Assessment Items

Assessment 1: Critical Context Review

The student must conduct a critical and contextual review of an existing interaction in the world. This can be of a simple mechanical object (a doorknob) or a more technologically complex experience (motion-sensitive sliding doors); it can be a common object like the above, or an art experience like a motion-sensitive light display. But it should be a single, discrete interaction rather than a complex device like a smartphone.

The context review will be 3-5 pages, and include:

• its intended use;
• its history (what need it was designed to meet, what existed before, how it's developed over time);
• some examples of how the similar interaction has been done (e.g., precedents);
• its intended audience;
• a site visit and personal observation, if possible;
• a concluding analysis discussing its effectiveness.

The context review is due in tutorial of week 4.

Sample topics

You may pick one of these topics for your assessment, or choose your own.

• Pick a simple interactive experience you have every day: sliding door, light switch, water faucet, camera. Do the research that wouldn’t ordinarily occur to you. What problem is it solving? What kind of interaction did it replace? What are different kinds of solutions for the same interaction (eg outdoor hand pump for water faucet, vs. motion sensor)? What weaknesses does it have?
  • Sliding door
  • Light switch
  • Faucet
  • Camera (not phone)
  • Lock & key

• Pick a public artwork or design event you admire, and find out all you can about how it worked and what its context is. Concentrate on finding historical precedents. For instance, if you like Craig Walsh’s projections onto trees, you might look at the history of landscaping as art, topiary, follies.
  • Craig Walsh, any
  • Camille Utterbach, Shifting Time
  • Marcel Duchamp’s last work
  • Any water installation (public fountain)

Assessment 2:  Working prototype

Conceive and propose an interaction that transforms the user’s experience of a space, or their behavior in it. The finished project will include both a written explanation of the concept (1-2 pages), and a working proof-of-concept prototype that might be very raw. Example: the concept is a motion-activated nightlight, and the prototype is a simple circuit with a sensor and an LED.

Sample spaces

You may pick one of these topics for your assessment, or choose your own. Be specific—choose a particular bus stop, kitchen, etc.

• Bus stop
• Kitchen
• Bedroom
• Hotel room (how is this different from your own room?)
• Backpackers room (how is this different from a hotel?)
• QCA Cafe
• An underused space at QCA

Assessment 3: Reinventing interaction

Choose an existing interactive platform (a board game, a revolving door, an artwork, whatever), analyse its interactivity, and develop a way it could be re-imagined, transformed, or enhanced. This will involve some investigation and analysis as well as technical work. The emphasis of the assessment is on experiment, play, and process; the finished project will include both a written explanation of the concept (1-2 pages), and a usable object or space.

You may build on your work in Assessment 2 for this project, but you cannot simply repeat or correct it. The new project must show ample evidence of re-conception, for instance moving from a motion-activated nightlight to a model house with interactive lighting.

Possible topics

You may pick one of these topics for your assessment, or choose your own.

• Photobooth: Find a new way to take a photo remotely, without the camera operator being present. Be specific about the time and place for this project—taking photos of animals at night is a common real-world example.
• Sculpture: Make a sculpture or installation that changes shape and/or look with the viewer’s participation. Think both about the physical object itself, and light and shadows.
• Signage/wayfinding: Design something to help people find their way around a specific area (e.g. level 4, or an office building, or other space). This might be a handheld device, or public signage (e.g. LED screens).
• Kitchen aid: How could a specific kitchen tool be improved, or is there a kitchen task for which there isn’t a tool? “Improved” might mean making the tool work better, or it might mean making it more fun, or funnier.
• Playground: Make a game you can play with your eyes closed.