What we learned
Our real-time data project focuses on providing users with auditory and visual signals that immerse them in a strange world inhabited by our creature, EARL. We chose the subject of real-time data because we were all intrigued by the notion that the information would be used immediately after collection.
Our initial thought was to use a sensor to detect the presence of an individual while sending signals to an Arduino to produce audio outputs.We decided to employ this technology to develop a surrealistic creature that would be intriguing and interactive for viewers after some discussion among our group members.
Challenges
We opted to include movements and interactive components to the movement of the wings to emphasise the interactiveness of our work that pulls viewers to interact with Earl since we imagined our creature to be fuzzy with a pair of wings, like a bird-like animal.
Our biggest issue was making a nervy, fitting environment for our bizarre creature. We were having trouble presenting the creature, so after discussions and testing different approaches, we opted to keep things straightforward and let the creature take centre stage.
Interactivity
Another challenge we faced was ‘interactivity’. No one in our group had an experience with curation, especially an interactive exhibition. After the last consultation with Andreas, we had to answer the question ‘what is the clue of interactivity in this work’. Since our display style was going to be white gallery style, we had to consider that the audience will hesitate to touch the artwork because they were usually taught not to touch those.
Honestly, this problem is what we couldn’t really solve clearly until the end, so we decided to document the work as best as we can. Documentation is a thing we have to improve, as seen from our previous data visualization project.
So we borrowed some nice white space with perfect sunlight to take pictures and videos, also using a camera and pedestal. We invited another team(Shalom, Sena, and Jocelyn) to try interacting and enjoying our project. The short video above contains the process of the whole documentation.