Thesis update

The progression of my thesis project so far........

I am now focused on creating an assistive electronic visual art device for palliative care patients. The main change in my design is; the device is now going to be located in an art room setting instead of being attached to the motomed as originally planned. I feel patient interaction with the device will be optimised when it is detached from the motomed as the patient will not be confronted with too many controls and interfaces at once and as I do not want to incorporate pedaling with making art. I still hope to make a connection between going on a journey using the motomed (Lette and Jills project) and creating pictures using the visual art device.

Art and art therapy can help many elderly and palliative care patients in their everyday lives. It is essential to distinguish the difference between art and art therapy. I would like the device to be able to cater for the experienced artist that wants to create a great amount of detail in a painting and also for the casual painter who just want to create a casual scene to express themselves. Art can be a way of dealing with their illness and with their end of life. This video (unfortunately it did not allow me to embed it) captures the importance of art therapy to seniors and a video which gave me some inspiration for my idea.

Slides from my thesis presentation

Thesis Pres

View more presentations from guestef219d.

After another meeting with the head of physiotherapy and the head of the art department in Milford Care Centre in Limerick, specific disabilities relating to three patients in particular were discussed. The art therapist outlined three patients in-particular that would have a great interest in my assistive art device. These patients are very interested in art but are now unable to make art due to their disability. Workers in the art department have tried themselves to make assistive devices to help patients like these to paint and they are excited about the idea of creating an electronic assistive device.

My idea will try to incorporate the traditional materials and method of painting:

into an electronic device:

Below are images of how a patient may interact with my device:

Above is a touch screen paint program.

Below is a wacum drawing tablet that requires a pen to draw or paint. It is a touch sensitive device similar to a mouse and allows the user to manipulate the pointer on the screen in much the same way that an artist would use a drawing tool like a paint brush or pencil. In addition to moving the pointer from one place to another on the computer screen the pen may have a pressure sensitive tip that will allow the user to draw and sketch on a digital tablet with precision.

Disabilities to try to design for:

• Arthritis
• Hand tremors
• Multiple Sclerosis/spinal injury patients that use their mouth to paint.

These devices do not overcome the restrictions of a patient who paints with their mouth in any transforming way but they are one avenue to explore and expand upon and the may help other patients with other disabilities. I found this fascinating website about J-C who after a spinal cord injury is paralysed from the neck down. The website shows a collection of his work and how he paints with the paintbrush in his mouth, behind a heightened table:

Some patients use motorized wheel chairs, so they are accustomed some what to assistive devices. I would like to incorporate features on devices like the wheel chair somehow to give them a sense of familiarity. As well as this some patients have quite a high level of computer literacy, this is good because I feel they will be less likely to shy away from technology.

Potential control; joystick:

I am really focused on narrowing down the capabilities of the art device. My aim now is to create a simple solution for the needs of approximately 3 patients. I would like to make it a mobile device which can be used in the patients bedroom as well as in the art room.

I will integrate this research with literature on technology and art and rehabilitation as well as consulting many medical journals. I have read journals on the shannon portal, cultural probes also and they given me many insights and ideas on how to conduct research and design for the older generation. Discussing scenarios with the patients as well as introducing them to devices similar to what I am trying to create, to see how they interact with them. One problem is I am not an art therapist nor a diagnostician and I have limited knowledge in this area. Research, observations of art classes, interviews with staff and talking and interacting with the patients will be of vital importance here. I am waiting on a comprehensive list of disabilities of Milford Care Centre patients and of patients interested in taking part in my research, this will help me design more rigidly for my device.

My next blog will focus on HOW I could build and make the assistive devices suggested!!

Lighthouse Elemental

Lighthouse Elemental was a collaborative projection project between Interactive media and Music technology masters students in University of Limerick.   There were five groups of five students, each containing a mix of students between both courses and so five themes of Earth, Wind, Fire, Water and Spirit were born! I was a member of the group Earth, other members included Beata Zujewska and Peng Lu from I Media and Louisa Donnelly and Alan Gleeson from music technology(the same group as for the installation!).  The projection took place on Plassy house, which is situated on the university of limerick campus as part of our contemporary art module for our courses.  Lecturer Mikael Fernstrom guided us through the process.  

Plassy House!






Earth

The theme chosen by my group was Earth.  We made a tree out of photos of machinery that we photographed ourselves from our surroundings. We made pulsating flowers from photos of flowers, made them brighter in photoshop and then made them pulse in after effects.  We filmed by hand as the hand that flicks the pin ball at the beginning of the clip.  It was a steep learning curve in after effects as not many in the class had used it before.  A lot of preparation went into the whole event, from getting the measurement of the building, making the animations and videos, testing for the show, working to strict time limits and coordination on the night. 

Thanks to Sophie for this great video of Earth:




Pictures of the five themes (thanks to Lette):

          Water

        spirit

      Fire

          Water

       Earth 

Although stressful the whole project was a great experience.  The projection was a great success despite a technical difficulty with the projection before the end credits.  Everyone seemed to be very impressed by the show and the president of the college even expressed his delight with it.  We are in the process of making a video for the event, soon to be uploaded!!:) Thanks to Oisin Lavery of Tricyle lnteractive  who kindly provided us with the Max patch to help us display and ordinate all the videos, animations and music.  

Abhainn, an interactive Installation

As part of the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance (IWAMD) "Remediating the Media" theme, five groups of five in the Contemporary art module of Interactive Media UL creatively explored different ways of remediating archive footage from IWAMD. My group produced Abhainn; an interactive installation. Members included; Peng Lu, Beata Zujewska, Louisa Donnelly and Alan Gleeson as well as myself!!! The initiative was organised in association with the opening of the new music and dance building on the university of Limerick campus. It was our first experience of exhibiting our work to the general public and it turned out to be a very positive experience indeed.

Short extract from our Abstract:

"This piece is encompassing a variety of modern materials, inspiration from the past and the surroundings. Reflection of light is symbolizing hope for the future. Silhouettes of dancers and their gestures suggest the movement in learning, embodying the vibrancy of this building and emphasizing transparency".

The planning process:

After our initial brainstorming sessions we had many interesting ideas about how we would uniquely recreate the old footage. During these sessions our emphases was on being realistic!! We throughly discussed any ideas we came up with and then approached our leaturer Mikael Fernstrom on whether the ideas was feasible or not. There were many aspects to take into consideration when we set about making our installation, some I would never even have considered before! Planning was a critical element, we needed to source our own materials, do up costings, come up with an abstract and name etc and this is aside from producing the content, music and building our screen.

Thought process

From the begining we all liked the concept of "bringing the outdoors in". We thought of the location of the new building and of course felt the inclusion of the river was an necessity! Alan (music technology member of the group) recorded the sounds of the river and the surrounding environment to create a unique piece of music. This idea was the basis of our installation. For the screen we wanted to be creative and treat our potential audience to a screen with a difference that fitted into our theme of the river. We came up with using panels of sheet metal as a reflective and moving screen. The movement of the panels would mimic the flow of a river, with the noise of the panels mimicking that of a wind-chime and adding to the over all atmosphere.

Building process

We had a selection of different dancing footage to choose content from (a long process in itself!!) to make the basis of the video and as well as this we decided we would create a mask of dancers of which the audience could view the archived footage through. By laying footage and creating these masks we generated a unique video full of movement. The masks were made by filming two dancers on a green screen and editing it in after effects and final cut.

The sheet metal had to be cut into individual panels, painted white on one side (this meant masking the edges of each panel), then it had to be pierced and then hung with cat gut onto the metal frame. This was a long, slow process that was completed over the course of approximately three weeks. It was a very tediace but worthwhile process seen as it worked very well on the day, and we were so proud!

Materials:

Sheet metal, paint, cat cut, fan, lots of masking tape, newspaper, mac computer, web cam, black curtain backdrop, bin bags to block the windows, of course a projector and stand.

   

How it worked:

The web cam picked up on peoples movements as they came close to the panels, it then tracked their movements and changed the music.

Learning Experience:

From beginning to end I learned a lot and gained more of an insight of how to think like an interaction designer. This experience will go along way to help me with my thesis, in how I will go about things and how to improvise if things go wrong. I also learned a lot about how web cam technology works and I am thinking of incorporating into my thesis idea. Over all it provided great real world experience, from working in a group capacity, meeting deadlines and talking to the public. Even hearing feedback and seeing your idea "come to life" from a sketch on paper to a physical piece, taller than u!

Video of some of the visitors interaction with Abhainn on the day:

Abhainn Installation from Colette Keely on Vimeo.

Feedback:

The visitors seemed to like our installation and gave us alot of positive feedback. Some reactions on the night included;

"I could stay here for hours, I love it"

"Very aesthetically pleasing"

"Is there someone behind there shaking the panels?

"Its good in that its a different experience for everyone, you can make it your own, with your movements and interactivity"

"Very different almost like a time delay"

Other reactions included;

"What is going on?"

" oh I thought it was boxers fighting" (referring to the masks of the dancers movements)

Some visitors even thought the screen was projecting their movement!

The Role of Technology in Healthcare

On the 15th of March 2010 my classmate Lette and I gave a talk on the role of Technology in Healthcare. This topic was relevant to both of our thesis topics and in researching for this topic I became aware of many issues I need to take into consideration when designing my thesis project for the patients of the Milford Care Centre.

Lette gave a good background in the evolution of technology in healthcare and why it is important for our everyday lives especially relating to diagnostic technology such as x-rays, ultra sounds and MRI technology. She also gave a few good senario examles of healthcare systems failures in Ireland such as the Tallagh hospital letter and x-ray scandal and also the question of weather the use of EHR's will increase the risk of theft of medical records in los Angles. The following video: "Kevin Kelly tells technology's Epic Story" : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GS1xL1qcBa4 gives a good insight into the meaning of Technology.

For my part in the seminar I focused on healthcare technology design, this involves; design criteria and challenges to designing technology for health care, such as incorporating divergent users, the carers, healthcare professionals as well as the patients themselves which leads to the need of participatory design methods.

The participatory design process invites patients to cooperate during the design process with designers, researchers and developers. It is important to incorporate these various stakeholders into the design process as it enables the understanding of different perspectives. I think this design process will be invaluable in designing the Motomed to incorporate a visual therapy system for the patients of Milford Care Centre. An important note here is; Users are not designers and designers are not users. Users are an important source of information as they provide an understanding of the environment but they can not always suggest the best design.

The importance of understanding the current changes in the healthcare area and characteristics of the different healthcare contexts are also essential elements in the design process as a lack of understanding of the healthcare environment could be critical. These guidelines are very relevant to how I should design a suitable visual art therapy system for Milford Care Centre. Without doubt technology plays a very important role in aiding healthcare but it is also true to say that technology only benefits if all users in the different stages of healthcare are able to utilize the technology in an effective way. During the seminar I showed the class the following video emphasize this point. Healthcare needs to be designed to support divergent users in various contexts and in the case for my thesis project, the motomed system will need to support divergent patients needs.




  

There is also a great need to work with healthcare professionals as healthcare is a complex area to comprehend. Rapidly changing demands and requirements (users) puts alot of pressure on the design and evaluation of new technology in health care. In designing a visual art device for the motomed I will need learn alot more about the environment of the patients in Milford as well as learn about their different illnesses and try to design to facilitate each one. However the problem in specifying requirements for design is that requirements are usually tacit and hard to articulate at the begining of the design process (The need for iterations is especially relevant for this design area). The result is having dynamic requirement specifications and this is one of the main differences and difficulties in designing technology for healthcare.

There are many good examples of online collaborative healthcare technology systems which i demonstrated to the class:

• Google & Microsoft (Google Health & Microsoft HealthVault) have launched their own online patient health records; HealthValue6 & GoogleHealth5
• Telemedicine which can be used by a less experienced surgical team to talked through a process by experts.
• Micro-blogging tools such as Twitter indicates that the exchange of short messages can be powerful for people to share opinions and information.
• Sugarstats.com is also an online resource for patients of diabetes to tract, monitor and share their bloog shugar levels to manage their diabetes.

Heath care blogs are also great resources, the Health care blog by Brian Klepper and and David Kibbe gives some very good examples of the benefits of online technology in health care and the important role it plays in todays society. Another example of Health blogs: http://blogs.consumerreports.org/health/2008/06/finding-an-onli.html

A very impressive advancement in healthcare technology is that of iphone apps such as this one that measures blood sugar levels, recommends to patient what they should eat and allows you to share the information with your family and your doctor. As well as this allows for collaboration between patient and doctor and a guide for the self maintenance your diabetes.

Links to my presentation slides and report.

Design Sensibility

Design Sensibility

was the topic presented by Fionn, Triona and Lucy (08 - 03-2010).

"What makes good Design" was the issue debated by Fionn.

He focused on the key aspects of design such as constraints and affordances etc When addressing Don Norman's Affordances he categorized them into; cognitive; scissors, physical; cooker and perceptual. He also reminded us also that when designing for people the designer should; design with the audience in mind and incorporate an Iterative approach, prototype and carry out User testing.

Lucy outlined Thoughtful interaction Design (2004) by Lowgrent & Stollerman "Constructive Intentional Intelligence" in:

"The role of the designer and the evolution of its concept"

She used a good example of the dishwasher outlook; with the evolution of thought going from being a very handy device for washing dishes to now when we are rethinking its use interms of its harm to the environment. Also making reference to Meredith Davis (2008): Graphic Design v Interaction Design, Lucy alluded to how design should be thought, including that students learn best from experience. A suggestion I would have to agree with and while researching this interesting area myself I came across this blog on conferences held on planing the best way to educate designers for the future. As you can imagine it has to take many factors into consideration and brings together a diverse range of designers gather their thoughts on the topic.

The following is my Mind Map of the seminar:

Part 3: "Designing the Designer"
For this part Triona defined AIGA: Designer of 2015 Trend predictions, this incorporates;

1. Wide & Deep (Drawing from experience and specialization)
   
2. Expanded Scope: the scale and complexity of design problems
3. Targeted messages
4. Break through
   
5. Co-Creation
6. Sharing Experiences
7. Responsible outcomes
   

Because AIGA's main responsibility is to keep up to date with developments in industry, it insists on understanding the role of designers and how to prepare them for changes in the future. This seems to be the way forward and an essential system in order for effective design solutions. Here is a link to a blog outling AIGA's theory on educating and preparing designers to design and the world of design.

The following is also a nice video about the benefits of designers to join AIGA, including to be in the know of what other designers are doing and to get jobs!!!



Get inspired, Get connected, Get informed, Get motivated!!

Other related topics covered by Triona included Macroscope, which helps us to see what the aggregation of many small actions looks like, when they are added together (Thackera, 2005). As well as Incorporating Co-Creators, designers and users, Dandale 2009 states " Story telling has the most power to co-create solutions that are meaningful from a variety of perspectives". Co-Creation can satisfy the need for creative activity and also the need for social interacion (Sanders, 2009). An example given of co-creation was deviantart, (an outlet for fellow designers to showcase their work). The challenges to co-creation were also presented, one of which includes; What is the place of the designer if everyone else is a co-creator and can access design tools? A worrying thought for many designers, but there are reassurance in the fact that the designer will still have the edge with their wealth of experience and skill.

Visual Thinking, Sketching and Mind Mapping

In the first seminar in our principles of interactive media module, Beata introduced the class to the idea of Mind Mapping and visual thinking and sketching. Mind Mapping is also referred to as Mind Meister or freemind and it can be described in terms of diagrams that work the way you think. They make it easier to understand, remember and communicate complex information.

Beata demonstrated great hints on how to relate areas of my studies such as on simple tasks like note taking and brain storming. I can now take the methods illustrated in the seminar into consideration for developing ideas both in my group work and on my individual assignments and especially when I am researching more for my thesis.

Further to this seminar by Beata I came across a mindmapblog by Chance Brown, in which he talks about how visual mapping improves the way we learn: http://mindmapblog.com/ He includes in his blog links to sites that have templates for ideas on how to create your own Mind Maps, including one on: "5 keys to wealth and happiness (Biggerplat.com).

Encouragement to draw even if you don't feel confident about drawing was a fundamental aspect of the seminar. Many resasons were put forward in favour of drawing;

• Drawing can vastly improve the thinking process,
• Help you visualize how you will undertake a practical task,
  
• Help you understand theory better,
  
• Help you to remember complex theories,
• Puts structure to complicated material and
  
• Makes sense of material so one can understand better.

As well as this Mind Maps contribute to the flow of ideas, our minds wander and get more creative when we are sketching and things are more visual in our mind.

Advice on how to make a good Mind Map:

• Make pictures central
• Use single key words and lots of colour (no longer will notes look mundane and boring and I may even read them more!!!

The following video explains the advantages of mind mapping:



A powerful Mind Map presentation contains a word that centers your attention and has the addition of arrows to express movement. It helps the audience understand your point and help them remember what you are talking about, here is a link to a website offering advice on how to make a good presentation using mind maps.  There is also mind mapping software available to download or buy, check out the video on this website for novamind software: http://www.novamind.com/

As part of the activity at the end of the seminar we were asked to create a mind map of a fellow student. I drew a Mind Map of Grace, in doing so I placed her in the middle of my map and drew various acpects of her life that I knew about her around the image. You can see, here is my first attempt (of many) at Mind Mapping:

What it means to me to be a designer

Well I feel like a bit of a cheat talking about what it means for me to be a designer when I don't particularly consider myself to be a designer!! I have only recently been introduced to this world with the start of this course in Interactive media. Building on what I have learned already from Bill Buxton; sketching the user experience and Don Norman; the design of everyday things. As well as being surrounded by talented designers I have learned about the important elements involved, such as:

Usability and accessibility, prototyping, iterations, heuristics, E-learning (on-line tutorials are great:)), evaluations, knowing your audience and design with the user in mind.

I do like to gather ideas, whether it be from magazine cut outs to photographs I take and not least sketches of surroundings or from ideas that come to mind. I think one of the essential characteristics of what it means to be a designer is the ability to keep up to date with the different technologies and to update on software skills to stay ahead and compete. I believe it is a great advantage for a designer to be able to pick up quickly how to use new software. Java script is becoming almost an essential skill to have as a designer. Im hoping any day now god will grant me a gift to better understand java code so I can do good in this world, im sure he will come around to this way of thinking soon!!!

Watching television ads I wonder what software and techniques were used, in the same way I view the intro to sitcoms and how music compliments the graphics, it inspires me to want to do things like that but sometimes it also depresses me because I think maybe its way out of my league and I should give up now! Check out this really cool ending credits for sherlock Holmes:  


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKIUHpyRk1I (unfortunatley embedding is disabled for this clip)

I want to make this!!!! 

In evaluating different designs and websites I compare them to what I have seen before, sometimes I think of little things I would add to it and console myself with; 'I could possibly do this if I tried hard enough'!! but then again you come across the truly amazing work and im like wow, maybe I should just give up, i mean if there are so many talented and gifted people out there and im just starting out, how can I compete. To try and progress I turn to online tutorials, blogs and advice from class mates and also words of wisdom:

"Design is how an artist changes the world, even if its just a page at a time" (Charles Pabst)

To be a web designer one should be able to represent the company you are designing it for really well by fulfilling the goals of the business and in some way add value to the company. I always think website need that little extra something to give the edge over others and to attract perspective clients.  Here is a good blog on web design. A good eye for detail is also very important and that is expressed in a designers work. Ive been told its not all about the money, but surely it helps!! I think its a healthy relationship; i design and people give me money; a win win situation all round.

With the right software under my nose, it seems a shame to waste this opportunity not to design and create new things and learn from what has gone before to create the new. I have already got a grasp on photoshop and accepting it as a new best friend or bff, im sure i will accept flash too some day!! Prototyping for my thesis will prove an invaluable learning experience in design for me I hope, I will have to update you on how i get on with it and what I have learned alone the way.

till then............