shore, (find a spot that is close but not dangerous)
End of stop: Nice work team! Keep going, and look up at the beauty of the park!
Stop 4: Carbon Dioxide
Visuals: Specks in the Air that are red like gasses
Stop prompt – after a harder climb, need a break – you might be breathing a little harder now.
On the Card: Carbon Dioxide – The biggest greenhouse gas. Every time you exhale, you release some carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Carbon Dioxide is one of the gasses that traps heat in the air. Too much of it, as we are seeing today, is what is causing the Earth to warm. Luckily, the plants here take in the carbon dioxide as fuel to produce food, and release oxygen, what we need to breathe.
Stop 5: Forest layers (Big trees) – Gaps in the Canopy – Prototype out Fully
Prompt when Nearing the Stop: Now that we have looked at the microclimate of the forest, let’s start understanding the living layers here. Can you see how the sunlight reaches the lower layers of the park? That’s where your next marker is!
Characteristics of the Stop: A Gap in the Canopy
On the Card: The Layers of the Forest – As you can see, there are layers of the forest here, each with a different purpose within the forest system. The layers that make up the forest are the canopy, understory, shrub, herb, and floor.
AR Visuals: Labeled layers of the canopy, can see the changing amount of sunlight
Stop 6: Native Producers + Photosynthesis
Prompt when nearing the stop: Can you see a tree on the understory level with long leaves that sit in a circle? Your next marker is at this Pittsburgh native plant.
Buzzes when near: Opens camera – Look for the marker near this tree
On the Card: Understanding Photosynthesis – Plants are the only living things on Earth that can make their own source of food. This process is called photosynthesis, where they take in the energy from the sun and carbon dioxide and water vapor molecules from the air to create food and release oxygen from their leaves. Watch this happen on this amazing native producer, the green ash tree.
Stop 7: Native Producers + Transpiration (Look down) – Prototype out fully
Prompt when nearing the stop:
Stop 8: Showcasing Spring – Prototype out fully
Final Card – Fills in the spring section + a note about coming back a different season for a new adventure.
Plan For Schenley
Take pictures of each stop
Mark each spot on the map and see where you are. (take screenshots of google maps)
Take videos of the spots you are prototyping for
Iteration #3 of Project
User Journey
Target User Groups
Wireframes
Reflection on Critique with Daniel
April 27th, 2021
Think more about how the app could you encourage you being more present along the journey within nature
Really define intelligence of nature at the beginning of your presentation – even more explicitly, everything within the forest is learned, and changes based on its conditions
Really think about your design goals and how you can ensure that your design is solving those design goals
Rethink some of your stops – does AR need to be so integral? – variety of prompts, AR is one of those things, it does not have to be the only one
How can you leverage technology without it becoming obtrusive – addressing it is good, and thinking about mindfulness apps a little throughout the process
Address the gamification, scavenger hunt element which is what makes the experience need the technology + how it leverages tech
Think of how to frame the physical and nonphysical factors better – what is the different word that talks about the microclimate.
How can I engage other senses, observe & listen and see & smell – giving prompts is enough
Balance the role of the app as a tool but not as an obstruction
Address how you addressed the original problem + goals at the end of the presentation
I don’t know how to address the notification aspect
Intelligence:
Ability to grow
Ability to adapt to changing conditions
Ability to respond to other things
Ability to learn
Why These 4 Factors are important – Explain as a step in the Journey map
“Plants need four basic ingredients to grow: light, CO₂, water and nutrients (like nitrogen and phosphorus, the same elements present in plant fertiliser). Thousands of scientists across the world study how plant growth varies in relation to these four ingredients, in order to predict how vegetation will respond to climate change.”
What Are My Design Principles
Goals
Increase place-based ecoliteracy education
Introduce kids to the natural environment they live in through an engaging experience
Educate students about the complexities of natural ecosystems
Leverage technology as a tool in education initiatives
Balance the use of technology in natural environments as a tool but not an obstruction
Manage the amount of Information given to keep students engaged
Encourage moments of curiosity & personal observation
Utilize this whole experience to have kids experience nature and grow to respect it more through understanding its complexities
Design Values
Straightforward – Conveys steps directly
Informative – Provides the Need information directly
Calming – prompts meant to exist in nature
Enjoyable – exciting visuals + scavenger hunt aspect + Gamification
Updates on the User Journey
Experience Introduction
First 4 stops – introduce the physical environment of the forest (with AR)
Next 4 stops – A look at the producers (with AR)
The Journey Back – not cards but prompts to pay attention (no AR, sensory prompts)
Throughout– the ability to document personal curiosities
Experience Takeaway – user profile set up, spring card filled, prompted to come back in 3 months to see how everything has changed
The Prompts on the Journey Back
Do you hear any birds chirping? Try to spot them!
What plants do you keep seeing throughout Schenley?
Can you smell the flowers? Schenley’s spring brings
Goal with Annalisa for Saturday
Have a video of her looking for the marker, finding it, then walking towards it
Have a video of her looking down at her phone for one second, then tapping it, then panning the air – have her tap the phone again when she’s done, and then put it down!
Have her walking, then spot a flower she likes, and then take a picture of it
Have her walking back phone down, and then get a prompt, stop and look at it, then point to a bird she hear
Other Updates
Can’t access the information in the stops specifically during the journey, but you can see them afterwards in the user profile
Built out user profile will have all of this information
Presentation Outline
Designing Out the Experience Takeaway + User Profile
Big things to keep in mind – the app allows for a takeaway that exists past the experience itself.
Reflect on the learnings, and learn more about what they were curious about
Also creates the structure that fulfills out the 4 part experience (for which I have only prototyped out spring) – accounting for the differences between seasons and allows the user to see the change in their environment overtime