Post no. 2
Okay so I had my presentation on the 5 4 3 2 1 Poster today.
So here is how it went:
I talked about gestural tech and how I have an interest in them. I spent majority of my time researching the ideas rather than the execution methods because I believe ideas always have the upper hand. Execution is just secondary.
You could say that I fell in love with the idea of breaching both the digital and the physical world. Pranav Mistry fed me that. His ideas of the future seem to parallel mine. Speaking of gestural tech, I have been reading up on the history of media and how people started to communicate since the primitive era.
It all began with gestures. Then vocal communication. A few thousand years later, came writing and print. Broadcasting and digital communication came right after.
So why not use content that has already been around for thousands of years? Gestures are used everywhere. It goes where sound could not. Ie. Sign language.
Hand shakes, composting pictures with fingers, waving goodbye, clapping, and ..rude gestures are all key gestures still being used today.
Now am I going to make these gestures expand their usability? Could it really mean more, could it DO more? Maybe we could just form the gesture of a phone like we would normally do, and use it like a regular phone?
What we could do with these gestures and their imaginary functions, is to realize it. Make it real. This isn't a new idea, but I think it's worth exploring.
Personally I feel media is being restricted to screens. It should be everywhere, melding into our lives, not the other way around.
Okay, back to the poster.
I found the drum pants very interesting, it takes the idea of hitting your pants on the way home in a school bus and making it real. It has sensors in them and when the user hits that particular area of the pants, the drum sounds.
Another is the guitar shirt where chords are programmed to individual sensors on the shirt enabling the user to 'strum' the guitar and play actual songs on them.
The two theories I found relevant to the subject matter would be the :
'Symbolic Interactionism' by George Herbert Mead
This theory dictates the view of social behaviour that emphasizes linguistic or gestural communication and its subjective understanding, especially the role of language in the formation of the child as a social being.
I could use this theory to identify how people use gestures and the psychology behind them.
and
'The extensions of Man' by Marshall McLuhan
McLuhan proposes that the media, not the content that they carry, should be the focus of study.
He suggests that the hardware is more important than the content itself! I might have a little debate on this soon.
3 HEROES
A little more than what is not on the poster:
Pranav Mistry
What else can I say? I admire his ideas and I really hope he could be one of the pioneers of future technology.
Walt Disney
One of my childhood heroes. He definitely thought me that no dream is too big or too crazy. Also, you might fall into the lowest of pits but somehow you'd always rise higher than you ever were.
Steve Jobs
I know that it seems a little far fetched that I have chosen Steve Jobs as one of my heroes considering his lack of sympathy toward incompetence and his sunny disposition around the workplace. But what I do admire about him is his ability to sell a product without you knowing that you are being sold to. Generally people like me hate seeing advertisements (ad-blocker) and door-to-door salesmen (if they still do exist).
I would actually voluntarily log on to YouTube, and watch him sell me things even though it was the first generation ipad. I just love how he believes in the product he's selling.
The AFTERMATH EXERCISE
I wrote this on a piece of mahjong paper which I thought was pretty clever. *pats back*
My installation would have to induce:
- Excitement
- Enjoyment (I know the two mean the same but that's just how important it is to mention it twice)
- Easy Navigation (Lots of R & D needed here)
- Emotion
- Nostalgia (I wanted to find another E but.. Oh well. Couldn't find other words that could convey remembrance.)
Issues on this wearable tech project.
1. I have to learn how to sew. More worried about this than the coding.
I bring dishonor to the women race.
On a more personal note:
I never really talked about my specific idea in the presentation. I just wasn't sure yet. I feel like the process has been too quick. Especially on the final decision on the final project. It just seems so conclusive. I know it's bound to change. It's like I'm obligated to regurgitate an idea without giving it much thought or exploring yet. Gosh, I haven't even done any proper market research on the target audience and demands of whatever I will do for the final assignment. Will it still be relevant next year during my final exhibition?
So many unanswered questions.
Til then, au revior tout le monde!
