The Unveiling of Cached and the Cached Collective
September has been a whirlwind. Our biggest discovery is that we like each other. So much so, we’ve decided to continue working together as the Cached Collective. We want to keep exploring how technology influences our individual lived realities and to show in physical and clearly understandable ways the unexpected repercussions of our digital lives. In short, we want to keep making the intangible tangible.
Focusing on our first experience, we’ve built two full iterations of the mirror, drafted and re-drafted the experience, developed the programing to make the whole thing work, and produced a veritable avalanche of promotional materials. I think we’re all ready for our unveiling at the Hive’s Blooming and a well deserved celebratory toast.
Jon and Clement have had their hands full preparing the physical object of the mirror. This included testing different materials for the reflective surface itself, as well as for the screen and components that make up its working parts. They struggled with delayed deliveries, cracked screens, and misbehaving printers. However, the object they have constructed is quite elegant, if I do say so myself. It is compact with clean lines that effortlessly blend into a modern decor. But once the mirror is activated, it effortlessly commands the attention of the room.
Vytas and I wrote and polished the script for the 4-minute or so experience with the help of science fiction author Tim Maughan. We cycled through various versions and tones — too friendly, too corporate, too dismal — until we arrived at our current version. After our first round of testers, I can happily report that people finishing the experience have fallen somewhere on the spectrum between “intrigued,” and “shaken.” Not only did we create this experience in English, but as thecamp is a multilingual environment located in France, we prepared a French version with much guidance from our French colleagues. Besides the narration of the experience, Joana worked hard to create some 50 or so illustrations to layer a rich visual experience over the script, making use of the smart mirror both as a reflective surface, as well as a screen.
Felipe, our lone programer, has been hard at work developing the code that makes the whole thing go. Juggling the demands of the script, as well as those of the psychometric algorithm at the heart of the program, he has found a way to bring everything together. Currently, we are working with IBM Watson, but have a pending request with Cambridge Apply Special Sauce. Through this process, we feel like we have really learned a lot about this kind of algorithm and look forward to using it to push the experience even further in later iterations.
Finally, we’ve all been hard at work preparing various promotional materials for our upcoming unveiling event, Blooming. We’ve built a website, 6 different informational posters, and even a teaser video. Aline gets a special shout-out for all her attention to designing our showroom display. It will consist of a provocative mirror to draw people in, an interactive display to house our 6 posters, as well as a final twist on our experience that will help deepen and strengthen our project’s impact.
All in all, I can’t believe how fast this summer has flown by and how much we’ve been able to accomplish. We can’t wait to share our experience with the public. Check out our website at www.cached.id
