What I’m thinking about is that I need to get my thesis engines started – push this project forward, wrap things up, and produce good results.

 

What I aim to achieve with this project:

 

  • Connect negative feelings (habits?) with a new sensory perception. In this case, scent.

 

  • Build a new kind of chemistry between these feelings and scent, and share that data with people who are also suffering from similar negative feelings.

 

  • A simple and easy-to-understand interaction, like a drawer that everybody knows how to open it.

 

  • I hope this new perception will help people to create a new perspective, allowing them to rebuild their relationship with negative feelings (in this case, negative feelings associated with procrastination).

 

What excites me:

 

  • I like the connection between negative feelings and scent

 

  • Using Arduino and what I learned in this program to incorporate interactive lighting with my installation

 

  • Exploring whether or not this installation or act is able to have an effect on people in the long term (or short term!)

 

  • The diversity of data that this project will collect

 

What terrifies me:

 

  • Failing miserably to get the tech parts right

 

  • What if people aren’t interested?

 

  • Not being able to create results

 

How I feel about presenting my work:

 

I like what I’m trying to address. It’s a powerful and challenging issue that has a serious impact on many people’s lives. As a lifetime procrastinator, I’m using a third-person perspective to observe and find a lasting solution that can be shared with others. I feel that the value of the data collected and created through this project will help me create meaning out of the negative feelings I get from procrastination. This will give me the ability to step back and not simply hate procrastination (or other bad habits), but find a new type of respect for the relationship between people and the habits they don’t like. After all, we’re all just human – and having habits we want to break but can’t is a very human experience.

 

Changes (from my last presentation):

 

Instead of thinking about how I can solve this problem entirely, I’m now focused on the relationship between the audience and their problems. This change in approach has resulted in some positive and encouraging feedback, which makes me more confident in my project.

 

Who else might care about it:

 

Besides everyday people, people working in the aromatherapy and perfume industries might care about this project. Data related to people’s associations with habits (good or bad) can be useful for them to create new business opportunities, whether related to human memory and habits, or for people who want to explore their feelings in a different way (different senses).

 

Key Performance Indicators:

 

After encountering my project, a person will develop a new understanding of the goal or thing they’ve been procrastinating on, and will hopefully develop a more healthy relationship with that procrastination. Maybe forgive themselves, maybe feel more encouraged to try. Or maybe they’ll just stop hating themselves for putting things off.

 

In terms of what success looks like, I would feel totally fulfilled in the future if I could get an installation in a public area, like a museum or a space for public art – and that people would interact with it! If I can change one life, that would make me feel fulfilled. If I could change my own, that would make me ecstatic. Ultimately, I would also like to collect insightful data on the relationship between habits, feeling, and scent.

 

To be somewhat fulfilled, I would create a mockup of the project and hopefully give my classmates (and the people around me) something to think about when they interact with it. It might give them an opportunity to re-evaluate their negative associations with procrastination.

 

Failure would be not completing a mockup and/or not having the opportunity to share with with anyone.

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For user tests, I want my testers to do three things:

 

  1. Think of something they’ve been putting off and feel bad about.

 

  1. Find an object in their house with a scent that reminds them of what they’ve been putting off (it can be good or bad – up to them). Ideally, it would be an object that they come across somewhat frequently.

 

  1. Whenever they come across that scent, write down how they feel at that moment. (I will create a form or survey.)