For my industry event I attended the Dust or Magic conference. The event was a group of adults who take technology and use it to make learning for kids more fun. While I was there I participated in a workshop event where they took cups with words the contribute to the thinking/creative written on them and stacked the cups into a pyramid based on what the groups thought was the most important flow. After that I listened to two presentations, the first one given by a woman who covered how technology and interactive storytelling can take different forms and how her group goes about providing entertainment for families through technology and storytelling. The second presentation focused on analyzing the way children think. It covered different learning methods, how children currently interact with technology, and how to hook them on technology that will not just entertain them but also educate them. Given how my thesis project will take both of these factors into account to some degree, it was great listening to these lectures as I got to hear the words of people who do this for a living.
Author: martid27
Prototype 3
With my third and final prototype, I decided to take a different approach to my thesis project. One thing I wanted to make shine was my own strength as a creative writer, and as such I want to present the mythology, history and lore part of my presentation as a story. To do so I used a website called storymap.js and for this prototype did a sample project with focusing on creation myths/origin stories for specific regions of the world. I researched and transcribed ancient stories into my own words and relayed them as a story on an interactive platform. Through this I was hoping to test if this was a suitable platform for my thesis project. The feedback that I received was that it could use some work but not a bad basis idea, with some more specific commentaries on how it could be presented in a more enjoyable way.
Prototype 2
For my second prototype I decided to undertake the data visualization side of things. To start, I began to watch tutorials and understand the platform tableau which is helpful in making data visualizations. After that, I created a data visualization that focused on one aspect of the project: tracking peak periods in civilizations and identifying the length of their run. After showing my prototype to people (mainly family) I got feedback about data that wasn’t clear and how I could go about presenting it in a format that’s easier to understand. With this in mind, I went back to the drawing board and began working on a larger version that is still under works.
Prototype 1
For this Prototype I played around in Unity. Being unfamiliar with the engine, I decided to make a small demo to showcase a mastery over the basic skills. While the project was a success, I had problems exporting it to a separate device. From this prototype, although a little bumpy, I did gain basic skills in unity that could help in my final project. However, this also showed I might want to take alternative routes to the final project and consider other ways of representation such as storytelling. Overall, this provided me with a good starting point for the background of my thesis project.
Prototype Plan
Prototype 1: Unity
For my first Prototype, I will work in unity to create a model in unity that would resemble the globe I plan to have in my finished product. The purpose behind this is to gain a level of familiarity with Unity since I rarely used it in the past. The end goal for this prototype is to have a model that can be interacted with when using the mouse in Unity.
Prototype 2: Leap Motion interaction
For this Prototype, what I envision is experimenting with the leap motion camera, and synchronizing it with Unity so I can get a working model in Unity that can be interacted with using Leap Motion technology. The goal for this isn’t to have a complex display, but rather to show I have an understanding of the basic mechanics to the point that I can make objects in Unity move using the Leap Motion camera.
Prototype 3: Unity and Leap Motion
The final Prototype will combine the first two prototypes. The goal here is to have a textured model of the Earth that the user can spin, click and identify countries. It will be a very simplistic form of the final project that I envision, however this is to showcase that I will have a strong baseline for my thesis project at the end of the first semester.
Research Update 3/3
The theme of this week’s research was technology. Last week I briefly mentioned becoming familiar with the Leap Motion Camera, however this week I took the opportunity to investigate further and see how the practical implementations would work.
Through reading many articles and watching quite a few demo and tutorial videos with the Leap Motion camera, it could best be described as a Kinect, only meant for PC usage and more accurate in every regard when compared to the Kinect. Essentially, it tracks hand movements and reacts to them in the applied space. There were quite a few examples of this implementation, for instance one video showed a man writing with his hands in the air and the words being reflected on the computer screen, while another showcased creating and playing with cubes in unity. Speaking of Unity, in order to create the physical model that I envision (as of now) for my project I will need to utilize Unity, and as such did some research into that platform in the form of introduction/tutorial videos to refresh my memory.
Now, while I focused most of my technological research on getting familiar with Leap Motion and Unity, I also reached out to my student advisor to see what she thought would be good for implementation and if there are other paths I’m not considering at the moment. She in turn directed me to two different areas: google cardboard and interactive displays. Now while I didn’t have quite enough time to continue researching these at the time of this blog entry, I do plan to review these this weekend and come to an understanding of the technology.
https://developer-archive.leapmotion.com/documentation/csharp/devguide/Unity_Demo_Pack.html
https://www.delltechnologies.com/en-us/perspectives/how-technology-is-transforming-the-museum-experience/
Research Update 2
For this week’s review I spent my time split between more content research while diving into the technology that will make my project a reality.
For this week’s content research, I decided to change things up a bit: last week I read a bunch of articles, websites and books. It dawned on me then that there are other mediums that have a plethora of information I need, that being documentaries. Asking around and getting in touch with some professors, I found quite a few documentaries and television series that talk about ancient civilizations and the common tie between them (which I will be sure to include at the end of this update). I found those to be helpful and insightful, providing even more content and helping me think about how to go about covering the information.
Having watched and read enough information on ancient civilizations to sustain a stable prototype, I decided it was time to tackle the beast I was avoiding: the technology. Having received feedback from Professor Ault and my student adviser a few weeks ago, I decided to look into leap motion cameras. It looks daunting to say the least, however reading about the technology in articles and watching demos provided me with enough information to realize that if I could execute this the same way I envisioned, the Leap Motion camera would help deliver the exact project I want. This upcoming week I’ll reach out to both Professor Ault and my student adviser, as well as a few other people who might be able to give insightful feedback, to talk about the technology and see if there aren’t other options I should consider and really cement my idea once and for all.
Leap Motion Releases Major Tracking Update and New Demos to Show It Off
https://www.netflix.com/title/81012415
https://www.netflix.com/title/70212989
https://www.netflix.com/title/80095868
https://www.netflix.com/title/80185801
Research Update 1/3
For this week’s research I spent most of my time gathering the content, the bread of this project so to speak. After having my 1 on 1 conversation with professor Ault, it was deemed a good starting point to develop keystones of information going into this project. The keystones I had decided on and researched can be categorized as such: Mythology, Tools/Weapons, Civil Structure, Language/Growth. These are subject to change as the research continues, but as for what I’ve discovered up to this point it’s fair to say these categories will be set in stone.
The Research in Depth:
It might be a bit vague as to what each category covers by just looking at their names, so allow me to delve further into description. Starting with mythology, this was actually what inspired me to start this project. From a young age I’ve been interested in myriad pantheons that exist around the world and the myths that come from them. It was during this study that an interesting point came to mind: all cultures with their different mythology have a same starting point, that being the origin story. With the origin story, we can see how that civilization believed the world came into being, and by observing the differences we can at the very least observe some key cultural differences while also looking at the similarities they share. So, to make a ramble come to an end, the mythology keystone is meant to delve into cultural lore, pick apart the pantheons (essentially the collection of deities a culture believes in), the myths that come with them and the many stories birthed as a result.
Moving onto the next topic, we have tools/weapons. When man discovered fire, did it somehow get passed from one person to the next and travel around the world? Of course not, what happened is different early man civilizations discovered fire and used that, along with other tools, to advance their society. In essence, that’s how many different groups of people were able to exist without knowing about each other, they all discovered the same or similar tools and used them in different ways. What tools/weapons seeks to look at is what civilizations used as tools, weapons, building stones for their society, what houses were made out of and how they progressed. The Roman’s architecture, for example, was different from the Persian’s, the weapons they used were also slightly different. The ancient Chinese used crossbows to make unskilled soldiers fight with the strength of a skilled soldier way before other countries picked up on this. The end goal for tools/weapons is to see how civilizations started from near similar routes, and through those groups specific technological evolution shaped them to be unique.
As we know, early man started as hunter/gatherer societies and traveled in packs, not settling in place for too long. Fast forward to the Babylonians, we have what is recognized as the first set of laws for man, Hammurabi’s Code. Fast forward even further to modern day, where you have vast differences in cultures between countries like America and China. Through Civil structure, the research I have done this past week went into showing the roles of man and woman in ancient cultures, delved into hierarchy, class structure, government in its base form and how it evolved over time. In case it wasn’t clear from the previous two paragraphs, the goal here is to outline the differences between cultures while drawing similarities to modern day practices and connecting the trail back to ancient roots.
Finally, we’ve reached the last cornerstone: language/growth. Along with mythology, this is the other keystone that sparked my interest in this topic. Flashing back to high school, I remember one of my teachers telling us about an article he read that said in 1,000 years from now, the English language will be extinct. Now, needless to say, this intrigued me a great deal and always had me questioning the root of languages and how they are so diverse. There are myths surrounding this story, one being the biblical passage dealing with the Tower of Babil, and how the sins created from that were punished with man being unable to converse with each other. Well, fast forward to modern day and we have bilingual people being a dime a dozen, not to mention multilingual people. This got me to thinking how languages were so different, or rather why certain groups shared a more common route than others. For a brief comparison, look at the difference between romance languages and east Asian languages, the alphabet itself is structured very differently, and while the sounds are structured differently they still use the same vocal patterns. My research over the past week went into hieroglyphics, the ancient Sanskrit language, and how civilizations came to adopt a written language.
Insight/Reflection:
While the research took up a large portion of my time, I also did some minor work into thinking about changing the platform, and am playing with ideas right now after getting feedback from both Professor Ault and Angela (my alumni advisory). While I didn’t do enough research into that field, I still would like to note that I am leaning towards making this into a two part project: one part having all the information and write up from the research while the other is a data visualization, showing in a visual format how everything connects together (or differs, the research at this point isn’t decisive enough to pinpoint this). Given how much I put into solidifying my information keystones, next week I will try to play around with the technology and try to get a concrete direction on how I want this to be represented in the final product. As for the heavier question of “where my place in the field is with this project”, I don’t have a solid answer yet, although after seeing all the interesting information I’ve been able to uncover (and how tedious it was) I’d like to say that learning about the world, different cultures and civilizations, how they advanced and came to shape our modern world is fascinating.
Finalized Concept
After much internal debate and indecisiveness, I have finally landed on a thesis project idea: Cultural Map through the Ages.
Now, this idea was the ultimate winner for me since after peer feedback it was clear how unique the culture map was while also calling to mind that one of the goals for senior thesis is to have a new and innovative idea. As for the why of it all, this project idea stemmed from my own personal interest in history and anthropology. With a main interest in early A.D./B.C. civilizations, I like to learn about myths, folk tales, daily lives, civilization structure, etc. This map will take information from myriad civilizations and display it in a fun, interactive format. While highlighting personal interest and values, I also hope to showcase future goals with this project by presenting my familiarity with technology and showing how my project can reflect what I as a person can accomplish.
One question that’s bound to be asked is “Why should anyone care about this project” during my presentation. Well, it might not be for everyone, I acknowledge that much, however it shows how we can take history, a subject usually reviewed in boring lengthy textbooks and online articles, into a fun, easy to present manner. A phrase I’m quite fond of is “knowledge is power” and through my thesis project I hope to impart onto others the knowledge of ages past. In the current field of historical civilizations and information on them, all I’ve found so far are web pages and the occasional video, however at one point I stumbled upon an interactive map for the United States that had very brief information, however the style in which it was presented left an impact. I plan to take the boring and dreary and making it fun and interactive. Now, as to how this “extends knowledge rather than duplicating” is a bit difficult to answer since the topic at hand involves history, events which have already occurred and cannot be added on to. So rather than extending the content itself, I’m taking the method in which it is conveyed to the general public and making a change on that.
Speaking of how I’ll bring it to the public, let’s talk about the more technical aspects. Nothing is 100% set in stone, however I was planning on having a web page dedicated to this while having an interactive globe through which users can zoom in on certain areas and click for information given about that country’s group of people at the designated time. I am still working out this stage of it as I have only just recently decided to take up this idea. Some prototypes I’m thinking of at the moment involve a sketch for how I want the layout to look and a sketch showing how the interaction will work step by step, among other ideas so I can nail down the step by step procedures and how I’ll have to implement these.
Revised Concepts
I’ll start this post by being completely honest: indecision plagues me. Over this past week I have mulled over my two concept ideas and can’t really decide which I like better. On one hand is a project that connects to what I’d like to pursue a career in, while the other is unique and picks at a hobby of mine. Nevertheless, I have spent lengthier amounts of my free time brainstorming over my “Cultural Map” idea since at the moment that is what I am leaning towards.
In regards to my “Cultural Map” (for which I am trying to think of a better name since that doesn’t quite capture the essence of my project) I was thinking about ways to categorize, and more importantly what to tell. From the feedback I received in class, it was obvious that people had a greater interest in learning about the mythology and lifestyles of ancient civilizations. As of this moment I am thinking about what exactly to showcase, since this project has the potential to slip away from me if I go too broad or too detailed. However, one neat little suggestion that I received in class was to order it by geography. The way I will try to implement this is by having the ancient and more modern earth terrain overlap to showcase how the region looked at the time of the story being told. I don’t have a definitive answer to this yet, but have begun looking into older maps to try and see how I can blend these together.