Public space 2

Invitation to Interact
Design Process
Baxter Crabtree, Uros Otasevic, Ginny Hwang, Daniel Kramer
INSTRUCTIONS

• Who is the Audience? Who are the Users?
• What are the Criteria?
• What is the Context
• What Research is available? What Research have you done?
• Prototype
• Test
  

1. What are effective methods for observing and documenting activity and interaction between people and groups without influencing them or altering them?
2. What does it mean to “maximize” or “minimize” a system of social interaction within a space?
3. What design and narrative strategies exist to help in the design of non-textual interfaces? What are guiding principles of basic interaction design?

Create an interface that augments some aspect of interaction you’ve observed (person-o-person, person-to-group, or group to group) and document it. Push to maximize or minimize the effect of the interaction that your observational or other research revealed. This augmentation, or invitation to participate must be non-textual (cannot rely on textual language for communication). Instead, explore audio, gestural, and visual means of expression. Observe the context and scenarios for the instruction sets. What are the intentions and assumptions that you are making for the instruction set? Document it (video-tape, photography, observation, notation, sketching). Map and sketch aninstruction set hierarchy. What are the narratives that emerge out of the context?

AUDIENCE

We are targeting people who use Madison Square as either a transect or a place to relax and enjoy leisure time. The users of our interactive project will need to be prompted as there are more that pass through than loiter. The prompt will have to be such that it grabs the attention of the passerby. It will either need to be of bright and attractive materials or it will need to intersect with the direct line of sight of the passerby.

CRITERIA
What did our research reveal? how can that be distilled into criteria?
Pause: People are on the move in the park.

BRAINSTORMING

Tree of Ideas
Airing out Laundry
Mirrors on the Ground
A small treehouse on the ground that someone could get into?
bulletin board

CONTEXT

Madison Square Park is idyllic and is bustling with arts and recreation opportunities such as outdoor exhibitions, book reads in the park live music, etc. The southern end of the park has a sandy open space that is opf high visibility and will be a ideal place to place our project. Of note are the current art exhibitions by Tadeshi Kawamata and Rafael Lozano-Hemmer. In context there is quite a bit going on at the park. We believe this will improve the chances of interactivity with our project.

"Historic Madison Square Park is the vibrant center of Manhattan's Flatiron District offering flourishing gardens, lush lawns and cultural programs for all ages. Located on 6.2 acres between 23rd and 26th streets and Fifth and Madison avenues, the park has become an oasis for those who live and work nearby.

Until very recently, historic Madison Square Park was neglected and crime-ridden. People walked around it instead of going inside. In June 2001, after a two-year capital restoration project, Madison Square Park was rededicated. In the spring of 2002, a restored playground reopened to the delight of many children in the neighborhood."

RESEARCH

The Madison Square Park Conservancy website is an valuable resource. It contains information on activities and events in the park, as well as history of the park. This information is beneficial becauselends additional context to the development of our interactive project. By learning about who visits and what happens in the park we can better plan a successful interactive project.

PROTOTYPING

TESTING