interaccess

interaccess.. well considering that i am very late posting, no one will read this anyhoo... so ....
i thought interaccess was AWESOME. haha.. i think i stand alone on this.
growing up, my parents cheaped out and moved my brother and i out into the country and deprived us of any form of interactive experience ...unless you consider 6 channels of NON CABLE which failed to even come in with out the bunny ears...and fishing....
so yeas.. i never had the experience of playing these games in the comfort of my own home, i had to secretly play them at friends homes.. meanwhile these people we so bored of the system, we never really played them... oh how i long for a Nintendo...
this is why i found this thing cool... i never knew this whole other side to the games.. it is quite interesting actually.. the fact that people took the time to crack the "codes" of the games blows my mind... i wonder if they just realized this as adults, or if they have been "working" on this since they were kids? ...probably should have asked..
well i read other peoples posts and they all sounded like they were pretty bored with the whole scene of mario swimming and swimming and swimming..oh and dying. i am still fascinated with all types of technology and i am so new at it, it makes me sick..there are probably kids who are 5 years old that can program a computer better than i can... can we say depressing? and on the subject of size of the "gallery"...WHO CARES? i saw what i was supposed to see, and i still think it was pretty cool. so all in all, my interaccess visit was a) lonely (went without the class) and b)really fascinating, but fairly short. i like going to low budget art shows...haha
thats it... writing and thinking about it again, is depressing.. Nintendo has scarred me for life. Nintendo=boring childhood... JUST KIDDING... but cummon, did you know a kid who didn't own a single game system growing up? you probably didn't. especially a kid who lived in hicksville...
-a

To Whom It May Concern

To those individuals who are not involved in Priam's class (thurs 12-3) which
is doing the CUBE Project, feel free to not read our posts or follow
our crazy directions, as they don't apply to you. They contain the word CUBE in the title.
You don't have to read them, its ok. Theres a bunch of projects happening in this space,
so filter it out. Hoorah.

This has been a PSA brought to you by someone named Chad.

Rock on.
Good luck.

CUBE update#2

Message to Priam's (Thurs, 12-3) class:

For thursday please bring:
- exacto knife
- ruler
* cutting mat would also be useful.

If you have access, or know someone who has one: bring a gluegun!

and pay your $20!

Also if you signed up for a specific task group, we will be looking for volunteers to lead
them, or assigning certain roles, asap.
So as groups, get ahold of emails, etc, get talking.

CUBE project class

For Priam's (Thurs 12-3)
Class, we need HOT GLUE GUNS for thursday.
So if you have one, or know someone that you can borrow/steal from
then please do so. We can only get a few from school, so the more we have the easier thursday will go.

Thanks

Paul

CUBE update#1

For Priam's (thurs, 12-3 class)

**NOTICE**URGENT**ATTENTION**DANGER**ASAP**

We need MONEY NOW!!!!!

This project is going to have a very hard time getting completed when we cannot buy the materials needed to do it!
So, students of Priam’s GDES1B26 Interaction Design class, you must:
1. Meet me (Paul) on MONDAY, MARCH, 27th, I will be on the 2nd floor of the main building, in the small foodcourt area. If you are there, LOOK FOR ME, because I will be there between the hours of 12:00-1:00. If there are people coming to see me, I can stay later, but CONTACT ME if needed.

If for some reason (death in the family, loss of limbs, illness, or something else that’s debilitating)you cannot meet me on Monday, you must arrange a time and place to meet either myself (Paul) or our treasurer (Vicky).

We need this money, without it, we have nothing. So please get your part in so that we can build a kick-ass installation. That’s right, I said ASS.

SO STAY UP TO DATE ON HAPPENINGS, READ YOUR EMAIL, AND THE BLOG!
This project will go much smoother and function better if we have people involved. So any questions/concerns/suggestions/tidbits/ponderings/etc, send an email! Or post on the blog! It’s ok to speak up, you don’t have to keep your mouth shut in order to conserve oxygen, theres plenty to go around. Wheeeeeee.

Email. It’s not hard people. Just do it. Its just part of school, how hard is that?



Moving along…

Up to Date Info
Vicky and I met on Friday and discussed the first stages of this project.
We made a lot of progress on the design end of things, and now we need to build a materials list; and have the materials for Thursday, in class.

The Idea
We plan on constructing 1 large base piece. This will be the light/power source for the entire project. This is our main focus. It will be laid out in a 3x3 grid. We would like to build enough pieces (1 for each student) so that we all have a piece in the end to take.
The puzzle pieces (cubes) will be assembled separately (in class Thursday) and will be used to make 3 different pictures/patterns. Each pattern consists of a 3x3 grid.
Each pattern/picture will be a different colour, but the cubes themselves are going to be white/neutral (undecided?)

Set-up/Our area
We need to decide where and who will be setting this up. We will be constructing a cube shaped area (tarps/fabric) to block sunlight. We should be able to just build 3 sides, we can use the side of the AboveGround building as a wall.
So we need to support it in some way (build support poles, or find a solution)

In Class
brainstorm/decide on 3 patterns to use for puzzles.
build cardboard cubes (9x3puzzles)
present our 2 physical demo designs.

Builders: supply list
wire
cardboard
bulbs
contacts
paper
(for the base)
power source
wood

Building Materials for class
Paper
Cardboard
Hot glue (we can get a few from school, but need people to bring them)
Exacto knives
Rulers
Lots of old newspaper (to cut on)

sweet

Pondering of a Field Trip

Well I can certainly say, it was nice to get away from that classroom. Field trips are good times had by all, I'm sure nobody would care to disagree. (especially when you live five blocks from said destination)
So I made my way down to Interaccess, a place I was very happy to hear about. Numerous galleries along Queen, but one practically centered around tech/interaction intrigued me.
I did my research on the show we were going to see, and basically took some of it for a test drive.
The Mario Trilogy pieces I found were by and OCAD student (my guess) and are available for download. So me being the lover of games that I am, I checked it out. Suffice to say, I was somewhat dissappointed. I give kudos to the artist and their efforts, but overall no matter how many times I tried to convince myself, I felt that it wasn't a good interactive piece of work. Basically you are allowed access to 4 functioning actions (left, right, jump, and start)
Boring.
I liked the way the Tony Hawk glitches were recorded and looped, but having been a young boy who played these games, I've had experience first hand. Nothing quite like a few huge game glitches to get you a million points, then smash into the pavement face first (seemingly unscathed).
CuteXDoom was a step up. This was better than the two previous, but still, as an avid gamer since Nintendo in 1985, "been there, done that" So, changing the characters in a game, and timing yourself just presents itself to me, and a poor game design. To function more as a design, etc. I can't help but expect more, but it was better than some.
My show-stopper would have to be the 2 classic style arcade games. Although the same lines, just editing the game, I felt it had more presence. The design of an arcade machine is art in itself! Ms. Pacman was interesting, from what I could guess, it had you going around a multicoloured blueprint of a different building, each level. Took me a couple tries to beat it, but it kept me involved. Plus it was the only exhibit that had GLITTER all over the damn thing.
*honourable mention to the sitckers plastered all over the place on CuteXDoom*
And the weird Asteroids adaptation was fun, just like the original itself. Not so much a lot of design, but they kept the basic framework (both digitally in the game, and physically in the arcade machine itself)
It was a neat little gallery, but I think if it were bigger and cleaned up a little, it would be quite the sight to see.

rock on.

InterAccess visit..

After visiting the website, I was actually anticipating the visit..and like everyone has said so far.. it was much different than what I've pictured it to be..
It was a bit disappointing, but somewhat interesting. The fact that they were able to hack(?) into the programs and make a game that works (even though it was only a loop) was pretty cool.
I actually enjoyed playing the "toy finding" game =) even though I did get kind of frustrated because I couldn't find all 10 of them.. haha
Maybe if there was some kind of explanations for each of the games..it would've been more helpful for us to know what was happening, and how it was happening.


I'm still not sure although, what the main purpose of the gallery was..but overall, it wasn't as great...but I guess it wasn't so bad...right? Hopefully they'll have more developed next time~

Lecture #4 Jan 25th

PERCEPTION

• happens in your senses (ex. eyes, ears, nose, mouth-which are all "channels")
• aka "sampling"
• consistency

COGNITION

• happens in your brain
• aka "process"
• recognizable
• ex. editing (to carry and transmit a message aka narrative)

For example: eating food = smell = brain = mouth = taste = brain(memories)

This example is also known as a feed back loop (interaction) - perception and cognition are always working together.

An example in media is the interpolation of a cube. This is the process happening in your head making sense of an object moving in space.

GESALT THEORY- understands things by shapes (perception), and in order to understand things by shape you must have seen the object before (cognition)

Propreception (Kinesthesia) - see related web page

Media relies on

• sense of space (reality/perception)
• on 2D screen
• want people to have an experience
• to project yourself in a 3D space
• see

formal definitions of terms:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proprioception

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gestalt_theory

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognition

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perception

other possibly related web sites:

http://www.electrochem.org/publications/interface/interface.htm - an interesting page for a magazine

http://www.core77.com/ - an industrial design web page

http://www.guerrilla-innovation.com/ - web page dedicated to innovation

Mapping & metaphor

Mapping is taking these aspects and shaping them.
Metaphor is comparing of an abstract output to a physical output.(ie. a digital clock, to a physical clock (w/moving hands))
Function is the mapping element in the equation, where all the details are spread out into a virtual plain and so that they can be ready for the fusion of the other components.
while Form is the metaphoric aspect of the process, a layout is created so that the "functions" may be applied.
after the juxtaposition is completed a final product can be presented.
during this process the aspect of design is needed to be taken into consideration. comprising of numerous variables.

Project and style
target and users
There are differnet Layout dimensions:ie. 3D (space), 4D (time)
In the relationship shared between (space + time) regards to the use of the object is evident.

Layout ----> interface:
ex) car dashboard
there are the gauges (projecting the information), steering wheel, gear shift (the interface elements)
Mapping --> design --> interface --> information
Exist in the same flow: interface elements (physical) + information

ex) while driving:

vibration - feel the speed (acceleration)
guages - tells the speed (km/h)
Feedback = Response
The answer of the system that is being used.
Loop - ready, on, awaiting input to produce feedback.

to every action there is always a reaction and with this taken into account the "feedback" can be recorded.
Numerous processes are occuring while driving:
looking outside,seeing gauges (speed), feeling vibration, while the entire time thoughts racing through your head,
you might be turning...
Numerous processes running at the same time but they don't have the same nature (abstract, physical)
Driving is a flow: an even distribution of all of these different processes.
Analyze --> Breaking it down --> Processes
Mapping --> spreading processes evenly on a scale.
from abstract <-----to-----> physical
Interface - a system to send instructions.
System - an IN and OUT.
Affordances - inverse casts (where and how to interact)
Behaviour of a system, to give feedback.
Form Follows Function
Cybernetics - WWII, everything in nature/the world is a system
Physical: more physicality, time and space, 24 hours (overall picture)
tells where you lie in the overall layout of the day, somewhere in those 24 hours. (time + space)(approximation)
Digital:data,pure precision,a.m. & p.m. needed to compensate
There are affordances in physical and graphical space.
Bit - 1 unit of information.