TW Update

[tash wong]

It's a HURRICANE! Listen to that wind!

Last week was pretty much dedicated to Service Design, but I got some stuff done.

Blog update!

My paragraph + next steps are up on my blog:

http://tashwong.tumblr.com/post/34581999283/thesis-plan-of-attack

Emails + online shopping

Emailed a bunch of people for the Bachelard book I'm after - Jane Brox (writer of Brilliant), the book's publishers in Dallas, and the SVA library. 

- Brox confirmed it was a good book, and that she bought hers 5 years ago. Doesn't seem to keen on parting with it. 

- SVA is obvs closed for the next few days. Fingers crossed they can get it for me.

Ordered some tilt switches + battery holders from Adafruit. Will probably delayed by the storm. 

Reading

Started Disenchanted Night, which is a more technical history of light than Brilliant. Came across a few interesting concepts - in the eighteenth century there were 'project-makers', they were considered inventor-entrepreneurs, and seem quite similar to how we look at startups. I'm beginning to think chemistry was the code of that time period, people of a certain class would tinker with it and make things that affected the world.  

Research

I started a board on pinterest for other 'personal lights'. Let me know if you come across anything in your internet searching.

http://pinterest.com/tashwong/personal-lights/

Thoughts

- I really really want that Bachelard book. 

- Need to make one of these lights stat. 

TIP!

Found Worldcat.org, which is basically a library catalog for the whole world. Found the closest copy of my book is in PA. 

 

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tashwong.com

MFA candidate, Interaction Design at the School of Visual Arts

Co-Creator of Coastermatic.com

[tash wong]

I'll be biking from Williamsburg tomorrow, just hope it doesn't rain.

Since Monday:

I talked with Tony about my thesis, which prompted a new blog post. The goal was to explain my thinking so far within the domain of lighting, and lay out the rationale for the personal light.

http://tashwong.tumblr.com/

Had a good chat with Tony + Tom on Saturday night. Think it might be good to find parallels in other senses, ideas that came up were: rise of foodie culture, and the effects of the walkman on how we think about sound.

Also trying to think of where to look for advisors. I think practical advice can be found throughout the dept + friends of the dept, but not quite sure where to go for theoretical. Half thinking of Kelly Dobson (Blendie) but am very open to suggestions.

[tash wong]

Here's my weekly thesis update.

I made a much nicer version of my light on friday! Took ages to receive the parts due to the storm, but they finally came through Thursday afternoon.

Overall, it's a success. I've been able to test out the flipping interaction (you turn the light over to turn it on), and people are responding well to that. 

I've got 2 blog posts up today:

This one is a video that shows the interaction, and a quick note about the response to it + next steps.

The second has photos of the process, beginning with light I built 4 weeks ago. The notes talk a bit about what I used. Apologies for the image size + weird image interface, there's a little arrow to the right to advance through the images...which haven't been resized.

Next Steps

1. I'll be making 5 more of the light and giving them to people. I'd like to understand if and how people use them.

2. Think more about what the light could do based on gesture. Amit suggested it could be a flashlight at 45 degrees, and the lower light at 90.

3. Look at a few other sensors to see how they could effect interaction with the light

Still on the look out for advisors, please let me know if you think of anyway.

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