Week 17 Log

Week beginning 30/01/2012

Continuing on from the previous week, further Pachube experimentation was conducted. This time, the arduino board was connected to remote sensors and sketches were built up to handle this data. Visual data manipulation via processing was successful, but physical arduino board output was not. New sketches were developed to extend tutorial instructions and the processing reference library proved very useful. By looking at processing/frimata tutorials and resources and experimentation it was discovered that the right piece of code wasn’t uploaded to the arduino board and this needed to be updated.

Whilst researching technologies this week, Pachube and Ethernet connections or Arduino client/server connections seem the most cost-effective and stable way of setting up early prototypes through reading ‘Building wireless sensor networks’ and ‘making things talk’. Comparisons between the different network types and their suitability were made and documented. Early decisions have been made about the supporting technologies and connectivity options.

The framework for focus groups was set up, and this will be conducted with a guinea pig then a test group by 09/02/2012. Reading ‘Research Methods in HCI’ has shown that the current thesis has to be split into two or three parts, and tested individually for maximum reliability. There will be triangulation and different way  of doing the same things will be compared i.e. whether turning a light on or having a haptic response i.e. vibration when the secondary user is present is more effective. Should users be given a choice? Advice will be taken from the project supervisors in response to these issues.

Continued reading of ‘Designing Interactions – Bill Moggridge’ yielded some interesting and useful frameworks. Bill Verplank’s concepts of the ‘three questions for the designer’, and his four step process were analysed and will be applied to the project. One aspect that was interesting was the need for a ‘metaphor and scenario’. The metaphor for this project is the ‘tin can telephone’. It summed up the concepts of secrecy, presence and transient memory. This enables the rapid explanation of the concept to users, and will be extremely useful when talking to users. A scenario sets up expected contexts of use, and when users are approached they can be asked to develop their own scenarios to further understand how they would use the concept.

Some more experimentation with various electronic output/input equipment needs to be conducted. The memories shared can almost take any form imaginable. Some research was conducted this week into the potential outcome types available, and what hardware the Arduino can interact with and control for example TV and digital cameras. There was the discovery of atTiny chips which allow for the miniaturisation of Arduino projects: where the sketches can be loaded onto the chip and the actual arduino board removed. They provide an option for duplicating small projects.

Aims for next week: Conduct early focus group, experiment with more digital memory sharing mediums, prototype further and try to get sensor-arduino connections working over the internet.