Ceremony + Rite of Passage in SMALLab
From MultimodalEnvironments
Contents |
Summary of First Project
Project notes from 2008 November 4. (Lisa)
To do:
- 1. We will create a new object that can change colors (red, orange, blue, green) based on system input. As the ball begins to change color, the lights will independently, randomly flicker or fade in and out until a the color "settles".
- 2. We will gather new sets of images that fall into two sets, one being "thematically loaded" and the other being "general objects" (as in the first version of ceremony).
- 3. We need to create a background graphic that indicates the quadrants containing images that are selectable by the orange or green version of the glowball.
Ceremony practice considerations: We will examine how participants adapt to the rule-set and color changes. More specifically, we want to see which constraints they adopt in their third stage, which ones they abandon, and observe any constraints they set for themselves.
We will have participants perform in three different levels with three different sets of constraints (1 - movement-based, 2 - color-based, 3 - TBD):
- Level 1. Enforcement constraint is with movement choreography. Participants tell a story/narrative using images. Ball colors do not change.
- Level 2. Enforcement constraint is with ball color changes. Participants work with an issue and are 'summoned' by the ball to engage between two sets of images, loaded or un-themed. Each set is playable only by a specific ball color (either green or orange). There is no set choreography.
- Level 3. There is no enforcement of or around movement protocol or color change. Images are not displayed in a thematic way. We only ask the participants to create a narrative by responding to the environment. The ball will change colors at random, but all images are playable by either orange and green.
Observations and Results from 1st User Study
Group Warm Up – Participants are theater/art practitioners familiar with theater games and improvisation. Each individual was open to the process and was sufficiently prepared to be engaged. High level of curiosity in the system and process lent itself to a fairly quick acceptance of the provided guidance and interaction with all participating members. The time spent in warm up seemed sufficient to lay the foundation for the protocol to be followed, ease of adoption, and ability to actively use it, without significant conscious effort used or needed to follow the protocol.
Ceremony – Participants understood and accepted the assigned sacredness of the space, which affirmed the project’s definition of the space. Participants followed the protocol defined choreography and storytelling/script building without hesitation.
Elements - Beginning of storytelling is creationist/evolutionary. Terms used defining the story are initially common place, direct, obvious. Initial tentativeness is mediated by the use of humor. Interaction is defined by collaborativeness in support of the story and development of the narrative without conflict. Good focus on storytelling with high energy, seemingly adrenalin charged, relatively in line with discovering and interacting with a new environment. Focus is on the story within the story/ceremony. Individual stories within the group stories developed organically, creating a dynamic where individuality is not fully lost, but integrated within the larger scope of the ceremony. Image integration into the story evolves with each iteration. Group dynamics become more comfortable, less verbalization without loss of story strand, and development of theatricality, conflict introduction and resolution while maintaining the dynamics of the ceremony protocol and the environment. Sound initially ignored. On third iteration participants used sound to define rhythm, movement – self initiated choreography, and volume.
Participant Reactions
- Ceremony – solemn/order/maintained equal roles for all; Feel liberated once free to improvise
- Active terms: fun/crafting/curious/confused
- Technology – attractive and enticing to participants
- Sensory Experience – initial confusion as to use, functionality, and purpose
- Story Telling – initially relied on interacting/collecting pictures, audible story subservient to visual input
- Sound – initially not connected, not understanding, disconnected, rhythm needed to be more defined, ignored on a conscious level, but connection and influence observable as participants responded subconsciously, then immersed and interacting with it.
Class presentation, 2nd version
The following is a pdf document of our class presentation for Phase II.
Image:Ceremony-Phase2 presentation.pdf
Tangible Interface Proposal: Facilitating a system adaptation.
Tangible Interface Design Intent Document Rite of Passage Ceremony for SMALLab Working Draft
Problem Statement:
Our intent is to further implement infrastructure that can be used to facilitate the Rite of Passage Ceremony in SMALLab. This will be done through the design and construction of a tangible interface that can support an early and simple implementation that may be an initial step towards the development of a system adaptation. Adaptations could occur during the course of ceremony to encourage scripted protocol and behavior in the initial phases of the ceremonial process.
The object as a symbol: The semantic meaning of our tangible interface.
Our brainstorm for a tangible interface design was initially set to consider the context through which it would function, as well as a design that was practical to build with our skill set and time constraint. We looked at a few ideas such as a book for example. Perhaps participants could hold a glowing book instead of a glow-ball to tell their story and navigate the ceremonial space. However, we recall our case study participants agreeing upon the idea that having more than one person place their hand on the glow-ball was an effective ritual experience. We decided not to go with the book because it would then seem like people were swearing on a bible. We thought of other ideas that would enhance the story telling experience, and came up with ideas that were either too complicated to construct, difficult to handle, too expensive to build, unable to support the technical constraints of tracking, etc.
To get around these issues we decided to stay with a ball design, and try to create an implemention that would be fun and would have meaning in the space. The obvious choice for us was to construct a crystal ball. A crystal ball design would have a base that would allow for easy handling, a casing for the circuits, off the shelf parts, faster construction, and other benefits. We agree that this object may not be the most ideal in terms of its semantic meaning, but we know that it has the potential to encourage play and imagination. It will be attractive because it will glow different colors, and allow people to place their hands upon it to draw out the story. We can form hypotheses about this and test these ideas in the field.
Tangible interface functionality
SMALLab can currently track three LED colors in the space. It does this through calibrations that include the use of color histograms. Our interface would have arrays of all three of the LED colors that the system can track, as well as a fourth LED color that the system cannot track. These LED arrays would be mounted within a glass or plastic bulb that would form the outer surface of the sphere representing the crystal ball. For more clarification, I have attached an illustration below. We will be using a BlueSMIRF Bluetooth modem that is connected to an Arduino Mini microcontroller to wirelessly control the LEDs using a renderengine. We can then assign different behaviors and functionality to the system by activating the different LED colors. This will provide us with an interesting tool to test. This device both serves as a display that can provide the end user with information, and it also serves as a controller that provides different affordances when different color LEDs are activated. We ran initial tests in SMALLab to determine the responsiveness of the system when different track-able LED colors are toggled. The results of our test were great, the system was quite responsive at keeping track of an object as colors were changing, as well as determining the color that was toggled on.
Interface Implementation: Using the interface within our place for ceremony.
The SMALLab tracks orange, green, and blue. To create two pairs of complimentary colors, the interface will use red LEDs (Red-Green & Orange-Blue). This will also make the interface useful if we ever needed to use a red light / green light display.
For starters we would like to use the four-color system to display a color toggled by a random number generator. The four colors will correlate to the positions of the participants so that if for example, the color red is randomly picked, then the person who is standing in the red position or circle would know to begin the ceremony. This random color generator may also be used to decide whom the interface is handed off to. This feature will have many applications. We will have to discuss which ones to implement once we approach a working system.
In the interest of time, our approach is to assign the different color tracking to respond to different quadrants. This could be used to encourage users to explore the whole ceremonial space. So if the system identifies that the group tends to spend more time in a particular quadrant, its color and functionality could change so that a person is encouraged to explore other images and areas. This would be a simple adaptation that would be a constraint imposed as a result of certain repetitive behavior. These types of adaptations can be used to enforce ceremonial protocols in the first phase of our currently constructed ceremony. So that as we move through phases, and the protocols are relaxed, so too is the function of the ball. The function of the ball can then be reshaped so that it then begins to work as a more creative device, as opposed to one of protocol enforcement.
Conclusion:
This is a first iteration draft, designed with satisficing and flexibility in mind. We currently have all of the electronic supplies with the exception of the LEDs. These we can put on order and receive soon. (Christopher, Draft_1 - Oct. 28, 6:37)
Member Roles
- Christopher
- Dan
- Jisoo
- Levy
- Lisa
Project Modifications
Member Projections and Concerns
- I would like to work on system adaptations, which could be visual, sonic, choreographic, a shift in the interaction, or otherwise. This should be discussed the entire team to decide on what is feasible and where we want to be regarding our project timelines.
(Lisa - Oct. 17, 10:39 am)
- I am interested in making the digital pictures and advancing the scripting to a process that is more beneficial to the user. I would like the system to be used towards more of a goal, that there is something resolved or "worked through" by going through the process, this could be real or a internally fabricated 'problem'. I would also like the product created in the middle of the circle to effect the users, somehow showing them the progression of the story during the process.
(How | Does | When will) feedback on self-assessments play a role in the direction of our project? My concerns are not "taking away" any new skills as far as SMALLab operation and also that we may advance too fast. (Dan - Oct. 17, 11:11 am)
Images for Second Iteration
We decided this morning that a good way of attacking the loaded image problem is to maintain the focus of how images effect the story narrative being created. We can do this by having image sets change throughout the three rounds of the ceremony. The first round will have the original, abstract images but the second and third rounds will incorporate changed images sets. For the second iteration we will use images with a loaded "fantasy" context, in order to see if this helps or changes the ability to tell a story in the space by playing into traditional (multi-national) story imagery. This is also an attempt to solidify the ceremony space as a place for fun and experimentation through storytelling. Our third iteration will use political images (found using multi-national search engines) in order to see if/how the previous rounds will effect the use of "real world"imagery. Will they use common knowledge about the photos in the story or will they create a new world through the idea of small lab being a place for story and play? What images will be important to them? How will they integrate the abstract into the real world, and the real world into the creative?
