Author: maxmollon

Electronic – first tinkering

~ maxmollon ~ Leave a comment

Bought a bluetooth handset,
Opened it,
Wired a very first version of my circuit,
Power supply + sound amplification + big speaker,
Testing the bluetooth connection to the phone.

Thanks to Théo Reichel, technology superviser.
http://www.complex.ch/ – modprobe.complex.ch

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzUsNqKdg5o]

Concept presentation – Ringdog, The Affective Phone

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UK:
The Ringdog project is nothing more than a critic of mobile phone device of communication. My whole masters final project is a critic of nowadays tools of interpersonal communication.
I start from the statement that mobile phone is not sensible to our emotions and have been created for productive aims. It forces ourselves to concentrate our intentions of communication into voice intonation – to have the best quality of signal as said by Roseanne Allequere Stone in her Thesis – and it ignores any other source of communication other than voice – as an example this article on non-verbal language over the mobile phone.

Throughout the mobile we whisper to our loved one, the chick against a piece of plastic, we argue yelling against a piece of plastic, etc. On one side we have got a sensory frustration (tactile and proprioceptive) and a physical isolation towards the receiver.
On the other let’s take the human/dog relationship: affective, sincere, tactile.
Let’s mix the two provoque unexpected situations, new experiences of communication, new usages and try to change users habits on a longer period of time.

FR :
Je travail sur une critique de nos moyens de communication interpersonnelle et en particulier le téléphone mobile d’un point de vue affectif et émotionnel.
Je part du constat selon lequel le téléphone est insensible à nos émotions et à été inventé à des fins utilitaires. Il nous force à concentrer nos intentions de communications dans l’intonation de la voix – comme Roseanne Allequere Stone en parle dans son Doctorat – et il ignore tout indice de communication autre que la voix – pour exemple cet article sur le langage non-verbal délaissé en téléphonie mobile. 

Au travers du mobile on susurre à sa bien aimée la joue contre un bout de plastique, on se dispute en criant contre un bout de plastique, etc.
D’un côté nous avons une frustration sensorielle (tactile et proprioceptive) et un isolement physique envers notre interlocuteur.
De l’autre prenons la relation homme/chien : affective, sincère, tactile.
Mixons les deux pour provoquer de nouvelles situations, de nouvelles expériences de communication, de nouveaux usages et tenter de changer les habitudes utilisateurs sur une longue periode.

CONCEPT:
How can we explore human/dog relationship to emotionally enhance our telecommunications?




TECHNOLOGY:
STRONG AND BEAUTIFUL MATERIAL (LEATHER, RESIN)

BI-DIRECTIONAL CALIBRATED MICROPHONE, HI-DEFINITION SPEAKERS

SIMPLE BLUETOOTH™ PHONE PAIRING
ULTRA LOW RADIO WAVES, NO HEALTH DANGER FOR THE ANIMAL
EASY PICK-UP BUTTON

USE CASES
Lovers, your most faithful friend is with you when loved ones are far away
BRING BACK THE AFFECTION YOU WOULD LIKE TO GIVE ON A PHONE
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuEy014n4vk]

Argument, he understands you and reacts to the conversation (Barking forces you to calm down)
BRING ALIVE FEEDBACK AS A MIRROR OF THE CONVERSATION MOOD
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9LBx99CK2k]

Playful, don’t forget it’s your dog!
BRING BACK LIFE, FUN AND SURPRISE TO YOUR COMMUNICATIONS!

BRINGs BACK EMOTION TO YOUR CONVERSATIONS
BE CLOSER TO YOUR DOG THAN EVER
NO MORE TACTILE FRUSTRATIONS WHEN TALKING ON THE PHONE

CONCEPT: REAL VS DIGITAL WORLD
CONNECTED VIRTUAL WORLD GENERATED A LACK OF PHYSICAL IMPLICATION
TECHNOLOGY GAVE US THE FRUSTRATING EMPOWERMENT OF UBIQUITY
ANIMALS CAN BE A TANGIBLE AND ALIVE LINK WITH THE NON-PHYSICAL WORLD

REJOIN COMMUNICATION AND EMOTIONS IN AN AFFECTIVE INTERFACE
ALIVE, CAPRICIOUS, MOVING, EMOTIONAL, RESPONDING…
BRING BACK LIFE IN OUR COMMUNICATIONS

NEXT :

First tester! Eliot.

Experiment – Straight into the eyes

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Straight into the eyes is a critical experiment against the video conference media focused on the position of the webcam.
Eye direction has a strong importance for quality of emotional communication. Looking to the other on Skype (for instance) is the same than looking at his chin in reality.

To criticize this we will take a 2 steps process (using Skype):
1› Avoid the other eyes
Aim: Highlight importance of eyes direction
2› Correct eyes direction
Aim: Criticize webcam system “looking at the screen, not at the other”

Protocole:
Étude hypothético-déductive.
• Hypothèse :
Ne pas regarder quelqu’un dans les yeux lors d’une conversation met mal à l’aise, donne l’impression de ne pas voir ses sentiments compris par l’autre, est un frein à la perception de l’empathie et de l’implication.
Regarder droit dans les yeux en video-conférence corrige considérablement cette sensation pourtant assez négligée pour le moment.
• Methode :
Conversation sur 3 films vus et appréciés par les deux interlocuteurs
Pour chaque film 5 minutes de discussion sur une question précise :
Quel est ton personnage préféré et pourquoi ?
Quel est mon personnage préféré et pourquoi ?
À chaque film mon personnage préféré sera le même que celui de mon interlocuteur afin d’observer pour quelle situation l’interlocuteur perçoit le plus mon empathie.
Variable indépendante (contrôlée, “input”): direction des yeux
Iteration 1. lunettes de regard en coin,
Iteration 2. normale,
Iteration 3. droit dans les yeux.-
Variable dépendante (non contrôlée, réaction observée):
Intensité de la perception de l’empathie, de l’implication de l’interlocuteur,
• Materiel :
Ordinateur, webcam, camera, programme de capture d’écran et
1. lunettes de regard en coin
2. rien
3. webcam et bande adhesive
• Participants :
2 pour le moment
• Questions à poser :
Je fait une recherche sur l’attachement aux personnages de films et :
Quel film penses tu que j’ai préféré parmi les 3 ? qu’est ce qui te fait penser ça ?
À quel point penses tu que j’étais sincère ou non ?

Resultats :
Echec, processus des lunettes trop comique,
Echec, questions mal choisies,
Echec, trop peu de différence entre l’itération 2 et 3, couper la conversation Skype entre les différentes situations n’est pas idéal.


Click to see animated GIF

The brief – Masters final project

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Presentation of my final year masters project under the form of a self made brief.

(BRIEF) HEAD Research Lab would like to explore nowadays state of emotional/affective digital communication. On the first hand, through series of experiments you will have to criticize modern tools of communication, the way they involve our senses and modify the nature of our social interactions, on the other hand you will have to conduct a research on the potential of human-dogs relationship in over-distance human communication—project code name, Rindog. (CLIENTS AIMS) HEAD Research Lab’s goal is to make a solid and credible report/critic on modern media of communication and our everyday emotional/affective social interactions. The series of small experiments will stand as basic ground illustrating and justifying this report. The Ringdog project will take the critic at an extreme point aiming to get integrated by volunteer users in their life and habits, changing the way they communicate. (TARGET MISSION) Concerning Rindog, potential users range is wide, basically anyone having a dog and a mobile phone. Best case you will be having a teenager, a young adult, a mid 30’s person, an over 50y.o. person, women and men. (MISSION) Your mission will be to conduct a series of experiments—criticizing senses involvement and emotional social interaction of nowadays personal media–following a precise protocol, then to extract conclusions that will inspire iterative prototypes for the Rindog project. (TIME SCALE) You have 2 months (BUDGET) Half of your spending will be refund until 1000F (CONSTRAINTS) Find dog owners, No long period tests durations, Necessitate product design skills, Product design on animal, Electronic material commands takes time (CONCURRENTS) Research for that by yourself.