Hand-Cranked Harmonograph at the Maker Faire

I had a great time exhibiting my Exploratorium prototype at the Maker Faire last weekend. The flow of visitors passing by our table was continuous and almost never-ending (as there were a lot of people in general who visited the Exploratorium tent.) I almost lost my voice a second time from talking too much. The visitors were very engaged and both the adults and the children asked great questions!

There was a particularly curious child who wanted to try out all possible combinations: "What if we put the pin in this hole instead?" "What if we use a smaller gear?" "What if we use a bigger gear?" "What if we use the biggest gear possible?" "What if we use different arms?" It was fantastic seeing him and many others so curious to experiment.

I also had the chance to talk to Paula from the Exploratorium who coincidentally had brought a spirograph exhibit to show after our shift, and we had a great conversation about spirographs, my harmonograph design, and some general topics such as digitial-physical interfacing.

Grow & Shrink: Final reflections

I thought I'd put up one last post with some reflections from today at the final exhibition...

First, here's a video! I had a lot of fun today engaging with the visitors since we were encouraged to talk to people instead of just observe today. Here's one kid from when I was on the floor in the morning (surprising, I actually had a lot of really good extended interactions like this one amid the noon-time craziness). ...Hope you don't mind the random small talk. :P

Mostly, I was struck by how different the interactions with my exhibit were today vs. the last time we were on the floor. Compared to most people in our class, I thought I had made pretty minimal changes--mainly in the shape of & signage on the periscopes--, so I was initially unenthusiastic about the exhibition today, not expecting anything too new. I was really surprised. People spent much more time looking through the periscopes, walking around, interacting with the people they were with, and observing their surroundings, rather than just shooting hoops like last time.

The biggest difference today was the clearly visible yellow and green "Grow" and "Shrink" signs on the periscopes themselves. Even people who walked by my exhibit but didn't stop often read the signs aloud to themselves ("hmm grow and shrink... interesting..."). I think this preemptive measure imposed expectations on visitors, and pushed them to deeper engagement: everyone wants to get the most out of an exhibit, so people tried harder to feel the full "grow" experience and the full "shrink" experience. ...There's definitely still many user-interface issues in need of ironing out, but it was really cool for me to see what a big difference some small vinyl stickers could make.

Just a few short thoughts because I have a final tomorrow... It's been a really amazing experience taking this class - it's so neat seeing how a simple idea or observation can be crafted to allow users to feel a sense of wonder and a desire to explore. Thank you so much to John, Sebastian, and all my classmates/ fellow exhibit-designers! :)

Electric Arc Speaker

Rebuilt from the ground up, the Electric Arc Speaker is back and better than ever!

I got some new transformers that are smaller, but produce much bigger and better arcs. The only problem is that when the electrodes move too far apart, the transformers can arc internally rather than just try harder to push through the air.

For this reason, and because I don't want to distract from the speaker aspect, I'm pulling back from showcasing the lightning mode of the previous version of the plasma speaker.

The wood box is painted black to provide a contrasting background for the light of the plasma arc. Also the sides are clear to allow visitors to peek inside and see what's making everything go.

Infinite Shadows

I covered all the surfaces with black card stock, and the bottom one with vellum paper to diffuse the light. I added a template of glasses to make sure people bring their eyes close to the box. I also added a look here sign right above the hole. I supported the clear acrylic sheet using pieces of wood with slots cut in them. I will mount the sign on the foam core board to the left of the exhibit. The light source is a flashlight enclosed in a foam core box. The light will be on permanently.

These are some pictures of the completed exhibit. I will upload a picture of the final sign.

Design a Drawing Machine

After many many iterations here is the final piece "Design a Drawing Machine" 

I realized having 3 interchangeable gears made it more interactive and interesting to tinker with, but with so many degrees of freedom it gave kids too much free reign to stack gear towers and go wild. I think my previous prototype would be good as a game kit sold in stores, but for an exhibit, something that is more simple to interact with but still interactive and less complex was my goal:

Slippage prevented with discrete holes:

Affordances: a knob to crank

Label:

Photos from the Exploratorium floor: