Hello, my name is Se A Kim and I am a junior design major in the environments track with a minor in art. I am passionate about creating meaningful and engaging experiences in both physical and digital spaces.
Week 1 | Reflection
I found Molly Steenson lecture on AI impacts on Design & Architecture profound in her descriptions of the numerous projects that were created in the past by architects like Christopher Alexander, Cedric Price, and Marvin Minsky. I found it interesting how the same questions and concerns we ask today, have been dealt with in the past. The main concerns of exploring the applications of machine intelligence is a balancing act between AI being unimaginably oppressive and unbelievably exciting, as Nicholas Negroponte pointed out. I do believe that uncovering new uses and applications with this technology is mainly about asking the right questions.
The Anatomy of AI helped me understand the complex and extractive nature of technology as we engage with it in simple ways. It's interesting to see how Crawford and Joler describes Alexa and similar AI systems as an interface constantly processing information by being fed inputs. In this way, the act of feeding it information and consuming knowledge is familiar to the human need to extract and unearth the world we live in to continue this cycle of consumption. This reading takes a deep dive into the history of how a select few are benefited from the exploitation of human labor and of resources. And this issue only seems to grow as we move further into the future. This relates back to the video with Molly Steenson in which she describes Nochola Negroponte's point on the "unimaginably oppressive" nature of our applications and usage of machine intelligence, and the "unbelievably exciting" future that we can build in David Rose's reading on Enchanted Objects.
Project Preparation:
Create a diagram or a sketch of how you could interact with data of a space in a shared work environment like the TCS hall.
To prepare for this project, I listed out the capabilities of the Mites.io sensing platform and learned that it has a wide range of features that measures:
-radio interference, electromagnetic noise, motion, light color, illumination, air pressure, humidity, non-contact temperature, ambient temperature, acoustic, and vibration.
From looking at its functions, I tried to think about the type of data that can be collected in an environment like TCS hall.
-Amount of people walking inside the building
-Doors opening and closing / amount of times elevators used
-Sensing how much light and when it is used in a specific space or room
-The temperature of the room
-How loud people are talking or studying
-Sensing how much tech audio is used (like headphones, phone notifications, phone calls)
-Where people are walking in the building
After looking into the type of data that can be collected, I thought about the users in the space and why they may come to TCS and the benefits of using this work space.
-people can talk about projects together
-a place for people to concentrate and study
-people are brought together to make connections
-similar people in coming together to work on software (similar backgrounds in tech)
Initial Ideation:
With these processes in mind, I thought about ways the mites sensor can collect data and present them to users in a profound way that can benefit them during their time in the TCS building.
A lot of data can be collected on the amount of time a person has sat to study (such typing on the laptop, or thermal body temperature recordings). I became curious about how having this data can benefit people that may just come inside the building and want to make connections with the people who also occupied the same space. It is easy to think of an office space as purely a work environment and a place for project collaboration, but what about the added benefit of connecting with new people?
The following sketch is an initial concept idea for this proposed question.
Pose a research question you want to explore for this project. It could be more than one, we will discuss it in the studio. Find at least two examples or case studies related to your research question.
Q1: How might we be able to connect users of a space with data collected from people using the work environment? How would this connection take place through time?
Q2: How do we visualize a space that has been used and cue others to connect with people that are using the same space?
Why Connection in the Workplace Matters
How to Build Workplace Connections that Help Us Succeed
Week 2 | Reflection
IoT Data in the Home: Observing Entanglements and Drawing New Encounters
I found it interesting how this paper suggests designers to work with data in more nuanced ways since data in the home is more diffused. The ambient ways in which data can interact with the users are more common in the home rather than actively engaging with the data. In this way we can create more diverse and situated opportunities to show the liveliness of data and the ways in which it could evolve. It was also worth noting the dormant side of data, when data is inactive in a home and how this factor can be a design material. These moments of silence can be embraced by the designers as well. I like how their research concludes data as a lively part of a home that can be playful, imaginative, and balanced.
Data Materiality Episode 4: Yanni Loukissas on Understanding and Designing Data Settings
The main takeaways I got from this podcast was the importance of looking at data locality. Data is entangled with whole knowledge systems that are local to its place. One example he gives is a project in which the residents of a neighborhood was able to unpack and play with the data collected in their environment. People were able to draw by hand features of their neighborhood and turn on different data layers such as demographic, traffic, and environmental data settings. This in turn creates a more participatory and more open ways in which data can be juxtaposed with the local knowledge of a place they are familiar with.
Feedback from Initial Concept on 1/25 Discussion
The main takeaways from our discussion:
Utilizing time and a "presence" is an interesting concept, but how can this be pushed further? Would people be comfortable with the past presence?
Lean away from pragmatic ways of creating connections (like profile connections) and more emphasis on the passage of time and how it impacts the way we connect with our environment
How does this interaction actually work with different types of audiences? Such as first time entering the space, frequent occupants of the space, occasional occupants
With these points in mind, I reframed my research question:
How can data be used in a public work environment that can connect people across space and time?
Case Study Research
During my research for similar projects that can answer this main question, I found a project that has a fun interaction with the data that has been collected in a smart musical bell. Although this project is built in a home environment in which connections between people have already been made, I thought of this project as a great jumping off point.
Smart Musical Bell That Identifies The Person
In this project, members of a family can use a smartphone app to program different tunes so that those at home can identify with member is ringing the doorbell. Separate tunes are set for different members of the family, and for guests a unique tune can be generated through the sensor.
An IR sensor is used to detect the presence of the person outside. The NodeMCU is a single-board microcontroller that uses Wi-Fi chip which uses Lua scripting language. The NodeMCU board can be programmed with Arduino IDE.
Project Concept Development
With this case study in mind, I thought about different ways people can be identified, rather than sticking to visual outputs. It was also important to consider which data will be collected from the Mites sensor and how the interaction relates with the TCS environment.
The types of data recorded for this project would include: Electromagnetic Noise, Motion, light color, illumination, non-contact temperature, ambient temperature, acoustic, and vibration
I addressed some of the critiques I got from last class in which the built environment is more engaged with the connections people are forming in the building. Students will come and sit where a previous student was working and be gently surprised as the desk lights up for a connection request. Accepting this friend invitation would add color to the surrounding walls, which is updated in real time as more connections are made in the building. These connections between people will create an organic mosaic of colors within the environment to show the amount and place, connections have been made inside the building.
Week 3 | Reflection
Designing the Behavior of Interactive Objects
This reading was very relevant and helpful in the development of my own design due to its exploration on Personality within interactive objects. I found their use of the Big 5 personality traits helpful while thinking about the traits within my own project.
Utilizing this tool, the designers for the sofa bot were able to improvise on a guided spectrum of personality traits to help build the bot become more expressive and reactive to the user. I found the users comments in this case study to be enlightening due to the way some people tend to humanize the bot. The trends of the "loving parent sofa", "the big boss sofa", and the "risk taking sofa" all coincided with the users feedback during this experiment. Thus, creating a relationship between the sofa and the user.
Feedback from 1/27 Concept Storyboard:
Based off of my peers feedback the main takeaways were:
Continue to incorporate the element of time and connections between people
Flesh out the details and colors of what the space may see like as a conversation continues
The "memory" or traces of a presence is a interesting interaction
How will people converse? What kind of connection are people making with each other?
After this session, I reflected on our reading about the big 5 personality traits and decided on these traits for my interaction:
Playful
High in openness
Agreeable
I decided to create a question to help guide the first workable prototype.
How is the data collected represented? And how is that data leveraged to create connections?
At TCS, I was intrigued by this space where there were multiple tables and board games for students to play. It was clearly an area where people can socialize and build connections with each other.
Here is a quick storyboard of the interaction:
Week 3 | Reflection
Speak Data by Giorgia Lupi
I found Giorgia's insightful especially in regards to the current affairs. She discussed how the Covid pandemic has allowed the public to understand the importance of data literacy. I also really enjoyed her talk revolved around data humanism. Making data more understandable and perceptible can create unique experiences for people and the notion of people spending time with data = people, helped me think about different ways I can connect people in a space.
2/9
I decided to rethink about the ways to utilize the environment in which people are interacting with the data. In this concept, there would be a small box on top of each table with a little "buddy". This buddy can be customized by the user and people can write messages to upload on the bigger wall. People will see all the unique characters on the wall over time and notice the "buddies" interacting with each other. Thus, creating a more connected atmosphere.
From talking about this concept with Dina and Devika, they believe that my main focus should be on the present data collection that is around them rather than the interactive characterization of the object. It is true that this interaction can happen in any location without the Mites sensor, so I decided to work on a new concept with both the idea of connection and data collection.
I first looked at my main research question on connecting people through time and space. I wrote down what gestures people use when we are wanting to connect with others through time. This made me think about handprints on ancient caves and walls. Perhaps there was a way to use the placement of a hand on the wall as the main interaction of connection?
2/14
In this new concept, I looked at creating a digital handprint in which each users own data can be shown on a collective wall. The digital handprint would showcase the collected data by having multiple outlines around the hand. Each line would represent a specific set of data such as : temperature, movement, and sound.
In this storyboard, users can leave a handprint and find out the data similarities with other users in the space. More similar handprints would be highlighted versus less similar handprints. After discussing this idea with my peer, it was noted that the Mites sensor may not have the capability to collected an individuals users data and location. The only input data collected is group data. At this point, I felt that I had to find the right solution to build connections with each individual while using a device that only collects group data.
2/17
I felt that I needed to go visit the TCS building again to help develop my idea. I was still intrigued by the idea of having user touch the wall of the building to bridge the gap between the users of the space and the environment itself.
At TCS I noticed how certain office doors had personal and decorative elements from the occupants. They would post photos of themselves, post letters from students, and have decorative patterns on their door. I found this aspect of the building to be quite endearing as it brings more personality and sense of community in the space.
I had a chance to talk to a masters student there, who stays at the building most of the time. He says that the professors and students have a good relationship through their coffee room chats, and late night talks.
I thought about this decorative element of their environment and began conceptualizing a new form of making connections.
In this scene, I thought about using a wall stamp to allow users to decorate their space with the collected data of the room. So the input would be sound, motion, and light. Each sound different would represent a shape: sound = square, motion = circle, light = triangle. To add in the element of time, each shape would be highlighted in different colors based on when the shapes were stamped.
2/21
I took this Data Stamp idea and expanded further on what each component would look like. I figured that the shapes may be too conceptual for people to understand what each data set meant, so I began thinking about direct icons that can represent each value. For sound the stamps would push birds, for motion, there would be animals like deer, and for light, it would be different variations of trees. I even thought about how each element may interact with each other on the wall. Perhaps the deer stamped one hour ago will greet the deer stamped a minute ago? Would such an interaction be necessary or confusing to viewers? I figured I needed to consider each part of this entire interaction to the details.
In this storyboard, there would be a wall projecting a calm landscape and physical stamps hung on the wall. Each user can choose from 4 different elements : sound, movement, temperature, and light. Each user will be able to stamp an element and the images would be stamped on.
When there is a lot of sound in the room, the stamp would create multiple birds and species to indicate the increased noise. With light, there would be more variations of plants stamped. Thermal input would make a fire look small or big depending on the data. And for motion, low motion would create a snail, while a high amount of motion in the room would create a hare.
With time, this landscape of birds, trees, and animals would rise above the users. So if someone were to look at this wall, they would see how the data looked before. This constantly changing decorative landscape would highlight the data collected in this space that is both engaging to interact with and fun to look at overtime.
After my talk with Daniel, I started to contemplate about the stamp itself and how it may look and feel. Should the stamp just be one stamp with multiple options, or should there be four individual stamps to choose from? To make it more simplistic and fun to do as a group activity, I decided to have 4 different stamps that highlight each input. One of the key features I want this stamp to have is a satisfying "push" feeling. Similarly to the self inking stamps we use for our documents. There is something pleasing about have direct feedback at the palm of your hand.
I created a physical prototype for the shape of the stamp using foam core.
2/23
These three sketches represent the light stamp, and depending on how bright the area is, the stamp will have one or more variations of plants.
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