Download IAT445-Proposal

IAT 445 Week 3 - Idea Consolidation Meeting
Volunteers
Alex [[email protected]], Adam [[email protected]], Josef [[email protected]], Akash
[[email protected]], Derek [[email protected]], Brad [[email protected]], Simon [[email protected]],
Adda [[email protected]]
Idea Overview
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The project will take the form of an interactive installation that employs the use of puzzles to
inform the audience about environmental issues. It is not meant to be a simple information
piece – its purpose is to educate and raise awareness about the current environmental
problems in a unique and innovative way.
We don’t want to preach to the audience, but we want to cause our audience to become
aware of certain environmental issues by posing a series of questions and giving them clues.
We want to make issues personal by emphasizing how significant one’s actions are.
Content – Possible Themes
Possible Theme 1
> How our actions affect the environment / Causes of Global Warming
“As human-caused biodiversity loss and climate disruption gain ground, we need to keep our
sights clear and understand that the measure of a threat is not a matter of whether it is made
on purpose, but of how much loss it may cause. It's an ancient habit to go after those we
perceive to be evil because they intended to do harm. It's harder, but more effective, to "go
after," meaning to more effectively educate and socialize, those vastly larger numbers of our
fellow humans who are not evil, but whose behaviour may in fact be far more destructive in
the long run." (Ed Ayres, editor of Worldwatch magazine, Nov/Dec 2001)
“If the voices of future generations could be heard, they would plead for action on climate
change. The unborn children of tomorrow will bear the heavy burden of our indifference.”
http://www.ecobridge.org/content/g_cse.htm
Causes:
Carbon Dioxide Emitted from Cars [some of us drive to school]
Carbon Dioxide from Power Plants [we all use electricity]
Carbon Dioxide from Commercial Trucks
Deforestation
Methane
Traffic – city gridlocks
Effects:
More Frequent Extreme Weather
Disappearing Glaciers
Melting Arctic Sea Ice
Melting Antarctic Sea Ice
Greenland's Ice Sheet Melting
Tropical Diseases Spreading
Oceans Warming With Coral Bleaching & Disintegration
***Good reference material for this topic: “An Inconvenient Truth”, a recent documentary
about the consequences of global warming/global climate changes if human-generated
greenhouse gases are not reduced in the near future.
Other Possible Themes
> Nature and Animal Conservation [Humans have destroyed more than 30 percent of the
natural world since 1970]
> Natural Disasters [Some natural disasters like earthquakes and floods can often come at
the least expected time. Others such as hurricanes and cyclones may be getting more
severe]
> Human Population [The human population of the planet is approximately 6 billion and
rising. As the population continues to increase, there is the fear of more and more strain on
the environment, adequate food production, nations ability to provide, economies to grow
and society to flourish]
> Genetically Engineered Food [A lot of foods that we eat today contain genetically
modified ingredients]
> Biodiversity [Biodiversity boosts ecosystem productivity, where every species — no matter
how small — all have an important role to play]
Container – Form
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As mentioned above, the project will take the form of an installation of multiple interactive
puzzles. Each puzzle will deal with one of the ways we’re negatively affecting our
environment.
A key aspect of the puzzles is that they are made up of subtle clues and do not necessarily
have to give a straight answer – maybe the puzzle, when solved, gives a small fact about a
person’s daily routine that has an effect on the overall climate (i.e. “While you were
completing this puzzle, 10 tonnes of carbon dioxide were released into the atmosphere.”)
The whole project will have a main theme, for example global warming, and each of the
puzzles will deal with one of the causes for the climate change. So as our audience solves the
puzzles one by one, they are getting an increasingly bigger picture of how their actions are
affecting our environment.
The Puzzles
Physical
Using physical pieces or interfaces in order to interact with the digital puzzle.
Requiring more than one individual (more than 2 hands) in order move/solve/interact
with the physical pieces
Using the physical body as the source/key to navigate the puzzles. Creating playful
environment while learning about the environment. Promoting people (as more than
an individual) are the keys to making a difference
Web-based
- Mouse-clicks – Every time the user clicks the mouse, it adds to an overall database,
which coincides with a certain fact about global warming (i.e. “Every time you click
the mouse, another acre of rain forest is cut down…”)
The Installation
Examples of possible forms for the actual installation (posted on the forum):
> The Living Web - http://www.virtualart.at/common/viewWork.do?id=394
> Osmoses - http://www.virtualart.at/common/viewWork.do?id=79
> NoRA - http://www.interactivearchitecture.org/nora.html
> Dune 4.0 - http://www.interactivearchitecture.org/dune-40-daan-roosegaarde.html
> Digital Awnings - http://www.interactivearchitecture.org/zaragoza-digital-mile.html
> “Touch” Interactive Architecture - http://www.interactivearchitecture.org/touch.html
Audience & Goals
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If the installation will be set up in the Mezzanine, a large part of our audience will be students,
faculty members, curious mall people, and the press.
Goals:
o To gain press coverage. To attract the media, our approach on environmental issues
needs to be as innovative as possible.
o To raise awareness about what we’re doing to our planet. We would like to get
people talking about how we’re affecting the environment and what we can do to
control or reverse the damage we’re causing.
Issues to Consider
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Major research about environmental issues/global warming required a.s.a.p.
Interest – How to make the project interesting? Innovative ideas and installations for the
puzzles are needed.
Time constraints – Do we have enough time to pull off such an ambitious project? Need to
work in groups (i.e. Research Team, Installation Team, Web Team, Art Team, etc), and in
parallel timelines in order to accomplish milestones on time.
Max/MSP programmers – Needed for physically-interactive elements. Do we have enough?
Materials – Needed for installations. Costs?
Equipment – Teleo kits, Arduino boards, laptops, cameras, camcorders, cords/cables, sensors,
etc. What do we need and can we rent/book it?
Location – Mezzanine? Outdoors (outside the mall, at the main entrance)? Art gallery?
Installation studios (i.e. Video-In Studios on Main Street)? Science World?
Project management team required a.s.a.p.