Kate's ITP Blog

This week's assignment was to create an object that engaged with the concept of connection, whether by creating a new type of connector, or by representing the concept in a novel way. Despina provided us with some conductive thread to use, so I was eager to experiment with this new material, and to use this project as a physical computing refresher, since it has been a long time since I've wired a circuit. I decided to experiment with whether I could use the conductive thread on velcro as the connector. Also, in thinking about connections in terms of people, it occurred to me that connections often grow in physical spaces that are disconnected from the surrounding world, thus promoting a sense of intimacy. I decided to make a set of curtains embedded with LEDs, and wired so that the LEDs would light when the curtains were closed--thereby creating an ambient interior space.

It turns out that I had forgotten pretty much everything I knew about physical computing, and misremebered the rest... Since I never really mastered the skill of drawing a proper schematic, I did what I could to sketch out the design. As you may (or may not) be able to tell from the grapic below, I was under the mistaken impression that I could get away with using just one power and ground line on each side of the curtain for both the switch and the LEDs.

I sewed in the conductive thread using the bobbin on my sewing machine, which worked very well. I then hand sewed the velcro tabs onto each side and wired in the LEDs on each side. I programmed the Arduino (code below) and attached the curtains to the board, but of course since my setup was faulty, the circuit didn't work. I went back and sewed in another line of conductive thread on each curtain for the switch, which did the trick, and things then worked as expected with the LEDs lighting when the curtain was closed and attached with the velcro, and turning off when the switch was unhooked.

Arduino Code

// declare variables for combination lock:
int switch1Pin = 2;      //  digital input pin for switch
int switch1State = 0;    // set the state of the switch to open
int LedPin1 = 3;     //  digital output pin for 1st LED
int LedPin2 = 4;     //  digital output pin for 2nd LED

void setup() {
  pinMode(switch1Pin, INPUT);       // set the first switch pin to be an input
  pinMode(LedPin1, OUTPUT);      // set 1st LED pin to be an output
  pinMode(LedPin2, OUTPUT);      // set 2nd LED pin to be an output
}

void loop() {
  // read the switch input:
  switch1State = digitalRead(switch1Pin);

  if (switch1State == 1)  {
    digitalWrite(LedPin1, HIGH);     // turn on this LED
    digitalWrite(LedPin2, HIGH);     // turn on this LED
  } 
  else {
    // if the combo isn't correct yet:
    digitalWrite(LedPin1, LOW);     // turn off this LED
    digitalWrite(LedPin2, LOW);     // turn off this LED
  }
}

Posted by Kate Monahan at 07:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This week's assignment was to design a dynamic field on which to situate our Museum of Arts & Design collection, with a focus on providing a meaningful way to relate the objects to each other. I continued to refine the template I created last week, focusing on trying to solve the problems I noted with the initial prototype.

To address the issues of easy comparison in both form and content, I redesigned the shape of the cards so that information would not be blocked when cards were held side by side. I also created divisions between each section of the textual content, then color-coded each section to facilitate easy comparison between each piece. I used a spectrum of shades for information that lay on a scale (e.g., year of birth), and using different tones within the same color range for information that was not scalar (e.g., artist's name). I also changed the paper stock to glossy photo paper, in order to better present the objects' physical appearance.

Christian did not consider the use of color in this prototype to be successful, so if I were to design another version of this template, I would probably not use color for the non-scalar elements, as I believe that was the main source of the confusion. I will not, however, be developing this template further, as the next step will be to create a screen-based companion to this physical template--one that will carry through the concept of individual curation detailed in last week's post.

Posted by Kate Monahan at 06:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

For this week's Softness assignment, the theme was modularity. After tossing several ideas around, I decided to construct a modular sculpture out of dominoes interconnected with hinges. The idea was that the dominoes could be manipulated in various ways to make different sculptural shapes, with one option being a cigar-box shape. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find wooden dominoes anywhere, and the small hinges I needed were too expensive to buy dozens of... So, as plan b, I used Jenga game pieces and packing tape hinges.

The results weren't what I had in mind in an aesthetic sense, and only marginally what I'd envisioned in a functional sense, since the "hinges" weren't stiff enough to enable free-standing forms. Nonetheless, the object serves as a basic proof on concept that I might explore at some point in the future.

Posted by Kate Monahan at 01:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Our assignment this week was to begin working with the collection of the Museum of Arts & Design by selecting a group of objects to focus on, establishing interpretive categories for these objects, researching supplementary information sources that contextualize our selection, and designing a framework for displaying this information.

After browsing the collection and thinking about what I wanted to emphasize about the pieces when I displayed them, I decided to select objects with a similar form, to emphasize the differences in color, style, materials, and the creative process overall. I selected 20 round pieces, then researched each piece and artist to add what information I could to the database. To facilitate the process of comparing and contrasting the pieces, I decided on a format similar to pantone color chips or paint chips--moveable wedges connected at one end. The object itself is the primary focus, with the information arranged in the same order below each image to facilitate comparison between the objects.

There are a few things that did not work particularly well with this initial prototype. First, the physical design of the chips does not allow for easy comparison of the details about each object because part of the text is blocked when the chips are held side-by-side. Second, there is too much textual information to easily parse, and it is arranged in a way that makes it difficult to compare between cards. Third, the matte finish of the paper stock I used does not do a good job of conveying the materials, process, and beauty of the pieces.

The larger concept that I wanted to explore with this project was based the idea that each person interacts with and draws connections between pieces in a collection in a unique way. With a modular, chip-based template like the one I created, people in a museum could be encouraged to curate their own show as they explored the collection...picking up individual chips near each object that caught their eye, then grouping them together in a way that made sense to them.

My idea here was that people could create these collections, add a brief explanation of why they chose the pieces they did, then leave the collection of chips in a common area for other museum patrons to explore. This experience would not only create a sort of dialogue between patrons, but also encourage visitors to engage with the physical pieces and their accompanying written material in a more meaningful way.

Posted by Kate Monahan at 06:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

For our first assignment in The Softness of Things, Despina suggested that I that sew an item or make a sculpture that relates to my feelings about programming. (I'd mentioned that I was taking the class, in part, due to my desire to physically make things instead of endlessly sitting in front of my laptop, coding.)

I spent some time thinking about the feelings programming usually generates for me. My background and most of my past interests lie in the humanities--writing, editing, reading--and the arts--painting, drawing, sewing, sculpture, printmaking. These areas generate feelings of warmth, tactility, and pleasure for me. Since starting ITP, I've been drawn to the results that programming can generate, but the learning process has not been easy or particularly rewarding for me thus far. Frequently, the sterile process of programming causes me to feel frustration, insecurity, and, from the hours spent at my computer, physical pain in my wrists, neck and back.

I then thought about what I truly want to say about these feelings through my object, and was drawn towards counteracting them, rather than using the object as a means to express my frustration. I decided to use a wrist brace (for carpal tunnel) as a starting point. Cannibalizing a chenille scarf and an old cashmere sweater, I transformed the dark, clinical device--for me, rife with negative connotations--into a light, warm, soft, snug object to physically and aesthetically soothe both my pain and frustration. To mirror the process of hand coding, I chose to do all the needlework by hand, and selected a warm palette of colors to balance the cold colors of the screen.

I experimented in several ways with embroidery--planning originally to ring the border with the name of the piece (soft/snug) in binary to underscore the piece's inspiration--but I wasn't happy with any of the results, and ultimately decided to leave the brace in a simple, soft state.

In a broader sense, the metaphor of the sense of comfort that can be conveyed and experienced through the physical properties of objects is one I'd like to explore throughout the semester. As with this piece, I am also drawn to the idea of modifying everyday objects, building on or contrasting with their familiar meaning.

Posted by Kate Monahan at 08:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Our assignment this week was to collect a good and a bad example of information visualization. Since I've been doing a lot of shopping lately for our new apartment, I chose my examples from ecommerce sites. Not normally my first choice for creative ideas, but they do face a distinct and relevant challenge of presenting large databases of information to users--ideally in an intuitive and appealing way.

The Good

On the positive side, I am impressed by the beta Browse Goods website, a heavily visual and immediately intuitive interface. The zoom and drag metaphor is well suited to any primarily aesthetic collection, and would probably work equally well for art collections such as the Museum of Art & Design collection we'll be focusing on next. The interface manages to promote a sense of fun and discovery as you easily home in on your area of interest--an experience any ecommerce site would surely strive for. The site's organizational merits are further enhanced by the contextually-sized visual chunking of information, unobtrusive secondary breadcrumb navigation, strategic and restrained use of text, and a simple and well-integrated search mechanism.

The site falls a bit short in several areas, mostly tangential to information visualization, but still worth noting. The first is that although the interface is exceeding simple to interact with, it does take about 8-10 clicks to get to the finest level of granularity (in this case, the details/purchase page). Most web designers would consider this too many steps to gratification (though it does not bother me in this case). Secondly, I strongly suspect that this site would be very difficult, if not impossible for people with mobility and vision disabilities to use. And thirdly, because I just moved and my DSL is not yet hooked up, I had the frustrating experience of trying to use the site on dial-up, which was unbearably slow. Keeping in mind the large number of people in the US and beyond who still use dial-up, this is a significant limitation in terms of usability.

The Bad & The Ugly

On the flip side, I find the Pier1 website to be offensively badly designed. My negative reaction is, again, heightened by the fact that I'm viewing it on tortuously slow dial-up, but I think my complaints hold true even with a fast connection. First and foremost, the designers made the fatal mistake of directly transferring a physical interface (magazine) to the web. Egregiously, the online interface is not searchable, and has no table of contents or categorizations to help the user parse the information and locate an item. The only metaphors for browsing are the physical "page turn" bluntly imposed onto the screen, and the useless page number-based scroll bar. Users would accept these limitations in a print interface (though I'd still expect and prefer a table of contents), but in a web interface, they are completely unacceptable.

Also, whereas the Browse Goods site's zoom function is intuitively integrated as a means of visually and metaphorically homing in on information of interest, the Pier1 site requires the user to spot an item they are interested in, then zoom in on the marginal text descriptions and read through them all to locate the one that relates to their item--there arn't any corresponding codes or labels to assist in this process, and when zoomed in on the text, you can no longer view the item that interests you to compare text to picture. Then, to cap it all off (though this doesn't relate to visualization) you can't even purchase items through the site after all your arduous searching; you have to go to a store and repeat the search process in person to get your hands on anything. This site is so poorly designed and difficult to use, it actually makes me mad.

Contrasting the positive and negative feelings I experienced with each of these visualizations highlights for me the impact good design can have, whether representing something as trite as consumer goods, or as important as politics, social justice, etc.

Posted by Kate Monahan at 12:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

...and we're back! The classes I'm taking this semester are Expressing Information, an information visualization class, and The Softness of Things, a design course. Here are the basic course descriptions:

Expressing Information

The goal of this course is to discover the expressive qualities of information. A powerful communication tool, information visualization is essentially a rhetorical device. Increasingly, we rely on interpretation to process the growing amount of information available to us, and by visualizing information, we are interpreting it. The Internet is becoming a rich source of information with the potential to impact our lives, on topics such as global and domestic politics, health, the economy, and the environment. This workshop explores the interpretive use of information visualization to create engagement and inspire action, by bringing these information sources to a mainstream audience.

The Softness of Things

Jasper Johns once wrote in his notebook: "Take an object. Do something to it. Do something else to it." In this class we investigate what it means to "do things" to objects in ways that transforms them and our relationship to them. We will experiment with materials and objects, stretching their limits and exploring their relationship to space and the body. These investigations are grounded in an understanding of the interactional possibilities of gestures, social and spatial dynamics, networks and open source systems while we develop a new set of artifacts and construction techniques. Softness, modularity, adaptability and re-configurability, washability, power management, connectors and ways to engage the senses (and sensors) are just some of the ideas and topics we examine through weekly assignments and social experiments.

Posted by Kate Monahan at 11:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)