Project one discription and instructions

Five Photos for project one

These are my five photo showing my interactive project in action. A little hard to show how my project works in action due to its audio nature.

 

Taking a seat and clearing my mind.

Putting on the headphones.

Audio starts and I close my eyes.

Very relaxed letting my mind free.

                     Finished and thinking about the thoughts currently in my head.

Collected results and thoughts

This has been an interesting project that has really opened my eyes to how far interactions can extend, not just though the commonly thought 'touch' aspect. My research into words and sound lead me into some interesting interactions not directly associated with my project but interesting none the less. I did not spend any time in silence, but with my experiments and especially watching Julian Treasure on TED has given me thought into how much noise and sounds are around me everywhere I go. Now every day I try to spend only a few minutes with silence or as close to silence as possible, it is amazing how long a minute really is when your mind isn't rushing around trying to fill every thought with directions, memories, lists and everything else that fills your day. With my project results it has been very interesting watching flatmates and others relax and spend some of their day motionless and spend a few minutes without the need for rushing about. So I do feel I have achieved an interaction with differing results depending on the user and timing.

What I am trying to achieve

 The real interaction which I have tried to achieve in this project is in the users mind, I am aiming at mental interaction because most interactions I find which are presented in everyday life are associated with each sense yet each sense still needs the mental interaction also. An example would be the sense of smell, your sense of smell is due to the mental interaction of your brain bringing back memories to liken the smell to previous experiences. Another would be taste, eating cake is an interaction of taste and smell, but it is also in relation to previous experiances and interactions with the mind. The mind generates memories and feeling which associate themselves to the occasion at hand. So my project is looking at the mental interaction.

Thoughts on five photos

For the final product I need to have a sequence of five photos with my interaction in action. The main problem that I am faced with is my interaction is mental, with nothing physical as such. My thoughts were to have the start of the sequence to be somebody sitting in a comfortable chair second could be putting on the head phones, the next would be them relaxing or getting comfy and still expression. The fourth photo could be of their expression changing and perhaps sinking into the chair, the fifth would be of the user looking very relaxed.

Results from tutorial

During the tutorial on the ninth of august Helen advised adding more than just five of each word, because the change in words happens just before the mind really lets it sink in. She suggested that double the amount or double and a half, to give it more time to stick and let thoughts collect. She also added that the words worked well, and that just having my voice as opposed to multiple was better for letting the mind run free. Now that I am set with just using my voice and have found a correct word sequence, it seems the only aspect to follow is length. For testing of the length I will make a recording then slowly add more and more words and collect the results. I feel comfortable that my project is well on the way.

Weekly news

We have been shown a few videos from the TED website but I encourage you all to spend a little time watching any of the talks available. During the lecture last week we saw a video from Julian Treasure, 'Five ways to listen better' which spurred me to search for more similar videos which may help me with my project. But rather than skipping through videos I ended up watching one after another regardless of significance. These short little videos are prefect for a short burst of knowledge and great ways to help you study or approach life. I highly recommend giving the TED website a chance, very interesting talks. http://www.ted.com/
A few of the talks that realy impressed me were; http://www.ted.com/talks/jeff_han_demos_his_breakthrough_touchscreen.html

and;http://www.ted.com/talks/a_robot_that_flies_like_a_bird.html

First results for my chosen words

I have made recordings of the words listed in the previous post, I started by recording them in the order that I had initially written them. Then moved them around and tested them again. I found that with some of the words it had no real difference, but with others it gave a very changed image. So the order will make an impact on the result. I will bring the recordings to the next tutorial and collect results. Another aspect in which I need to test is length, how many times the words get repeated before moving onto the next in the sequence. Currently I have them in five word increments, but because I have chosen a series of six words maybe I will need to increase the count to give the audio more length. That or add more words to bring the total back to eight.

The sound recording and editing program I am using is Audacity 1.3 Beta.

Chosen words for testing

The words that I have chosen to work on, which I have yet to figure out the ordering in which they may be used, are as follows;

 Flowing, warmth, nature, company, joyful, beauty.

Sunshine, warmth, peaceful, nature, relaxed, tranquility.

Summer, fresh, flowing, warmth, happiness, enjoyment.

These are the words that I feel will give the listener a pleasant interaction which hopefully fills their mind with personal memories or new mental pictures their mind creates.

Word research and collections

I have been researching for words which would suit my project one audio, I have found that most of the words I have been able to produce myself but I have also found many great words that could be used from poems on the internet. The words that came to mind as I have progressed though this project are; calm, relaxed, peaceful, flowing, sunshine, beaches, people, gathering, heat, laughter, playful, walking, water, tranquility. Were the main words which I have used. With looking at poems it has produced more words which I think would fit nicely into the mental picture I aim to paint. The poem by Michelle Chan (the first poem below) I find is a beautiful piece, and from which I have chosen the words; floating, breeze, fresh, flowers, company. Another poem (which I didn't particualy like but still had good words which related to those I was trying to find) was by Mark R Slaughter (the second poem below), the words I chose from this poem were; Warmth, nature, summer, autumn, silent and rhythm. I read mulitple poems to try and find appropriate words but many of them are similar wording but written in different ways or included many of the words in which I have already collected. The next step is to arrange this word collection and experiment which work well together, which will give me the result I am trying to achieve. The two poems I collected works from are listed below.



When you see this message,
By Michelle Chan.
http://www.poetryinnature.com/nature/poetry.asp?poem=5909





I’ll be underneath the tree shade.
Humming to myself, about the billowy clouds, floating above.
I’ll be looking to the sky, thinking about what’s beyond the clouds.
Smiling to myself, at the mystery it holds.
I’ll be closing my eyes, and feeling the breeze.
Cool and crisp and clean, picking up my hair.
I’ll be underneath the tree shade,
Sipping ice cold, sweet, and fresh lemonade, leaning against our strong tree.
 
Come find me underneath the tree shade, bring me
Flowers, pale and dewy. Bring me fresh flowers, pink and yellow.
Bring me your company, when you come find me underneath
The tree shade. I can’t wait until you come home from work and
I’ll be so happy to see you smiling back at me.
When you see this message,
I’ll be underneath the tree shade.



Mist Upon the Placid Morn
By Mark R Slaughter
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/mist-upon-the-placid-morn/


Bleed out your beauty, Autumn
Give up a gentle wrist, and smear
Your bloody hues atop the green.

Cast a calming throw of heady peace
Upon the cooling land.
And as you grant the sun a final fling of warmth,
Charge the silent air
(Now lolling on a foliar deathbed)
With earthen whiff to intimate the fungal push.

Soon you'll send a shiver down the watery spine of
Quivering ponds, punctual brooks, and
Listless lakes, to warn them of the freeze to come.

Behold! your mellow spirit
Hanging as a mist upon the placid morn
A sight that draws a sneaking tear or two forlorn
Observers are we all of colder climes to view!

Autumn Lady, must you be the summer waning?
Our adieu to fairer-weather life?
Ah well, at least you hum a warming tone, ensuring
Natures rhythm still abounds.

But now you must prepare the mind for chilly times
You know the drill
Guiding us along a sloping path
To ease our psyche in to sleet and snow
The blue-ice bite of winter.

Project one proposition results

I made a few test tracks for testing in the tutorial, one is a recording of my original idea and another is a recording of the same idea but instead of just my voice I have included several others. The idea behind including other voices was to take away from the simple and make the audio a little less monotonous and unchanging. While making these tracks I steered away from words like 'people' and 'birds' to give the listeners mind more freedom to wonder or vary, thus giving a much larger range for memories and originality. During the testing on fellow student I explained what it was that I was trying to achieve and how they should aproach it. Which was, to relax and not think too hard about what they are listening to, but rather let their minds piece together a story or relive a memory. This was fine because I was present to explain, but for future users I would need to have an introduction at the start that explains my intentions and the results they should find. That or to have a written description, this may work more to my advantage due to the unwillingness of people to pick up something without knowing what it is that they should be expecting.

A few student results that I received where;

"I think your idea is really good, as when I heard the words, it started to generate different personal memories."

"As I heard each word it lead to different emotions."

"Having different people saying the same word distracted me so I couldn't think of anything else."

"I started only hearing one of the voices and the others I blocked out."

"I didn't really link all the words together, I just thought of each one as it came along."

These I found were really helpful results.
I also tested the audio on my house mates with similar results as the students above. But the response that really helped me stay in this direction and not over complicate the idea, was that a few of the tested said they were surprised at how when they did really relax and let the words interact with their minds and let a story be painted, and that it gave them a warm, calming feeling. I would like to get this result with more of the majority so I need to figure out which words will achieve this best.

Project one direction

After bringing my new ideas and proposals to the Tutorial to discuss with Helen, we chose to keep the origninal idea from my storyboard. This was very helpfull for me and my progression, I can now really settle with one idea and spend the next two weeks researching and perfecting it to get the results I am after.

Further progression and thoughts

The main reason for my new ideas and concepts is I am a little worried about the interactivity of my initial proposition. Yes I do believe it has interaction, but with my original idea and storyboard it doesn't have a result as such. It is more the interaction as the audio slowly progresses which procreates a result, done by mentally giving the user an individual picture or particular relived memory.

Now that I have gathered multiple ideas to extend, change or improve project one, the next step that I need to take is to design, test and discuss each to find wither I am heading in a good direction or take a step back and not over complicate the first idea, and stick to its simplicity and effectiveness.

Project one progression

During the lecture presentation on Monday the 1st of August the video "Five ways to listen better" by Julian Treasure, which was aired on TED*, gave me an inspiration for new ideas. In this video Julian Treasure talked about "…Making meaning from sound..." and an example he presented was a cocktail party with large amounts of talking and chatter, and during this he said "David, Sarah pay attention." and explained how just a few people sat up and were more aware. He went on to explain that we recognise patterns, especially our name, to distinguish noise. But if he was to play a "pink noise" in the background because it has no meaning eventually we block that sound out. This really intrigued me as my project was similar in ways, the repetition of certain words to eventually make the mind forget what it was listening to in the first place. But Julian’s example of the cocktail party was the true inspiration for my project progression. The mixture of sounds in that background that pose no real meaning with sounds that do. Mixing that with the lecture video of the ‘moonwalking bear’, which shows, that if all of your concentration is set to doing one task how simple things can slip past. This could pose an interesting mental interaction, having the user try and count how many times a certain sound was produced while background noise is being played. Afterwards ask them wither they heard the man/woman saying "(something)" in the background.

*http://www.ted.com/talks/julian_treasure_5_ways_to_listen_better.html

New ideas / thoughts for project one

During the tutorial on Friday in which Helen was away I spoke to one of the other tutors regarding my Project. We discovered a few new ideas to follow and research, the first being, rather than having words such as "bird" or "people" to have the story more user orientated and instead have "bird" as "flight" or "soaring", for "people" words like "running" or "playing". The idea behind this would be to have the listener associate the words to mental images of their own, as opposed to less imaginative words.

Another idea we discussed was an audio track that triggers a mental need for something, which could be hunger or thirst. Putting together certain sounds or wording which your mind relates to that sense. An example would be how the noise of running water triggers something inside your brain which, for some, can make you feel like going to the bathroom. For this idea I am a little unsure how effective it would be, the reason being is each person has different thought patterns. Having an audio track of running water may indeed make some users to feel the need to rush to the bathroom, but for others it could trigger a sense of relaxation and peacefulness. So this wouldn't work for everyone in the same way. Maybe that could be a good thing, the way different sounds make the user feel, will need to do some testing and research.