5. Write-up Prototypes
This documentation represents the prototypes of my initial concept, and how the idea is evolved through the feedback. My initial concept is as follows. I am studying how the digital media affects our memory and relationships with family and friends in order to extend a human experience and stimulate our emotions through looking at memories stored in digital media.
When I look at social media, the users upload lots of photos which are the part of their memory. The social media system wants the users to keep uploading posts. Data overpowers the social media users’ ability to appreciate what they produce. As a result, regardless of how important the post is to you, your post keeps pushed away and disregarded. I believe that reminiscing the memory helps us to gain the energy and motivation in our life. Therefore, I think people need something for recalling their memory, and it leads me to make my prototypes for testing the following questions.
1. How can I create a suitable environment for reminiscing memory?
2. How can I extend a human experience and stimulate their emotions?
3. How does this product feel empathy with the user’s memory?
1. Prototype I
I think about a memory box that can help people recollect memory for the first prototype. I want to apply real-life aspect in this product. For instance, when the owner opens his or her memory box after a long time, the pictures in there collect dust. Then, the owner wipes off the dust to see the picture clearly. From this, I get a memory box idea that has a display which shows Images from the user’s social media. In this display, a photograph taken a long time ago seem more blurry than a new photograph. When the user touches the picture on the screen, the picture gets clear. I want to make people take care more about their memory. Only the pictures that are touched by the user remain. Other images are disappeared.
I tested this prototype to the users. Some of them tell me they prefer real photos than digital ones because it makes them feel they own the moment. They put the pictures in the prominent place. One user tells me that every photo on her Instagram is all precious. So she does not like the notion that only interacted images are survived. For this comment, I think the pictures in her Instagram account are art collections and for the inspirational purpose instead of her special memories.
2. Prototype II / III
I put aside the findings from the first prototype and think about the different approach. The books: “When We Are No More: How Digital Memory Is Shaping Our Future” by Abby Smith Rumsey, “Das Geniale Gedächtnis” by Hannah Monyer lead me to open the new perspective. They say human being’s memory is modified in our while they are looking back at the memory, and the human brain makes what it perceives as space. From this notion, I am able to think about using augmented reality technology for reenacting the memory happens in real life.
The image(Fig. 2) depicts the scenario of my second prototype. Once a user takes a photo and uploads on his or her social media, the user will get the notification when he or she revisits the same place. When the user taps the notification, it shows an augmented reality object that is the photo the user took. It has four different layers in the space, and the user needs to tilt the screen a bit in order to get in focus. The user needs to find the perfect alignment because it is clear only in specific perspective. For the four different layers, I use CMYK color model for showing the image. CMYK refers to the four inks used in some color printing: cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. It is a way of printing on paper technic that captures three-dimensional subjects and visualizes on two-dimensional space. In the digital display, each pixel has its color, and it is available to show over 16.7 million color combination. However, it exists only in two-dimensional space. I imagine simulating CMYK color model in real three-dimensional space. Overlaying four different color layers materializes memory in the present space.
I take a picture and separate into CMYK color and print it on a transparency paper, and then connect them with threads. It is not easy to get in focus. And I realize that testing Augmented Reality project in low-fidelity is not easy to test. So I decide to make a prototype with Vuforia program that detects an image target and visualizes digital objects through a smartphone in the following week.
I conducted a test by using this application, and this application is also not easy to convey the concept for my test users. They are questioning about what the user get from this product. I have to find the more fundamental reason for doing this project and how I can make my users feel a strong connection with the product. In order to do that, I have to find my target users and community of practice. I also started interviewing people for understanding how people collect, possess, and access their memory.
3. In-depth Interview
One interviewee shows that she put the photos, postcards, and letters from friends on a magnetic door. It allows her to bring up the memory more often. It allows me to get an insight that this product should be located in a prominent place for a high frequency of accessing the memory. Another respondent carries a teddy bear when traveling. The bear is her birthday present from her friend about eight years ago. She calls the bear son. She brings this Teddy bear and takes photos with it when she visits another place or on a special day. She also notes that she does not like to post her face and current location on social media because she wants to keep her privacy and worries about the po tential risk of being attacked by strangers who have gained information from the Internet. Another responder shows his secondary wallet that contains cash, a Polaroid picture, and drawing from his friend. He puts this purse in his bag and carries all the time while he goes outside. This specimen shows that he always takes the most precious stuff outside the house. From this interviews, I find a pattern that they keep their friends’ gifts and give a special meaning to them. They make an effort to keep them close to them. The object becomes the evidence of a relationship between the person and his or her friend and a part of their life. And also, I realize that social media is not good enough to keep the users’ precious memories. Therefore, I have to change my direction a little bit since using user’s social media account and AR is not directly connected with user’s precious memory.
4. Prototype IV
Through a phone call from my father last week, I decide to concentrate on one specific relationship. Last week was Korean Thanksgiving that family members gather together and have a dinner together. It has been about three months since the last call from my father. I usually contact with my mother every weekend because my father and I do not talk a lot, and also my father always comes home late at night so that we are hard to contact at the same time due to the time differences. When I was a baby, I was close to my father. Since my adolescence, however, we feel both cold and distant. Therefore, it was surprising that he said, “Send some photos of you guys” After the call ended, I forgot what he said. My wife sent some photos to him, and soon she was disappointed because he didn’t reply to my wife. From this episode, I got an idea that what if my father and I should contact every day?
My concept is evolved through the research:
I am studying how the digital media affects our relationships with family in order to improve the connection between parents and children who live far away through looking at memories stored in digital media and communicate with each other.
My revised design questions are as follows.
1. How can I improve the connection between parents and children who live far away?
2. How can I stimulate users’ emotions through reminiscing memory?
3. How can I make the product can collect memory with minimum interaction?
Based on this concept, I make the fourth prototype. It is a couple of video mail communication devices. Parents use one device, and another is used by children who are live in far away. Usually, it is used as a photo frame. However, it automatically starts recording video mail for 10 seconds in designated time and sends the mail to the parent at the same time in their parent’s location. For example, if you are a child who lives in New York, you get the mail from your mother at 10 pm in New York time, so you can watch your mother’s video mail, and then the device automatically starts recording you for 10 seconds. Then, your mother will get the mail at 10 pm in her time, and it records your mother for 10 seconds. This series of recording repeat every day. I want to see what will be happened if they use the device. For the feedbacks, a respondent told me he actually called his father every day for three months while walking his dog, but his father refused him to do it. His father said. “If you do not have a news, don’t call me.” It is an interesting quote because I also do not like contacting with a phone when I am not close to the counterpart, and I feel awkward when I could not find a topic to share with the counterpart. Many respondents comment that this product needs the contents to share each other. I find out that I need to test this concept to my real target users for the next step.
This project is significant for me because I spend most time for school work. I have not contact with my family and friends in hometown for a while. I feel guilty when I realize that I do not reach with them often, and I do not want to forget important people in my life. I believe that the most powerful way of reinforcing the relationships between people is keeping in touch with them more often. I hope this product can help people to live in the present with their loved ones.
Copyright ⓒ 2017 Jungsoo Park
