Interesting Interfaces:
The first one that I’d like to mention, and coincidentally, the last item I saw (and also spent the most time viewing) was a thesis project from one of our own: Paweena Prachanronarong’s Blockuits. A full description can be found on her portfolio website at: http://www.lovepaweena.com/portfolio-01.html.
I choose this exhibit because, as I volunteered at the MFADT table, I got to demo the project and see both the amazement of children and the instant attachment of parents/educators when they saw the simple way to make both architecture and electrical engineering relevant to them. Many of the adults who viewed the demo were even interested in purchasing a set, so as a shameless plug, we should edge Paweena to mass produce and “make that paper” as the young kids say.
The second interface, or interfaces, that really interested me were the plethora of three D printers on display. It was very interesting to see them in person for the first time and while I can see and have a working understanding of the concept behind them I was quite honestly underwhelmed by the items in production however. I count this as part of the interface because without some kind of relevant production it is simply an object in motion. Interface is only as good as what you give or take away from it and in this area I was really disappointed. Many people made small statues or toys but I did not see anything that was outside of the box as far as functional daily objects. This example is extreme, but one of the main articles that sticks out to me on the advent of three dimensional printers is the ease and cheapness of using it to manufacture weapon (a common theme in technology being the use of innovation almost immediately for war). Clearly at a faire which had more then its share of children oriented displays, they would not be showing how to make a plastic gun, however, there is a median of displaying how to make everyday life objects like a kitchen table set (fork, knife, spoon, plate, bowl, etc) and how cost effective this would be to buying it in target. Making replacement eyeglass frames or any number of things that could have been done.
The last interface that wowed me was the Microsoft display of Spark. It is a open source game development software for building and sharing narrative based games within a community. While this idea is not necessarily new the display and interface for the software used was very interesting. With a mounted touch screen television that was around 42 – 50 inches diagonally, they displayed both making and playing a game on site. The staff member used the touch screen to build a mountain and valley with a visual interface instead of a geographical input that would measure height or depth at a given longitude or latitude position. While this is what most individuals would be used to in creating this environment, it was done very smoothly and easily in real time.
Inspiration:
While all three of these interfaces inspired me in their own way, I have to say that the one that took the cake was Spark. As, what many would consider, a hardcore gamer, I am clearly biased in my decision, I still think this was one of the most interesting things to me. The fact that it would be an open and easy game engine program for the average person to create their own games is pretty dramatic in my opinion. The interface was extremely smooth from what I managed to see, and though I imagine not to many people will have access to a 50 inch touch screen tv to do this on, the technical use of a mouse instead of a touch screen does not seem like it would be a big problem. As I said the concept is the most important thing to me, and it is something I would use, and would be interested in taking the idea further (from the development standpoint),
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