Response to “A Brief Rant on the Future of Interaction Design”

Wednesday, Nov 9th, 2011 by Allison Walker | 0 Comments
Filed under: UX/IA/IxD | Tags: ,

Found this post yesterday:
http://worrydream.com/ABriefRantOnTheFutureOfInteractionDesign/

Summarized by…

“The next time you make a sandwich, pay attention to your hands. Seriously! Notice the myriad little tricks your fingers have for manipulating the ingredients and the utensils and all the other objects involved in this enterprise. Then compare your experience to sliding around Pictures Under Glass.

Are we really going to accept an Interface Of The Future that is less expressive than a sandwich?
…

With an entire body at your command, do you seriously think the Future Of Interaction should be a single finger?”

One of the problems I have with, I’ll say, mainstream UX design today (or whatever it’s being called lately) is that there’s too much emphasis on the screen, and “new” interaction design just ends up being different ways to package a touchscreen.

It’s frustrating that most UX design is limited to wire-framing. I guess I’m still stuck this “creative technologist” rant by that W+K guy. (A Creative Technology Director at W+K rants about Creative Technologists. http://blog.wk.com/2011/10/21/why-we-are-not-hiring-creative-technologists/. Basically, he states that to be a creative technologist, you have to live and breath programming.)

Honestly, I’m not too confident that I know what a creative technologist is and I certainly don’t infer from the title “coder-only”. His rant seems so defeatist that in order to do whatever the cool new thing is you had to be a coder…which is yet another screen.

Yeah, you have to use a computer to code, and many new interfaces (i.e., projections, sound-design, electronics/pcomp) sometimes require serious coding. But, coming originally from the dance world, and living in the real world, I know that screens are just a small part of what’s out there. Sometimes I feel that that gets forgotten with most types of interaction design.

Giant Stories Final: Riding

Monday, May 9th, 2011 by Allison Walker | 0 Comments
Filed under: GIANT STORIES/tiny screens | Tags: , ,

To do the project, I set up at a couple of intersections in NY, and focused the camera on people already in cabs or people about to get in or out of cabs. I took footage at a couple of intersections and areas around Manhattan. Columbus Circle, Times Square/Port Authority, Houston and Allen/1st Ave, and 9 Ave. Most the shots were at night, but there were some during the day too - just haven’t worked them in yet.

Thesis: The Body Instead

Thursday, Apr 28th, 2011 by Allison Walker | 0 Comments
Filed under: General Discussion, Thesis | Tags: ,

The Body Instead is about exploring the subjectivity and objectivity of the body and the self, using mold-making and casting techniques and materials. 

This project questions how the mind perceives the body and the self are explored, along with views about transcendence and immanence in relation to conscious thought and the existence of the self. In this project, a variety of mold-making and casting materials, such as plaster, alginate, silicon and food, are used to recreate and represent the human figure. The resulting cast, as a representation of the body’s impermanence, will be destroyed and subsequently preserved or consumed as food. Ultimately, the goal is to make the body both the source and the object of the aesthetic experience, by combining the experiences of the physical body with the perceptions of the conscious mind.

My thesis is an exploration in materials, using the body and the self as subjects, excluding our notions about body image and personal appearance. I am recontextualizing the image of myself using different materials to represent my body and I am exploring the relationship between the external (camera) “eye” or lens, the eye of the mind, and the I of the self. I will be exploring my self-image and my conscious and unconscious reactions to experiencing myself as an external physical object and as a concept.

Thesis cast/mold

Proposal for Giant Stories final

Saturday, Apr 23rd, 2011 by Allison Walker | 0 Comments
Filed under: GIANT STORIES/tiny screens, General Discussion, ITP | Tags: , ,

I live in a good neighborhood for going out, or finding many, many adults under 40 hanging out in bars. Last night I was walking home and passed by a cab that had picked up 4 people. A girl was talking, but seemed little uncomfortable with not being hidden in the back. The cab driver definitely seemed like he’d prefer her sitting in back. Another cab was behind that one, and it had 1 or 2 people in it, one passenger talking on the phone. I wanted to know what the person in the next cab might have been doing, but it was empty. So I got the idea to make a video of people in taxicabs, as some kind of an ‘idiot with a tripod’ video featuring people in taxicabs.

I think the subject is interesting because people in cabs have a personal-public existence. I think cab passengers feel sort of self-important. Compared to the subway, bus or walking, it’s not cheap to ride in cabs. And, when you’re in a car there’s some kind of boundary between you and everyone else; it feels so good to get out of it and have some fake privacy. This self-important privacy is fake because taxicab passengers are not car owners, who have the pride of owning a car to help them feel important and so their privacy is really their own. For taxicab passengers, there’s a driver so they’re never alone and they just stepped off the sidewalk where I’m still standing. Plus, they’re in a car painted to indicate that they’re in a car that’s not their own. So, I like the idea of peeking into their false privacy.

To do the project, I will set up at a couple of intersections in NY, and focus the camera on people in cabs while they wait for the light. I’ll try to get a couple of intersections, maybe 5 major ones. And get some video of people at different times of the day, starting with early morning (if possible), mid-day, to night. Possible intersections might include: Columbus Circle, 14th Street and University, 1st Street and 1st Ave, 6th Ave and ???. Or, maybe I’ll just take video of intersections on the F-line so it’s easier for me to get home. I’m not sure how I’ll present the videos right now, but I was considering some kind of structure/installation.

Visiting Japan…in my own mind (with Photoshop!)

Wednesday, Apr 20th, 2011 by Allison Walker | 0 Comments
Filed under: General Discussion | Tags: , , ,

For Spring Break 2011, a friend and I had the great idea to visit Japan. Neither of us had been there and, remarkably, tickets were very cheap. (Well, as cheap as visiting popular destinations in Europe - less than $1000.) So, with only about 4 weeks until departure, we booked our flight and rail passes, and prepared to depart.

Our flight to Japan was scheduled for March 12, 2011. Unfortunately, this was the day after a massive earthquake hit Japan and the eastern coast of the country was hit by an equally massive tsunami. (Not sure there’s such a thing as a tsunami that isn’t massive.) We ended up canceling our trip.

The following week, I found myself with a week of time I hadn’t accounted for. One day, while going surfing the Internet, I finally let myself feel a bit down about not going on the trip. For some reason, I decided to have some fun with photoshop - I found pictures of quintessential Japanese traditions, and inserted myself into them as if I’d actually gone on the trip. It made for some hilarious photos.








Face Masking in After Effects

Wednesday, Apr 20th, 2011 by Allison Walker | 0 Comments
Filed under: ITP | Tags: , ,

I had this idea to get a group of students, take a video of their faces, and then use AfterEffects to make their face do things they couldn’t actually do in real life. I did one other student, but ended up doing the most work on my own face because it was very time consuming and I wasn’t sure I wanted to continue with the project.

I ended up making about 3 versions of this video. Every time I tried tweaking, things started to look more fake - like you could really tell where the editing was happening. I ended up sticking with version 1, but I need to go back and add a border so that the camera moving left and right isn’t so noticeable.

I still like how it turned out. Pretty weird.

Korsakow: trains

Sunday, Mar 13th, 2011 by Allison Walker | 0 Comments
Filed under: GIANT STORIES/tiny screens | Tags: , , , , ,

For my Giant Stories Tiny Screens project, I finally was able to put together my train videos from last September. My concept is to use the different perspectives of the videos to experience a train ride to Beacon, NY. The sun goes down, people ride the train, we pass bridges and other platforms, the train conductor passes by…etc.

trainMy (Train) Korsakow

The videos are linked together with different keywords, according to what I experienced, including: inside, outside, ride, looking, platform, trains, people, lights, night, exploring, things, places, signs. I want to keep working on it. It’s been fun.

Anonymous Karaoke

Sunday, Mar 13th, 2011 by Allison Walker | 0 Comments
Filed under: Redial: Interactive Telephony | Tags: ,

For my Redial midterm project I worked on creating an anonymous karaoke phone line. I still have work to do, but here’s a little summary.

How it works:
Call in
Pick a song
Sing (talent optional)
Listen to your song

Functionality to add:
Recording the conversation (like eavesdropping)
Listening to your song
Listen to other people’s songs
Send your song to your email address

Difficulty working with Monitor and MixMonitor. The context is kind of different for both, which makes it harder to figure out where the record files should go and how to get them out. It should definitely not be impossible.

Asterisk code.

InB-Flat.net

Sunday, Mar 13th, 2011 by Allison Walker | 0 Comments
Filed under: General Discussion | Tags: , , , , ,

This is wonderful. Simple and elegant. 20 YouTube videos of people playing music in the key of b-flat. Haunting and beautiful.

http://inbflat.net/

inbflat.net

My moral takeaway: We may all be playing different instruments, but we are still playing the same song. It just takes some work to be able to hear it.


Saw this today on npr.org

Confessions by Phone

Saturday, Mar 5th, 2011 by Allison Walker | 0 Comments
Filed under: General Discussion, Redial: Interactive Telephony | Tags: , ,

Now that I’m an interactive telephony class, I’m more compelled to take note of interesting examples of telephone systems. Heard this today on the radio - a “pay telephone line for French Roman Catholics to confess their sins [is drawing] criticism from bishops” in France.

EWTN News says, ‘the service, which was initiated at the beginning of Lent by a group of Catholics working working at a small Paris phone company, is called “The Line of the Lord” and charges callers 46 cents a minute.

A woman identified as “Camille,” who is an employee of the small Paris-based phone company AABAS, told reporters on Tuesday that although the service she helped create does not offer absolution, “The idea is to confess sins which are not capital sins, but minor sins, directly to God.”

“Callers do not talk to a person but can confess their sins and listen to prayers, music or other people’s confessions in an atmosphere of piety and reflection,” she explained.

When the number is called, a voice on the line says “For advice on confessing, press one. To confess, press two. To listen to some confessions, press three.” The voice continues to warn that “In case of serious or mortal sins – that is, sins that have cut you off from Christ our Lord, it is indispensable to confide in a priest.”

Camille, who would not give her last name as she has already received threats from angered Catholics, said the line has received around 300 calls in the first week and that part of the proceeds are going to charity.’

Turns out you’re even allowed to hear other people’s confessions.

Here’s a translated excerpt from the site:

As for young, busy in their virtual world where new gods officiate through video games, Internet and phones, they seem to gradually move away from social, moral and religious. Less than 2% of 18-29 year olds go to church every Sunday. So why not put technology at the service of spirituality. And thanks to our modern ways to enter the church in our lives and in our hearts … a simple phone call.

http://lefilduseigneur.com/ (translated: http://bit.ly/hZcfCe)

And, Vanity Fair has an article featuring a recording of someone at Conde Nast making a phone call. The recording is in French and English, so if you don’t speak French or regularly pray in French, it’s rather cryptic except for the English. Her “sin” is calling internationally from her work phone. (I don’t think it’s a sin - it was for work.)

Meanwhile, turns out phone confessions or apologies aren’t new. This Time article covers an apology hotline in LA. And, actually, a Catholic confession line once existed in 1955.

It’s a tempting curiosity, but I don’t plan to call in. I’m not (a French) Catholic.

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