I have attended the 2nd Microwave Processing workshop taught by Daniel Shiffman. It is a compact version of his nature of code class. The original is a semester long course which is now compressed into a 6 days schedule. The class starts from the discussion of simple physics into areas of generative and complex systems. I have come across majority of the material in the past but have not seriously tried out the flocking system and genetic algorithm in creative context. It is nice to have a course that covers these wide range of topics. In our school, the material is splitted into various courses.
I have done the Interactivity and the Senses, which is now the Mathematics and Physics for Interactive Media. The former Information Arts and the current Generative Arts and Literature also cover the rule based and generative aspect of media creation.
A couple of years ago, I read an article by Ron Saito in the LOOP – AIGA Journal of Interaction Design Education, called Extending Motion into Interactivity, a curriculum for interaction design.
It lists 4 sections of a motion graphics course which can be applied to an interaction design syllabus. These are:
- Copying the world
- Interpreting the world
- Transcending the world
- Reinventing the world
Copying the world is based on visual similarity and the use of physics to simulation the real world.
Interpreting the world moves beyond the physical phenomena to areas like narrative and emotion. Interactivity becomes transparent and recedes from consciousness so that activity on screen becomes foregrounded.
Transcending the world makes playful and unexpected connections that transcend our everyday experiences with the world. Interaction design becomes foregrounded. Figuring out the navigation is part of the user experience.
Reinventing the world takes on two forms, (1) mechanical and algorithmic sensibility, (2) free form gestural interaction.
It seems that the whole discussion somehow separates the real world we are living and the virtual world that we created through the use of interactive technology. This idea may not go well with the current design concern on ubiquitous computing. In this aspect, the book Everyware by Adam Greenfield has a number of theses addressing the design issues of interaction in the world.
Both the first class in the nature of code workshop and the whole mathematics and physics for interactive media course focus more on the first principle (copying the world). Virtual objects are programmed with physical properties obeying the Newton’s laws. In the maths and physics course, I put more focus on the sense of touch, which I think it is an essential feature that differentiates interactive medium from other audio/visual media. Simulation of force in relation with users’ input is one of the key discussion areas. Students are using keyboard and mouse which do not provide force feedback; illusions of the sense of touch need to be achieved through the careful choreography of visual elements on screen.
to be continued …