Prototype 3: Draft 1
For my first draft I want to see if the basics mechanics would work.
So I sewed some arrows onto a stretchy/spandex fabric. Under the left and right arrow are Piezo vibration sensors.
Using arduino and coding a time sequence these vibrate at certain times.
Future Iterations:
- I will connect to rasbery PI and a GPS chip
- Get the coordinate of 1 location in New York I will upload it to a better looking wearable fabric map
- When testing, I hope that this piece will pick up on the users location and lead them to the input destination
Prototype: Form Prototype
1. Decide on design values: what do you want participants to feel/think/do? What are the important things the prototype must communicate?
Feel: Without control of destination | confused | shame | reflection
Think: Their impact on foreign cultures | their exclusion of locals when in a foreign country
Do: Follow the arrows and see where it leads them | I want them to end up recalling a time that they thought they were culturally insensitive towards local culture, while traveling
2. Create guiding questions: write down all the questions you know you want answered. whenever conversation dies down, pose one
Guiding Questions(Arrows Prototype):
Would you follow random directions not knowing where you’ll end up?
How did this feel for you?
Do you enjoy wandering around cities?
Guiding Questions(Scenarios + Dilemmas Prototype):
How long would it take you to confront a local for help? / At what point would you consult a local for help?
Do you ever feel as though you are not welcomed in a certain space when in a foreign city?
What do you do in that moment?
While abroad have you ever taken part in an activity that made you question if you were being insensitive to the culture?
What did you do about it?
3. Write out a PoV narrative: role-play as a first-time participant and write down what you think they would feel/think/do. Use this to spot any hiccups in your prototype and to compare with the real testing so you can see the different between your view on your project and a stranger's.
The individual will be handed the arrows. They will then navigate the space around them based off the arrows. By the end of the 3 minute time limit they will then tell me what has changed around them. I believe that their reaction will be pretty underwhelming because we they were only restricted to d12, but I hope they notice a heightened awareness around who was in the space with them. I think they will have a positive and intrigued reaction once I tell them to imagine a device that did this but you had the entire city as your space.
With the scenarios, the individual would just think, put themselves within that scenarios, and figure out what they would do in that situation. I’m assuming that most of them will use their cell phones, but once I reveal the dilemma that their phone only has 10% battery left, then they would have to come up with another idea. Each dilemma would add a deeper element or level of questioning and thinking that would take place between me and the individual.
Update: Domain Map
So here we are... again
Another Domain Map
This maps represents where my mind is at currently. The Yellow post-its are really important for me to be constantly remembering and consistently reflecting upon.
I'm embarking this weekend on my Form prototype.
Using methods such as: scenarios, role playing, and generative research I will get a better sense of what tech and analog devices travelers use in certain situations. This will help to build out personas.
A key takeaway from my last prototype is that I did not ask the right questions and I failed to provide enough context for the individual. Creating questions that lead people to the answers you want are more challenging than I thought...
.. Well I guess I need to know the answers I seek.
(mhm that sounded like some Shakespeare shit right there!)
Prototype: Idea Prototype
My definition of ethical travel:
Ethical travel is both a state of mind and action that maintains respect, awareness, and moral values towards the native culture / way of living.
Scenario:
You have just arrived in a foreign city and you want to immerse yourself in the cities vibe / culture.
Questions:
How do you do so?
Do you visit the touristy spots or just wander?
Send me a pic of something or someplace you’ve discovered by wandering.
What did I make?
I created a book that has these flip reveal photos that represents 2 journeys.
1 Journey: (From the perspective of a visiting traveler)
You leave your apartment/home and start walking without a specific point 'B' destination.
While on this journey I reveal photos of the various spaces and environments that you might find yourself in.
- Saw diverse spaces, people, and energy
- Saw the unhygienic and stressful parts of the city
2 Journey: (From the perspective of a visiting traveler)
You leave your apartment/home, hop on a tour bus. You spot a Starbucks from the bus because that franchise is all over manhattan.
After the bus tour, you head to the nearest Starbucks for food.
- you rarely interacted with the people of NYC
-You only had a very well sculpted view of NYC.
FeedBack
Person 1: (just book)
- If she wanders there needs to be a purpose
- Google a place, depends on comfort with neighborhood
- She does find new places and goes back to them often
- Does not feel safe in Manhattan or Brooklyn (sometimes chelsea)
Person 2: (Book + Images)(Chinese American)
- She sees all the images as seeing ethical
- She saw everyone being respectful
- Claims that she needs more context in order to do the exercise
Book:
- As a tourist she would definitely go on a bus tour
- Depends on what her need is
- She always has a point B
- If you get there early or finish something early, then she wanders
- Post eating, on commute back home, will wander
- Bookmark food spots in the area, which leads to exploring an area
- In nyc feels fine because it’s Familiar
- When in a foreign space uses recommendations and tripadvisor
Prototype Thoughts
Thoughts | Questions
Prototyping Questions:
IDEA: How can I use wandering to reduce the negative impacts of tourism and promote ethical and equitable travel?
FORM: What product or form of navigation can help travelers feel both safe and adventurous towards exploring unknown parts of a city?
Prototyping Methods:
Personas
Scenarios
Evidence-Based Design
Target Audience:
Travelers / backpackers
Or people who encounter travelers
Businesses that suffer from the lack of equal distribution of travelers
What is that impact?
Audience Testing Sights:
Hostel on 109th street (Hi New York City Hostel)
Walking meetup in NYC
Next Steps:
1. Defining what ethical travel is by using Case Study: Rio
-What is ethical travel?
-Who is impacted?
Prototype Thoughts
Thoughts | Questions
Now we are moving into the prototyping stage which is TERRIFYING because I do not know what to prototype.
This updated image of my domain map is reflective of my current thoughts. So after my presentation Mattie mentioned that globalization and gentrification aren't that different are each other. It's just a question of scale.
Questions that have come up in my head is:
Do I want to focus on ethical travel or sustainability and equity through travel?
By answering this question i'm hoping to get a better idea of my direction.
Research Artifact #3
Thoughts | Questions
The research method used for my second artifact was Autoethnographic.
I mapped out the various routes in NYC I've created through wandering and walking the streets. I also mark where I've found good cafés and food spots.
This method helped me to realize that even my wandering is very close in line with the subway system. I find that I walk very near to the subway lines.
Unity: Physics
Research Artifact #2
Thoughts | Questions
With my second artifact I created a video montage. This video serves as a collection of videos and photos showing the amount of tourists that exist both in harlem and all throughout NYC. I then compare this footage of tourists to footage I have captured of gentrification. Walking throughout the city capturing this footage, provided an interesting lense in which I wandered throughout the city. The demographic of these tourists is extremely monochromatic.I also tried to go for a scratchy safari style because that is how tourists look to me. They view us locals and our actions as if they are on a safari, so why not view them in that same manner?
I captured footage of the invaders based on conversations I have had with Harlem locals. The gentrifies come in the form of the Upper Middle class, and businesses.
Domain Update
Thoughts | Questions
After talking with many professors in my programs a common take away from my idea and finding from my research is that there are these larger domains: Globalization & Gentrification.
I have to keep in mind that these two domain don't need to have similarities. Previously I kept assuming that the Tourist vs Local sub domain was applicable to both Gentrification and Globalization. But Loretta helped me to realize that the proper sub domain for gentrification is local vs invader. A different form of movement happens when a space is becoming gentrified.
My second artifact was created as a result of this domain map.
Research Artifact #1
My first artifact had two components to it. The first, was a tree like structure that mapped out what key takeaways I gathered from my interviews. The second element to it was a book like structure, each page had a map of Saigon, Vietnam. A clear plastic was placed over each page acting as an added filter to the page. One filter represented the Tourists view of the map, while the other represented a ‘Locals’ perspective of the city. Some of the driving questions that lead to me creating these artifacts were:
What is the main, overarching problem between planning and wondering within the context of travel?
How might I be able to integrate tech into the habits and behavior of travelers?
Why do people plan their trips?
Overall, my artifacts represent my interest in travel, and how the movement of groups of people from one space to another impacts that space. Specific domains that are being addressed within these artifacts are: Tourists vs. Local | Wandering | Physical forms of Navigation. In order to create this artifact I utilized directed storytelling, interviews, and autoethnographic info as research methods. The interviews proved to be very insightful.
Research Questions + Map
Thoughts | Questions
Emerging Questions?
1. What is the main overarching problem between planning and wandering within the context of travel?
2. Should this sort of tech be amplifications of human abilities?
3. How might I be able to integrate tech into the habits & behavior of travelers?
4. Could a social encounter be enhanced through the transferal of data?
5. This project should be carried out through using elements of Participatory Design... 'Design with X' instead of 'Designing for X'
Research Methods
Research Questions | Routine vs. Plan?
Emerging Questions?
1. Why do people plan their trips?
2. By planning your trip do you feel as though you immediately place yourself in this tourist box and loose out on discovering something completely new and local?
3. What tools do you use to plan?
Method 1: Case Studies
Method 2: Human Interviews
Since I love talking about travel and hearing other people's stories and adventures, why not use that as a method to gain some insight.
This past weekend I conducted 3 informal interviews. These interviews were very informative and I definitely see myself using this method of research as a way to progress throughout this Thesis process.
Method 3: Directed Storytelling
With this method, I definitely used my auto ethnographic experience to help pose questions and pull stories out of people.
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Research Domain Map #3
Tech Equity | Sound ?
Ideas are CHANGING and it's TERRIFYING!! AHHHHH!
So your thesis is suppose to be this sweet spot where 2 domains of interest intersect each other, and it's your job to become an expert in this intersection.
What I had failed to do the previous week, was to evenly explore each domain of interest. So now i've started to question my interest in 'Tech Equity' and 'Sound'.
So I was drawn to tech equity because of a personal story. Over the summer I gave my best friend's younger sister, Lucy, an Amazon Alexa for her birthday. Lucy has Down Syndrome. When she received the Alexa and tried using it, Alexa couldn't understand what Lucy was saying. Instead of Lucy thinking there was something wrong with her, she assumed that the Alexa was broken and felt bad that I had bought a broken device! In a way, Lucy is completely right. The device is broken, it does not understand her. Alexa's are suppose to understand speech, and they don't. So these got me thinking about how we can approach technology to make it usable for all users. My first thought was that tech like Alexa should be easily programmed by it's user so that the device can truly understand its user. Thus adding this personalized feature making the device truly feel like it's one of a kind.
Loretta, encouraged me to research Universal design and encouraged me to question the philosophy of inclusion in USA Education System.
After doing some research, I've realized that tech equity might be more of an element that my thesis obtains. Universal design have 7 main principles:
1. Equitable Use
2. Flexibility in Use
3. Simple and Intuitive
4. Perceptible Information
5. Tolerance for Error
6. Low Physical Effort
7. Size and Space for Approach and Use
When researching 'Sound' I didn't have the excitement like I had when researching travel and Tech Equity. So this one is coming off the map!
Research Domain Map #2 + Photos
Travel
So this week I blurred out memorabilia because i only wanted to focus on my Travel domain.
In doing so, I went down some deep research which led to me reading a bunch of travel blogs, Lonley Planet suggestions, and poems. Surprisingly when you search for 'wandering' within Jstor, you end up getting poems about the act of both mental and physical wandering.
These are mini questions that just popped into my head and helped me begin this researching phase:
What sort of travel tech is most popular today?
Who has been creating within the domain of travel today?
How do those with disabilities feel like they can travel?
What sort of sensory experiences have been created around travel?
Who aimlessly wonders now?
The term 'Digital Nomad' popped up in my research it is was the first time that this hybrid between work and travel was expressed.
I feel as though people travel to escape. Think about it, the word 'vacation'. Within that you have the word 'vacate' = to leave. I guess vacate isn't the same as escaping but it I associate vacating with leaving an never returning.
Visual Domain Map #1 + Photos
Travel | Sound | Community | Tech Equity |
The idea of travel has always been interesting to me. Experiencing new cultures, spaces, places, and people is beautiful. What makes it so beautiful is even though you are learning about another culture you inevitably discover something about yourself in the process.
Sound is a topic that i've always wanted to explore. Not just any sound but the relation that sound has to emotions and the space it's in.
Tech Equity. Not everyone can use Amazon Alexas. She can not pick up on slurred words or unclear words. How are those with speech impediments or disabilities really able to utilize voice technology?