Experimental Interaction – Final Project “Anxiety Sensational”

This project “Anxiety Sensational” is to raise awareness of Society Anxiety Disorder (SAD) among Singaporean through the test by simulating the symptoms of SAD. SAD sufferers will be subjected to the symptoms of Dizziness, Chest and Stomach muscle tightness when they are in crowded environment. Thus our project is to get testers to wear the set up attire with the IR sensor and vibration motor, before being place within a cramp space with other participants. Their task is simple, crossing from one end to another. Getting into close proximity with the participants will result in the sensor to detect them, triggering the vibration motor to simulate the symptoms. Testers will feel the discomfort and they have to figure how to stop the motor, which is to get out of the space. But maneuvering across the cramp space will trigger difficulties and discomfort, which simulates how SAD sufferer feel in normal daily situation.

Our research

 

Design process documentation (intermediate designs, sketches, ideas)

These are the documentation processes.

Testing Prototyping model for Final project

 

This is the initial idea of the prototype, through attaching a DC motor to the cap, which triggers after the PIR sensor detect human activity movement to create discomfort to the testers’ head.

However, things does not goes accordingly to plan when the product is being tested out during storming process as the main feedback pointed out was that if we were to simulate the idea of SAD, it should come with a stronger triggering sensation and discomfort to the testers than to the head as classmates who observed feedback that it is just simulating headache. 

After the general feedback, researches were done to enhance the wearable in sync with the symptoms of social anxiety and these were what we had found.

  1. Dizziness
  2. Chest Tightness
  3. Stomach Cramp

The three most common symptoms were the vital body parts of SAD sufferer, which calls for the use of a hoodie or jacket. There were many complications as per how the use of wearable is selected as we have our list of concerns to choose the wearable.

Initial idea is to target the neck of the tester but we have decided to swap “A” from neck to head we felt that we should go in line with the symptoms of dizziness and also make full use of the hood

 

Hoodie (I realised that there is no opening to attach the IR sensor unless I sew it to the Hood or the collar, but this will cause the IR sensor to come into contact with the user face/neck, causing the motor to trigger)
Jacket (The main concern is during the wearing of the jacket, there is a high probability that the wires will be dislodge during the wearing by testers)
Thus we have decided to choose the next best alternative, a uniform attached with a hood! This solves the issues that we faced as above.

This is a demo testing of how the product works in the actual context of a crowded or narrow environment with high human traffic.

Observational documentation for user tests

Overview floor plan of the test site
Boundary of the room set up with masking tape

Slide presentation and product explanation.

Tester one – Daryl

Tester one – Rui Hong

Observation critique from audiences and testers

Instruction manual

The Coding file is in Arduino language and 3D is in STL file.

Material check list A – 4 x Vibration motor attached with long wire at least 1m long to connect Motor, Arduino and Bread board B – 1 x Male to Male jumper wire C – 1 x Bread Board D – 1 x IR (Infrared) Sensor E – 3 x Male to Female jumper wire connect to IR Sensor
Step 1, 3D print the capsule, there should be 4 capsules.
Before proceeding, check and make sure that the vibration motor can be fit into the capsule.
Vibration motors fitted into the capsule.
Step 2, after choosing your shirt, place the Arduino and Bread board into the chest pocket if there is, if not, sew a pouch to put.
Step 3, this should be the product placement in the shirt
Step 4, place the motors in the hood
Step 5, Sew the motor, sewing method is the criss cross and round the capsule
Step 6, Sew a new stomach pouch for the power bank, as well as to put the other 2 motors – One at the chest, One at the stomach pouch
Step 7, Similar sewing technique for motor
Step 8, sew the IR sensor
Step 9, Finalised model

Voila! Your product is able to work now!

Before going through the manual, I have attached the Coding and 3D Printing File in this link. The coding file has input of the connection of the ports in more detail.

Final thoughts from us.

How do you feel during the process? Do you even still want to cross across the space or just want to turn back and walk away?

References

Unknown. (n.d.). Social anxiety disorder (social phobia). mayoclinic. Retrieved April 20th, 2019 from.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/social-anxiety-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20353561
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/social-anxiety-disorder-more-than-just-shyness/index.shtml
Richards, Thomas. (n.d.). Social Anxiety Fact Sheet: What is Social Anxiety Disorder? Symptoms, Treatment, Prevalence, Medications, Insight, Prognosis. Socialanxietyassociation. Retrieved April 20th, 2019 from.
https://socialphobia.org/social-anxiety-disorder-definition-symptoms-treatment-therapy-medications-insight-prognosis
Higuera, Valencia. (2016). Social Anxiety Disorder. What Is Social Anxiety Disorder? Healthline. Retrieved April 20th, 2019 from.
https://www.healthline.com/health/anxiety/social-phobia
Unknown. (n.d.). More children and teens are stressed out – Department of Psychological Medicine. nusmedicine. Retrieved April 20th, 2019 from.
http://nusmedicine.nus.edu.sg/pcm/2017/03/14/more-children-and-teens-are-stressed-out/
Unknown. (n.d.). Anxiety Disorders Among the Young.adelphipsych. Retrieved April 20th, 2019 from.
https://adelphipsych.sg/anxiety-disorders-among-the-young/
Subramaniam, Mythily. (2017). Stigma among Singaporean youth: a cross-sectional study on adolescent attitudes towards serious mental illness and social tolerance in a multiethnic population. ncbi. Retrieved April 20th, 2019 from.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5652546/#
Ng, Charmaine. (Sep 9, 2018). Many still steer clear of people with mental illness: Poll. They agree on need to reduce stigma but harbour misconceptions. Straitstime. Retrieved april 20th, 2019 from.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/many-still-steer-clear-of-people-with-mental-illness-poll
Choo, Cynthia. December 11th, 2018. Mental illness more prevalent among young adults, OCD one of top disorders in S’pore. Retrieved april 20th, 2019 from.
https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/mental-illness-more-prevalent-among-young-adults-ocd-one-of-top-disorders-spore

Graphic Form Assignment 2 – Locale 1 & 2 – Zine: Kampong Lorong Buangkok

Part 1 Local

For assignment Zine, I have chosen Kampong (Village in Malay Lanugage) Lorong Buangkok, the last remaining Kampong in Singapore. This location is located near my residence of Hougang which is coincidentally beside my primrary school! During Primary five in 2007, I had the chance to visit the then undeveloped Kampong and it was a 12 year gap since I have visited it again and I am surprised to see how much it has developed.

A house that fits within the urban heartland
Aerial view of the kampong from the roof of car park. We can see how this kampong is literally getting “swalllowed” by the concrete jungle

A source from the URA 2014 plan stated that this Kampong is to be razed in the future for development of a highway that connects Seng Kang town to Yio Chu Kang Road as well as the building of two institutions. Presently, the village chief, Ms Sng Mui Hong, is struggling with the authorities’ development plan as she wants to preserve the village, which is also her home from getting raze.

I have found this to be a crucial location to pick on as many youths in Singapore does not know what is a Kampong and let alone even knowing that there is one hidden in the concrete jungle. Thus I felt that presenting Kampong Buangkok will be a good choice as I can use this to educate the public on the situation of the Kampong.

Before that,  researches were done to support my facts and also to let me set the direction of how I would want to present. Firstly, I went around to check on the current development at the estates around the Kampong. Seen below is the construction of the Buangkok link drive to be connected towards Yio Chu Kang Road via Gerald Drive.

 

On top of primary research, I had also conducted secondary survey research both online and face to face record.  The online research were crafted to question users about their knowledge towards Kampong and it also serves as an informative sharing on it’s current and future development, it was spread  to a wide demographic age range of age which made me realised that not many youths know about Kampong Buangkok.

On the other hand, the face to face survey interview were mainly asked around the vicinity for their thoughts towards the future development of Kampong Buangkok. These are the information of the survey responses collated in excel sheet, video recordings of the face to face interview and power point presentation slide show covering on the research information with pie chart visuals of the survey responses.

Locale Part 2.

From my research , the topics that I covered on were on the past, present and future of the Kampong. Which leads to the direction that I want to do – History, Gift and Mystery. Secondly, the approach of my Zine is based on the approach of an interactive comics which gives the audience a walk through from the current state of the comics to the future through humorous illustrations.

The comics that inspired me are Old Master Q, Crayon Shinchan and Doraemon. These are the childhood comics that saved me out of boredom before the technology kicks in.

A few examples of each comics and how do I share my reference from them.

Crayon Shinchan, the funny exaggerate reaction between human interaction is what I want to incorporate to pin point the facial expression of different characters.
Since young, what attracted me most is the vibrant colour of Doraemon comics, I have also incorporated the vibrant colours to make my comics more lively.
The classic Old Master Q, the author is a genius in depicting human interaction with animals, which is what I want to do. This harmony with exaggerated actions seems ridiculous, but it has the fresh style of conventional human characters interaction comics.

These are the drafts sketches that I had before touching up for scanning.

Different characters that I want to portray in my comics but I chose to use animals and plants to represent the people that I encounter to kick in the element of quirkiness and fantasy
Brief planning of what I want to do for my Zine. The character wise is me ( as the only human). Snowy the cat as the custodian around Buangkok district. Banana tree as representative of Singapore, or the villagers due to “土生土長” (local bred) and the stray dog (哈巴狗)as a nomad who travels around locations to stay.
Simple ideation sketches on the different scenes that I want to set for my Zine
A draft overview for the Zine story line fitted into a single A4, this allows me to visualise the flow of the story which allows me to make any necessary changes
Ms Joy mentioned that this cover page looks too plain on its own and I should add a little art element here to show how we can bring out the cover page to depict “History”

Similar to the front cover page, this rear cover page was pointed out by Ms Joy too, it looks to plain and dull, there should be art element infused with it to bring out the effect of “Mystery” more.

After consultation with Ms Joy, these are the changes that I had made for the final zine.

After consultation, this is what I had illustrated. Since Snowy, the cat, mentioned his father is a heartland cat while his mother is a Kampong cat, I felt that the cover page on “History” could be illustrated with the younger life of the parents to show their dating phase back in the old days of the Kampong before development occurs.
page 1 and 2, an introduction of the location overview of how the Kampong looks like which a brief discussion on the future of Kampong
Page 3 and 4, I wanted to show a transition of current day Kampong to the future through the development phase. In an anti-clockwise direction, it depicts the current progression which is the Buangkok link to Gerald Drive construction, to the future of highway linkage to Yio Chu Kang Road and lastly, the building of two institutions. Why was the school not illustrated? This is due to the fact that the information of the school is not reveal, thus it is considered a mystery that we do not know of.
Page 5 and 6, the inner scene of the Kampong and also a deeper picture of the issues of the Kampong that discuss the fate of how it will be in the future
Similarly over here, since the Kampong is to be razed on in the future, but no official statement or stance were brought up on the actual date. I decide show the effect of mystery on the foot prints, in the event of future where the Kampong is raze, Snowy’s family will have to relocated, but to where?

Overall, Zine is an interesting project that allows me to stretch beyond my boundary through illustrating the comics in a humorous direction to depict myself interviewing non-human living things. And also adding a little touch of political reference into the comics as well.

The problems that I had faced for this comics were the conceptualizing of the comics, as I had previously thought of depicting it as a children comics in which Joy mentioned that if I were to do it, there should not be any references of real life pictures as it will be too jarring for the children. After seeing how the comics has been churned out, I decided to conceptualized it into both children and adult, with a hint of political reference in the latter.

Lastly, what would I do better given the opportunity and from the feedback? I would want to show a visual story telling on the transition from history to future, in which the story basically illustrates on how did the Kampong develop over the years to it’s unknown underlying fate in the future.

References.

Q, Old. n.d. Serenading a donkey. (picture). Retrieved April 20, 2019 from. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/342062534190396442/

Fabiola, Ixora. n.d. Crayon Shin-Chan – chapter 32 (picture). Retrieved April 20, 2019 https://i.pinimg.com/originals/38/f4/79/38f47918b27bfe3ab09c9e565f8b91ca.png

feihong. August 16, 2010. Serenading a donkey. (picture). Retrieved April 20, 2019 https://www.chinese-forums.com/forums/topic/27419-grand-comic-reading-project-1-doraemon-color-collection/

Graphic Form Assignment 1 – Hello, My Name Is Part 2

After consultation with ms joy, I realised that I am diverting too far away from my initial direction of showing irony of an animal doing work that is against their nature for Auditor and Takoyaki seller.

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-45014746

Similarly, researching on body posture of penguins to help in my illustrations.

Thus back to original takoyaki seller, I observed that the sellers usually need to be quick witted and agile as they have many steps to follow hence I chose penguin, a clumsy and slow animal on land to deal with the quick pace job to depict the irony against it’s nature.

For my art approach for Auditor, the concern lies in the fact similarly to the takoyaki seller, I begin to divert too far away from the direction. Being that for auditor, they are mainly dealing with paper work resources and it is very difficult to portray, I begin to add in complicated structure and layers which resulted in a very messy scene.

I then decided to take a step back and research for the ethical values of an auditor, what they should not do and I pick up 4 traits

-Not validating for clients

-Not signing blindly for client documents

-Not accepting bribes

-Not helping client to bank in their money

Final outcome of the artwork that I have after completing the necessary changes.

The sequential order are from Auditor => Takoyaki Seller => Joss Stick Seller => Carpenter. There is a backstory on why did I chose the dull colour at first which slowly transcend to a lighter colour.

The story for the transitional sequence lies in me being an accountant diploma graduate, hence it was a clear path that auditing is a job that I will take up due to it’s high increment, but I hated my life in school and it was one of the darkest period of my life hence I chose to use a darker colour, subsequently I have the opportunity to bid for a stall in school to set up as a student venture to sell Takoyaki which unfortunately I have failed the bid, but the idea of being able to have the opportunity to be my own boss lighten my mood up.

Comes to Joss stick, it became a point where I realised that I have failed my first application to NTU ADM, where I felt that life has no meaning anymore as my efforts in building my portfolio has all gone to the drain hence I have decided to devote myself into taking over my father’s business in selling joss stick.

Lastly, after rejecton, I persevered on by interning at a design firm to build my portfolio, where I have coincidentally met a carpenter, he became my advisor and everything else was history. Thus I show this as a turning point where I sees the light, thus the colour brighten up.

 

Graphic Form Assignment 1 – Hello, My Name Is Part 1

In regards to this new assignment, we were an in class activity to make use of graphic typography to illustrate our names into three different designs.

These were what I have tried to do

Carpenter using work tools

CP wanton using food and kitchen wares

Chinese name visual metaphor (余谦平)direct translation into “Fish, Thousand and Balance”

We were then revealed with the assignment task – we will have to illustrate our names to synchronize with four different occupations, and these were what I have chosen

Carpenter – my current freelance occupation which I am intending to pursue in future.

Auditor – related to my course in poly, accountancy, however it is an occupation that I will not touch.

Takoyaki – Interestingly, I tried to sign up for a competition to bid for the shop as student venture, but I failed.

Joss stick – I have thoughts to take over my father business after I failed my first university application.

The initial point of the planning was on the decision to choose my name to represent, the list of options were “CP, YCP, Chien Ping or Ping”. The secondary point came where I have to decide whether I want to use upper or lower case for my name depiction. After much consideration “ping” was used as I personally felt that the word ping has a sentimental feeling to me, being that in Chinese, we would usually address someone from their last name, for examples like “小平, 阿平, 平啊”. And lastly, it will rhymes better to put an occupation appointment with my last name – Carpenter Ping than Carpenter Chien, Carpenter CP, Carpenter Yee.

Carpenter

I have decided depict myself as ants, as ants have quality of hard driven workers, which I can relate as I have gone a long way and facing challenges to do carpentry. Ms Joy then change my approach on what if the ants are termites, the natural enemy of wood. Hence the approach would be that the termites are actually working with their food. Irony!

This scene is set inside a furniture firm that has in built carpentry facilities, I wanted to show that how the termites are actually having the leisure of not slacking, but eating the wood and outside the shop, anything that are make of wood is seen to be consume halfway.

I have researched on the colour of wood and anatomy of termite to help in my illustrations.

https://www.decormorehospitality.com/Pinewood-Plank-Table-Tops-p/02-pine-table-top.htm

https://www.bigtimepestcontrol.com/blog/difference-flying-ants-termites

Joss Stick Seller

 

Depicted myself as a bee, because of the working production line to pack the joss sticks into packet and in the end to delivery, everyone works like a busy bee.

Ms Joy then changed my perspective that what if the bees are fire flies, irony as they might accidently light the joss stick up.

Similarly, I have researched on fireflies, joss sticks and even burn cardboard boxes in order to create a similar expression in illustration.

Indiana Senate Votes Unanimously to Make Firefly State Insect

https://dissolve.com/stock-photo/Incense-sticks-joss-stick-pot-burning-smoke-used-pay-rights-managed-image/102-D246-34-532

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/597501075537191203/

Takoyaki Seller

Depict myself as octopus, as a representation of takoyaki, octopus filled rice ball.Ms joy then mentioned what could be an irony that people just follow the queue and don’t know what they are buying, trying to show cannibalism.

Second update, decided to make use of bonito flakes, what if the flakes are made from the leg skin, to show that behind the scene of how unhygienic food practices are and also to add a twist towards the idea of cannibalism, like the fish are selling it’s own body parts as food.

Researching on bonito flakes and bonito fish to understand how they can be illustrated.

https://anything-from-japan.com/large-and-thick-hana-katsuobushi-bonito-flakes-from-tenpaku-160g

http://kenjonesfishing.com/2012/02/pacific-bonito-%E2%80%94-a-true-fighting-fish/

Seen in this illustration, the takoyaki flag is depict as “p”, the table that the Octopus eats on with the bonito flake bucket is “i”, the takoyaki stall is “n” and lastly behind the scene where the bonito are prepared is “g” from the conveyor belt into the cooking wok.

Auditor

I have decided to depict myself as a dog, as auditors are deemed to be dogs of the corporate world as they smell out the frauds and dishonesty of companies.

Decided to go ahead with fox, as foxes are sly and cunning, they are a far fetch of a dog who is loyal and trustworthy. Researching on fox anatomy to aid in my illustration.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-fox-trapping-rates-1.4945255

In this situation, it was seen that as a Fox auditor, I am accepting bribe from the client, the furniture depicts a “p”, the power point slides portraying ficticious sales depicts “i”, two foxes skiving at the pantry to depicts “n” and the irony that behind the scene, the company is depicts to be shady yet for the front scene, the security is depict to be tight where employees needs to go pass the gantry. This is to show that the employees having no knowledge of the dirty deeds that their superiors are doing.

 

ASSIGNMENT 2B – HELD . WORN . CARRIED – WEAVE Part 2

After figuring out what the prototype that I have wanted to do, the task was to move a step beyond to incorporate at least one element of the verb prototype into the final product. My direction is to make a luggage with hidden features.

Click here to the link for the prototype fabrication.

Original box with twine used to secure together

Sliding of the box cover to reveal the inner compartment as first hidden feature

With the top cover removed, it will shows the compartment within the box

Second hidden feature, the handle is then remove from within the box through the built-in locking mechanism

Using steel wire to act as a double hooking lock mechanism system to secure the base cover intact

 

Steel wire is turn to unlock

The base cover is then being remove after unlocking

Final composition of the Prototype luggage

With the prototype made and shown for consult with Ms Sherry, she mentioned a few details on making it “Less complicated” in terms of the hidden puzzle mechanism as it will be too troublesome for the users to use if they have to figure out how to open it and the steps taken will be too much

Secondly, “Incorporation of weaving” in terms of the handles or parts where I can incorporate weaving details into the product to show how I can compliment weaving with the rigidity of woodworking

Lastly, “Exploration of ideas”  in terms of the joinery, how I can incorporate the idea of “Binding”  into the product itself to make it compliment with weaving since I am doing wood product in this case

 

Finger joint

Christiana, A. (2010, October 23rd). [Picture]. Finger-joint Basics. Startwoodworking. Retrieved 2019, March 3rd from http://www.startwoodworking.com/post/finger-joint-basics

Box-in-cherry-with-square-half-blind-box-joint

Unknown. (n.d.). [Picture]. Gallery. Leigh. Retrieved 2019, March 3rd from https://www.leighjigs.com/f3-finger-box-joint-gallery/

secret-compartment-box-japanese-merchant-chest

King, C. (2013, July 14). [Picture]. Secret Compartments in Wooden Japanese Merchant’s Chest. Stashvault. Retrieved 2019, March 3rd from https://www.stashvault.com/japanese-merchants-chest-with-secret-compartment/secret-compartment-box-japanese-merchant-chest/

Wooden Briefcase

Unknown. (n.d.). [Picture]. Wooden Briefcase. Alibaba. Retrieved 2019, March 3rd from https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Wooden-Briefcase_100055374.html

StreetWalker_Roller_V2-WEb-layers_0013_StreetWalker_Roller_V2-Harness-1687-

Unknown. (n.d.). [Picture]. Think Tank STREETWALKER® ROLLING BACKPACK V2.0. maniocinetools. Retrieved 2019, March 3rd from https://manioscinetools.gr/en/product/think-tank-streetwalker-rolling-backpack-v2-0/

Black Leatherette Braided Sling Bag

Unknown. (n.d.). [Picture]. Black Leatherette Braided Sling Bag. Limeroad. Retrieved 2019, March 3rd from https://www.limeroad.com/black-woven-leatherette-sling-bag-alvaro-castagnino-p9657881/

Weaving-with-a-recycled-plastic-loom-BABBLE-DABBLE-DO-Basic-Weaving-Steps

Dziengel, A. (2014, June 5). [Picture]. Art for Kids: Basic Weaving Using Recycled Plastic Looms. babbledabbledo. Retrieved 2019, March 3rd from https://babbledabbledo.com/art-kids-basic-weaving-plastic-looms/

Boomerang Burnt Rattan Handle

Unknown. (n.d.). Rattan Handles. [Picture]. Sunbelt Fashion. Retrieved 2019, March 3rd from https://www.sunbeltfashion.net/Rattan-Handles.html

With the research and references in place, I have decided to create a product that incorporates a briefcase with wheel and pulley mechanism that is made entirely of wood. The next step towards bringing the product to life is sketching.

With the sketching done, the final step is fabrication of the product.  Click here to the link for the briefcase luggage product fabrication.

The final product, Briefcase Luggage. The verb elements that I had incorporated are all four – Slide, Puncture, Cradle and Bind

Me posing with my briefcase luggage as an user experience.

This is a video of me using the briefcase luggage.

These are the required drawings as per the final product. Orthographic projection drawing, Axonometric drawing  & Perspective

Through the process of making, I had encounter two issues which were very good learning point for myself.

Firstly, the handle has no excess space to rotate, which causes the handle to be unable to extend and I have to correct the issue by using a table saw to trim the affected width down.

Secondly, wheels, as this is my first time experimenting with a luggage, I miscalculated the length to put the wheels and it causes the wheel to be too high and I could not roll the luggage as planned. Issue was corrected by remeasuring the length and re-drilling the hole to fit the wheel and axle.

In conclusion, this is a very meaningful exercise that allows me to experiment with making a briefcase luggage system. The challenges lies in the weaving and also the mechanism of the handle.

How I can improved, Ms Sherry had commented that it is a shame that the product is not fully incorporated with weaving as I only incorporated weaving within the handle and sling. I felt that for the body of the luggage, I could use weaving to weave into the compartment so that it does not look too rigid like a plain box.

This is a general idea that I would like to work with in the near future, a wooden wheel purse that has the sides secured with rattan weaves to show the transparency as compared to a blocked up enclosed approach like my current design. The concept of a shoelace weave over the opening on the top that allows users to loosen or tighten the weaving to take or place their valuables.

Micro-Project 3 – Together Split

Our group work is titled – “Revenge of the puppets”. We were discussing the art direction of a music video that did split screen feature where the artists were actually interacting with each other from different “spaces” or what I called dimensions with the effect of split screen. Below are screen shots from the music video.

Reference

Kurt Hugo Schneider.  (2012, December 14). Holiday Medley! – Victoria Justice & Max Schneider. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHpaCq7xIQM&feature=youtu.be

 

The gift is passed from the woman to the man

Transitioning in spaces seen in the phone screen to show the artists going through the third space.

As such, our group were discussing towards this direction as interaction through different spaces focuses on the concept of Do It With Others (DIWO).  During our directional planning phase, we concluded that a music video would take too much effort and time considering we were novice. Thus we then came up with the plan of collaboration, being that it will looks interesting if everyone in the screen are seen to be doing the same tasks together or following the order of one person who acts as a leader. But further enhancements leads to controlling, where one person will act as a “cult” leader to command his followers.

The concept is to focus on Yen Ee, being the puppet master controlling us, Rachel, Daenia, Qi Yan and I. But plot twist results in all puppets getting to their senses and collaborating with each other to take revenge on the puppet master. As we were doing it for the first time, we have a difficult time trying to produce the dimensional interactivity effect of passing objects around the screen, it was all trial and error. Secondly, we faced disconnections which resulted in our screens to switch positions and lastly, due to the connection strength, at some point of time, our movement will be slowed down as captured in the video. We then came to a conclusion that doing it within the same radius of vicinity would be the safest.

Seen here that due to the slow connection, I could not hear the verbal command which causes a lack of appearance in seconds, which was ended up as a joke on myself for being blur.

Similarly above, the best actor award for me as I was still acting like I am in pain when everything has stopped as I could not hear the verbal command from Yen Ee the puppet master.

Puppet master summoning the first two puppets.

The poison arrow which causes pain to me. Puppet master is sadistic as she likes to see her puppets suffer.

Daenia is a smarter puppet to escape getting harm.

Subsequently two puppet appears, while puppet master is getting other tools to harm them, the puppets decided to form a coalition to seek revenge. Each puppet take turns to leave.

Puppet master is surprised to see that her puppets are no where in sight and she got a jump scare when all of us sneak on her from the back for our revenge.

A conclusion for this third micro project is that it was a very fun experimentation with DIWO on third spaces. Although we may not have synchronize the best camera effect and outcome

In the picture above, Rachel and I were seen in other screens which was not intended as our idea was to show a smoother transition to appear in Yan Ee’s screen together in one single take.  I felt that this will brings out the surreal aspect of third space and split screen more. Why? The idea that this split screen was originally shown as an individual space for each of us, but being able to see others in our own space could be linked towards a shift of space from mine to yours, a dimension shift where I can appear into your space, this is not your space anymore, it is a third space where everyone can goes to. Which was finally linked to our intention, travelling through third space to seek revenge on the puppet master for hurting us.

Now breaking down what I have done over the three weeks, here are my final thoughts.

I personally felt that the most creative control would be project 3 on split screen, since it was a group project. We all have to share the same direction and signal of the concept before doing it, if one of us decided to bail it, we will not be able to bring out our intended ideas. Hence our collaboration and commitment has resulted in the creative reach to be easily accessed within our reach.

Secondly, the most unpredictable outcome would definitely be project two. Why, it was not because of what strangers said about me as I did poses that depicts my narcissistic side more. It was from the responses from my own friends whom I have knew for years. Despite knowing my personality, they still commented based on the actions that I have done in this project, this allows me to further enhance on our group’s point that people are always judged on first side by deriving another finding that people are judged because of their actions, hence if you want to be judged on first sight, try acting stupid.

Finally, my last point. I would say that the projects that best illustrate DIWO and Open-Source would be project one. Taking a picture to define a third space. The motive may be simple by just taking a picture of a location that shows a significant spot in ADM that I relates. But, this is the only project that does not have a boundary and limitation. Compared to project two, we have a set of measures and limits to follow to protect our identity, like sharing it within our social circle of friends,  a boundary on how much we can reach out as our personal Instagram account are private.

Secondly, for project three, the limitation is defined within our own group, we are only DIWOing with our group mates and this would explain enough for project three. Although both projects shows how we DIWO on Open-Source platforms.

Now but for project one. We are to do a hash tag #1010adm. The movement of hash tag means that it will be shown world wide, to EVERYONE in instagram. Considering how much people are doing in a class, the hash tag will reach into the search page, strangers with an Instagram account will immediately see it and access to our project. There are no boundary and they can choose to do whatever they want with us.

 

Micro-Project 2- Crowd-sourced Art

In regards to the idea of crowd-sourced art, my understanding towards this meaning could be simplified into words like “interaction” ,  “involving” , “sharing” and “participation”. In which to further explain, it is the ideology of getting third parties to be involved in an activity for an artist to generate responses that is beyond our own personal capability to produce alone. An example could be like a survey poll to understand the demographic and perspective of of all group towards their liking of an artwork as different age group may have different personal view.

Without going further, during the activity, our team have decided to made use of the concept of first impression, and our art piece is to manipulate audiences point of view towards us through poses to tweak the perspective of the poser. We want to prove that people are usually judgmental and made assumptions for things that strangers do without knowing them further. In this case, our team, Daenia, Qi Yan and I were the creators of the art work and I am “used” as a subject to pose the actions. We have then proceeded with the platform to use, which was social media, Instagram. The rationale was that since private Instagram are usually followed by friends, this meant that majority of their followers were strangers to me and vice versa. This would be interesting when they see a stranger that they did not know and they would be more harsh and blatant towards their personal views to me.

From the pictures above, I was made to do 3 poses by flaunting my unsightly abdominal, arm in front of the mirror to develop the feeling of a narcissistic person who is obsessed with my own physique and lastly a frontal shot of my narcissistic look. On top of the poses, our team had also crafted the following questions to trigger the responses of the audiences.

  1. Use one word to describe him
  2. Is he a playboy?
  3. Would you befriend him?
  4. Do you think he acts like a gangster?
  5. Would you let him meet your family?

These were the responses that we have garnered during the span of 45 minutes.

Use one word to describe him
Positive responses: Muscular, lean, sincere, caring, friendly, amazing, my type, fit, good
Negative responses: Superficial, trying, narcissistic, arrogant, ah beng, vain, f’boy, serious

Is he a playboy?

Yes: 8, No: 6

Would you befriend him?

Yes: 19, No: 7
Do you think he acts like a gangster?

Yes: 8, No: 7

Would you let him meet your family?

Yes: 8, No: 7

Based on the responses that were bold, it was quite an interesting sight to see how they responded. With the fact that all questions are open ended instead of polled questions. Some audiences even provided rationale for their judgement which is interesting. Examples are these.

“Do you think he acts like a gangster?”

“Would you let him meet your family?”

“Would you befriend him?”

The responses were able to prove that the people are judgmental and made pre-assumptions for actions made by unknown strangers. I have also decided posted the same pictures into my personal Instagram account to find out if people are usually judged based on their actions most of the time. Interestingly, these were what I have received from them.

“Is he a playboy?”

“Use one word to describe him”

Interestingly, this experiment had brought out another meaning towards impression judging and I realised that actually people are usually judged for the first time because of their actions in front of other people. Even though these were sent to my friends that have known me well, there were comments made by them questioning my intentions on doing this as they thought that I was seeking attention. I have successfully attracted their attention. From the start, I did not tell them specifically that they need to judge me based on the pictures that they saw as per the group intention for this micro project. What I had told them was that “I am doing this for a project, I need you to be truthful for your responses” rather than telling them that I am doing a project on first impression and I am doing things that I have no done for the first time, I want you to see me as a stranger or not be shocked for what I do next.

People were responding based on whatever that they have seen from the pictures accordingly with many interesting personal perspectives. Friends whom I have no kept in contact for months have participated in this project together with me which made me realised how we are all busy with our lives nowadays, but we would still kept track of each other’s lifes through social media posting and our interaction were usually based through virtual communications than real life face to face. This is a plus point of how our project had managed to get the participation of online users due to the function of social media.

In which, our crowd-source project is unique in the sense that not because I have “sacrificed” myself as a subject to gather audience’s feedback and participation. It brings out the virtual interaction of strangers to strangers when they commented on me, it is actually an indirect communication of what other people has to say about you through social media. This is what made social media became a powerful indirect bulling tool online as we do not know the audiences in real life but we can feel the virtual remarks literally like stab wounds on our body behind the screen.