hey guys!

soooo I was just reading through the New York Times’ Ninth Annual Year in Ideas… when I came across our very own Professor Berger!

Thought you might like to read the entry

I for one will be bugging him for the rest of the writing on the subject.

cheers,

Ariana

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So, here we are again. This time for the last time.

I will be presenting my prototypes in class, but here I wanted to share screenshots all three prototypes, and elaborate on what could be expanded upon, elaborate any ideas I had that I didn’t have the skillset to render in the prototype, and elaborate other thoughts I had along the way.

So, first off… I’m still super slow at this. I set out to do a simple mapping… and getting all the links working all the time takes me three hours. I hope that I get better at doing all the adding links… because otherwise I for health reasons should not go near code. I stay up all night.

That said, this has been great because I can tangibly track how I’m doing.

Prototype 1: the Household help
This is the practical application, meant to ease up tracking and dealing out responsibilities around the house.
check out my presentation of that day:

It includes the rough process of creating the app.

and here a screen shot: (lick for link to actual app)

Prototype 2: the abstract one

My POV:  Joey is looking for a new job, and had heard at one of the numerous family reunions about a second uncle that had been involved in the sector he is interested in, health care reform.  He would like a better way to maneuver the family history and family connections in order to figure out who best to ask.

nothing much more to add, I’m afraid.  Other than that apparently there’s a website out there somewhere that does exactly this– the person that told me about it, however, couldn’t remember what its URL was.  Oh well– for now, I do think it’d be a great tool for a college-age kid.  The only issue is gathering all the data of the profiles of contacts (at the moment, the idea is it would link to that person’s linkedin profile).

my app: FAMILY CONNECTIONS

Prototype 3:  the futuristic one

the process for this one was similar to when I was brainstorming/saturating myself for the household app.  I listened around for the topics that came up most when speaking of people’s relatives that lived in different cities/states/countries.  And I realized one of the chief concerns was the well-being of these relatives.

My POV:  Janie is really worried about her grandfather, because he is getting forgetful as his meds become increasingly complicated.  At the same time, Timothy seems to be refusing to take his potassium pills, and she just doesn’t have time to look out every morning.  She would like a way to be certain her family members are taking the medication they need.

this has become something I worked on in conjunction with a project for my ME101 class, Visual Thinking.  For my 3rd Project in that class, I designed a pill container that can sense when a pill has been extracted and verify that it has been done so at the correct time.  If the pill is not extracted within a (customizable) time-frame, an alert is sent out to a family member and/or a hospital database.  The appeal is that this is a very unobtrusive/non-invasive way of keeping tabs on one’s relatives.  Much of the time, people taking pills aren’t otherwise impaired. They still have their faculties, but are merely forgetful.  This way it doesn’t seem like anyone’s impeding on the freedom of the relative in question.

The ‘alerts’ to the family member could show up on an app like this: MEDALERT

I also went ahead and finished my perceptions of time map:

Overall, I want to thank ALL of you guys for having made this course as interesting as it’s turned out to be.  I’ve definitely just spent the entire night working out lasting bugs, but you know what? It’s been worth it. I’ve had so much fun showing everyone I run into my prototypes…

Cheers,

Ariana Koblitz

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POV:
Brad, who recently lost his grandmother, wants a dynamic way to preserve as much information about his family’s lives and what each person has meant to him.

Here are some slides of my process through this project:

Lastly here is a link to the Iphone Demo.

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POV

Brian often forgets the last time he hanged out with his friends and family.  He cannot even remember what he did last month.  He needs a way to evaluate his past activities and figure out the people he should hang out with next.

Solution

With the Visual Diary iphone app, Brian can quickly browse his past encounters with particular friends. He can also see the places he has traveled and tell the difference in number of activities that he has done by himself versus ones he has participated with others. The contact list can also sort friends by the frequency of physical encounters.

iui Demo

• Visual Diary for iPhone (View in Safari Only)

Screenshots

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Hey! so here are the three prototypes (each fairly crude at this point, but then it’s about getting the idea out of my head and on to something representative, right?)

When I first began, I simply recreated the mind map we had come up with as a class last lab.

Then I started asking those around me about the first things that came to mind to them when asked about “personal family life”…

The same sorts of buzzwords kept appearing:  work, proximity (both physically and emotionally), and health, so I decided to do my practical, abstract, and futuristic prototypes based on these concepts.

After a further round of brainstorming to these particular ideas, I finally came up with:

My POV:  Karen is the mom of two boys, living in a two story house with her husband, Barry.  She is done running around trying to stay on top of the chores of the house, and wants a better way of holding everyone in her family responsible for them.

Housework: how does one best appropriate the chores of the day?

Manage your family chores– now easier than ever!

• click on the side bar to switch to a different way of organizing the chores
• click on each icon to see what the chore involves
• the bottoom (this I have not included in prototype) allows one to move between floors

Prototype 2: Abstract

My POV:  Joey is looking for a new job, and had heard at one of the numerous family reunions about a second uncle that had been involved in the sector he is interested in, health care reform.  He would like a better way to maneuver the family history and family connections in order to figure out who best to ask.

iPhone prototype 2

Family Ties: who is close to whom?

Abstract App: People and their connections

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http://culturalmaps.org/Memory.html

Above is a link to my first digital prototype of three maps I am creating for my final project.  The main idea or focus of the maps is documenting a history of events, places, changes, and the user’s memories of each family member’s life and their own.

Though this is far from complete, you can see the basic idea of each map.  The first is a map that shows the route and path of each person’s life (i.e. big moves, changes, or events).  The second is a map that shows those same events, however this map is focused on the user’s interaction with those events to learn more about their family, where they intersect with family members, and as a way of comparing the events and timing of their life to their families’ lives.  The third map is more conceptual because it is an attempt to map the user’s memories of a certain individual ( a family member) on that individual’s body as it is related.  For instance, my grandmother’s hands would then lead to a video of her cooking us thanksgiving dinner, while my mother’s lips would lead to a clip of her saying the blessing she told me as a child.

These maps are about trying to keep your families’ story and your memories of each family member from being forgotten, and passing on this information in a way that still fosters exploration and self reflection.

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Challenge: Design at least 3 cultural map “skins” for the iPhone using the theme of Personal and Family Life

As the holidays approach, joy and grief blend into rich experiences full of potential empathy. Rather than purchase new materials, create innovative maps that bring meaning into personal and family life.

Manipulate variables of a d.Maps function to guide you:

Track(s) + Dimension(s) + Media = Cultural Maps Expression

For example, I can build on the track of art and saturate myself with examples that represent emotion. While gaining empathy through interviews and observations, I eventually define the following POV:

Ben is my fictitious brother who needs a better way of coping with emotional events in his life because it’s difficult for him to visualize how they are related over time.

From this POV I can ideate around a number of potential solutions and prototype them rapidly. After several rounds of feedback and testing, I design a multimedia map like the iPhone web app pictured above based on inspiration from monitors with oscillating graphs.

Requirements:
*Optimize and test your maps on the iPhone/iPhone simulator
*Showcase at least three distinct final maps that are uniquely different (eg practical, abstract, conceptual, futuristic)
*Reference a geo-location in every map
*Make every map accessible by a short and unique url culturalmaps.org/xxxx.html (DO NOT OVERWRITE THE FILES OF OTHERS!)

Learning Goals:
* Complete the entire design process including multiple rounds of testing (get through multiple cycles)
* Practice different empathy research techniques and define clear POV(s)
* Effectively brainstorm fluent (a wide range of non-obvious) and flexible ideas (uniqueness you can build on in many directions)
* Gain competency prototyping and confidence testing rapidly
* Creatively use different media types
* Creatively use different dimensions

Dates & Deliverables:
*Share 3 paper prototypes on Thursday 11/19
*Post 3 digital prototypes to culturalmaps.org with the tag “Final Project” by Tuesday 11/24
*Prepare to test and work on your maps on Monday 11/30
*Post a summary of your Core Project including documentation of the design process, your POV(s) and a final representation of your maps with the tag “Final Project” to culturalmaps.org by Thursday 12/3
* Post inspirational media to culturalmaps.backlight.org before by Thursday 12/3
* Prepare to persuasively discuss your project in less than 5 minutes in front of the d.school community on Thursday 12/3

Directions & Resources:

*Login to the Cultural Maps server via FTP (username and password sent via email)

*Store the final link to your maps in the root html folder eg accessible at culturalmaps.org/XXXX.html. All sub-pages and media should be stored in your personal file labeled by your name

*Copy and past sample code from my example, http://culturalmaps.org/emotiontest.html into an editor like Dreamweaver. On the Firefox browser go View > Page Source.

*Note that the above example is intentionally bare bones and you can use packages like http://code.google.com/p/iui/ and http://iphone.hohli.com/ for more functionality

*Google My Maps allows you to create and embed custom maps. Click “link” > “Customize and preview embedded map” > format map accordingly to show primary point of interest. Don’t necessarily be constrained to Google, there are other mapping options available like OpenStreetMap.

*The Adobe Photoshop Slice Tool can help you get the coordinates for your image map. Remember that origin (0,0) is the upper left corner of your image map and the rect attribute takes in the coordinates of the top left and bottom right coordinates of a rectangle. Drag the tool in the left corner above the area you want hyperlinked (make sure your clickable area is large enough for a finger) > Control/right click on the slice > Select “Edit Slice Options” >Use these these x and y coordinates as the first pair in the coords attribute and add a standard # to get the coordinates of the lower right corner eg (x,y, x + #, Y + #).

*iPhone web application metrics, layout guidlines, and tips

*More Safari references from Apple

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http://documents.nytimes.com/redistricting-games-in-new-york#p=1

Check out some examples from NY times of how New York has been redistricted to support certain political agendas.

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Here are some of the videos I’ve come across that inspired me while I was thinking about concepts of time… many of them are from having scoured the web for my ME101 Visual Thinking class. I thought it was definitely applicable. enjoy

here we see a creation by Arthur Ganson, who is interested in seeing how we humans react to movement, especially of movement made by machines.

here we see an amazing honda commercial… it’s not a computer graphic, but a real-life performance that now stands in a museum somewhere:

next we have an interesting art performance by Kseniya Simonova. She uses a lightbox and sand, music, and plays at various culturally significant moments and events.

The last thing I wanted to share was an exhibition that was up last spring quarter in Wallenberg hall, called Places and Spaces, and it explored the history of science through maps. I thought that was just perfect for what we’re doing here.

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Time Scales. Free associate. Go.

I tried visualizing time– and came up with very abstract renditions of previous avant garde work I’d seen in the past.
So I began by going through Dali’s old work.  Very main stream, I know, but still in essence, highly compelling.

Then I came across his sculptures–

And thinking about the two, I came to the conclusion that what fascinated me was the similarity in their message, even though the medium was completely different.

I then decided to interview my peers on time.  And found an observation related to mine on Dali:  students had the similar message, but their medium changed compeltely.  By medium, I mean how they determined this message of theirs.

their message on time:  it doesn’t seem the same. it changes.

But according to what? That changed with every peer I approached.

In terms of tracks I found sociology the most compelling lens through which to explore the concept of “time”.  speaking to students on campus, I’ve become to be totally engrossed in the questions they raise and observations  they make.  And it’s fantastic to see them become enthused as well.  At least four of those I spoke to about this have told me later that they had either found themselves thinking these same

every person adds another dimension I had not thought of, or adds a twist to one mentioned by an earlier participant (this is, of course, without any of the interviewees hearing each others’ comments).  And what about a map, then?

so i thought of making a go at mapping time. not like the history timelines we see everywhere, but the “experience” of time itself.

Here is the map that will be ultimately embedded in the IUI:

the white line, hardly discernible, is the line of “time” along which, hypothetically, a community’s perceptions on time would be documented.  The open space around the line is meant for those observations not directly linked to the “fast” or “slow” perceptions, but basic philosophies on time.  That is why there is this sense of ‘depth’ there— to facilitate this notion of time being something that is absolutely illusory and individually configurable.

thoughts about process:

when i was making the movie, it was a little tricky breaking up all my interviews… i know I only have a minute total, and i wanted to put in as many different type of responses as made sense. and then for the actual map, they needed to be all separate. so that made things easier. but just going through it all and figuring out a way to organize it took some energy (i first tried to start 6 new projects, and then planned to go through all the different colored markers on the bottom. but then I decided to simply order my little bits and pieces)

here are the categories I split them up into:

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