a workshop on workshops

This morning we had a workshop on how to conduct a workshop. It ended up being more like an open lecture/discussion with input from all participants. Main outcome: There is no other way learning how to do a good workshop than doing a workshop. One nice book-resource many people may not know (at least i didn't ;)

"The Idea Agent" by  Jonas Michanek and Andréas Breiler...There is also a homepage about it here

programming for interactivity

We had a one week course on different programming languages. We looked into HTML5, CSS and ActionScript. In the end i coded a small application for Android using AdobeAir and ActionScript 3. It is a small multi-touch drum-machine enabling the user to create a drum-set with hihats, snare- and kick-drums. By tapping the white shapes on the bottom, a new drum is created. Rotating the orange pentagon switches between 5 different kick-drums, rotating the blue square switches between 4 different snare-drums, rotating the green triangle switched between 3 hihats. Using pinch / spread gestures enlarges the "drum-shapes" and increases their volume. The white stripe on the top edge makes it possible to reset the application by swiping over it.

fall semester 1: experience prototyping

The fall semester started intensively right away: our first class was called "experience prototyping" and focused on learning different prototyping tools. It was divided in five one-week courses with different themes and techniques to explore on. Starting with video-prototyping, continuing with explorations on human-interface-devices (e.g. game-controllers), letting devices talk to the internet it ended with a week of working on the Microsoft Kinect and gestural interaction. I will put more detailed descriptions on my homepage, but here are some of the results:



Above you can watch an experimental video we (Daniel Jansson, Alexis Morin and myself) shot in the first week, using a GoPro cam. Our idea was to collect some perspectives machines could have on humans, reversing the point of view we are used to.



The second week we (Siri Johansson, Shivanjali Tomar and myself) created a small game in Processsing, with the help of an awesome small tool called Kaliber, two of our classmates created. It uses PlayStation Move controller and creates a physical social gaming experience.



In week three we (Adam Henriksson and myself) built a "Random Motion Machine". The machine consists of a platform that travels over a Makerslide driven by a stepper motor. The connected arms are connected through bearings all creating random motion. Different combinations of speed, movement intervals and length of arms creates different expression of the light cloud. The motor is driven by an Arduino and controlled in Processing. 



Week four was about creating physical interactions, that are controlled by standard protocols. In the first, 48 hour task we (Alexis Morin, Miha Feus and myself) created two boxes that did some breathing-effect. One box contained two fans blowing in reverse direction that took turns depending on an standardized input protocol (In our case a distance sensor). All groups in our class created an input and and output device which communicated with the same standard protocol, so in the end we could exchange all devices and combine different input and outputs.

( video still in progress )

The second task took 72 hours and was about creating a device that is controlled by some API using Breakout.js and the Firmata protocol. We (Shivanjali and myself) chose to work with the twitter API. We built a device that translate a tweets into a physical movement (using Arduino) and shows the time passed since the tweet. By using a service like IFTTT you can use the device for many different things. One idea is to be reminded of events, or seeing if somebody sent you a message.

( video still in progress )

In the fifth and last week of the Experience Prototyping course, we had the chance to freely work with any technology and learn about something we could choose on our own. We (Lynn Bui, Harry Clayton Cook and myself) chose to play around with the XBox Kinect. We coded a small application that enabled up to four people to "paint" with motion detection. We looked into the Processing libraries for Kinect and learned basic code needed to use it for prototyping.

2 great tools for mac

I started to use two tools which dramatically increased my productivity. That's a good thing to work with so many different people, there is almost no day you do not learn something - even if it is only a super simple tool.

#1 - "TotalFinder" - It simply adds Tabs to the Mac OS finder and makes it a lot more convenient to use multiple finder windows..or tabs..whatever. It also adds a Dual-window feature to the finder, something I really like about working with Windows 7.

#2 - "iAWriter" - A tool to create text. Not more, not less. And that's exactly what I love about it - no danger of procrastinating in choosing fonts or playing around with grids and layout. Just text.