blog:: blog
class:: T R 12:30-3:20 pm
location:: KH300A
instructor:: Joshua Penrose:: website
contact:: joshua.penrose@gmail.com
description::
Interactive Design engages materially with the electronic structures that fundamentally choreograph and orchestrate our everyday lives. We will investigate Interactive Design through physical computing - how we mediate the human body with automated, digital processes.
We will investigate how a computer knows about the human body through touch, motion, sound, light or temperature, for example. We will experiment with a range of sensors that transform human expression into information that becomes knowable by a computer. We will also work with computers big and small to read this sensor data and respond with output.
Physical computing, like any other aesthetic media, requires a hands-on practice. We will spend our time building circuits, writing code, fabricating physical objects to encase these electronics, and testing how these systems can best realize our aesthetic and experiential intentions.
texts::
"Interactive Electronics for Artists and Inventors" - Ken Rinaldo
online:: Interactive Electronics for Artists and Inventors
*Other readings to be distributed in class, or via the web. We will not be buying any texts, so that we can save our money for…
required materials::
These materials should be purchased immediately. We will begin using these in class and for assignments in the second week of class.
All the required items can be found in this cart
or, if you have trouble accessing this cart, here are the items individually, listed with Part Numbers from Sparkfun.com::
Arduino Kit:: KIT-10173
or
RTL-10339
whichever is available (do not backorder - you will be late...)
Meter:: TOL-09141
Iron:: TOL-09507
Stand:: TOL-09477
Strippers:: TOL-08696
H-Bridge:: COM-00315
grading::
The grading will be broken down as follows:
Final Project: 30%
3 Projects: 30%
6 Assignments: 40%
also
Class citizenship
Attendance
attendance policy::
Due to the nature of the course, regular attendance is required. Students are expected to come to class on time, ready to work with all necessary supplies and materials. This is a studio class, and as such, much of the learning takes place through doing. Missing any class will mean having missed the doing.
statement on disabilities::
If you have a documented disability as described by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (P.L. 933-112 Section 504) and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), you may be able to receive accommodations to assist in the programmatic and physical accessibility. We recommend that you contact Disability Services at the One Stop Student Services in the Loann Crane Center. Disability Services can assist you and the instructor in formulating a reasonable accommodation plan and provide support in developing appropriate accommodations for your disability. Course requirements will not be waived, but accommodations may be made to assist you to meet the requirement. Technical support may also be available.
*the schedule may fluctuate slightly…
week 1 (8/30)
Introduction to Interaction Design and Physical Computing
Digital Input and Output
Introduction to Arduino
Materials, where to get them, when to get them
How to make connections
Writing programs
Button and Switch Lab
Assignment 1: Sensor Walk (due 9/6/11)
Choose some part of your world (school, neighborhood, etc.) Make a list of every possible encounter you see with a sensor. Take at least 5 digital images of the most interesting ones you find. Post these images to your class blog, as well as a brief discussion of your impressions. What is the sensor allowing? What is it forcing? What is open? What is closed? What is surprising to you?(Can you generate the longest list in the class?)
week 2 (9/6)
Analog Input
The world of sensors [what can a computer know?]
Sensor Lab
Reading Assignment: Read Chapters 1 and 2 of "Interactive Electronics for Artists and Inventors"
Assignment 2: Irrational System (due 9/12/11, 5pm)
Choose a sensor-based, automated system deployed in public. Observe several people interacting with this system, and write down your impressions. Take notes on as many things as you can: what movements are involved? What is the duration of interaction? What is difficult? What is easy? Then ruminate on how these "materials" of experience conspire to generate a broader "situation". How can you describe this situation? What is accomplished in a larger, cultural sense?
Now propose a new system, based on this observed system that alters, challenges, subverts, or parodies this in some way. Sketch or diagram an automated system that would realize, or actualize your proposed situation. There is no need to know *how* this system would be built, only to articulate what it would do, and what that might mean. Of primary interest in this assignment are both the quality and clarity of your sketches/diagrams.
week 3 (9/13)
Facilities available both on and off CCAD campus
Fundamentals of electricity
Analog Output
Sound
Mapping Variables, Mapping Voltages
Actuation
Motor/Light Lab
Sound Lab
Assign Project 1
Assignment 3: The Automated Other (due: 9/19/11, 5pm)
Using your arduino kit, make a simple automated system that takes input, and digitally mediates some output. This assignment should engage questions such as: what is the situation i want to create and why? How are my choices of materials (buttons, switches, lights, motors, sounds) contributing to a user experience that demonstrates this situation for the user? The system should be very simple, with the primary focus being on the nature of the automated system, and the situation that it engenders.
week 4 (9/20)
Soldering, wires, connections
Soldering Lab
Studio Week
Encasement, Interface, Fabrication, Deployment
Project 1: Public Intervention (due: 9/26/11, 5pm)
Work in class on Project 1 in and around CCAD campus (wood shops, metal shops, class, etc. We will be meeting for these classes as usual, however the majority of the time will be spent making the work for project 1. This may include getting help, giving help, sharing code, debugging code, prototyping, building structures, etc.
week 5 (9/27)
Reveiw concepts of physical computing with Arduino
Critique of Project 1
week 6 (10/4)
Introduction to Max
Controlling real-time sound
Controlling real-time video
week 7 (10/11)
Working with real-time sound objects
Working with real-time video objects
Connecting data streams through Max control objects
Read The Cult of Done Manifesto
10/14/11: Midterm grades due
Assignment 4: Light to Sound/Sound to Light (due Monday, 10/17/11 by 5pm)
C'mon, you know you want to do it, so let's get it out of our systems! Using your new skills in Max, make a simple program that maps real-time sound input to control video, or conversely, uses real-time video input to control sound. The main thrust of this assignment is to assess your ability to use the Max control environment. Will your program be funny or sober? Super-complex? Beautifully simple? Utilize the Presentation Mode feature in Max to create a Graphical User Interface for the user, hiding the guts of your patch
week 8 (10/18)
Prototyping systems
Connecting one thing to another
Controller Readymades
-Wii, USB game controller, HIDs (keyboard, mouse)
Mapping consumer controllers in Max
Astley Control
Project 2: Real-time Controller (due Monday, 10/31/11, 5pm)
Work in class on Project 2 in and around CCAD campus (wood shops, metal shops, class, etc. We will be meeting for these classes as usual, however the majority of the time will be spent making the work for project 1. This may include getting help, giving help, sharing code, debugging code, prototyping, building structures, etc.
week 9 (10/25)
Studio Week
Work in class on Project 2 in and around CCAD campus (wood shops, metal shops, class, etc. We will be meeting for these classes as usual, however the majority of the time will be spent making the work for project 2. This may include getting help, giving help, sharing code, debugging code, prototyping, building structures, etc.
week 10 (11/1)
Animating the physical world
Actualtion
Cams, gears, pulleys and wheels
Understanding the language of motors
Sourcing motors
week 11 (11/8)
Present and discuss final project proposals as a group critique
Sourcing and ordering materials
week 12 (11/15)
Power, batteries, and wall-warts, oh my…
Work in class on final project in and around CCAD campus
Assignment 5: final project electronics schematic/diagram (due: 11/22/11)
Post to your blog a schematic and diagram of the electronics and interaction flow for your final project. This will be evaluated on both the quality of the design, and the clarity of the diagram.
T - *special
week 13 (11/22)
Final project documentation, video and web presence
Work in class on final project in and around CCAD campus
Assignment 6: final project - functioning electronics (due: 11/29/11)
Post to your blog appropriate documentation showing the working "guts" of your final project - the software and electronics. This will likely be video documentation, but may also include still images in the video stream, desktop video captures of software, etc. This will be evaluated on both the quality of the documentation capture and presentation, as well as the clarity of what the documentation shows.
R - Thanksgiving
week 14 (11/29)
Work in class on final project in and around CCAD campus
week 15 (12/6)
Begin Critique of final projects
12/19/11: Final Grades Due
Projects and Assignments::
All projects and assignments are due when stated in the syllabus. Projects and assignments are to be posted on your blog, and if applicable, brought into class so we can all enjoy looking, interacting, sharing, etc. Additionally you are required to post documentation of these projects to a personal blog that you will create for this class. Each assignment needs to have a text description of your process (what you did) in response to the assignment prompt. If applicable, you will need to present a screenshot of your working code (all platforms), a diagram of the physical wiring (schematic), and digital images of the project taken as you work, showing your process and progress. If you feel like it, you may also include a short video in your blog entry as well. The url of your blog entry is to be sent to the instructor via email. When ccreating the documentation for your blog, zoom out and pretend you don't know what you know about your work. What needs to be shown and how? You may need an establishing image, some close-ups, some images of how things work, and an image or two of someone interacting with the work.
links::
arduino
cycling74
maxuino
Interactive Electronics for Artists and Inventors
sensor wiki
NIME
parts/sources
sparkfun
adafruit
modern device
mouser
electronics goldmine
MPJA
super circuits
jameco
solarbotics
hvw tech