PPM - Meeting Our Specialists 3

Post no. 8

This time, only Yee Siang was present for the consultation. 

This was a TECHNICAL CONSULTATION.

Yee Siang was really patient with me when I explained the idea. ( I put it clearly in a Word Document this time) I guess he got a pretty clear idea on what I wanted to achieve; technical wise.

As for Me, I was elated out of my mind. The technicalities weren't a hindrance no longer! 

Shouldn't make such a sweeping statement though, I might jinx it. I know it is going to be hard, but to know that the idea is actually plausible made me more excited than ever to start on  my prospectus and get things going.

I realized something, I'm reverse engineering!

I'm breaking my number one rule of realizing the idea first, and then the execution later. Well I guess it's good to know your walls before clumsily plummeting myself head first into them later. 

Items discussed:

- I have to find a placement for the really long wifi stick that is needed to make my device wireless. I would probably make a hairband or a sort of led head gear with ears to disguise it. 

- I actually thought of putting a foam machine like in clubs. And when a particular level is reached, it would trigger it via 'Relay'.  It was very enlightening to know that this additional feature was doable. It needed to be 5Volts according to YS.

- Accelerometer sensors and Vibration motors.

The vibration would be part of the feedback and the accelerometer would be the sensor which sends the input.

- Face cropping can be done before the participation of the interaction.

My CONTEXTUAL CONSULTATION (similar with the previous post) is coming up this Friday and I'm definitely going to put more work into it. Jazmi and Sweii are more dominant in this department. I have to make sure my idea would be clever and smart. I don't want it to be too shallow. 

What to do next?

- Be ready for my next meeting with the tutors and work on the concept.

PPM - Meeting Our Specialists 2

Post no.7

Personal Thoughts:
To be honest, I haven't prepared as much as I'd like to due to my enthusiasm for perfecting my slides for my other class. Anyway, the more I researched, the less confident I am with my idea. Everything seemed to be done already! Felt like my idea just seems like a drop into a pool of common and boring ideas that have no mind-blowing practicality.

I was actually quite distressed after the consultation, thinking of scratching the whole idea of Wearable Media. I personally felt like this form of media is so so young and naive, it feels more of a transition to other technology rather than a technology itself. It's oh so limiting! Or.. I might just have a surprisingly conventional unimaginative brain. (continues to beat myself up)

I tried to 'heal' the concept with adding new features, like by including a rhythmic game, competition, projection mapping and what not til it became one large bundle of confused mess.

Also, I think the reasons why I'm doing this is because I could feel the shallowness and distaste of the idea, about how I'm actually encouraging people to party all night at Raves and what not. I tried to compensate that by creating something that would 'enhance' their partying experience. Would I really want that?

Out of desperation, I even thought of realizing THIS concept.

Okay more honesty over here, I actually wanted to execute Wearable media because I wanted to get the ROI on the Adafruit Flora board I worked for. This might be the main reason I'm in this bottomless pit of confusion. I really love the technology and the interactivity, but as I mentioned, it. is.so.limiting. (At least for me and my knowledge of ever executing a finished, marketable product)

My problem is: I'm overly ambitious.

Should I scratch it?

ANYWAY,

Consultation:
Today was my second consultation with Sweii and Jazmi. I started to talk to Jazmi about the technicalities of Flash/Resolume and such. Was told that hit sensors are not reliable and that Flash could not connect to Resolume.
I discussed that my product would be used outdoors and for thousands of people in a large scale. But of course, for the final presentation my product would be way smaller in scale.
Here's of an example of a simpler version of my project.

Xyloband is a technology that was created for integration into Coldplay’s Mylo Xyloto live shows by fan Jason Regler.  These flashing LED wristbands are controlled by proprietary software and radio transmitter frequency to control the wristbands up to 328 yards away.  The wristbands each have a tiny receiver that allows data from the laptop to communicate when and how to flash. 

I basically just want to put in more interaction into this low cost tech 'wristband'. Here's the link:

http://www.xylobands.com/

It's like 70% the same. Time to do some major scratching.

Actions:

• Create a clear document, listing all my objectives, ideas, concepts and elements.
• Research on the market. Why must the current wearable media be linked to phones? Are buyers not ready for it yet?
• Explore more research papers by (suggested) MIT Media Lab/KEIO Uni 

Some Slides to further increase my research

Post no. 6

MY PREZI ON WEARABLE MEDIA

Here's a link to my prezi on the future of Wearable Media. I did this presentation for my EMM class, but it has it relations to my essay as well.

Here's the script to accompany the slides.

Slides 1 and 2: 

I will be talking about Wearable Media and its future in technology.

3:

But first, a little summary on the history of communication. Humans first begin communicating with gestures, then oral, then text, broadcasting and digital.

4:

What is Wearable Media you might ask?

It's basically tech which you could put on or off. They seem cool at first, but how is this technological evolution going to be a necessity? What are the real functional uses of wearable media?

5:

Wearable Tech now could be separated into two main functions. Utility and entertainment. In the present, we have wearable tech in different fields such as

Military: Exoskeletons for rehabilitation or to preserve body durability and energy

Healthcare : Armbands To measure heart rate and blood pressures

Fitness: Smart Clothing, Sleep Sensors

Infotainment: Samsung galaxy gear, Google glass and MYO, which all requires wireless bluetooth connections to mobile devices and computers.

6:

There are different misconceptions between wearable media and Gestural Tech.

Both are different entities, although some tech merges the two.

The differences between Gestural Tech and Wearable Media..

Like wearable MYO armband, it requires the user to wear the armband, perform the gesture and then it translates them onto your device. Which brings me to my next question.

7:

All this talk about Google Glass and smart watches got me thinking. Will it ever replace Smart Phones? Mobile phones are considered a necessity for us, the digital natives.

 Are they just an extension for mobile phones?

Wearable media has their limitations.

When we switch between apps.

However, Flexible screened mobile phones are soon to be sold. Will they be wearable as well? Therefore, it would breach a gap between handheld devices and wearable media.

8:

Will we ever be able to take them off?

Take the electronic tattoo display concept for example. Silicon is slipped under the skin. Two small tubes on the device are attached to an artery and a vein to allow the blood to flow to a coin-sized blood fuel cell that converts glucose and oxygen to electricity. 
Uses tiny microscopic spheres for the display.

 “Ophthalmic Electrochemical Sensors,” The sensors are designed to read chemicals in the tear fluid of the wearer’s eye and alert the user through a little embedded LED light, when user's blood sugar falls to dangerous levels.

Thermoelectric Bracelets inventions by MIT enable individuals to control their own body temperature, so they would not need to use large cooling or heating units to achieve 'thermal comfort'.

Microsoft is developing an Earbud mood detector where it detects the mood of the listener via heart rate and thermometer, to play music that suited your mood.

Ironically, these wearable media are invented to solved those problems.

Conclusion:

Are we reversing the history of communication? Verbal communication and gesture recognition with technology is expanding. After all, they are our primitive ways of communicating.

Comments were:
- Include display methods.
- Add in how wearable media helps the disabled.
- Start the predictions earlier in the slides.
- Conclude with the topics relating to the subtopic at the first slide. Is it really necessary?
  Well it is, as I believe wearable media is just a transition to mainstream implant technology. It's an important part of technological evolution if I might add.

PPM - Meeting Our Specialists

Post no. 5

Today I had a meeting with my specialist tutors Yee Siang and Jazmi.

I explained my idea on the wearable media being used in concerts, and we discussed about how I could include the contents of the audience into the display output itself. Yee Siang said that I needed to use C++ and had to consider the amount of people if I wanted to crop out their faces and include them into the projection mapping display. I had the inspiration of face cropping from a theme park ride in Disney Land where it crops the riders faces and renders them into an animation on the screen. It has a really loading time though, something I want to avoid.

Sweii then suggested that I could build a website where it collects the audiences content when they buy tickets online. It could provide both traffic for the potential sponsor and user content for the concert.

I had a little motto about how the audience controls the concert rather than the other way round. Feedback is important to the artists, they could actually get a number for data mining and market research. How could the audience contribute to the artists as well?

I have two angles on the approach to this project.

1. They could replace lighters/phone displays (when they wave them along to the tempo of the songs the artists are performing)
2. The could be in a gestural feedback form, just like the Colosseum Gladiator fighters during the Roman Empire.

I would not want users to download apps or scan QR codes to interact with the installation. It's too much of a hassle.

Plus, I have included labels at the bottom of each post for easier navigation. Posts will be segregated based on the progress labels of my project. 

PPM - Statement of Intent

Post no. 4

STATEMENT OF INTENT (PPM)

Topic: A Gestural Tech Game

Key Ideas	The key idea of this project is to create an immersive, experience/game that can breach between the digital and physical world seamlessly with wearable sensors. The output will be in the form of projection mapping.
About	Users are able to use every day offline gestures like clapping, hi-fiving, or shaking hands to interact with the installation game. They are required to put on a piece of wearable media first, to experience them.
Issues	1.      Media is commonly confined into screens. Interactive Advertising isn't confined to a Web, as mentioned by Tessa Wegert in an article on clickz.com. Media is diverse, creative and has no boundaries. Therefore, it being confined into screens limits its potential to grow and expand on more greater possibilities. Technology should be available all around us, seamlessly melting into our daily routines. Rather than we, blending and merging our focus to less-than-lively screens. 2.      Motion tracking is inconvenient and troublesome. Based on personal experience at experiments of motion tracking by notable Interactive Studios by ISOBAR and Kinect released games, the calibration time needed deemed too hassling and the results of the output are minimal and buggy. There are experiments with mechanical motion capture where users are to wear simple arm bands at certain spots, without the use of a camera or calibration. They are found on YouTube via the username Snappers Mocaps. They would also not have to worry about losing the tracking halfway during the interaction experience as this wireless mechanical tech could automatically measure direct movements from the direct muscles of the user. With Kinect, body parts would occasionally overlap each other as the calibration gets confused and wrong.
How it relates to multimedia	Gesture Tech and Wearable Media is commonly predicted as the future of technology by Multimedia experts. This interactive experience gives technology a new and more varied ‘body’ than what they are confined in today; which are screens. Gesture Tech and Wearable Media are both a combination of UBI computing (hardware) and Natural User Interface (software). “UBI computing is an advanced computing concept where computing is made to appear everywhere and anywhere.”
Research Question	What is the future for the seamlessness between the digital and the physical world? Would technology be superior to us or otherwise?
Inspirations from the research	Pranav Mistry – Sixth Sense His research encompasses the seamless connection between the physical and digital world. He takes media out of the screen and enables it to be available on any platform or surface. He explores the use of motion tracking as the input, and a small projection device as the output. This projector is designed to be worn on the neck like a regular necklace, while receiving tracking data from the colour taped fingertips of the user. By performing regular hand gestures like pinching and hand compositing, one is able to drag and drop data in real time and take pictures.

About the Project

Genre	Gestural Music Game
Form	Installation
Audio/sonic pieces	Free or purchased sound effects and music will be used. As for the hardware, speakers should do. I hope to get a surround sound by carefully experimenting the placements of those speakers.
Skills needed	Arduino Coding Sewing Animation of Motion graphics
Installation Details	Hardware/Software Arduino Adafruit Touch sensors/sound sensors Flash/Resolume Arena Size The projection would be about 3 metres. The Wearable media would be small and easy to put on. No bigger than a regular sized glove. Time to Consume 30 seconds or less. Number of participants 1
How it works	To initiate the game, users are to clap according to the beat to control the display of the projection mapping.
Risk Assessments	-          Fragile setups
Funding	·         Personal investments ·         Crowd-Funding (Kickstarter) ·         Sales

Target Audience: Young adults

Likely consumers	Ages: 18-25 Occupation: College students to young working adults. Interests: Enjoys socializing and technology. Media consumptions: Music videos, concerts Lifestyles: Party goers, Socialites Consumer behaviours:  Have short attention span, easily excitable
Their Experience with the “Final Year Project”	First, they would put on the wearable media. The will be able to hear the song and react according to the beat. The feedback will be given in the form of projection mapping and sound effects. The experience will conclude with the user's face being captured and showed through projection mapping on a piece in the installation design.

How it relates to existing skills and knowledge

The existing knowledge that I currently possess would act as a foundation to what I would do for the final project. Coding the Adafruit Flora (a circuit board specialized for wearable media) with my previous subject; Livetags provided the basic knowledge of handling the wiring and circuitry needed to operate and function the project.

How it addresses new skills and learning

Since this would be an individual project, one of the new skills that I would acquire would be a further advancement on the understanding of processing coding. I would also need to improve on UX and interface designing. Other than that, I would have a deeper learning on the behaviours of users. Questions would be asked; like what would make them excited to use it? How would they remember the experience? Would they want to use this media in the future? Graphical wise I would also like to explore and reinvent my own personal style which could signify my personality and interests.

How it relates to the Degree essay

This project would complement the degree essay which researches on the future of Gestural Tech and Wearable media. The essay would argue about how these forms of media would may or may not be the next cultural technological phenomenon. It would also analyse predictions and current developments of this form of media today. 

PPM - Statement of Intent (Draft)

Post no.3

Statement of Intent – Draft

Today I had the chance to consult Sweii (PPM lecturer) about the Statement of Intent draft. After much thought and research, I managed to narrow down my idea to what I might execute for my final year project.

I have decided to merge both projection mapping and wearable media into one installation artefact.

We discussed a few important notes:
1. It is going to have an entertainment or utility factor?
2. Is there going to be a narrative? I should keep my options open for this one. I would very much prefer the multiplayer aspect rather than an individual participation.
3. Maybe this could be the opportunity for me to show my conceptualization skills. Could I incorporate this installation into an advertisement?

AS mentioned in my previous posts, I would want to have my installation bring forth emotion and enjoyment. So right now, my plan is leaning more towards the entertainment side rather than its utility. One of the reasons why I chose to do so is because of this existing Bluetooth phone glove I saw over the internet. Why would I want to remake something that has already been done?

Besides, I figured people would remember experiences more. I have to measure my capabilities as well, I really need to be realistic and depend on my past experiences with installations. This would be a prototype, I hope next time it would be wireless just like one of those rave rings I got where you could just put it on easily.

What’s next?
What I am going to do:
- Start thinking of a concept I could relate to my project. (I have a ridiculous concept on this one.
- I’ll bold it and you can read it after this list)
- Further research on existing technology that relates to what I might be doing.

Ridiculous Concept:

I have been to ONE rave in my life and a couple of concerts. Since I was planning to use clapping as one of the prime gestures (and also the most primitive of the bunch) to initiate the gameplay which would then output through projection mapping, I thought that I could have this technology be part of parties and concerts where people could interact with the displays and mood of the concerts.

People go to concerts and raves for the music. Not about getting high and dying because of overdose. So I figured, to keep everyone sober and excited, why not have them control the excitement of the concert? When they clap according to the beat, it could control the hype of the displays and special effects. (In the future, why not involve fireworks and stage effects as well?) This way everyone would LOVE to participate and have their feedback to the concert as well.
Maybe it would work similarly to the Gladiator fights in the Colloseum centuries ago where the crowd decides the fate of the losing Gladiator just by thumbing up or thumbing down? Gestures. Maybe this similar concept could be applied to these concerts as feedback if the DJ is doing a good work or not.

There’s something about the ‘Law of conformation’. People get excited when people are clapping in unison. These are all just a couple of thoughts that are from the top of my head.
Feedbacks are important as well for the betterment of the product. That is why both big and small companies like Google, Facebook and such placed such great importance on them.

Lead to action:
Research more.
Feedback to self: There’s A LOT of cognitive bias in this post. Contradictions.