MMDS2802/ IENV3800: Studio 4
The Project and its deliverables
This semester you will work in teams of three initally. After works are chosen in week 4, you will then work in teams of five on ONE Project. The project is divided into deadline deliverables:
- Design Proposal 20%
- Prototype + peer feedback 20%
- Final Product 40%
- Documentation and Portfolio20%
Overview
Each team will choose one
of these themes below:
- Aware Homes: made up of technologies aware of their users, and designed with programmed responses that react to their needs.
What is it?
Design is an open-ended problem where the solution can not always be seen at the start of the exploration. We will provide the tools and the process to explore the design problem, but not the nature of the solution. We do recommend constraints on the the size parameters to keep the task more manageable.
We require that you design and construct:
- a work that fits within a corner or side of a room (discussed and worked on in class)
- use the skill sets covered in class (technolgies, construction, arduino, ezio et al) and your own prior knowledge to bring the process to fruition.
For all the projects:
The choices of projects include a research component that requires you to identify sources, gather and filter relevant information and present it in an interesting, coherent manner. The sources for your projects could be historical: books, newspapers & archives, web sites or anecdotal and/ or interviews or oral histories from local people.
Project assessment will be based on informal presentations to the
lecturers and tutors in Wednesday class which will include
electronic hand in documentation of your work by 5pm that day. Include in the hand-in any written material and extra information you want the lecturers and tutors to take into account when we are marking. Your documentation may be online, sumbiting a simple html document (or internal url) that gives an annotated list of links and their relationships to the work would be an example of an appropriate methosd for the hand in. We will also have a group share drive. We recommend use of stable/ internal sites and always use relative links. Remember also there is a limited period of time for viewing the work, so keep as succint as possible.
1: Proposal Document & Presentation due week 4, worth 20%
Based on coherence and content of proposal: Is it clear? Does it make sense? Is it worthwhile to be spending a semester working on? Is it possible to make in the timeline and within the cohort with the technologies and resources available? Is this competive with the other ideas? Why will it be an interesting work? Who would interact with it?
Schedule
The project begins week 1. You are required to discuss work with the lecturers/ tutors in weeks 1, 2 and 3 and present the project on week 4 in anÊinformal interim assessment crit with the lecturers and tutors. Project work will be done in teams of three, unless otherwise advised/ negotiated with the lecturer. Students must bear in mind the assessment criteria and be able to discuss and display various aspects of the project accordingly.
Deliverables:
Written:
- a written synopsis or treatment of the proposed work, stating aims, methods, content, what it is, where it will be located, how it will work, how the users will interact with the environment, why they will want to interact with the environment, any narrative that relates to the environment. Say it in one line, then one paragraph, then one page. Describe the kind of interactivity you propose to create. Describe how your users will understand the structure, how they will interact with it and what kind of experience you intend the user to have. Describe your work in relation to the theme brief.
- a production schedule detailing work-flow, estimated hours, milestones, group responsibility allocation and delivery items (can be visual)
- technical specifications (can be visual)
Visual:
- Provide for your readers a plan that shows the interaction sequence- the action and interaction and location on the site, indicate clearly in your design the aesthetic and the function of the object/ artifact. The plan should include:
- a proposed interface/ interaction rough or a sketch/ series of sketches of the work that details what it is, how it works, the look of the thing, and where it will be located
- a proposed storyboard/flowchart of the action
- a proposed storyboard/flowchart of the schedule of activity with timelines (can be written)
- techniclal specifications (can be written)
All must be delivered for assessment as a pin up that fits the envisaged long term design. 1-353 or 1-352. You need the above visual and written representations of the design. You may work with designs that operate by modifying different artifacts/ objects already existing OR you may design completely new object/ artifacts. Your design must communicate clearly what it is, how it works, who it is for, who it is about, where it is located and what it would look like. The written material needs to be included in the space.
Leave work in crit space and lab space, so other students can look at your initial designs. Staff and students will vote for each project and the outcomes will determine what gets made for the rest of the semester.
Submit an electronic version of the deliverables to mmds2802@itee.uq.edu.au with subject line: Studio4_YourTeamName_Design by 5pm of the presentation day. Include written and visual material as above and any documentation of models or phsycial artifacts that will support the work for assessment.
Feedback will be given and proposals may need to be revised. Make use of staff discussion and feedback on your proposal during the lead up process.
This documentation of the design process should be a clear statement of your goals. There is a good possibility that these goals may shift through the process of further research and production, this is almost inevitable with such an exploratory project. Your document and flowchart should grow and mutate along with your project. If your goals shift you must submit additions to your document because your final outcome will be assessed against your stated goals. You need to be able to discuss in detail your understanding of the values promoted in your work. A radically altered proposal document will not be accepted at final assessment time, changes of plan must be documented, re- negotiated and re- submitted as they occur.
Course Goals for Proposal
- demonstrate the importance of a visual approach to the analysis, design and implementation of interactive environments;
- be able to discuss, design and implement interactive solutions for context and site specific environments;
Assessment:
This project contributes 20% to the final assessment based on the interim crit presentation and electronic submission. As well as the course goals the following criteria will be taken into consideration:
- * Teamwork: team member engagement
* Designs: integrity of the whole work and thoroughness of the process and outcomes
* Expertise: overview, other research, attention to detail and relationships of content
* Flair, originality, creativity, professionalism
* Ability to discuss and iterate the project in relation to the goals of the project
* All designs need to be presented in the assessment spaces.
This project is team-based and all members of each team will assess their teams individual members anonymously and hand to the lecturer (forms handed out). Individual marks may be given where appropriate.
Resources
Skill sessions will be made available to students within the Wednesday session.
Relevant texts are in library (see profile).
2) Prototype due week 8 worth 20% -
Working prototype of designed interactive environment
Schedule
This project spans 4 weeks and undergoes a weekly iterative discussion process with the lecturer and tutors for conceptual development, as well as for technical considerations. You are required to discuss work with the lecturers/ tutors in weeks 5, 6 and 7, and present the project on week 8 in an informal interim assessment crit with the lecturers and tutors. The projects address all objectives of the course. Students must bear in mind the assessment criteria and be able to discuss and display various aspects of the project accordingly.
Deliverables:
- a) The protoype presentation
- b) the prototype appraisal report
The deliverables for the prototype are 1) a demonstration of your prototype or partial implementation 2) and a pinup or poster documenting your work that includes a plan of use.
1) The prototype itself, what is expected?
Your prototype or partial implementation is not expected to work perfectly or contain all of the final content or functionality. You can use 'dummy' assets for still to be completed parts and have ALL working pathways clearly labelled as such as well as the yet to be completed parts. We need to be able to easily see what the whole will do when all is working. The prototype needs to be developed enough to give a clear idea of how the interaction will work and what the 'look and feel' will be, and to have all potential problem areas solved (a working template). Work in your final constructed space.
2) Provide for your readers a plan that shows the interaction structure/ sequence, so the other teams know how the intended interaction within your work will occur, and where users will go, what they will do and what to look for in order for the other teams to be able to respond as to how succesful your intentions have beeen. Include some of the processes and sources you have used in developing your prototype. Add this into the pinup/ poster/ room corner/ side format.
The placement of pinups and working prototypes can be discussed with lecturers and tutors closer to the time to ascertain each groups individual needs. The informal assessment presentation requires each individual to discuss the parts of the work they are responsible for in class with the teach staff. This project is team-based and all members of each team will asses their teams individual members anonymously and hand to the lecturer (forms handed out). Individual marks may be given where appropriate.
Course Goals for Prototype
- demonstrate an ability to reflect on self and peer performance in the context of the group work;
- demonstrate an ability to develop objectives and strategies in response to a project brief and in response to emerging contemporary issues in the field of multimedia design;
- demonstrate the importance of a visual approach to the analysis, design and implementation of interactive environments;
- be able to discuss, design and implement interactive solutions for context and site specific environments;
- demonstrate an ability to identify and control the relevant media and techniques;
Assessment Criteria:
This project contributes 20% to the final assessment based on the interim crit presentation and final submission. As well as the course goals the following criteria will be taken into consideration:
- Quality of content
- teamwork: team member engagement
- evidence of iterative process
- pinup: identification of design exploration and remaining work
- demonstration: evidence of research and completeness
- flair, originality, creativity (delight)
- Effectiveness of plan to describe interaction
- Evidence of further structured development to come
Submit an electronic version of the deliverables to mmds2802@itee.uq.edu.au with subject line: Studio4_YourTeamName_Prototype by 5pm of the presentation day. Include written and visual material as above and any documentation of models or phsycial artifacts that will support the work for assessment.
b) Prototype appraisal report due end of week 8 (Friday 5pm). Post to mmds2802@itee.uq.edu.au with subject line: Studio4_YourTeamName_PrototApp. These are public documents.
The appraisal report is assessed on:
1) Quality of feedback 2) Constructiveness of suggestions
Categories: What works well? What needs improvement and why? How could
this be improved generally?
Each group to make a short 100-200 word report on each of the other
group's prototypes.
The report should give feedback on: design, usability, navigation & give constructive suggestions.
See 'How to write a report without getting lynched', by Bruce
Tognazzini http://www.asktog.com/columns/047HowToWriteAReport.html
Supply an electronic version each with a cover sheet listing the report
author's names the reviewed project name and the project producer's
names. Send to mmds2802@itee.uq.edu.au . This will then be posted to the site.
See extra information on protyotypes as needed: Example Resources
Resources:
Skill sessions will be made available to students within the Wednesday session.
Relevant texts are in library (see profile).
3: Final product presentation week 12 worth 40%
A working interactive environment located on Ipswich campus. Teams also need to work together to map out a plan of where all the interactive works are located and map a journey for the users, in this case the lecturers and tutors.
Schedule
This project spans 4 weeks and undergoes a weekly iterative discussion process with the lecturer and tutors for conceptual development, as well as for technical considerations. You are required to discuss work with the lecturers/ tutors in weeks 9, 10 and 11, and present the project on week 12 in anÊinformal interim assessment crit with the lecturers and tutors. The projects address all objectives of the course. Students must bear in mind the assessment criteria and be able to discuss and display various aspects of the project accordingly.
Works that achieve a standard of excellence will be selected for Exhibition week 13. It is assumed that all works will reach this standard. You will be advised if your teams work is not to be included but if we follow weekly iterative processes this will be seen as a failure on all our parts.
Deliverables:
- Completed fully functioning interactive environment.
- Any visualisation of instructions that may be needed to enable ease of use with the interactive environment.
- Expected: professional, finished work with high quality interaction design.
- Submit an electronic version of the deliverables to mmds2802@itee.uq.edu.au with subject line: Studio4_YourTeamName_Product by 5pm of the presentation day. Include visual material as above and any documentation of the interactive environment that will support the work for assessment.
Course Criteria for Finished Product
- demonstrate the importance of a visual approach to the analysis, design and implementation of interactive environments;
- be able to discuss, design and implement interactive solutions for context and site specific environments
- demonstrate an ability to identify and control the relevant media and techniques;
- understand your design practice within a broad and contemporary design context;
Assessment Criteria:
This project contributes 30% to the final assessment based on the interim crit presentation and revision from feedback given for final submission. As well as the course goals the following criteria will be taken into consideration:
Context of assessment:
Consideration and Implementation of
Content + Understanding
Originality + Innovation + Style + Design
Interface + Interaction Design
Technical Standard + Professional Finish + Answering Brief
- Teamwork: team member engagement
- Designs: integrity of the whole work and thoroughness of the implementation
- Expertise: overview, other research, attention to detail and relationships of content
- Flair, originality, creativity, professionalism
- Ability to discuss and iterate the project in relation to the goals of the project
- Quality of content
The informal assessment presentation requires each individual to discuss the parts of the work they are responsible for in class with the teach staff. This project is team-based and all members of each team will assess their teams individual members anonymously and hand to the lecturer (forms handed out). Individual marks may be given where appropriate.
Resources:
Skill sessions will be negotiated with teams of students and held within the Wednesday session.
Relevant texts are in library (see profile)
4: Portfolio and Documentation, 20% Due Wednesday 5pm of Exam week 2, Wednesday 15 November.
Task Description: The portfolio will contain 1) written content and 2) the documentation of the project.
1) WRITTEN:
The written component is where you compile examples of your individual work from the projects, and add reflective comments on your work process within a design context, as well as a reflection on the field of Physical Computing and Multimedia and/ or Interaction Design and where your own work fits within that broader context. The critical analysis within portfolio is academic writing describing how your work has progressed through the studio, and how it relates to the broader field in which you are working. It is not a personal journal or chronological account.The porfolio is addressed to your markers (lecturers and tutors); your audience is an academic audience.
Assessment will be on the quality of the reflective process and your ability to track, document and communicate effectively your process as an individual working within a team. Bear in mind academic writing conventions; (see 2.5 Style of http://emsah.uq.edu.au/linguistics/stylesheet.html) and discriminatory language practices (http://www.uq.edu.au/omc/?page=19292&pid= ).
2) DOCUMENTATION:
You will also hand in a DVD/ CV of the finished documentation from the process of making the work and from the finished work exhibited in week 13. This is the scripted and choreographed documentation of the work, ready to hand to an employer as part of your CV or use as promotional material for the program and/or your futures. The target audience is a potential employer.
Assessment Criteria & Marking:
Evidence of independent learning (self directed inquiry)
Evidence of ability to work as an individual within a small team and a larger group environment
Depth and insight (for written reflective comments)
Abiltiy to reflect on (and the documentation) of the design process undertaken during semester.
Abiltiy to integrate theories, reading and case study examples into the discussion of the work and on the design process undertaken during semester. Documentation of case study examples and discussions
Effective use and documentation of the materials covered in skills sessions.
Documentation of your own research in relation to your project and interest in the contemporary field
Documentation of project group discussions and feedback.
Documentation of your own research in relation to your project and interest in the contemporary field
Documentation and gathering of resources for your project and of the script for choreographing the documenation of the work in action
Submission: interim feedback session if required and electronic submission of final portfolio.