IDAT101 Group Project Interactive Installation Reflection and Evaluation

'Goodness...'

Evaluating a project is often the most important part to help you improve on your future projects and to take a closer look at what you thought about the overall outcome. Obviously we didn't actually create our installation so I cannot do a full evaluation with reviews and opinions from different people but I can evaluate the areas of the project that I completed and give my own views and opinions on my work.

Overall I thought this was a good project to begin the term with. It helped to introduce me to all the different areas involved in planning and designing an interactive installation and seeing as I had never done anything on this scale before it gave me a good insight into an industry style project. Before I did this project I had never realised all the different areas that I was required to complete in order to design and carry out a project like this, such as the environmental and contextual studies that I had to complete. I enjoyed completing the project, it was good to have creative freedom and be able to design something completely new with few constraints such as expenses.

Our choice of space definitely challenged us when it came to thinking what we could install into it. The space is not very big and is very busy especially on the weekend. The space already contained an attraction, which was the wooden animals, so we had to think carefully about what we could install into it. However I am quite glad we chose this space, it's not the first place that comes to mind when thinking about where to install an interactive installation but this challenged us and allowed us to expand our ideas and think more critically about what we could design. Also it's in a popular area so was the ideal place to install something that lots of people would be able to use.

Success Criteria

Our success criteria depends on whether we fulfilled our requirements;

• Must contain some form of media that allows users to interact with it with an appropriate device- although our installation doesn't have a device for interaction, it is interactive as the screen has an overlay that allows the users steps to be detected and this in turn produces a reaction.

• Must allow participants to engage with the space and support the activities that already take place within space- Our installation ties in with the theme of the space; the jungle animals, because of the balloons which contain the RFID tags.

• Installation must have aesthetic, conceptual and sensory qualities as well as functional.- Aesthetic qualities include the image on the screen when the RFID tag tracks appear on the screen and show the balloons moving around the screen. It completes the main concept of the project which is to create an interactive installation in a social space. I wouldn't really say the interaction has many sensory qualities other than being visually appealing. The installation will be functional within the space.

• Technology must be able to work under any weather condition- The touch foil overlay that we can put over the screen to make it interactive is waterproof so this will ensure it can work in any weather condition.

• Technology must be able to withstand a large and prolonged amount of use- The screen that we are going to buy will be very durable and they last for a long amount of time which is what we need to ensure that the screen works for a long time as our chosen area is very popular.

• There are space limitations with the chosen area so installation size must be relative to the size of the area- The installation will fit into the floor of the space so the only issue that we will have to sort out is making sure we get a screen that is the correct size and fits into the middle of the space.

• Installation must not be in the way of pedestrians.- The installation will be put on the floor as it is a flat screen so there is no issues with the installation being in the way of people walking through the area as this is one of the main features of the screen so has been designed for people to walk over it.  

• Installation must produce sound but must not be too noisy that it distracts other passersby.- The installation does not produce any sound as we thought this would be too noisy for the space as it is outside in an area that is already very popular so will be loud already.

• Installation must be a completely new design and not resemble any of the other technologies currently installed in the shopping centre.- Our screen is unique and does not resemble any of the other technical installations in and outside of the shopping centre.

• Installation must use as little cables as possible to ensure the optimum area can be chosen and there are not too many wires around that could become broken or damaged.- We are unsure yet of the amount of cables we need to use because we have not created the installation but we hope for most of the technology to be wireless therefore we will be able to cut back on the amount of cables we need to use.

• Must use light effects to ensure it can be used at night.- The screen lights up so will be able to be used during the evening and night time.

• Must be secure so pieces cannot be stolen.- The screen will be fixed to the floor and the balloons are designed for people to take.

As you can see from our requirements we have completed most of them and I am happy with the final outcome of our project in relation to these requirements. I think we worked well as a group and it shows with the way we were able to make sure we completed these requirements, for those we did not complete like the sound one, we have a valid reason why we did not and I think the work we produced was to the best of our abilities.

In my personal opinion I think our installation was well thought out and designed. From our original idea of using RFID tags I think we expanded our ideas well and came up with a good idea that allowed us to fulfil all our requirements.

However there are always areas for improvement that we could have done better on;

• I thought we could have done more research at the start of the project to look at more options of what we could do in terms of interactive devices. I did some research into interactive floors and screens but as a group I think we should have found some more information on different technologies before making a firm decision on our final choice.

• I thought we could have been a bit more proactive as a group as we did not meet up very often to discuss ideas and relied more on our blogs and the portal to share our ideas.

Overall I think this was a successful project. I think we developed and expanded our ideas well and adapted them to fit in with the requirements of the project. As a group I think we performed quite well, as I said before we could have met up a bit more and discussed our ideas together in more detail but overall I think we worked well together and had some good ideas. I think our final idea is really good and I have thoroughly enjoyed completing this project.

IDAT101 Group Project Interactive Installation Deployment

Plan For Deployment : We need to carefully plan out how we are going to install our interactive installation into the area. 

• From the research we have done the space tends to be very busy during the day so prefered time of installation would be the evening/ night when there are less people around and the shops would be closed, therefore we wouldn't cause as much disruption.
• We need to ensure the software is in order and working, this envolves coding the programs and making sure the RFID tags are connected to the program.
• The screen will have to be as thin as possible as we cannot place it into the ground as we do not want to disrupt the brick work thats already been layed. We may have to taper the edges of the screen if it does sit too high above the ground to ensure that people walking by do not trip over the edges.
• The RFID tags need to be placed into the balloons and ensure that they work and send information back to the computer when they are in the entire area. This would involve tests that need to be carried out before we install our screen.
• We need to plan out where the equipment will be placed, such as the computer, to ensure it is in range of all the equipment.  

Timetable : We can't make a specific timetable just yet because we do not know the length of time we would need to set up all our equipement as we do not have any of it yet. Hopefully it would not take too long to set up because all the programs and RFID tags would be set up and ready to go before we had got to the space. We would have to go to our space in the evening as well as this when the space is quiet so we would not cause too much disruption to those walking through the centre. I've created a mock up timetable of what we could do but this would be open to change ;

19:00- Arrive at space, ensure the area is ready to be used, clean etc
19:15- Unload the van
19:30- Start to set up the equipement
19:40- Lay screen and ensure that it is flat against the floor with no outstanding edges that someone could fall over
20:40- Connect the screen to the computer
20:55- Set up RFID tags and put the balloons in the correct place
21:00- Ensure that RFID tags work and are connected to the computer
21:15- Test an RFID tag to ensure the tag, screen and computer program work
21:30- Ensure all the wires are away and covered
21:45- Clear area of all excess equipment
22:00- Pack up and leave. (Come back the next day to run the screen)


What Needs To Be Purchased : There are a number of items that need to be purchased before we can install our equipment:

• Screen, or monitor, large enought to fit into our space, with an interactive foil overlay that would allow us to make the screen interactive for those who stood on it. A company such as arcsream av would be able to supply what we would need, http://www.arcstreamav.com/living-image/
• RFID tags, these need to bought and could be very expensive, I found one website, http://www.buyrfid.com/catalog/ , that sells RFID tags and all the equipment to go with them but they are very expensive so we may have to look elsewhere, could possibly do a deal for advertising to get some discount if we bought in bulk.
• Animal balloons so that we can put the RFID tags into them and allow people to take them around the town centre.

Work That Needs To Be Done :

• The program needs to be coded or installed to ensure that the screen and computer are linked up and the movement of the RFID tags shows up on the screen. Also need to make sure that the screen is touch sensitive and that when it is touched it responds to the program.
• Balloons need to be bought and tags inserted into the them so that passersby can take them.
• Screen needs to be purchased and tested to make sure it works.

Possible Problems : There are a number of different problems that we could face when installing our interactive installation into town so we need to be aware of the possible problems and what we can do to prevent them happening.

• Forgetting to bring some equipment- the night before we need to do a mock set up of all the equipment and pack it all away at the same time to ensure we take everything we need. Probably best to pack multiple items of the same thing such as the cables and wires just incase they don't work when we get to our space.
• Program doesn't work- We need to ensure that the program works before we leave. If possible we should try and find mulitple versions of software that we could use in the event of our main program failing.
• Screen doesn't work- The screen is going to be quite expensive so we can't reallty bring two with us incase it fails because we wouldn't be able to afford it. The only way we could get around this problem is to ensure that we test the screen before we go to space to make sure it works.
• RFID tags will not cover the area in terms of range and sending information- When buying the RFID tags we need to make sure they cover the entire area of the shopping centre and link back to our computer. We will have to measure how far the longest RFID tag will go and make sure that it still shows up on our screen. It is also important that we base our computer as central as possible in the shopping centre to make sure the RFID's cover the area.