Expressing Intent: Object Animism
21533
portfolio_page-template-default,single,single-portfolio_page,postid-21533,qi-blocks-1.2,qodef-gutenberg--no-touch,stockholm-core-2.4,qodef-qi--no-touch,qi-addons-for-elementor-1.6.1,select-theme-ver-9.5,menu-animation-underline,fs-menu-animation-underline,popup-menu-fade,side_area_uncovered,,qode_grid_1300,qode_footer_adv_responsiveness,qode_footer_adv_responsiveness_1024,qode_footer_adv_responsiveness_one_column,qode_menu_,qode-mobile-logo-set,wpb-js-composer js-comp-ver-6.13.0,vc_responsive,elementor-default,elementor-kit-22732

Expressing Intent: Object Animism


Expressing Intent: Object Animism

Honors:

Accepted abstract at the Tangible, Embedded, Embodied Interaction Conference in Eindhoven, Netherlands, Feburary 2016.
ACM link: TEI ’16 Proceedings of the TEI ’16: Tenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction

View Poster, Read Paper

Summary:

Exploration of interpreted interactions between objects that are given social values and act in a self-interested way. Likewise explore object-human, human-object relationships in the context of a shared office space.

Team:

Rachel S. Ng, Dixon Lo, Raghavendra Kandala
2 week project

My Role and Contribution:

Concept Ideation, Physical Prototypes, Secondary Research, Research Video, Co-Authored Paper


Research:

We began our process by thinking about ways in which Progressive User Interfaces can push new dimensions and ways for users to experience their symbolic universe, rather than just enriching existing interactions.

Inspiration:




Initial Directions:

Gathered inspiration led to the following directions:

  • “Enchanted Objects” – Objects can react and act by themselves
  • “Super Powers”– Enhance a person’s natural ability
  • “Parallel Worlds”– Objects live in their own virtual world.
Research Question:

“How can giving objects agency help humans?”

IDEATION:
Brainstorming:

As a group we were interested in incorporating analog elements into interactions.

Refining:

The three main themes we decided on, after much discussion, were:

  1. Negotiation
  2. Shared Impact
  3. Relationships

Using a semi-public space, We selected three everyday objects as containers to embody our designed interactions:

  1. Bookshelf
  2. Radio
  3. Window

*In giving objects personality, you are allowing humans to care for it, and to see it more than just an object, which impacts sustainability- it would be hard for someone to just get rid of it when it prompts you to interact with it.

SOLUTION
Concept:
Give smart objects the idea of agency in a closed ecosystem by allowing cascading interactions between actors. Human actors and non-human actors essentially are then indistinguishable. Humans exist as nodes within the ecosystem, rather than the ecosystem existing for their purposes.

Interactions between these objects are not a 1:1, they are interpretations of actions provided by another actor and have a cascading effect from one object to the next.

Cascading


Potential Complexities:
  • One thought we had was if an object could favor one person needs over the other?
  • Would the object interact differently to one person then it would to the next?
  • For an object to have a personality, does that mean a personality in the full sense of the word or a more limited one?
Actors:

Actors are meant to have their own personality, motivations, and drivers.



IMG_0195 copy
Cultural Bookshelf
The bookshelf has built up a ‘cultural profile’ over time as different books are placed on it. From this profile, the bookshelf can source books it thinks you will be interested in.

IMG_0194 copy
Harmonizing Radio
The radio values harmony, when things get heated in the room, the radio plays music to calm you down.
It is also influenced by the bookshelf’s ‘cultural profile’. The closer it is to the bookshelf, the more it is influenced by it.

window_edit_1000 copy
Serendipitous Window
The window values chaos. It distorts reality based on what type of music the radio is playing. The user can set the degree of how extreme they want the distorted/augmented reality to be.

Interactions:

1459202034034

NEXT STEPS
Implications of an Ecosystem

In this IoT world, we are saying that objects are sold separately, perhaps even from different manufacturers, can still talk to each other because they are based on interpretation. The window could react to the nest thermostat by creating and displaying sweat bubbles on its screen, or maybe your sprinkler could be reminded to turn on by the type of music Radio plays.
In this Ecosystem where objects hold the same weight as humans, and do not rely on human input to communicate, How does this effect our interactions? What value would this system create for the user? Does the user become the ‘smart object’?

Going Forward:

Potential ways to develop:

  • Do each object have a consistent personality or do they change over time as they interact with the users?
  • Are they sentient of other similar objects that have evolved from the same cookie cutter mold that constituted the OOBE? (I.e. do bookshelves have their own forum and get together to talk about their owners? :D)