Re:View is a self-care system for taking time-lapse first person photos during your day.

Here are some drawing of my story board for my final video presentation.

The biggest thing to document in my process since I decided my first order loop is the process of wearing the camera was actually logging all the pictures I have been taking. The process of taking pictures brought many of the challenges my real system would require were it deployed.

Camera – I decided to use an old android phone I had for my proto type. It’s form factor allowed me to easily hang it from my neck. I looked into the Android SDK to develop an app that would take time lapse photos. The task seemed unnecessary and I started looking at the android marked for a camera app that would operate in the background and take time lapse photos at specified intervals. After a few attempts I finally found an app that I thought would work. After 3-4 attempts I finally got all the settings correct. I can open up the app and start taking pictures then press the power button and turn off the screen. At first I took pictures every 15 seconds, but this produced too many photos and would cause the app to take more photos than it could process. It had to change it to take a photo every 30 seconds. The main challenge that arose was battery life I could only take photos for 6 hours or so. So obviously the next prototype needs to use a different platform or android device

When to document – I am going to use the camera around the thanksgiving holiday. As I have been planning Re:View it has become apparent that the output will be very personal. I will be the best subject to test with for now. It seems like a lot to ask someone. “Let me use your life as a project”. Also the output of wearing the device is intended for personal use. Though there could certainly be instances where a user might want to share individual or series of pictures. The pictures I have taken during early testing have acted as strong personal reminders as I look back hours and days later.

Displaying the Output – I wanted users to be able to “play” through the pictures like a movie, and have some kind of timeline or processing the images to determine pre-identify when I go from one place to another. Geo-tagging also provided a means of sorting the photos by location. But turning on geo-tagging shortened my battery life too drastically so I had to keep it turned of at this stage of development.

The Picture included is of the first order and second order feedback loops for my self-care system. Review has the opportunity to interact with different kinds of behaviors. The sub goal diagramed in this set of loops is the first phase of wearing the camera and interacting with the photos the second loop is a specific reaction and goal. In this drawing my sub goal was to eat smaller portions. Some of my other sub goals are -eating smaller portions, walking more, spending more time outside, and reading longer. There are two phases of triggers. The first phase is looking at the image. Seeing the image will act as a trigger, once seeing the image triggers the opportunity for change. The reminders that you set for yourself delivered to your phone will trigger you to change your behavior.
For eating smaller portions, Re:View help you work your way down the purple path of increasing a behavior from now on.

The broader element I am becoming interested in is memory. How will our memories be affected if we have the ability to flip back through first person views of our past experience. This falls outside the typical design process we have outlined in class, but I will continue to think about it as my project develops.

I have begun experimenting with a possible proto type to take photos of my own experiences. I included the feedback loop for taking the stairs because I have chosen that as my action/goal. single loop could replace eating smaller portions in the feedback loop above, or both could be concurrent goals with separate reminders.

Final Project Brief –
My goal is to create a system that will provide photographic video feedback to help change behavior. Users will wear a camera on their chest. The Camera will take a photo every 30 seconds. The output will then be viewable as a video. The user will be able to look at their video and easily sort through the elements of their day. There are a few different elements of the project.

I am focusing on photography as the data. My intention is to have users better connect with their actions and goals. They will be able to see a visual feedback of their behavior. Seeing visual feedback will help users to identify behaviors they wish to modify in their lives. The first this I want users to gain is a better general awareness of themselves and their actions.

It is easy to say I want to be healthier but to visually identify opportunities to actually be more healthy will be a powerful tool to help people live healthier lives.
There are a wide range of behaviors that the interface could be used to target;

smoking cesation, drinking less frequently, get more exercise, go to bed earlier, eat healthier, ect.

All of these are broad and general. Through watching your footage you could say things like “Do not smoke on my lunch break”, “Get iced tea with dinner on week nights”, “Walk home from work on wednesdays and fridays instead of taking the train”, “Read in the evening instead of watching an entire movie”, “Do not go to shake shack for lunch”.

When users have an opportunity to see first hand their actions and identify them

Below are some of my notes and sketches about the early stages of my final project

These are three 1st order feedback loops. The first two are for Stretching in the morning and taking the stairs at ITP when I go to class. The third diagram is for anti-lock braking systems.

For the stretching loop I focused on setting my alarm 10 minutes early to allow myself extra time to stretch when I first wake up. My Goal was to stretch when I wake up. My comparator was whether I stretched or not when I woke up. My action was to set my alarm early and stretch when I wake up. The environment is me stretching. Disturbances that I identified were forgetting to stretch, being tired or lazy, and sleeping through my alarm. I am the only sensor that determines if I did stretch or not.

The second loop I diagrammed was to remind myself to take the stairs at ITP when I have class. My goal was to take the stairs at ITP, not the elevator. My comparator was did I take the stairs when coming and going from the floor. My action was to remind myself to take the stairs by sending to myself a text based on when I have class. The environment is me taking the stairs. Disturbances to the system are me being lazy, forgetting my phone, not having service. I am the sensor in the system.

For the third diagram we were assigned to diagram something totally outside our interest. I choose to diagram anti-lock brakes. I was inspired by Steve’s example of a carburetor. The goal is to keep traction on the road surface while braking. The comparator is weather all of the tires have traction or not. The action of ABS is to pulse each brake to maintain traction on each wheel. The environment is the wheel and contact surface on the road. Disturbances are things like road conditions, speed, and hazards. For sensing ABS systems use a controller and a magnetic wire to determine if each wheel individually has traction.