SO, first user test. O_O
I took the house mask and few Cardboards with me. Tons of high school kids. Fun. Exhausted. Learned a lot. And here’s the quick-&-dirty note:
- Multiple users is definitely much more fun than just one
- Fun to look at each other
- People feel interesting and WOW when looked at there hands
- Audience played with the house when there’s an user in it
- PORTABLE POWER SUPPLY NEEDED
- PHYSICAL <3<3<3
- It’s special because it has a physical representative – House mask. People got it when realizing they are both physically and virtually in the house.
- If choosing from Cardboard and house, people choose house
- The acceptance to put their heads inside the mask is unexpected high
And also I found an important thing I have to always bear in mind. That is…
NOT BE JUST LIKE AN OCULUS RIFT!
–> Scenarios for daily use
–>Multi-user
–>Physical forms and input
–>Not all by yourself, but connect to other people through VR
( Click to see the slides for presentation<3 )
Feedback
Good to explore
- Mask fools others, VR fools you –> reinforce each other
- Single experience with multiple masks, all together VR (Group experience)
- The physical input to change VR (e.g. open door of the house to change the digital content of it)
- Use the mask to do normal things, live daily life
- Dive in one then iterate more
- Strong performance, theatrical element
Issues
- They’re confused because they don’t really know what’s the media content they’re seeing.
- Should show both outside and inside view at the same time
- User scenario sketch is confusing
- What to explore
- Is it an introvert experience? Feel to be an introvert?
- Does it connect you to other people?
- Does it invite others to interact?
- The introversion can’t explain all of the project. It’s not just about you. It’s about others and so much more
Next steps
- Prepare for USER TEST!
- What to show? Short and quick?
- 3/16, high school kids at Columbia University
- ITP Quick DIrty Show
- On the floor grab people when they go pass by the restroom
- Dive in one first
- Control Room
- Physical input changes digital output
- (Is it possible that digital input changes physical output?)
- Better user scenario (more than kid building his/her own castle, ppl don’t buy it)
- Be more able to walk smoothly ( Tested on 3/10 by myself)
- The distance between user’s eyes and phone in real world, is different from the distance between user’s eyes and eyesight plane in the virtual world :\
- Couldn’t find out the usage to import other video feed yet
- Daily life use possibilities
- For now, the mask’s appearance is LOUD, and the content inside is also LOUD
- Iterate more
- People are interested in
- Two people
- Group (as a single AR effect though)
- Nonverbal Mask
- Projector Mask
First thought after reading “Unruly Edges: Mushrooms as Companion Species”, “Arts of Inclusion, or, How to Love a Mushroom”, and the interview with Oliver during weekend is that, I kind of found the purpose of a project, what can I do about it and what’s the possible future of a project. As an artist, I can start from
"love"
, start from developing deeper and knowing thoroughly about what I love, and then gradually, with the creative interventions, I can bridge worlds between public and the field where my passion lies. Quoted from Anna “… my stories tell how advocacy for mushrooms can lead to projects for democratic science and publicly inclusive wellbeing.“, I’m inspired to search what I’m crazy about and immerse myself in it. Before that, I don’t really understand the goal of this class now I’ve found it. It’s not about just trying to use fungi in your projects and trying to involve Led, motor, Arduino, but trying to intervene this mysterious field with your point of view. Then as a messenger, you expose the rarely-knew info and make it connect to the public.
Thus, simplifying and more comprehensive project update:
Idea
- One line description: See the world through fungus.
- I want to build up connections between fungus and people, and further take fungus as a bridge to connect people with the world beyond fungus. Thus being aware of what fungus is, what fungus does, how does it affect the planet.
- The idea is playing with the notions from “Mycelium Running” by Paul Stamets,
-
“I see the mycelium as the Earth’s natural Internet, a consciousness with which we might be able to communicate. Through cross-species interfacing, we may one day exchange information with these sentient cellular networks. Because these externalized neurological nets sense any impression upon them, from footsteps to falling tree branches, they could relay enormous amounts of data regarding the movements of all organisms through the landscape.”
- One particular thing I’d love to highlight is fungus’s decomposing ability. It is the key of the nutrient cycling system, and also degrade or remove toxins from the environment.
- So yes, it’s a project with eco-friendly aspect and hope people will be more aware of the environmental issue.
Content
- Upon a box of soil, are 5~8 mycelium lights hanging and changing between bright and dim gradually.
- In the background screen, playing the collage of the mycelium activities(growing, moving, etc) video footages, representing fungus’s daily life.
- Once someone comes near(detected by ultrasonic sensor), the mycelium lights speed up changing, and forming a pattern of spreading. Also, the screen’s content turns to show the interactions between fungus and humankind, including foraging, pollution, infection, bio-chemical etc.
- If time permits, the soil will be pushed by the solenoids beneath, amplifying fungus’s awareness of us.
Materials
- Mycelium Lights * 5~8
- wrap mycelium(post-blender) around balloons, and poke the balloons once mycelium eats all the materials
- Wood sticks * 4
- Wires hiding in flax ropes
- Wood base
- soil in wood box
- ultrasonic sensor attached
- solenoid beneath(if time permits)
Also about the case study, one thing interests me that most of the projects from reading and from Oliver, all have certain degree of public influence, and create new behavior. I wonder how many artist originally had this kind of visions and how many artist eventually made it and change the real world? Or are they actually all make it through but just in different level? And how can we keep our vision and passion vivid and lively?