Designing for Constrains

Blog for Antorcha Guadalupana that hopefully will end ass an interactive project.

As a project for Designing for Constrains and also as part of my interest, I am developping a blog for an event that starts at Mexico City and finishes in New York is called “Carrera Antorcha Guadalupana” This is the first draft of the blog still in my server, hope to later put it in their website. Commentary’s are welcomed.

Proposal Designing for Constrains
Interactive applications for Mexican-American Community.

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The 12th of December, the only official religious national holiday in Mexico. Mexicans celebrate their spiritual indigenous roots by bringing them to the Virgin of Guadalupe (day of her apparition). The Virgin of Guadalupe role in Mexican history is not limited to the religious sphere, she has an important role in Mexican nationalism and identity.

The Carrera Guadaluana Mexico-New York is made between two countries. It starts in the capital of a latinamerican country in development and it starts in the financial center or the economic world. The march crosses the border like any immigrant that has moved because of economic politics that has made him leave his land. In this march, the safe crossing and organized of the border is a atention call to first world countries, that as they have favored the movility of capital,enterprises and businesses, the also promote and help the Right of human movility of all the workers of he world. Millios of U.S. immigrans have waited since 1986 to have theyir documents and to start working legally, they wait to reunify themselves with their families.

With the presence of more that 25 million of Mexican and their descendants in the U.S the 12th of December becomes an important date in the U.S. There are syndicates that have added the 12th of December as a religious holiday. The association Tepeyac is an organization funded by Mexicans, for the establishment and integral development of the Mexican community in the state of New York to defend, and promote human rights of immigrants of every nationality, specifically Latin-Americans. An important aspect of the establishment of every immigrant group is to strengthen of their identity and their cultural, civic and religious traditions.

The “Carrera de la Antorcha Guadalupana” is a religious tradition very rooted in Mexican immigrants originally from neighbor states of Mexico City that strengthens when they are more far way from Mexico, and there are more problems to confront as immigrants.

Mexicans in Mexico, traditionally make a march from the Basilica of Guadalupe to their original town. In New York the march is made to the San Patrick Cathedral to their communities (e.g. Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, etc). During the March the runners and people involved ask to the Virgin of Guadaupe to help with their own immigrant issues of leaving their partners, their sisters, their wives and their children, many ask to get a Legal Permanent Residency in the U.S. and so they could have more possibilities to see their family that lives in Mexico and cannot cross the border. This will allow them to stop paying fake papers to work, or have the right to work that every U.S citizen has, a driver’s licensee, the right to buy a home, to have health care, and right to be able to finance to go to the university.

The significance of the Carrera de la Antorcha Guadalupana Mexico-New York has not only one dimmension. Its an integration of the cultural, religious, political and organizational dimensions that contains many messages that are updated annually with the support of organizations, groups, institutions and corporations.

The fire of the torch starts from Mexico City, from there the torch is passed on to other runners. The pilgrimage starts from October and arrives to New York the 12th of December to St. Patrick’s Church where the fire of the torch is shared to other communities of New York that also walk to their homes.

My main interest in projects is to be able to unite and to facilitate two cultures to understand each other. I believe in a one to one interaction in order to have significant change in ones perception of things. The project started 10 years ago, but has still not become known in the Latin-American neither among other Americans. The internet, has being a representative of a mobility movement, where people is able to share information and has being able to communicate, trespassing borders. I believe that the Internet is the massive form of doing one by one interaction. By giving this project a solid online presence the project could give the message of illegal immigrants to other parts of the world. I will like to start by building the 2008 official website that will be a blog, in where any participant could update easily last minute information. I will be interested in keep working with this project developing a interactive interface.

My first goal is to make the event website for 2008, where I will make it a blog that is bilingual, and I will integrate google maps into the main interface of the blog.

Timeline of milestones to be acomplish each week, on these dates:

April 1
Proposal.
April 15
Set up the blog. Meet with Maria Zúñiga Barba, to have feedback.
April 29
User experience. Test the blog along different people.

The main problem I have identified in my design process is a lack of an idea that I feel passionate about. As last semester I started a new process of meeting new uses of technology, I draw a line of my past experiences and my past interest and submerged in the use of technology. The biggest barrier I have encountered is the one that separates human from technology. As with ITP the most important thing has become the technology per se without the concept. To be more clear my projects had no soul, no intention. I was unable to relate my background with what I was working with.

In a general sense, leaving out the idea of concept, I consider that one of my main problems in design is the developing stage. I like furnished projects, but I cannot bring myself to integrate this in my design process. My projects are constantly not finished and not clean.

This Spring Break, I went to Panama together with other ten ITP Students. We immerse ourselves in a total different dynamic, not just from NYC but also from the floor. I won’t go into details of the activities, but I will rather like to explain the significance that this trip has had in my design ideas. Working and living for ten days with students whose background and interest are really different. With time one could easily map what were the skills and the interest of each one of team. For me it was important to understand how passionate I can become with social issues. In this same line I am interested in politics, but politics more as a way to empowering humans to make changes to improve their lives

Playing can change the way we interact with things. Challenge I consider is one of our favorite addictions. Creating a simple game with a switch or button is the assignment for this week.
After working with Sonia and sound I was intrigued, so I decided to integrate Toy Design. I am working with Christian Cerrito and Alex Feng. We are designing an insert for a shoe, that will play sounds. This is the most simple description as the project is evolving, I decided to mess around and do a game with it. (I am still working with it). Simple explanation of the shoe is that it has to pressure sensors, like to switches front and back, when you press front makes one sound when you press back makes another sound.

I want to make a sound that consist in playing a secuence and the person will need to play it back, and from there recognize if the secuence was correct. So what I like is that is simple and that it involves to move your feet and to recognize secuence. I hope I can work with the coding… yes code is always a pain. Here are some pics of the shoes:

The new switch that will help you record your voice.
Instructions in how to use it:
1. Press the button,
2. Say Something
3. Release it and it will play back .

I use processing for the buttons and the program, dowloading Sonia, and an example from Amit’s webpage. The idea was to create a simple switch that would be accessible for everyone.

To create the switch I used two plastic cups (the ones we use for the water in itp). And one over the other one I created a simple switch circuit using alluminium. I also used the ipac that just arrived last class.

Here is an example of my code and the program.

Program:

1. When you start 2. When recording 3. Playing back

Here is a video of the look (that I know I could it work better with the look) but the feel was really good, and more with my last minute clay solution (a la mexicana).

So as many ideas started I chose to keep going with the camera and dealing more with my not so good skills in flash. One of the things I really liked that I was able to make is the menu turn around:

format.swf

In this menu is where you can find the main improvements of the camera, and well more of improvements I have simplyfied the model. I took out all the ¨modes¨ and put play in the menu and also I keep the mode ¨p¨ for people that want to have more controlled and ISO. I added size that will control the size of the Video and the size of the Photo that you take (already discussed in an earlier post the problem with size and resolution and because is a simpler version i thought with size people would understand better).

Instructions in how to use use:

The interaction is not that intuitive I was able to make the menu spin but I couldnt find the way from the spin to chose the selection so the spinning is just an addition but it does not do anything…. So you actually have to click in the option of the menu. And from there move around… Just rember the LCD is not a touch screen you have to interact via the up down or sideways in the right half of the camera. Good Luck and hope to hear comments. OHhh and I have sereral leaps… I would fix them another time.

Prototype in Flash

Paper Protoype of improvements of camera.

The improvements where worked and the paper prototype develop. The videos of usability test:

In the User Test with the digital camera the following problems where detected with the actual model.

This is a list of comments and Ideas that came out in the User-Test:

• Using the main menu. The extra buttons, not working well, they are not so important, and people try to use them a lot.

• Trash vs Resolution.

• The menu slide is not really intuitive

• Rarely is the main mode menu used and people think the options are there.

• People get frustrated when using the camera. Sounds of frustration.

• Impossible to find where to change the resolution.

• The browser space is really small, you need a lot of precision to move around.

• The mode menu is really comfortable.

• The display is good enough, enough space.

• The play is outside the menu option and is really hard to find, users look for it in the mode menu.

• The left hand is not used just the right one.

• They want to press play again to play the video.

• Delete all the photos, is not in trash so people have a hard time finding it.

• For David the mode menu was its main tool to move around the camera, he would read all the information really carefully. Finds ISO option to change the flash.

• Zoom is really good, easy to find. The menu is not obvious. wording confusing, too many functions. The zoom in video a little confusing.

• Middle to delicate, he thought he find the instructions. ¨Se ha ido a la mierda¨

• Video-Play really good nobody had a hard time with it.

• Format in Menu.

Improvement:

The time I had as an hypothesis to work with the camera is not realistic. I also realized that I ask for difficult task and that they took much more that I thought so. There are good things of this camera but mainly there are some issues. I decided to make six improvements:
1. Took all the mode options and leave the mode menu with 6 options, as shown:

2. Move the play button into the Mode Menu, and did not use that position because it was too confusing.

3. Added the Delete All option in trash

4. Move Resolution into the Mode Menu. *I named size, because I thought people would understand better.

5. I removed the Display button over the menu button and replace it for trash.

6. I propose a divided browser, and a bigger center of the browser, so people could press more comfortably.

The main changes are in the mode menu that looks as follow:

Main Menu

• Susana Zepeda

• David Gonzalez

• Eduardo Lyton

Product: Digital Camera

Task:
a) Take two pictures:
1. A picture without flash high resolution.
2. A picture with zoom and with flash with low resolution.
b) Take a video:
1. High resolution, to something near.
2. Low resolution.
c) Play Back
1. Play back the photos
2. Play back the video
3. Delete the first video you took.

d) format the camera. (delete all the files that are there).

How can it be achieved?

Example (Video):::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

As I establish the task depending if the user has interacted with a cyber-shot or not, it would vary the type of interaction. The prediction for the development of the task would be the following:

The person would first look for the button power or on, after turning it on, he/she would look for the shooter, after finding it he/she would take a picture, but the camera would be in video mode, after a moment of trying to take the picture the person would realize that he is recording, would then press the shooter and would try to look for the “Mode Menu” he would find there in small icons a film strip, and would change it ideally to the green icon that represents the camera. From there he/she would press again the shooter.

To the second step the person would try to figure out how to change the resolution, I consider to find the resolution change one of the most difficult settings, he/she would try to go into the menu after move the settings with play, until he discovers that he needs to press trash while the shotter is on. From there the resolution would be change.

The video he/she already had experience when turning on the camera where the mode menu was, so he would move it and shoot, but it would be in low resolution, but again he/she already nows where to change the resolution.

For the playback he would look for the play sign, that is actually sensitive (you can touch and feel the triangle) from there look for the indications to scroll the picture.
The person would use the scrolled to move around the photos. To play back the video he/she would take a considerable amount of time to find the control, is not really specified.
To delete I consider a really good sign the button of the trash can, and from there the lcd tells you the rest.

The task to format all the photos I consider the most difficult because you have to go to menu there you have to go to setup, that opens another menu with another menu, from there you will find four icons and you have to chose the second one that is in a from of a memory stick there you will find the option to format. This I consider the longest step.

Ideas can change after you have made some research, and is sad when you realize that this idea is not so simple as it sound, probably as an effect of watching to much fantasy movies. So what I tough I could do with metal and magnet, it was not possible, because it could to raise up the fabric, the only thing that could work for my proposed prototype was air… air is the only material that could expand in a small space, so I started to research in the use of small air-pumps, but then the idea sounded really complicated, so I went back again with magnet and liquid metal.. nope… where could you contain the material, the I thought of Mercury, like a thermometer, but still Mercury is completely visual, and of course is really messy, and poisoness…

So I had to redeem, I changed to the simplest idea in my mind a wrist watch that instead of the handle movings the phase would move for itself,

In the first photo is one of the ideas I liked the best, but could not come with the idea of the design, as easy that it seemed it is one of the most hards to make. I wanted to make a bubble wrap bracelet that will pup up in Braille the exact hour.