Interaction, Appearance, Interface

Just a quick update. Some of this I should really post to my personal blog, but it's easier to just do it all here in a less formal-y manner.

Thought of an idea for the 3 posters idea that was suggested by the lecturers. Since we've broken the project up into three parts (Tarot Cards / Structure design, RFID Card Selection, and the System Prototype itself ), It seems like we've broken the project up into the "Interaction" ( RFID ), "Appearance" ( Cards, Structure ), and the "Interface" ( The program ). Interaction and Interface seems like they could be swapped around. But you combine the three, and you get the whole project, which works quite nicely I think.

Basically though, this is just to say that I'm pretty sure I've finished the coding for the prototype. ( yaaay ). It can run as a .exe file ( which is always good ). This is basically how it works :

- Start Program
- User Presses "Begin"
- User Selects "Male" or "Female"
- User Selects a Starsign
- User Selects a Category
- User is prompted to record something based on that selected category
- User Presses "Record"
- Recording process starts
- User Presses "Stop"
- Recording process stops
- .wav file is named based on the current time ( yearmonthdayhourminutesecond.wav )
- .wav file is saved to selected directory ( customisable )
- filename, starsign, sex, category are all saved to the database, file is set to "un-scanned" ( for censorship of rudeness
- Database is searched for random response to selected topic ( one that has been "screened")
- File is played back for the user.

The end. Repeat etc.

How's that all sounding ?

- Anthony

Scan's

Hey everyone.

Here are the scans of draft designs. Sorry i didn't scan them earlier, i got caught up with work and marking assignments...

Tarot cards

I have done some sketches for the back design, and decided on what i want to do. I need a scanner to post them. I will do that tomorrow.
What do you guys think about changing the physical shape of the card from the conventional rectangle to something else that is still symmetrical but adds to the 'unique' factor?

Ill also scan in the sketch for the scale model.

Megs

Recording Progress

Quick Update on the Recording Phase of the Project.

Basic Database implementation organised tonight, I've written a quick little processing program that records a .wav from the microphone ( or other audio input ), saves it to a .wav file with a dynamic filename ( based on the time / date - entirely unique ). It then talks to the mySQL database I've got running, copies the data into the table :

recordingid (filename - unique key)
category (love, money, health, happiness, luck, fortune)
starsign (obvious choices here)
sex (m or f)
screened (0 or 1, determines whether or not the audio file has been "checked" for idiotic behaviour).

The latest test run of the program provided me with a .wav file entitled : 2007515141244.wav, an appropriate table entry in the database, and the following console output :

Recording Started.
Finished Recording. 253952 bytes written to : 2007515141244.wav
number of rows: 1
Data Written : 2007515141244,"love","leo","m",0

Awesome.

Current Status and Milestones

So we're well on track I think for the rest of the semester.

For the final prototype we've split it into three parts.
1) Full scale models of the Tarot Cards, and A Small-scale model of the whole exhibit
2) Isolated RFID Tarot Card System
3) Isolated Recording / Playback System

We've all got something to do :
Megan and Mitchell - Working on Tarot Card and Model Design
Pierre - RFID Tarot Card System
Anthony ( me ) - Working on The recording and playback system.

Milestones
This is the basic plan for the rest of the semester

Tuesday 15th - Catalog Report Completed.
Tuesday 15th - Tarot Card Back Design Completed.

Wednesday 16th - RFID and Phidgets( pierre ) completed. If this is not completed by the 15th, or if it is not close to completion, then it will be left out of the final presentation

Friday 18th - Recording / Playback Completed
Friday 18th - Tarot Card "Photos" Done and Edited

Tuesday 22nd - Model Completed
Tuesday 22nd - Cards Completed

Leaving us 1 week to fix any last minute problems.

Tarot card stuff

Here is a website about a persons design process for the images on their tarot cards:
http://www.gaiantarot.com/process.html

Here is one about typical definitions and there are some images too:

http://www.astroprofile.com/majorarcana.htm

Another one, also with a back design:

http://www.oxfordbookstore.com/oxfordonline/services/kundali/tarrot/index_tarrot.asp?sid=46SF74MCFRCW9PXBV0CRU8RF78500439

Some random images:

I like these ones. I think we should use these designs as our influence, as they are traditional in design but with a modern influence of colour:

Assignment 1 Feedback

During the presentations on tuesday, each class member was required to write out feedback and responses for each presentation. Ok, so only 16 people actually handed them in. And ok, so one of those was mine. And there were quite a few that just said "good presentation". But I went through and cut out the ones that were relatively interesting, and here they are :

Most of them I can read. That bottom one I've no idea, it had squids and stuff drawn all over the sheet. Someone must really love their cuttlefish.

Most of these ideas I reckon we should take on board. Roughly, I think this is the translation :

1 - I had reservations on user answers, and think these be manually screened
2 - Is this really suitable for an art gallery? more likely to suit a shipping center( re :P )
3 - Voice Activation / database to ... something
4 - Will the person hear the computer fan ? How willing are people going to be to follow the rules?
5 - Generic comments
6 - Research other projects which are similar
7 - Excellent presentation even though the idea is not too convincing ( maybe the idea just doesnt interest me )
8 - Chance that people will say something things? Limit it to horoscopes to get more generalised response. Measure cost, dont trust megan ( get broke? ) The recieving box doesnt need to use voices to choose

That's as best as I could decipher them. . . They say the more creative you are, the messier your handwriting , we must have a very creative class ;)

On top of these responses, during the presentation, a few people had suggestions.

• Research the usenet oracle ( http://cgi.cs.indiana.edu/~oracle/index.cgi )
• Limit / Eliminate voice recognition
• Use Physical Answer System ( eg, tarot cards, crystal ball )
• User answer screening ( "was this helpful ? yes, no " )
• Manual screening of answers each night
• Two shadows - one for question, one for answer ( two voices )

I think that's everything. Pierre, megan did I miss anything ?

So guys, comments / ideas as to where to take it from here ?