5.1 by Dora
Interaction design is mainly focused on computer related commodities, which are centered on use. In designing these types of products there must be special attention on defining the use of them, being computational products. Many terms have been assigned to these types of products, such as "computational artefacts" (Suchman 1987), "Computer things" (Janlert) (A term from the Swedish word "datorsaker", these are according to preference, however the author chooses to call them "Computational things". In short, essentially computational in it's base.
As much as something is computational, it should not be considered more interactive than something non-computational such as an ordinary piece of furniture. The importance is based on what they do, how they interact with us.
Modern technology simply serves to implement ideas into something new. Many objects have been "re-invented" by it, such as the digital camera, which delivers photos almost instantly. Also, the CD player, and the digital piano are examples as well. In a way, technology tends to blend in unnoticed, and once it stops, or breaks down, that is when we recognize its importance.
Electricity and computation can be easily compared. One may use electricity to play an instrument, thus we are using a representation of it. When we are running a computation device, we are also using a representation of this technology.
It is imperative to remember that as we design, we are interpreting an object’s actions, and we are creating a new concept to it. We may think that it is simply trading an analog system for a digital one, such as an acoustic guitar transformed into an electric one. However, it may become more than just a switch in technology. Using the digital camera example once again, many aspects of it have changed from the film version, such as the display, which has become more useful to the user than the viewfinder, giving a better visual sample. It has changed our social behaviours around the action of taking pictures. We can now gather friends to view the snapshots right on the spot, instead of waiting for the film to be developed as well as printed. It may be said that these changes are unconscious decisions, which were simply meant to create a more advanced technology.
Computation changes the way we see and interact with an object. It is also an important element of interaction design. It is part of the basic construction. An understanding of all the constructive elements of interactive design is essential, more specifically, understanding computation, (programming, electronics and so on).
5.2 Computational technology is a design material -Jaewon
The article, Computational technology is a design material, mainly talks about how computational technology can be a design material. It first explains what material is. Then it explains what computational technology is and why it is an important material and also, a design material.
Material is what is needed to build an object in use. The first example brought up was a mobile phone. From a design perspective, if we assume it is built out of metal or plastic, it would suggest that a mobile phone is nothing more than a box containing some electronic circuits. However, the rest, it says, is what really makes it into a phone-neutral technology. It is clear that programs builds a mobile phone in use, thus programs are material, it says.
Computational technology is what is needed to build programs, mechanisms to execute these programs, interface mechanisms and technologies to display the execution of programs. As piano needs the key, the hammer, the string, the oscillation of a string to build a piano in use, PDA needs an LCD-screen, IC-circuits, plastic housing, an LCD-pen, electric current, programs and program-executions. All these build PDA and we call them materials. We set up a mechanism for the execution of programs, a hardware interface and we write program code to be executed. The material we really work with in the design process is best described using the term “computational technology”. The material itself that really builds a thing as a computational thing shows itself only in actual use, it says.
To explain the theory more specifically, the authors, Lars Hallnäs and Johan Redström, compare computational technology and compositional technology of music. When composing music, the actual compositional traces left are written instructions on how to perform the music, how to build its appearance. As design material computational technology is material in the same sense as compositional technology is material in composing music. In order to test an object, we need to execute programs to have look at how the material builds the given thing.
Computational technology is conceptual material. It is absent in a certain sense, it only presents conceptually. As music depends on instrumental performance, a computational thing depends on spatial material for its appearance. Interaction design thus involves a subtle composing in time. To make advances in interaction design practice, it requires rhythm, a central feature of any composition-in-time. A great potential for investigating and using rhythm in interaction design lies in the combination of the temporal qualities of computational technology with the spatial qualities of other design materials. By investigating how different materials can be used in the design of computational things, we open new possibilities for imposing rhythm in interaction design. When we combine the possibilities with crafting temporal form inherent in the computational material with the properties of other design materials, we find very rich possibilities for expressive design.
5.3 & 5,4 -Darketc 1/12/07, 11:30am
5.3
We have to built in the interactive designs not only the programming and programs to make it function in an actual sense, but also we must program is so that it does what we intend it to do. Because more often then not the electronic devices do not do what we intended of them to do. In the article they mention the “Cruise system” in a car and how they were worried about the correctness of the system in regard to what the user intended. As for the “Cruise system” all devices of the Interactive Design need control-function and control-interaction. So Interactive Design is not only about functionally but also usability of a device/product. Both aspects have to be design on the blue prints even before thinking about production.
5.4
Function: What it does as we use it ?
Behaviour : How it does it ?
Interaction is more related to a product’s behaviours, then it’s function. Computational devices tend to act and therefore creating an interaction. The example given is the old engine car compared to our contemporary computational cars. It is not the function that differentiate the two, it is rather their behaviours, while the old engine car would overheat easily, new computational car distribute the heat in an evenly fashion (I would think) Because the interface of the computational cars was developed as well as it’s functions, it respect more of what we intend a car to be doing.
What is a Digital Nomad ?
To me a digital nomad would be an individual surrounding itself mostly with interactive devices and choosing one device over another depending on it’s behaviours rather then on it’s functionality. To me a Digital Nomad is not an individual of the future, they exist in the present. Anyone who is constantly looking for new gizmo's or trying to replace the old ones with newer version is in my book a Digital Nomad. It is almost as if technology is necessary for this individual to survive, they need to move from one piece of technology to another just like the nomads to change of location when the resources rarefy.
X-Box:
What differentiate an X-Box 360 from the old X-Box ? I would believe that it serves the same function then it’s predecessor, but it has a ton of new features and there fore interact differently thus behaving differently. What would be the function of an X-Box, they describe it as an home-entertainment system, it is no longer a gaming console like the Atari, Nintendo or Sega console. The X-Box can now replace your DVD player and other electronic devices. It is no more only gaming entertainment, it tries to surpass every other type of home entertainment and put it all in a box. What makes an X-Box is not neutral, it as been designed to serve a purpose and more often then not it will be used to serve the purpose it as been built for, a simple example would be the X-Box controller built primarily for right-handed, thus giving the left-handed player a disadvantage ( I would believe).
Xbox: Illustrations
(Dora)
http://shutter.trancefixion.org/marker.jpg(Jaewon)
http://hybrid.concordia.ca/~sasooab/cart453/interact_design.jpg(Etienne)
