A Very MAD Blog
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This is a game to practically teach chemistry and other topics through play. This truly brings interactive systems (ITS) into the classroom.
ITS is a connection between the user and the system. In my system I want both the user and machine to share information and learn from one another. This system promotes team work and being collaborative. It is also a goal of this system to facilitate creativity and creation/experiments
Schools still teach in an absorption of knowledge method, rather than a more hands‐on, activity‐based education. [Collins Halverson, 2010] Schools are in this way limiting their students as practical skills especially in technology is important in all aspects of life nowadays. All facts and general knowledge doesn’t need to be remembered as it is all a few taps away at any moment, don’t get me wrong I also believe knowledge is power. However, it is much more important nowadays is practical skills, creativity, and problem solving skills.
I want to offer a better method of teaching in a more interactive and interesting way to keep students focused and interested. I want to teach skills in a way that students can actually use in their everyday lives or practice.
How it actually works:
The game consists of a workstation that allows you to create anything and do experiments to find how certain materials react and how to use them.
The workstation is both physical and augmented allowing a greater range of supported features.
The system gives you challenges and games to use these skills.
One example is a game where each user is given an element and the other user needs to ‘guess’ the element and each turn they can test a property or examine it in one way.
This system was first thought of as a game like guess who but with the elements of the periodic table and the questions had to be about attributes. This upgraded to be much broader and complex, allowing for real reactions and physical interaction. It is a interactive system with the goal of facilitating practical learning of skills.
A key direction I want to take is as new technologies and teaching style are invented they can be incorporated into the system.
References
ActiveVision. (2018, 10). ActivStation. Retrieved from ActiveVision: https://www.activevision.co.nz/interactive-panels/activstation/
Barnatt, C. (2017). DIGITAL GENESIS - The Future of Computing, Robots and AI. explainingcomputers.com.
Collins, A., & Halverson, R. (2010, Jan 12). The second educational revolution: rethinking education in the age of technology. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 26(1).
Connor, A. M., Marks, S., & Walker, C. (2015). Creating Creative Technologists: Playing With(in) Education. Springer Series on Cultural Computing, 35 - 56.
Google. (2018, 10). The new Chromebooks are here. Retrieved from Google.com: https://www.google.com/chromebook/
Proctor, B. (2008). Group Supervision: A Guide to Creative Practice. SAGE.
By opening a sodium ion channel in the neuron you can cause an action potential. The problem is triggering the channel to open, so how do you go about this? By charging the ion channel above 70mv you can trigger it to open. To do this it is theoretically possible to do it with an IR Laser. The idea being the laser will focus on the sodium ion channel and then charge it by 70mv then the chain reaction known as an action potential will do the rest for you. This will not work though because you can’t get a laser to focus 70mv on 0.0003µm or 0.3nm. The other option is the Neurotransmitters, by giving that area of the neuron a charge of 70mv the chemical process will be triggered and will fire the next neuron. This area is significantly larger.
If I were to use voltage-sensitive fluorescence or intracellular fluorescent dye-marking to show the firing of neurons and aim the laser at the axon bouton then my prediction is the neuron will light up showing it has fired.
The uses of this are endless in BCI. This would be a whole new way of outputting directly into the brain. This would also have many medical applications as well. This although very exciting and possible is also incredibly dangerous. We are still only scratching the surface when it comes to understanding the brain.
BOISVERT, M. (2013, December 4). CONTROLLING THE BRAIN WITH LASERS! Retrieved from Neuwrite: https://neuwritesd.org/2013/12/04/controlling-the-brain-with-lasers/
Millisecond infrared laser pulses depolarize and elicit action potentials on in-vitro dorsal root ganglion neurons. (2017, September 1). Biomedical Optics Express, 8(10), 4568–4578. doi:10.1364/BOE.8.004568
O'DONNELL, E. (2012, March). Light-Up Neurons. Retrieved from Harvard Magazine: https://harvardmagazine.com/2012/03/light-up-neurons
Richter, C.-P., & XiaodongTan. (2014, May).
Photons and neurons. Hearing Research, 311, 72-88.
doi:10.1016/j.heares.2014.03.008
This expanded on the last idea but after reading https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/splitting-carbon-dioxide/ about how you can turn CO2 into oxygen and fuel. This is done by passing the gas through high powered lasers, This separates CO2 molecules to O2 and CO, if you add water (which is also in your breath) you can make a biofuel. I thought to moving this technology into a wind instrument. This way the environment is being saved (slightly) and you have music.
Interactive Technology in Education
Interactive Systems for Play
I want to create a fun, yet, educational game aimed at high school students to help teach chemistry in a fun way. This game will be similar to Guess Who, however using the elements and you need to guess by chemical properties.
This is a work in progress however I can see this being used in classrooms and by teachers. This idea is however lacking a ‘punch’, an idea or feature completely out of the ordinary and not thought of before. I would like to add more new ideas to this concept and see where it turns out.
“Teleport around boundless virtual worlds sitting at your desk, or create a dedicated room-scale play area where you can physically walk around. “ https://www.vive.com/
head tracking was like real life when looking around. The controllers are also tracked and show in the environment. It was a very immersive experience, however as an interactive system, innovation was missing. the controllers are pretty standard and the technology inside them has been around for quite a while. Even the PlayStation has a trackable controller, in fact most consoles seem to now. https://www.playstation.com/en-us/explore/accessories/vr-accessories/playstation-move/
“Microsoft HoloLens is the first self-contained, holographic computer, enabling you to engage with your digital content and interact with holograms in the world around you.” However, I found it to have limited view area. The gestures worked well to control the virtual components.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/hololens
instruments have also made use of these actions such as the Infra-Red Harp. http://www.thenaturalistsnotebook.com/our-blog/a-harp-with-no-strings
The Quipu was an ancient system of recording data as knots. One user would tie knots in a row of hanging strings and another person could read it. This was also sometimes worn. This I believe is a valid example of an interactive system as data flows.
There are many systems that are interactive without technology, they are arguably endless.
ban-sugoroku (Board)
e-sugoroku (Picture)
ban-sugoroku is similar to western backgammon, whereas, e-sugoroku is similar to western Snakes and Ladders.
A group of people made a computer, microcontroller, and projection mapping version of this game for use in museum displays to teach the rules through play.
This opens up a plethora of opportunities for teaching about the past and history. Even things that cannot be reproduced in the real world can be achieved in a virtual/augmented one.
A lot of buildings are interactive. You walk up to the door and it opens, press a button and a lift comes to your floor, etc.
How do you make buildings interactive for everyone?
Technologies, any technology, a website, how do you make this inclusive of all users?
A major part of ITS is accessibility in my opinion. Making an interactive system that is usable by everyone is an important part of any design and should always be considered. In a lot of cases you need to be accessible by law.
Some common things to account for is:
You should also consider conditions like epilepsy in projects.
Orphe is a throwback to childhood with light up shoes. The difference is they are programmable and connect to a smartphone. Gestures and movements can trigger the lights as well as change the colour.
Furthermore, the shoes can be used as an instrument. On top of that they have an opensource SDK so you can program them to do whatever you want or just use their smartphone app.
“Beautiful gradation and catchable animation. Orphe has a LED sole inside which realize completely new expression, but that’s not all. Built-in motion sensor will detect your legs movement in real time, and your walk will get analyzed in high accurate data. By connecting to smartphone and computer, Orphe may turn into a musical instrument and controller. If you are a developer, you can develop an application compatible with Orphe by using the free SDK. You may use this as a dance, music, health care, VR/AR and more.“
This is another accidental device discovery for experimental music.
SketchSynth is an interactive synthesizer that the user creates by drawing the controls and that creates a touch interface. This is interactive in both the setup/drawing and in the use/ synthesizer.
SketchSynth developed by Mr. Billy Keyes is a device that currently has three kinds of parameters, “momentary button”, “toggle switch”, and “slider”. Just by drawing on paper you can make a synthesizer.
SketchSynth is built with a camera that can read the drawin/sketch on paper, a special projector that displays the parameters, and the main program open Framework. At this moment, it is not a product that has been commercialized as a musical instrument, so anyone can not easily introduce it, but this kind of interesting idea and connection of state-of-the-art technology will be a catalyst for creating a wonderful instruments.
I see SketchSynth having more uses than just a synthesizer and hope they explore other areas such as experimental instruments.
A wooden window with a piece of material on the back so we could backward project a storm. This also has storm sounds through a set of speakers. We also have a heart rate monitor and a tablet on the table. The storm changes when you type in words and also changes with your heart rate. j
I have worked on many more systems that can be considered Interactive, in fact, most things I have made are interactive in one way or another.
Using multiple cameras in sports tournaments to have in-home 360-degree view using your remote.
Features
Robust object tracking technology using machine learning.
With object tracking techniques using machine learning, you can track balls robustly under various circumstances. Also, by improving the frame rate of the processed video, you can track balls with faster motion than ever before.
Camera calibration for multiple movable cameras
We developed a calibration technique for multiple movable cameras that can process with high accuracy and in real time. Through this, even when the camera and subjects move, accurate three-dimensional position calculation and CG synthesis can be done in real time.
Future plans
In addition to improving the performance of each elemental technology, [NHK] will proceed with verification in various competitions aiming for use at the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympic Games in 2020.
Interactive viewing of multi-view video using MPEG-DASH
MPEG-DASH is a technology that you can watch while switching the viewpoint smoothly by touch operation with PC web browser or smartphone. It is done by generating the camera image of each viewpoint by the MPEG-DASH method and efficiently distributing it according to user’s operation.
Utilization of image processing technology on the cloud
You can now watch content such as 360 degree video that requires advanced video processing even on terminals like CPU and memory with limitations on TV and memory [by using the cloud]. Execute video processing according to user’s operation on the server on the cloud and realize it by transmitting to the television by WebRTC.
Future plans
We are pursuing technological verification for practical application and R & D aiming for stable and comfortable net viewing.
- Translated from the original in Japanese on the NHK website: https://www.nhk.or.jp/strl/open2017/tenji/ display 4 and 5
I believe this technology is inevitable and shows new ways to watch and think about television. This adds a whole new level of interaction to TV and video viewing in general. I look forward to seeing if they succeed in time for the 2020 Olympic games.
What I find interesting is I use to think or interactive technologies and systems as just technologies but ITS can be entirely mechanical or material.
A major part of accessibility is ITS. Making an interactive system that is usable by everyone.
A lot of buildings are interactive. You walk up to the door and it opens, press a button and a lift comes to your floor, etc.
How do you make buildings interactive for everyone?
Technologies, any technology, a website, how do you make this inclusive of all users?
Khosrow-Pour, M. (2018). Encyclopedia of information science and technology(4th ed., Vol. 10). Hershey, PA: IGI Global / Engineering Science Reference. doi:10.4018/978-1-5225-2255-3
Concept
The purpose of this project was to encourage people to produce their own food regardless of their prior skills, knowledge, or time. Eve is a personal plant assistant that will notify you at the very best time in your day to tend to your plants. There were initially three parts to this system, a device that will be implanted into an area or pot of the consumers choice, a receiver unit that will process the information and be able to calculate the best time to notify the user using AI technology, and an app to display the data.
The biggest challenge in this project was regarding the neural network. Creating the network was challenging to complete as there were many psychological factors associated with increasing motivation that could not be easily be defined and used in this project. The data given to the network would then have to be solely based on if the participant followed through with tending to their plants. If they did not, more information would be needed as to why they chose not to (e.g. Notification was not given at a reasonable time, they lost interest in gardening). Unfortunately, we did not end up utilising the neural network in this project as we did not have the time, the required data or the necessary experience with AI software to be able to create this complex system.
Given the time restraints of this project and other uncontrollable circumstances effecting the outcome, we would have liked to develop this further - focusing on seamlessly integrating the system together, spending more time on user interface and experience to ideally increase motivation, and to possibly create a finished marketable product for consumers. Our current prototype uses a sensor to send data to a base unit. This send the data to the computer that would process it through the AI, However, although we finished the fuzzy system we ran out of time to integrate everything together for the showcase. The output goes to an app that easily displays data and tips to the user.
We were able to complete a fuzzy system, an App prototype, a Kickstarter
style video, a website, and the physical device prototype. We will, However, keep developing Eve into the future, adding features, and making it a marketable product.
CONTEXT
The idea for this project stemmed from a need to focus on sustainable agriculture. At the peak production of this concept, farms had vastly developed to using mechanised equipment, becoming dependant on fossil fuels, as well as integrating pesticides and fertilizers into their produce. Farmers introduced these new ideas into their system without regard for future consequences (e.g. soil degradation, reduced profitability, a threat to human and animal health) (Reganold, J. 1990).
Alternative methods of agriculture have been able to avoid these major
repercussions by creating a system that works within a closed environment with
constant monitored conditions. Ideas such as Vertical Farming (farms that
utilise vertical space within an environment – predominantly in urban
environments – combined with the use of grow lights and a strict closed system),
Hydroponics (closed system that diminishes the use for soil and instead
utilises water and nutrient composition within the cycle to grow produce) and
Aquaponics (the use of nutrient-rich fish waste to “feed” the plant roots
submerged in the water) have led the way to a more sustainable future.
A demand for food will increase rapidly given the rate of population growth. Many of the problems expected to occur will cause a strain on food production and consumption. Producers will likely experience competition for their land, water and energy resources given the growth in population in relation to land area available (Godfray, H. 2013). Keeping up with this growth in population as well as being affected by unpredictable energy and oil costs, climate change and pollution creates limits on resources (water supplies, soil and land quality) that farmers rely on (Alexandratos, N. 2012).
An innovative concept has emerged from discussions about sustainable agriculture called Agroecology. Although this term can refer to many ideas such as a scientific discipline, agricultural practice, political or social movements (Wezel, A. 2011). This idea as one principal “regards farm systems as the fundamental units of study and in these systems, mineral cycles, energy transformations, biological processes and socio-economic relationships are analysed as a whole” (Altieri, M. A).
REFERENCES:
Alexandratos, N.; Bruinsma, J. World Agriculture Towards
2030/2050: The 2012 Revision; FAO, Agricultural Development Economics Division:
Rome, Italy, 2012.
Altieri, M. A. (n.d.). Agroecology: The scientific basis of alternative agriculture. Berkeley, California: Division of Biological Control, University of California.
Godfray, H. C. (2013). The challenge of feeding 9–10 billion people equitably and sustainably. The Journal of Agricultural Science,152(S1), 2-8. doi:10.1017/s0021859613000774
Reganold, J. P., Papemdick, R. I., & Parr, J. F. (1990). Sustainable Agriculture. Scientific American, 262(06), 112-121.
Wezel, A. (2011). Agroecology as a Science, a Movement and a Practice. Sustainable Agriculture, 2.
How to use your Eve – a personal plant assistant.
· You should find the following in the box.
· An Eve v1 sensor
· A Wireless Base Unit
Set up is easy!
All you need to do is connect your base unit to power and the internet, install the app from our website and then is it as simple as pressing the paring button on the sensor.
This will open the app where you can setup your plant.
When conditions are poor you will be notified through the app.
This will take you to a screen with information and tips about the plant.
Using Eve
Eve will tell you how your plants are doing and notify you when they need care at a time suitable for you in the app.
We made Eve in a range of colors, these are the finished prototypes version 3.
Fuzzy systems are a type of Artificial Intelligence that strive to conquer the complexities of human logic that isn’t always accurate or exact. A fuzzy system or Fuzzy logic tries to add meaning to words like sometimes and a little or a lot. These terms can then be used in programming or in other AI systems.
“Fuzzy logic is widely used in machine control. The term “fuzzy” refers to the fact that the logic involved can deal with concepts that cannot be expressed as the “true” or “false” but rather as “partially true”. Although alternative approaches such as genetic algorithms and neural networks can perform just as well as fuzzy logic in many cases, fuzzy logic has the advantage that the solution to the problem can be cast in terms that human operators can understand, so that their experience can be used in the design of the controller. This makes it easier to mechanize tasks that are already successfully performed by humans” (Fuzzy Control System, n.d.)
We will be using a Fuzzy Logic System to describe the condition of the plants to the user as well as training our AI.
Fuzzy Control System. (n.d.). Retrieved from wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuzzy_control_system
According to Dictionary.com (2018) ‘Artificial Intelligence’ is “the capacity of a computer to perform operations analogous to learning and decision making in humans, as by an expert system, a program for CAD or CAM, or a program for the perception and recognition of shapes in computer vision systems.” In summary, a software that can learn in one way or another.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been quickly evolving and changing, getting more advanced in recent time. We started with rule-based AI where a set of rules are given for the machine to follow that can be refined and added to. The problem is the world is a complicated place. Next came Learning AI where the AI took these rules and decided on the best outcomes and refined them. Now we are moving to Neural Networks that are almost like a ‘black box’. They work similar to a brain in which they have neurons and process data based on the connections of these neurons. This however, makes it impossible to look at the process it is using and refine it manually. (Barnatt, 2017)
AI can be split into 3 parts in most cases. The learning algorithm, Test data to learn off, and some sort of hardware. In a lot of cases AI is run off a normal computers processor which is what we are using, however, specialized hardware also exists. Test data can either be given to teach the AI then the AI used, and/or The AI can learn while it is in use from the data it is given and outcomes. We are using the latter. (Gerven & Bohte, 2018)
Types of AI:
https://simplicable.com/new/types-of-artificial-intelligence
https://futurism.com/images/types-of-ai-from-reactive-to-self-aware-infographic/
AI Hardware:
https://cloud.google.com/tpu/
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/machine-learning-studio/
AI Components:
http://www.explainingcomputers.com/ai.html
Dictionary.com. (2018, May 06). artificial intelligence. Retrieved from Dictionary: http://www.dictionary.com/browse/automation
Barnatt, C. (2017). DIGITAL GENESIS - The Future of Computing, Robots and AI. explainingcomputers.com.
Gerven, M. V., & Bohte, S. (2018). Artificial Neural Networks as Models of Neural Information Processing. Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience, 5-30.
Smaller design with IR led before batteries were installed. Batteries to be installed are lithium 3v button cells x2.
Using Picaxe chip with temperature, light, and soil moisture sensors.
433mhz Modules from China, they turned out to be faulty and replacing them would take too long or be too expensive to buy locally.
Hacking 315mhz Remote Module, the transfer rate was too slow ( 1bit per second)
Data over homemade FM radio transmitter including designing my own inductor that took a while. converting the data to sound, the quality of the signal wasn’t good enough to get all the data (data loss too high).
Radio Circuit I built ages ago, too large
As a last resort, I turned to trusty IR and am now designing a protocol based on Sonys IR protocol to send the sensor data. the main downside to this is the range and it needs line of sight.
We are working on two main parts of this project, 1) the sensor that will be placed in the pot/garden, and 2) the base unit that will calculate and display what the user needs to do.
The Sensor Circuit:
I designed this circuit so a picaxe chip could read the sensors and transmit the data to the base unit. This needed to be as small as possible so I kept that in mind when deciding on parts. A Picaxe is a type of microcontroller that is all on one chip and doesn’t need any other components to run. Picaxe is coded in basic over a serial interface.
Bonus points to those who realize that I switched standards partway through drawing that, school vs self-taught knowledge.
From that design I made a mockup on a breadboard to check everything worked.
The Sensor Code:
The code I designed to just read the sensor values then send them over serial where I will connect some sort of transmitter.
Fuzzy Stuff:
Our fuzzy system currently will give us a vague English word for different values, success. Shalom is still working on perfecting this then integrating it to an AI.
Goals:
My next goal is making the physical circuit and then making the wireless data transfer work.
Our project can be summarised as a garden or houseplant automation system. It will calculate temperature, sunlight, and soil moisture to tell you what the plant(s) need. We are going to have a relatively cheap and small sensor board that will get data from the plant and send it wirelessly to the base unit that will monitor all the plants and give the user notifications on required actions.
We plan to finish the main components of this by June 8th and release a promotional video a week later.
After speaking to multiple people in the farming industry it became clear that in the future we should create a more comprehensive device that also measures soil ph and nitrates in the soil. This could lead to a range of products for different user needs.
According to Dictionary.com (2018) ‘Automation’ is “the technique, method, or system of operating or controlling a process by highly automatic means, as by electronic devices, reducing human intervention to a minimum.” This means any machine that does a task mostly without a human or another animal for that matter.
Automation is becoming a popular topic recently with the rapid development of Home Automation and a huge amount of wireless home devices coming into the global market. (Gill, Yang, Yao, & Lu, 2009). In my opinion from what I see on web forums and people I know, there are a few types of people that are attracted to Home Automation: People that like DIY and Electronics, People that buy prebuilt systems for productivity and simplicity, and people that just think it is interesting.
Automation can save time and be convenient in a modern home. It is highly adaptable with some technical skill. Furthermore, automation can give peace of mind as it is possible to check locks are on, doors/windows are closed, and lights are off without leaving your seat. However, Cost of some of these systems can be an issue if you are using commercial products (money could be saved by making systems or part of the system from scratch). (Brush, et al., 2011). The cost could be a factor stopping less tech-savvy people from automating their houses.
I believe automation can save a lot of time and be used for a lot of good. We are only just starting to explore all the possibilities. I see a lot of potential in the medical divisions in monitoring and with the use of AI even predicting disease and of course in assistive devices such as the plant growing assistive system, we are working on.
I have teamed up with Shalom to work on something that interests us both; It was almost too perfect. I wanted to work on a system that would automate looking after a plant and Shalom wants to build a system to assist in looking after a plant using AI and Fuzzy systems. Basically, every term used in that last sentence could have its own entire blog so I will do some separate posts on each concept.
Our current concept is a device to add to your indoor plants that will send notifications to your phone at the best times, to water the plant or do something to look after it. The notifications will be calculated based on the plant’s needs and then by using AI learning it will also calculate the time that you are most likely free to do the task and most want to do it.
After completing over 2 months of study in Japan I returned to complete chaos!
(Me watching the world burn)
I spent my time over there studying mostly Japanese Language. However, I also went to a lot of cultural events/places and travelled as much as physically possible. I hoped that I could use something that I saw or learnt there in my work somehow, I think I will have no problem with that.
(Huge Snow Sculpture)
Apon arriving home I really hit the ground running, even after a 30-hour connecting flight home I didn't even get a day to rest off the jetlag! I got called to do other things and then the next day had to move houses, yes, I’m moving out of home!
The next problem was I had missed about 3 weeks of my classes and had only been following what was posted online. with about a week to do all my assessments; It was a bit of a challenge…
I found something interesting. Ayakiri (綾切) is a style of face painting in japan that the only example of it is from 1161ad with an inscription, it is kept in Osaka.
The FCC just voted to let ISPs have unrestricted control over the content they let you see and share on the internet and the speed they give it to you.
www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2017/12/14/16776154/fcc-net-neutrality-vote-results-rules-repealed
Hopefully this wont last long otherwise I see a lot of problems popping up mostly arround corporate greed.
We hope to change the users’ thought patterns to make for healthier thinking and management of stress. We want to show that stress is a tangible thing that you can see and change. We did this by creating a window into the user’s minds.
This project is a mix between interactive art and psychology all tied together in technology. In our display, we want to show people mindfulness without showing them mindfulness. We want them to discover it by interacting with our piece. We creatively brought art and psychology together to solve a very big issue in today’s society.
“Mindfulness is a skill that allows us to be less reactive to what is happening in the moment. It is a way of relating to all experience—positive, negative and neutral—such that our overall suffering is reduced and our sense of well-being increases. To be mindful is to wake up, to recognize what is happening in the present moment. We are rarely mindful. We are usually caught up in distracting thoughts or in opinions about what is happening in the moment. This is mindlessness.” - (Germer, 2004)
I drew my ideas from different areas and stuck them together. I have some knowledge in neuroscience and psychology; so, I contributed that to the group, I also have experience in circuitry and microcontrollers, and an understanding of design and user interaction. This allowed me to be more creative by drawing my ideas from multiple fields. I did look at a lot of other interactive art displays such as Waterlight Graffiti, art galleries and on the website Pinterest (Interactive Exhibition, 2017). However, all of the other interactive projects I could find were about either directly affecting the viewers’ mental state or the user directly affecting the work. I did not find any showing the users mental state and then changing it, I know something similar exists, however, I have not found it.
Simmons (2014) book Interactive Art Therapy, showed multiple interesting interactive exercises made for psychology. This was interesting to see how they can use similar things to help patients. By reading through these different exercises it helped give me an insight into how real psychologists could use our display. “Interactive art differs from static art such as paintings because interactive art entails reciprocal response or influence between artwork and audience” - (Seevinck, 2017). Overall, from an artistic side and also a psychological side, our project shows a glimpse into the mind of the user and has the potential to change a user’s view about stress.
Our Brief: “Create an Immersive translation of an individual’s state of mind as an introspective experience” Which summaries to taking someone’s thoughts and emotions and making them into a physical experience, we went with stress in the final iteration. Our main idea is that by making the users’ thoughts a physical tangible thing, they can be just that. By making the stress into a storm that you can control, it indirectly shows how you can control stress in the same way.
We hope to help reduce stress in this stress-fueled world by a metaphor. We have a storm behind a window that reacts to your stress and you can put all your worries into it. By calming the storm, you are calming yourself and the window is like a window into your own mind. We want the user to realize they can separate themselves from the storm that is their stress and see stress as a tangible thing and hopefully, therefore, be able to reduce or manage it better. We want the user to type their worries into the tablet on the desk and watch them appear on the screen and then put their finger on the scanner and try to calm the storm. Thus, changing their view on stress and worries.
The final iteration of this project embodies the concept and brief by incorporating many elements. By using a real window that we are projecting onto rather than a screen with a window and a desk with photos and plants, we are adding to the realism factor making it more believable. We are using heart rate and an input terminal to get an idea of the users’ state of mind and then translating that into the physical real world that is how the projected storm reacts. The storm changes in intensity by getting louder and the rain getting faster, as well as, the addition of thunder.
The brief changed throughout the course of this project as we refined and generated new ideas. The final iteration of this project is nothing like I could have imagined at the beginning. This I think shows that the creative process has been active. To help the creative process we started the project not knowing each other apart from areas of interest. This means we could easily make creative ideas off each other and we all had a different angle to go from and different knowledge to draw off. This helped us think outside the box to best solve the problem and focus on how to make the project a reality. This lead to Storm, the final iteration of our project.
Baer, R. (2010). Assessing Mindfulness and Acceptance Processes in Clients. New Harbinger Publications.
Germer, C. (2004). What is Mindfulness? INSIGHT JOURNAL, 24-29.
Interactive Exhibition. (2017). Retrieved from Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.nz/explore/interactive-exhibition
Seevinck, J. (2017). Emergence in Interactive Art. Springer.
Simmons, L. L. (2014). Interactive Art Therapy: “No Talent Required” Projects. Routledge.
We ended up with a wooden window with a piece of material on the back so we could backward project a storm. This also has storm sounds through a set of speakers. We also have a heart rate monitor and a tablet on the table. The storm changes when you type in words and also changes with your heart rate.
The project looks completely different to what we originally thought of and kept changing up until the last day. It has even changed since I took this picture.
The addition of a heart rate sensor was originally difficult and inaccurate but seems to be working a lot better now thanks to a mix of my case idea and Liam’s programming skills.
When we decided on backward projection we needed to find the right fabric and the branded stuff is a ridiculous price. Luckily another group was doing a similar thing and they pointed me towards a cheap fabric shop. ROAD TRIP! Kale and I went and looked through the shop for a good while and eventually found it. I also brought double what we needed because if you don’t you’ll end up needing it. I ironed It and staple gunned it to the frame tight and it looked good.
The window was originally thought to be placed in a wall we would build but this changed to a hanging design. We had a few problems here mostly the pole we brought was too small for the stands and the chain was unstable and fell in testing. I managed to fix both of these. The size of the pole I fixed with some cut up puzzle floor foam mats that I wrapped around the pole where the stand connects. I also made the chain a lot safer by turning the hooks that the window hung off, into loops by bending them around, which was a lot harder than it sounds.
After this, we moved it into position and set up the projector. Then I worked out how to change the projector so it was mirrored so everything was the right way around. Then another group decided to take up most of the studio space moving our projector so we relocated and re-setup.
The PC and projector I set up in a way that if the power was cut for some reason it would automatically turn back on and auto start all of the software; at the same time as not sleep, shutdown, or update.
The Arduino soldering also went well and we didn’t have any problems apart from length which just meant I needed to extend the wires a bit. I managed to solder around the case well and make it not look terrible
The last thing on the list is PC. I bought a spare PC in to use and tried to make the cables as tidy as possible making good use of extension cables.
I had a huge interest in using EEG for this project and did a lot of programming and research into using it for measuring stress. However, the EEG we were going to use for this project stopped functioning and we couldn't get another in time.
I also spent a large amount of time trying to work with the connect in processing, about a week. It was a nightmare. If the drivers weren't crashing, the libraries and APIs were. Eventually, I ended up just using a webcam and got the same effect but it took a matter of hours rather than days. My end goal was a program that gave a number out between 1 and 10 that showed the amount of movement of a subject. 0 being no movement and 10 being starjumps. However, this code wasn’t used in the final submission.
The stain was a fairly last minute decision and was rushed. I fell it could be better but it will do the job. Either way, it looks a bit better than plain wood. However, some stain go onto the fabric and it needed to be removed (luckily I brought double) I planned to redo it but it was done when I next saw it. It wasn’t ironed this time and wasn’t completely tight. It doesn’t look as good as it did but I hope with the projector on and lights off, no one will notice.
Something I seem to always struggle with is making time to blog. For me, it takes so much energy and I need to get into a certain mood to do it. I still have about 10 other half done related posts in my drafts folder that I didn’t get to finish. I definitely fell I could have blogged more.
The last problem that we are still dealing with is the program freezing. I blame windows and wish I installed Linux like I usually would for a project like this, but, too late now.
I learned a lot more about creative teams, as much as I hate working with people in a group; It is essential to the creative process or at least helps speed it up. Having other people helps trigger new ideas and also weed out bad ones. This works especially well if you haven’t worked together before like I explained in my first ctec503 post - http://blog.epsilum.co.nz/post/164504325489.
I also learned a lot from the research I did because of this project. I built on other things that I researched in the past, such as EEG, Neurology, and Japanese concepts.
This was a long project, but, it went fast! I’m glad to say its coming to an end but I definitely had some fun making this with the group, all of whom I didn’t know at all before this project started. A lot went wrong and could be better but overall I am happy with the outcome.
Our population is currently at around 7.5 billion and “The world has added one billion people since 2005 and two billion since 1993.” It is predicted we will reach a population of 9.8 billion by 2050. (United Nations, 2017).
According to Gimenez (2012), we Currently have enough food to feed 10 billion people and people starve because of greed. Furthermore, Edward O. Wilson (2002) also said that the earth can currently support 10 billion people in his book ‘The Future of Life’. However, neither of these sources linked back to any research or where they got their numbers. Alternatly, Waggoner (1996) says we should also consider and leave room for nature to survive, to do this we would need to drastically change our habits.
I believe (and I am not alone) that we can easily feed everyone on this planet with our current food productions. So why do people go hungry? Three main reasons Greed, Wastage, and poverty gaps. “The global volume of food wastage is estimated at 1.6 billion tonnes of ‘primary product equivalents.’ Total food wastage for the edible part of this amounts to 1.3 billion tonnes.” (Food wastage: Key facts and figures, n.d.). The average person eats 500kg per year (How Much Food Does the Average Person Eat per Year, 2013) so dividing that from the edible part of the food waste, that is enough to feed 2,600,000 people for a year.
The solution to wase food is up to you. How much food do you throw out or is left uneaten? how often do you overeat? If you own a business, how much food goes to waste there?
One solution to growing more food without destroying more forests is vertical farming.
With vertical farming, you can grow a lot more in a smaller land area. This has shown to be very effective when adding hydroponics and LED lighting. This video goes into the basics of the idea:
“The world has enough for everyone’s need, but not enough for everyone’s greed.” - Mahatma Gandhi
Food wastage: Key facts and figures. (n.d.). Retrieved 10 24, 2017, from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations: http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/196402/icode/
Gimenez, E. H. (2012, 02 05). We Already Grow Enough Food For 10 Billion People — and Still Can’t End Hunger. Retrieved from The Huffington Post: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-holt-gimenez/world-hunger_b_1463429.html
How Much Food Does the Average Person Eat per Year. (2013). Retrieved 10 24, 2017, from A to Z of Brain, Mind and Learning: http://health.learninginfo.org/how-much-food-average-person-eat-per-year.htm
United Nations, D. o. (2017). World Population Prospects: The 2017 Revision, Key Findings and Advance Tables. New York: United Nations.
Waggoner, P. E. (1996). How Much Land Can Ten Billion People Spare for Nature? Daedalus, The Liberation of the Environment, 125(3), 73-93. Retrieved 10 23, 2017, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/20027371
Wilson, E. O. (2002). The Future of Life. Paw Prints.
How do excessively Creative People Live?
Creatively! Creative people tend to do the following things according to some of the links below: They are extremely passionate about everything they do, and might not do things that they aren’t passionate about; They tend to daydream or get lost in thought; they enjoy solitude, more introverted people tend to be more creative; They have an openness to exploring new ideas and learning/experiencing new things; they tend to be more observant; They have better mindfulness; and they turn bad times into an advantage and build creative ideas from these experiences. This all boils down to thinking differently from the majority.
However, some other sources such as telentsmart sats some other things creative people do, like wake up early or work to a strict schedule.
So, How should creative people live?
More Creatively!
Do everything creatively!
For example, look at how this restaurant serves its deserts creatively.
By doing everything creatively, you enforce all of your creative thoughts and ideas.
Studies have also shown the benefits of having your own creative space to work, such as a workshop or studio and keeping to a schedule. But, at the same time being flexible to your ideas.
How can you live creatively? The following video raises some good points:
“we’re living in an age of information overload and the crisis of fake news” we need to stay open-minded and make our own ideas from our own research. see nothing as truth, all truths could change. See a news article? try to find their sources and make your own conclusions. Make new ideas even if they challenge the standard ways or ideas of life, it is these ideas that will either change the world or enforce the methods in place.
References:
https://blog.musicbed.com/articles/how-a-creative-person-should-manage-their-day-to-day-99u/257
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/858670600/tillera-minimal-and-seamless-device-for-tracking-y
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/249931
http://www.talentsmart.com/articles/6-Unusual-Habits-of-Exceptionally-Creative-People-2147446622-p-1.html
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/04/creativity-habits_n_4859769.html
https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/ten_habits_of_highly_creative_people
http://web.mit.edu/STS.035/www/PDFs/think.pdf
https://www.fastcodesign.com/90137664/the-reason-your-brain-loves-wide-products
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5OJZ8XRzvKXellrWnlQeV9WX2s/view
https://www.aspeninstitute.org/blog-posts/navigating-information-overload/
What is Creativity? Is that even an answerable question? The dictionary says Creativity is “The ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc.; originality, progressiveness, or imagination”- http://www.dictionary.com/browse/creativity
I decided to ask a friend of mine and she said “being creative is the expression of an idea that cannot be fully defined simply by describing it” I found this interesting as it makes sense yet it differs from the definition.
To me, creativity is the result of thinking openly and expressing ideas that some may never uncover.
So, How do you grow a creativity? How do you become creative?
according to https://thenextweb.com/creativity/2017/06/21/11-brutal-truths-about-creativity-that-no-one-wants-to-talk-about/#.tnw_L5nbPTen You already are creative, everyone is creative. I think the problem is a mix of self-criticism and close-mindedness.
The best ways to expand your creativity seems to be teaching your brain new things and opening your brain to new ideas. As said a previous post, music can increase creativity. However, not just learning an instrument but just listening to it as was said here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2017/09/06/listening-to-happy-music-may-boost-creativity-study-says/#79ad72d63357
I want to challenge you to grab a pencil and draw something or pick up any instrument and try to play it.
Take this video as an example:
However, Being creative is not just all about arts. Creative thinking helps with everything from problem-solving to living a happier life. - https://www.bestpracticeconsulting.com.au/_blog/Articles/post/Fostering_creativity_in_the_workplace/
My conclusion is, no matter who you are or where you are from, you should try being more creative as it could improve your life.
Music is becoming less and less taught in schools in western countries according to the following video. He also says music is all about patterns and using them creatively. He uses dubstep to show the patterns of music and frequencies. He also says how learning music helps with creative thinking which could boost grades.
Below are some Creative Music Videos that I thought could be related as they are doubbly creative.
Below is a video showing sound being visualized:
There is creativity in music and by learning a musical instrument you are expanding your brain and your creativity. This is why I took up the melodica, a strange instrument, but, I feel it fits me perfectly. We need more teaching of music in schools and not just of classical western style. The more creative the better!
For starters, what is the purpose of a blog anyway?
A blog has many purposes such as a company updating customers on progress or new products, a person with something interesting to share like traveling, or a student trying to pass a creative paper…
Blogs are used as a tool to give the same bit of information to a set audience easily and repetitively. For this purpose, they have other good uses as well, such as a portfolio.
So, if your goal is spreading information to a set group of people, how do you make the perfect blog post?
The first three things you should think about is who is your audience, what is the purpose of this blog post, and what do you want the reader to do or feel after reading it. (for example, a blog post aimed at my fellow students about how to make a decent post)
After figuring these out, if your goal is to make people read your post, the most important thing is a good title to draw people in and make the reader interested. One way to do this is to get them hooked with a question that they want the answer to. Like instead of ‘How to Make The Perfect Blog Post’ I put ‘ What Makes The Perfect Blog Post?’ this makes the reader curious, however, both are good titles in my opinion.
Next is a decent intro, something to draw the audience in and keep them reading.
After all of that is out of the way, comes your main content followed by an optional call to action. The content should also contain a decent summary. With your content, you should add images and graphics to split up the text and make it more enjoyable to read. This graphic should be related and useful to the content.
Lastly, check grammar and spelling. As boring as it sounds it is essential to a decent blog post. I personally use as many tools as I can to help, like Grammarly.
From another angle what shouldn't you do? Here is an interesting video I found:
References:
https://www.salesforce.com/ca/blog/2015/10/anatomy-of-a-blog-post.html
https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-to-write-blog-post-simple-formula-ht
Lives are busier than ever! “According to a study by the American Psychological Association, 18 to 35 year olds are the most stressed out generation ever—earning ourselves the nickname “Generation Stress.”” - https://relevantmagazine.com/life/millennials-are-most-stressed-out-generation-and-s-spiritual-problem “stress is caused by three primary factors—money, work, and the economy” - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-02-15/americans-just-broke-the-psychologists-stress-record
Stress on its own will kill you, mentally if not physically. However, part of stress (at least for me) is not having enough time in the day. A solution often used is to reduce sleep to get everything done, allowing us to relax. The problem with this is how sleep affects the body.
“Sleep deprivation actually causes the brain to feed off of neurons and synaptic connections“ - http://nypost.com/2017/05/30/the-brain-literally-eats-itself-when-its-overtired-study/
“Your body needs sleep, just as it needs air and food to function at its best. During sleep, your body heals itself and restores its chemical balance. Your brain forges new connections and helps memory retention. Without enough sleep, your brain and body systems won’t function normally. It can also dramatically lower your quality of life. A review of 16 studies found that sleeping for less than 6 to 8 hours a night increases the risk of early death by about 12 percent.” - https://www.healthline.com/health/sleep-deprivation/effects-on-body
“If sleep deprivation continues long enough, you could start having hallucinations—seeing or hearing things that aren’t there. A lack of sleep can also trigger mania in people who have manic depression.“ Which I have experienced. More than once I have gone 3 days without sleeping and the most I have gone is 4.
From this research, I have learned I need to make a change to my sleeping habits or it might actually kill me. Another factor is, sleeping statistically also makes you more productive making any excuses for not sleeping irrelevant.
The article “Is It Time To Go Back To Basics With Writing Instruction? “ by mind shift, says many students struggle with expressing their ideas through writing and many students are at a low writing level. They speak of a teaching style/course that teaches from the basics.
I believe writing is a limited medium, yes it is important, no it shouldn't dictate everything. In Highschools, most subjects (at least the graded ones) are either marked in math or English from my experience. If you do not excel at Literacy or Numeracy, you can be extremely limited. Another problem is the content as is introduced in the following music video:
Sure, it is a bit controversial, but, he raises good points. School hasn’t changed in over a century. We have made huge advancements and the whole world is a different place now, yet the school system hasn’t changed at all. This is talked about very well here.
So what can we do? We need to change, the world is going in the way of creativity, most of the factory line jobs that school was designed for don’t exist anymore and the rest won’t exist in the near future. School needs to stop killing creativity (and it does) and start making it stronger. According to the following article, Creative jobs will be the last to be automated.
http://fortune.com/2015/04/22/robots-white-collar-ai/
Our only way forward as a species is to be more creative and remove greed. Those together could solve all the worlds problems and they already are.
Related Blog Posts:
Investigation: http://blog.epsilum.co.nz/post/165778762014/so-i-went-to-the-library-for-a-couple-of-hours
Research: http://blog.epsilum.co.nz/post/165929646609/looking-deeper
Documentation: http://blog.epsilum.co.nz/post/165950877374/connections
Review:
My Chosen Books are: School Journal Number Two 1971 Part 3, Everyday Electronics Jan-Feb Apr-June 1991, The Listener 1988-89, SAS Survival Guide, and Veterinary Physiology. At first, these books look totally unrelated and are in completely different categories. However, after much research and digging; they have quite a few connections. The School Journal, Veterinary Physiology and The SAS Survival Guide are all related to teaching the reader something important. The School Jurnal is aimed at primary school children and teaches a wide range of subjects from English to geography, the SAS Survival guide is all about staying alive in any situation you might find yourself in, whereas, Veterinary Physiology is the only one that is aimed at academics and teaches a high level of the subject.
My favorite quote from the school journal is “Tigers bathe but cats hate water”
The Listener and Everyday Electronics are more about reporting. The Listener is a Newspaper that was a collection of newspapers from the listener between 1988 and 1989. Seeing the styles used back then and the stories were very interesting and Everyday Electronics is like a subscription magazine and gives a good idea about the electronic devices of the time and also the electronic knowledge of the time. Most of the devices I saw are similar to what you would find in kits in electronic stores now, both look very similar though. They also both display products and latest breakthroughs.
Both SAS Survival Guide and Veterinary Physiology can be used in emergencies. SAS Survival Guide has a lot of information about certain situations and getting out alive and Veterinary Physiology has literally everything you could need to know to diagnose a problem with an animal such as a cat or dog.
The Listener, School Jurnal, and Everyday Electronics are quite old. all published between 1988 and 1991. All of these were found on the bottom floor of the library.
I really struggled to connect all of these together, the best I could get is they all contain a lot of information and they all are interesting to me.
Something I did not expect when researching these books is how far down the rabbit hole you can go, this I realized when writing my research blog post. Everyday Electronics mentions a machine that emits pink noise which is advertised to put you into a deep sleep, I then found myself finding the formula for pink noise, a 10-hour video of pink noise, and a lot of science behind it; including a paper from the 1880s. The dream machine I found very interesting. according to Everyday Electronics, this emits pink noise, pink noise is advertised here to hypnotically induce deep sleep and claims dentist have used it to pull out teeth without anesthetic, sounds unethical but interesting so I did a bit of digging. Pink Noise is “Pink noise is acoustical energy distributed uniformly by octave throughout the audio spectrum (the range of human hearing, approximately 20 Hz to 20 kHz). Most people perceive pink noise as having uniform spectral power density – the same apparent loudness at all frequencies. In pink noise, the total sound power in each octave is the same as the total sound power in the octave immediately above or below it. An octave is a band whose highest frequency is exactly twice its lowest frequency.” - http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/pink-noise
I can relate all of these books through research and going way outside the box, so far from the box that you cant even see it anymore.
The school Journal could have been used to teach the people that then went on to write Everyday Electronics. During their teen years, they could have started reading the listener. After doing a bit of electronic work they could have decided to get into veterinary studies and used Veterinary Physiology as their first textbook. While at uni they decide they want to know some more about how to survive certain situations with all the commotion going on in the world so they pick up the SAS survival guide.
Another way these books relate without making it into a story is through content. The SAS Survival Guide shows first aid skills for humans whereas the Veterinary Physiology book covers it for animals. The listener covers events where first aid was needed and Everyday electronics has some examples of the latest medical tech of the time. The School Jurnal, however, contains little medical knowledge as it is aimed at children, but, it does have basic biology knowledge.
In conclusion, These books have no connection to each other at first glance, however, after thinking deeply and research they can be related. The further down the rabbit hole you go the more connections you find.
So I made a diagram trying to map out the connections between my chosen books and this was the result:
It was very hard finding words to connect all of the books so I connected a few at a time with very broad words.
Then I factored in my research and found that there are a lot of indirect ways this information could relate, leading me to research what else was going on during those time periods. For example, The owner of The Wellington-Manawatu Railway Company could have been listening to pink noise at the same time as reading a news paper similar to the listener about the woman's’ vote being allowed and possibly redesigning his house to be more secure like it describes in the SAS guide.
I wondered whether any of the directors signed a pension for woman’s vote and eventually found the names listed here http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-Cyc01Cycl-t1-body-d4-d19-d2.html then I searched on this database https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/womens-suffrage/petition none of their names were there but it was an interesting find.
I went a bit further into the history and was shocked at “They warned that any disturbance of the ‘natural’ gender roles of men and women might have terrible consequences. The liquor industry, fearful that women would support growing demands for the prohibition of alcohol, lobbied sympathetic Members of Parliament and organised their own counter-petitions. “ - https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/womens-suffrage/brief-history well the liquor industry is just fine…
And I end with an art work from 1885 https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/christchurch-life/art-and-stage/visual-art/95742048/from-the-christchurch-art-gallerys-collection-among-the-sandhills
The dream machine I found very interesting. according to Everyday Electronics 1991, this emits pink noise, pink noise is advertised here to hypnotically induce deep sleep and claims dentist have used it to pull out teeth without anesthetic, sounds unethical but interesting so I did a bit of digging.
Pink Noise is “Pink noise is acoustical energy distributed uniformly by octave throughout the audio spectrum (the range of human hearing, approximately 20 Hz to 20 kHz). Most people perceive pink noise as having uniform spectral power density – the same apparent loudness at all frequencies. In pink noise, the total sound power in each octave is the same as the total sound power in the octave immediately above or below it. An octave is a band whose highest frequency is exactly twice its lowest frequency.” - http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/pink-noise
This is a 10-hour video of pink noise, I think it almost sounds like water on a beach.
An interesting report in New Zealand Law Report VOL. 3 1885 was a case against Wellington-Manawatu Railway Company.
“The Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company (WMR or W&MR) was a private railway company that built, owned and operated the Wellington-Manawatu railway line between Thorndon in Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, and Longburn, near Palmerston North in the Manawatu, between 1881 and 1908, when it was acquired by the New Zealand Government Railways. Its successful operation in private ownership was unusual for early railways in New Zealand.” - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellington_and_Manawatu_Railway_Company
It was interesting to find out about this company as it was uncommon for privately owned railways to do well.
I went to the library's bottom floor where all the interesting books are, not necessarily the most useful, but, definitely the oldest and ones with the most potential to find something I wasn't expecting. Like the advertisement of the first correction pen from 1989!
I also found this book which is a book for teaching what I assume is primary level. An interesting quote I found is “Tigers bathe but cats hate water”. It was filled with poems, biology, geometry, anatomy, and a lot of general information that I found very interesting.
This was another school journal, however, this one was mainly focused on history and stories.
This book was from 1991 and gives a good idea about the electronic devices of the time and also the electronic knowledge of the time. Most of the devices I saw are similar to what you would find in kits in electronic stores now.
This book was full of law reports from 1885, It was the oldest one I could find.
This book was a collection of newspapers from the listener between 1988 and 1989. Seeing the styles used back then and the stories were very interesting.
Credit card with perks! seemed fun with all the Trump stuff going on now.
According to this article, all you need to get teens to school is enroll them in a choir.
This book I saw on my way out, basically just a compilation of room designs.
SAS Survival Guide:
How to survive any situation from the basics to long term.
Veterinary Physiology:
Everything you could ever need to know about how animals work and more. I found this interesting as it is very similar to our own physiology
Developing and Applying Biologically-Inspired Vision Systems:
Making artificial environments look real and how the brain reacts to visual stimuli. A collection of academic papers.
We have a window
We have a projector
Cool things happened
Potentially ditching wall idea
making it seem like a real storm
eden researching
Before posting more about our project I thought I might cover some of the basics of neuroscience regarding the EEG (electroencephalogram) displayed below.
Brainwave Frequencies:
Each brainwave frequency points to a specific brain function shown in the image below. Each electrode picks up all of the brainwave frequencies. A problem is the received frequencies include frequencies from general interference and these need to be filtered out or blocked with some sort of Faraday cage, generally they are filtered out by the EEG’s software based on your country.
Parts of the brain:
Current neuroscience believes each area of the brain to control certain functions.
From Back to Front:
“The Occipital Lobe is the visual processing center of the mammalian brain containing most of the anatomical region of the visual cortex.” - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occipital_lobe
“The parietal lobe functions in processing sensory information regarding the location of parts of the body as well as interpreting visual information and processing language and mathematics.” -http://study.com/academy/lesson/parietal-lobe-definition-functions-quiz.html
“The temporal lobe is involved in primary auditory perception, such as hearing, and holds the primary auditory cortex. The primary auditory cortex receives sensory information from the ears and secondary areas process the information into meaningful units such as speech and words.“ - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temporal_lobe
“The frontal lobe is the part of the brain that controls important cognitive skills in humans, such as emotional expression, problem-solving, memory, language, judgment, and sexual behavior. It is, in essence, the “control panel” of our personality and our ability to communicate.” - https://www.healthline.com/human-body-maps/frontal-lobe/male
“The frontal pole is one of the three poles of the brain (along with the occipital pole and temporal pole), and corresponds to the anterior-most rounded point of the frontal lobe.“ It is the frontmost (anterior) part of the frontal lobe - https://radiopaedia.org/articles/frontal-pole
Nasal:
For more spacial resolution a nasal electrode can be used, which is an electron that is placed inside the nasal cavity. This is relatively rare from my knowledge. It is most commonly used in more accurately diagnosing epilepsy patients - https://www.epilepsyresearch.org.uk/research_portfolio/recording-brain-activity-using-electrodes-placed-in-the-nose/
These areas are located as shown below:
How neurons work:
In certain conditions a neuron fires, this is called an action potential. An action potential is the rapid changing of charges (in the form of ions) that travel down the axon (like a cable for your body). Action potentials can be triggered by a number of things. Such as touch or any of your other senses, Chemicals in the brain, other neurons, or a direct electrical current (these are just a few).
Below is the graph of an action potential in humans, showing the voltage changes over time as the cell depolarizes then re-polarizes.
How an electrode gets a signal:
Any electrical current produces electromagnetic (EM) waves. The electrodes on the EEG are made to be extremely sensitive to these EM waves. The use of multiple electrodes can show what part of the brain signals are being sent and what kind. The more electrodes, generally the greater accuracy. Below are all the most common EEG electrode placements. The first letters represent each of the lobes explained above.
Best EEG for us:
We decided that the Emotiv Epoc+ would be best for our project due to the locations of the electrodes, the price, and it has an API for processing which we are programming most of the project in. It is displayed below:
If you want to learn more about neuroscience yourself look at mcb80x.org
References:
http://www.measurement.sk/2002/S2/Teplan.pdf
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13534-016-0235-1
We decided emotions was a bad idea due to ethical concern’s. We are worried people may be offended or upset by us “telling them” their emotions, also emotions are also seen as private in most cases.
The main ways to tell someones emotion are behavioral and expressions, both of those you can fake, however, with EEG you are literally reading their mind. This is also described in the report I mentioned in my last post: (http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/5458075/?reload=true)
Our new idea is to measure stress or rather how active the brain is. So, as the user tries to relax we can change the environment. We want to do this with a storm behind a window, which is along the lines of what Eden was researching with komorebi (木漏れ日)
There is also another common untranslatable word for a type of light in japanese knowen as kawa akari (川明かり) or light reflecting off a river.
So we basically want a window with a storm and rain projected onto it with sound effects that have different levels that change with the users brain activity read by the EEG. We would also like to use heart rate. I’m going to go and call this ame akari (雨明かり) light off rain.
