Month: November 2009

Intro to Physical Computing: Final Project Proposal

This was meant to be a continuing post about my final project for Physical Computing, however I’ve finally decided on a project. I’m not sure what I’ll title it, but Android Pet Plant sort of comes to mind.

My Android Pet Plant will (hopefully) do 3 things: When you first encounter it, you can come close. It will respond with a human voice that sighs. When you touch it, it will respond by vibrating gently. And when you leave – the part that seems really difficult – it will whimper like a sad puppy.
Android Pet Plant

Applications: What investors look for…

Last night, in my Applications class, we had 3 grads of ITP discuss their experience with entrepreneurship and working together. At one point, they discussed financials and working together. They listed several personality traits that apparently investors look for…I found this useful and inspiring.

integrity
passion
experience
knowledge
skill
leadership
commitment
vision
coachability
fearless

Phys Comp Midterm: Balance board video controller

For my Physical Computing midterm, I worked with Andrea Wolf and Sindy Butz to create a balance board that controls a video in Processing.

Here’s a video of me demonstrating for our class.

Balance Board Media Controller from Allison Walker on Vimeo.

The way it works: User steps on the board, which completes a switch inside the board. An accelerometer inside the board reports back to Processing which way the user is leaning. Right – fast forward. Left – slow down. Tilt forward – screen gets darker. Tilt backward – screen lightens.

Here are some photos of us during prototyping stage and assembly. Here’s a slideshow on Flickr.

Applications of Interactive Telecommunications

This week, my group finally presented for Red Burns’ Applications of Interactive Telecommunications. My group consisted of Chris Allick, Hana Newman, and Andy Jordan. Together, we successfully worked together to produce a presentation on our reaction to Craig Newmark’s talk the previous week. Not only did the class enjoy our presentation, we also enjoyed and didn’t feel like we were imposing on the other students at all.

Here’s the PowerPoint/Keynote presentation that describes our process.

What we ended up doing was coming up with a compliment for each of our 108 other classmates, plus our instructors. Everyone left feeling much better about themselves. What we thought was great about this activity was that thinking nice things about other people cannot help but lead to a better community, and Craigslist and Craig Newmark are all about building community. Many people have said that they really enjoyed our presentation. So, nice job us.

——-

After that, we had our guest speaker’s presentation. This week our discussion was on Assistive Technologies. In my experience, I spent 4 years in a school that incorporated students with relatively severe physical handicaps, some to the point where they could not speak. And, my step-brother has some cognitive impairments.

Overall, my impressions of Assistive Technology were a). There’s a lot of focus on physical impairments. What about cognitive disabilities?; and b). Is the motivation more to help people keep up with other people, or is it to just have a decent quality of life? I don’t know…. I think about my brother a lot while I’m here. I want him to have a fun childhood, because you only get one. I feel like there must be something I can do to help him not only keep up with his peers, or do things they cannot, but also to just have a decent quality of life.

They may not make much sense, because I was just jotting down notes, but my comments on the speech were the following:

  • Why use a QWERTY keyboard in Assistive technology interfaces? It’s not the most efficient keyboard available, even for people who type.
  • Why use a keyboard metaphor for people who cannot use their hands?
  • Lots of focus on visual iconography – suppose you cannot see very well?
  • Saw an example of an FSR game controller
  • Boring Physical/Occupational Therapy is a problem – There is a need to make things fun
  • People with sensory problems are very responsive to sound
    • Difficulty in verbalizing emotional state is also an issue
    • Weighted vests/deep pressure is comforting for people with sensory issues
    • There is little quantitative data available; this can be an issue for creating solutions for this market
    • Ideas: A squeeze vest that you guess where the pressure comes from
    • Music instruments for assistive technology; see what you hear
    • Make an Illustrator lite program, for people who have a difficult time creating shapes, counting, writing, etc…
  • Potential Future ITP Class: design for one

Event: The Kitchen Presents – Nancy Garcia/Chase Granoff

Saturday, November 7, I went to The Kitchen with a friend to see a double performance by Nancy Garcia and Chase Granoff. Nancy Garcia is also a graduate of ITP.

As far as Chase Granoff’s work, “The Art of Making Dances”, I quite liked it. I found it easy to “get” quickly, in that I found it both entertaining and provoking in a non-intimidating way. They were offering a copy of The Art of Making Dances after the show. I didn’t get it because, well, mostly because I didn’t want to spend $10. Maybe if it had been $8 or $9, I would have bought it. Plus, I wasn’t alone and I didn’t want to hold up my friend. We were hungry.

As far as Nancy’s work, “I need more”, I really wanted to like this particular performance a lot more than I did. Maybe I was hoping for something that better fit my particular aesthetic needs, or maybe I was hoping for something I could connect with on a more immediate level. For instance, I would have liked to see more of an emotional statement with the choreography, as well as more cohesiveness between the dance sections. Although the four parts flowed one to the other, I also had a feeling of choreographic separation between the parts, but maybe that was done purposefully. In addition, I also did not appreciate the how loud music/sound was, and I didn’t understand the purpose of the singing. On the other hand, my exposure to the type vocal performance she was doing is still quite limited, so I guess I would have always a difficult time connecting with anyone’s show that involved that type of sound/vocal performance. I’m still learning, so there’s still time.

Anyway, none of these things really turned me off to her work, and I only offer these critiques as audience feedback (should she ever check out my blog). In viewing her website, I found her other work interesting and I’m impressed by her continued activity as a dancer, so if I have a chance to see her work in the future I’ll probably take it.

In any case, before I wrote this post, I checked my Gmail account and found the email Nancy sent to me regarding ITP. I asked her advice regarding ITP and she really wrote the most comprehensive and useful response of all the people I talked to about ITP. I wish I had looked it up when I was selecting classes this semester because it was really good advice. Well, I won’t post her answers but I will post my questions:

Hi Nancy,

Midori Yasuda sent me your contact info regarding the ITP at NYU. She
also sent me a link to your thesis, and I thought it was really very
interesting.

I plan to apply to ITP. My background is in dance and human-computer
interaction/usability. I’m interested in this program because I have
been looking for a way to synthesize dance and technology; although I
do not dance as much as I used to, I still have a passion for the art.
Your thesis seems very similar to an example something I might like to
pursue.

If you don’t mind, I have some questions that I’d like to ask:
————————————————————————-
I’m interested to learn more about what led you to ITP? Did you have
any doubts?
What have you been up to since graduation? Did you have a plan for
what you wanted to do after graduating?
What types of ideas did you want to explore?
How difficult was it to pursue study in movement, dance and
technology? What were some of the challenges? highlights?
How challenging did you find the more technical aspects of the program?
Is this still something you are pursuing?
If this was my focus at ITP, do you have any advice for me?
How did you come up with your thesis?

Tuition is a big factor for me. How did you deal with tuition costs?
Are you aware of any scholarships or grants for dance-based work in
technology?

Now that you’ve graduated, what is your opinion of the experience?
Would you do it again? Is there anything you’d change?”

UPDATE: Psychology 640/EECS 695: Neural Models

I emailed Leeann Fu, who co-taught the Neural Models class the first time and is still teaching it, apparently. And, thankfully. She replied to my email and sent me the 17-page syllabus, as well as suggesting 3 books I might be interested in reading. Here they are:

“Vehicles“, by Valentino Braitenberg.
“Gut Feelings“, by Gerd Gigerenzer. Leeann said, “Steve Kaplan added this as a textbook the last time he taught his Cognitive Functioning class”.
“Stumbling on Happiness“, by Daniel Gilbert. Coincidentally, I just saw the TED talk where Gilbert asks, “What Makes Us Happy?”
“On Intelligence“, Jeff Hawkins, Donna Dubinsky and Dileep George.

Meanwhile, there are so many articles in the syllabus, it would be hell to find them all online…well, maybe not. I am a student, after all.

Anyway, to save myself the trouble, I’m going to see if the copy center in Ann Arbor will be willing to send the course pack to NYC. Hopefully, more updates to come!