Pressure Project 2: Mystery Door

Posted: October 15, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment »

For pressure project #2, Alisha and I decided to work together in order to create our mysterious door experience. We decided to use the resources of a webcam rather than a depth sensor through Isadora, as well as a projector and a MakeyMakey. It was really helpful working with another person for this project, as tech frustration is easier to manage with another person there to work through troubleshooting. 

Our initial steps towards designing an interactive experience were MakeyMakey explorations. We were interested in using pencils to draw conductive “buttons” and practiced drawing on top of images to see if that could lead us somewhere. Those first tests were interesting, and might come into my work in the future, but we ultimately decided to use those concepts to make touching the door be a trigger for our Isadora patch. 

With the goal to entice a participant into touching the doorknob, we decided we needed to design an Isadora patch (to eventually be projected onto the door) that would pull someone in. We decided to use the webcam as a sensor that would trigger a change in the projection, thinking that it would provide a sort of visual reward for coming closer to the door. So for instance, if the initial projection was a red, hypnotic swirl that then flickers into a red swirl when the webcam senses someone approaching, the hope is that a participant would feel a dopamine rush in realizing they are “supposed” to approach. This brought up some evaluations after our performance about color psychology, as sometimes the color changes felt more alarming than alluring. 

Here is a video of the looping projection:

Here is a screenshot of the patch:

The next step towards activating the MakeyMakey was compelling the participant to stand on the “ground” element before touching the door. We made a floor pad out of aluminum foil that was labeled “foot” as well as some cute cut out stars to make the aluminum foil look a little more fancy. 

The MakeyMakey alligator clips were clipped to the ground, and then also to the door. When the participant stands on the foil and then touches the door, which completes the circuit, and triggers a sound clip that plays through Isadora. Here is the patch for the MakeyMakey sound trigger:

Touching the door triggers a sound command that says “Open,” and we used some basic human psychology to time a second sound to play on a delay. We calculated that there would be about a second of time in between someone touching the handle, hearing the command “open,” and then opening the door, so after a second, Isadora played a twinkling sound that goes along with the door opening.

Here is a recording of a participant (Chad) interacting with this door.

After we presented, I noticed some things about our design. First of all, I think it would have made sense for us to find a narrower place to set-up our experience, because the projection and sensor relied pretty heavily on a certain way of entering the scene. There were also a few signs around the space that I wish we had removed, as they were confusing and gave commands that were not a part of our set-up. I also have future considerations about ambient light, because during set-up we realized that elements were cast into darkness in order to have a bright enough projector. In the future, I wonder how we might direct interaction on different parts of the install based off of light cues.

Pressure Project 1

Posted: September 9, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment »

Annelise Duque

For Pressure Project 1 I thought about ways to disrupt the “score” people follow to enter Sherman Studios on West Campus. As a 3rd year MFA student in the Art Department, I’ve been given 24/7 access to a studio in the building to do my work. However, I’ve identified a key issue that inhibits my productivity, which is there are too many other people that come into the building who become for me, as a chatty person, appealing objects of distraction that keep me away from my work. I know from decades of being myself that it’s impossible to change my distractible personality, so instead I have to change the easy access to the building.

Here is the score that visitors desiring to enter Sherman tend to follow.

  1. They are dropped off by a CABS bus at a bus stop that is in easy walking distance from the building.
    • Some people also cross from the parking lot located beside the bus stop.
  2. They cross the helpful cross-walk that leads onto the sidewalk that then leads into the building.
  3. They maneuver through the main door, which is behind a swipe lock.
    • Anyone with a valid BuckID is able to swipe in
    • The door is easily propped open and often is during typical school hours.

I noticed that there are not only sensors they interact with in order to enter the building through the swipe lock, but that there are also a number a physical infrastructures that contribute to the ease of accessing the building. As it is a school building, this is understandable, but for my purposes completely unacceptable.

I devised the following diagram that I think would really help limit the amount of students coming to the building.

  1. Short of destroying the CABS system altogether, I think a key issue is the crosswalk, which provides a helpful direction to follow. I would first add in a crosswalk that goes a different way (towards a large dangerous looking electrical structure).
  2. The structure is currently behind tall fences, so I would need to add doors that are directly across from the new crosswalk.
  3. Remove the existing crosswalk with blacktop, or powerwash the paint away.
  4. Plant a thick privacy wall consisting of dense trees and bushes.
  5. Re-program the swipe access to only allow me swipe entrance.
  6. Add a door sensor that sends an alarm code if the door is propped open.

After talking to the class about my plot, I realize that I made a lot of really physical changes to the area. I think as a visual artist, a lot of the aspects like swipes and door sensors are mysterious to me, so it was easier for me to understand how to design more physical challenges to accessing the building. It was also pointed out to me that I didn’t address the parking lot, or really show how it would be possible for me to make it through the shrubbery. These are good points. I think ultimately it would be necessary to remove this bus stop, and frankly also the parking lot. The prices of West Campus parking passes could also be increased, as they are temptingly low cost compared to other passes. I also think I could do some easy sabotage by simply changing the building name on the front sign! It’s already almost impossible to find the building when doing a googlemaps search, so if it was physically mislabelled that would further confuse. Especially because I’m not sure how to make the trees move for me alone. Maybe I could install a fence with vines that completely obstruct the view of the building that has a hinged door. I could also install a camera at the door and do some data collecting, and only come to my studio during off-peak hours of activity in the building.

Also, as I actually want this building to be easily accessible because I unfortunately do want students to be able to make art in the building, there are the things I would do to make it easier to enter and use the building.

  1. Add more sidewalks. The front of the building only has a sidewalk leading into it from North, and none from the South. Students that park further away, or who walk from that direction, have to walk in the street which is dangerous and unpleasant during the winter.
  2. There should be a swipe access door on all sides of the building, rather than just that main entrance. This would make it easier for everyone to head straight to their destination rather than having to walk through the whole building.
    • The main swipe door also isn’t ADA approved, as the only swipe is directly in front of the door at a high height, and the door opens out rather than in. There isn’t enough room for a person using a wheelchair to swipe and move away from the door so the button can swing the door open.
    • There should be a hands free way to open the door. This could be a tap lock rather than a card swipe.
  3. The building currently doesn’t have air conditioning, and since it is a building with a hot-shop in the glass studio and a forge in the metal-working area, the building gets much too hot for safe use.
  4. The building needs a water-bottle refilling station rather than just drinking fountains. Because of the stuffy interior and physical nature of the work students make, they get really dehydrated.

I enjoyed this project. It made me appreciate the ways it is easy to work in my building, and also notice the ways it’s difficult for me and others. I appreciate there are certain ways to fix the user experience of the building that are out of budget, and that propping the door open at all times allows for those with mobility impairments to enter the building without needing to swipe in. However, propping the door open is not a viable solution during the cold wet winter. I haven’t used this space in the winter yet, so I’m interested to see how the people that use this building adapt during seasonal changes.

Duque bumping old discussion

Posted: August 26, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment »

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