Class 9/27/10

Really can't say a lot about this considering I was unable to make it to class yesterday! :(

Fear Reflection Class

This class was well in my opinion interesting but yet at the same time. I had already, in my own past thought about this very thing. It was nice to revisit the topic yet didn't seem to give me that spark that this class always does. I will have to admit though that the assignment for this previous class session does sound very interesting. I am very excited to get started on it and see where it takes me!

What Sense would make Sense?

I've been thinking long and hard about what new sense we, humans, would have and how it would be received or interpreted by us. It didn't really dawn on me until I was at my golf outing yesterday that the having the sense of distance, actually measuring it, would be very very handy! This sense would be perceived through your sense of vision. I know that some of you are probably thinking that some of us already have a good sense of distance. This new sense that I am proposing is a very precise sense of measuring distances. This sense would only be able to measure the distances that you could see. So more less if a wall is blocking your view of say a tree in the distance, you would only be able to measure the distance from you to the wall. This could also prove very valuable when having to come to a stop abruptly on the interstate in rush hour!

AVL & Beyond!

After our recent visit to the AVL (Advanced Visualization Lab), my head almost instantly started spinning out of control with ideas! What our class was able to see during our mini field trip was absolutely amazing. I had no idea that the locked down side of the IT building was doing that much state of the art development.

This assignment is one that I feel like I can run with! One piece of technology that really seemed to grab my eye, more than the others, was the device that allowed the user to feel different textures without actually touching them. My mind went on a bit of a rant when I realized that they were testing and developing this device.

My location for this device to be used is the Indianapolis Museum of Art. I really see this device being placed in some sort of either children's area and/or a normal exhibit of really any type of art. The ideal setting for this would be a pottery exhibit. Instead of the user holding onto a pen-like device and looking at a screen, she/he would instead sit down at a throwing wheel wearing a pair of 3D glasses and gloves filled outfitted with censors. The user would then have to control the speed of the throwing wheel just as a normal potter would. They would then pick up a raw chunk of clay and place it on the wheel just like normal. Instead of actually picking anything up, the software, computing engine, and 3D atmosphere would go to work. The viewing screens that the user would be looking at during this process would include a table top screen that would function as the throwing wheel and the piece of pottery that they are creating. A left side panel, a middle screen that would depict directly in front of the user, and a right side panel. There would also be a ceiling panel that would depict the ceiling and where ever else the user would look as well as a floor panel that the user would walk on while entering the virtual pottery studio. This software program that would be running to provide all of this, would allow the end user to throw their own piece of pottery and either email it or save it to their own personal memory stick. She/He would then be able to take this file(s) home and paint and design the look of them in any graphic design program (Illustrator, Photoshop, etc). The entire time the specialized gloves that would be worn would be giving the user the different textures, contours, and surface types that are felt when throwing pottery. Every action the user would provide to the system, there would be a reaction that would be produced by a collaboration of the software, hardware, and user.

This overall experience that the museum would be providing to its guests would not only be a very lucrative exhibition attraction, but also an extra educational tool. This amazing piece of technology would help educate exhibit visitors understand what all it takes to create the wonderful pieces they are viewing in the exhibit.

A Day at Cedar Point...Backwards?

I really think that I need to start giving these assignments that are given in this class a bit more of an open mind. After being assigned this "walking backwards" assignment, I was really starting to think, "What in the world is the point of all of this? I thought this was a New Media class not a complete blow off course!" Like usual, I was proven wrong. This assignment really started to get me thinking not only about New Media, but how new products or trends are introduced to the public in provocative and sometimes questionable ways.

For my walking backwards experience, I chose to do it at Cedar Point in Sandusky, OH. I decided to only walk around backwards for half of the day and see what kind of reactions I would get in a heavily populated spot. It was very, very interested to say the least! A lot of people just looked and either smiled and chuckled, or laughed. Some of the other people just turned the other cheek or got upset! To clear things up, all I was doing was walking backwards at an amusement park. I wasn't making any sounds other than talking. I wasn't disrupting anyone else. Lastly, I wasn't doing anything wrong! So many people were so quick to either make a judgement or assume what was going on that it really shocked me to say the least. Another thing that shocked me was the number of people that actually asked me why I was walking backwards. There were a whopping total of two people that actually asked what I was doing. After answering they seemed to have an entirely different train of thought! It was almost as if the light came on.

My experience was well rather weird in my opinion. The entire feeling of having something that you've always had quickly taken away hit me as soon as I took my first step walking backwards. After the first few hundred steps, I felt like I was starting to get the hang of this new experience. As the first uneven spot in the pavement approached, unbeknown to me, the feeling of having the hang of walking backwards came to a crashing halt. Literally. Yep, I fell down in the middle of Cedar Point. Thankfully, for both my humiliation and ass' sake, this was the only time I fell down.

By lunch time I decided to call it quits and after starting to walk "normally" again, the feeling of doing something new ran throughout my body once again. It didn't take nearly as long to get use to walking normal. All in all it wasn't a bad experience, nor really that great of one either. Just a different one to say the least.

Reflecting back to this entire experience really makes me think about how new products are introduced to users and the public. Generally, not always, but generally all new products try to come in with some sort of bang. This is achieved either with a rather eye catching or provocative way. This provocative way isn't always something that is morally wrong or perceived as wrong, just something that is generally not something that is generally done. A prime example of this is walking backwards in an amusement park. This was a smaller rather different assignment that most definitely got me thinking outside of the box!