ecco fatto

We did it!! Thank you, H M & D, for a great quarter— we've had our trials and tribulations but it all came together in the end.
I guess for my final blog *tear* I'll just give a little evaluation of our group. All in all, I'm really happy with the outcome.

Our posters are informative and visually appealing, and I think our presentation today went well. We shared the speaking role well and addressed the various components of our project thoroughly.

In my opinion, one of our strengths was that we all were more or less involved with the entire project, rather than focusing just on our individual tasks. This enabled us to give a cohesive presentation, transitioning smoothly from one component to the next. We were each able to step in and elaborate on a teammate's explanation if necessary, and could competently answer the questions our audience had.

Towards the very end of the quarter in particular, we definitely improved on our communication skills and our rapport. We found ways to address and overcome conflicts that arose within our group, and ultimately came together to create an awesome final product.

... now we just need to convince Oprah to fund a sustainable dance club in SLO :)

If I don't see you before graduation, I wish you all the best of luck with everything! It's been real. Peace, love, and piezoelectricity— A

Poster — 1 of 3

here's a draft for one of our poster spreads...
potentially the other two posters will cover (1) dance floor specifics + diagram, and (2) signage contents and human power/environmentally-friendly information and tips
(H, M and 'D, check your emails for the hi-res version so you can make revisions)

Friday May 27, 2011

Today in class we worked on preparing for our final presentation next week! H brought in the model and will work on putting her rhendering in the image of the gazebo. H will work on generating text for the exhibit signage throug the use of our Google Doc. A, was unable to join us today, but she will continue to work on the poster this weekend. 'D been working on putting the gazebo photos together and is currently working on quantifying the amount of work generated by dancing. Over the weekend, 'D will be working on generating text for our battery graphic. M will continue to develop text for the final poster.

Jen provided us with a paper copy of the exhibit display guidelines to help with our exhibit signage ideas.

Have a great Memorial Day Weekend!

Last Wednesday...

We continued working........'D on the text for the functional elements (got the acrylic!), M on the STEM related text and general concepts text, A on poster designs, H buying small pressure disks that generate small amounts of electricity (and do we mean small!).  H will continue to work on the digital model and have to show for Wed.  'D will get site pics.

A Different Application

Bicycle Generator

For all of you bicycle lovers,

Power your cell phone, television, or laptop through your bicycle ride.

Check out this link!

Dance Floor Explaination

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoewlHwI3U4

The Dance Floor IS HERE!!!!!

http://templesf.com/calendar#05-27

Dance Dance in the Classroom

Today we had many discussions around the possible topics to produce in print and graphics to promote the concept of human power beyond our exhibit. We went so far as to talk about the systems in place in our country for food movement and consumption. After this discussion, we narrowed down some design details and solidified our individual goals for progress over the weekend. :)

wednesday 5/18

Today in class we discussed the logistics for creating our final posters and presentation: we tentatively established what we’d like to include on the poster, we divided up the tasks, and decided we’d like to build a miniature scale model of our dance floor to better clarify our concept for the user experience. We also need to decide what symbol or graphic we want to use to show that dancing charges the exhibit... a battery? a lightbulb? a lightning bolt? a smiley face?

We will all try to come up with whatever material we can by Friday to show each other and get feedback before we proceed further in that direction. As of Wednesday 5/18, our individual duties are:

H — make a digital rendering of the dance floor tile(s) and a basic diagram showing how they store energy, create a 3-D model... address durability logistics?

A — establish a list of the interactive possibilities of the tiles (games, sidewalk, etc.), design a website layout / homepage for additional information and for participants to view their pictures

M — answer essential questions that we will include on our poster: What about our sustainable dance floor relates to San Luis Obispo in particular? (something along the lines of: one reason SLO is the happiest city on earth is because people are physically active— dance and be happy!) What are we teaching / What are our learning goals?

‘D — take more hi-res images of the site for use in our posters, explore materials for / begin work on a physical scale model

In terms of poster display, we’re considering using a square format (approximately 30'' x 30''), depending on printing availability and costs for those dimensions.

Fun with Fractions (May 16)

On May 16, 2011 we discussed our next steps for the HAM'D project.

While discussing these next steps, 'D questioned M ability to divide a chocolate muffin in quarters. M, then, informed 'D that he, like 5/4 of the population have trouble with fractions. :)

It was decided that we need to work on determining multiple applications for our compressible squares at multiple sites.

In the next weeks, H will be simplifying and rewording the graphical representation of the models. In addition, by class time on Friday, May 27 will create a rhino model of the exhibit.

To tie our exhibit into the community of San Luis Obispo, we may tie into the County of San Luis Obispo's bike month (May) or into the "Happiest Place of Earth" and from that the "Happiest Dance Floor."

After discussing our project, we had the opportunity to explore the "Look the Other Way" exhibit in the Kennedy Library. It gave us an excellent opportunity to interact with an exhibit, to converse with the creators of the exhibit and to discuss a variety of aspects of the exhibit.

More fun work to come! Stay tuned.

For a Limitted Time ONLY

HAM'D PRESENTS.....

IN COLLABORATION WITH "MATT"...

old photos

Another simple diagram

Also, I sent out the powerpoint to errbody in HAM'D, so if for some reason I screwed up your email address and you havent received it, let me know!

hoy es miércoles cha cha cha

Today A, M, and 'D worked collaboratively on putting together a Powerpoint presentation for Friday, including a mind-blowing Photoshop storyboard showing visitor interaction with the human power exhibit.

Initially, we went into depth on the main impacts and indicators of our exhibit (understanding, engagement, and behavior) but due to the brevity of our presentation and the multiplicity of techhnical details we have yet to finalize, we decided it was most important to discuss how we envision the visitors will interact with the exhibit. We are going to focus more on details of the dance floor itself and how to translate our concept into a functional, exciting exhibit.
The only thing we have yet to do is create a concise, comprehensive concept statement, and insert our storyboard images into the presentation. Oh yeah, and figure out who's going to say what. yeeee boiiiii

and DON'T FORGET!!! we are meeting Professor Plum with the lead pipe in the classroom at 9:30 am on Friday to go over our presentation! See you there!

My Awesome Diagram

...About Monday 5/9

Dr. Jipson gave us a helpful presentation on presentations.  Generally we should begin with an overall concept at the beginning of the presentation then move into more specific details.  The most important aspect of the presentation was the evaluation of the "project impacts"of our design.  The categories included awareness or knowledge or understanding, engagement or interest, attitude, behavior, and skills.  From these categories we'll develop impact statements.  Project indicators are a way of seeing how our design can affect the audience further beyond the exhibit and assess any possible learning.

For the rest of class 'D worked on the photomontage.  We have two composites: one shows the dance floor with a variety of dancers/audience and the other shows the floor becoming a large interactive pong game.  Those will be done for Wednesday to put into the site photo.
A and M began work on the evaluation using the project indicators and will develop impact statements for Wednesday.
H will have a specific site photo with dimensions and the beginnings of a "how-it-works" diagram for Wednesday.


Here comes Wednesday!!

...and Thursday comes afterwards.....then Friday!!!!

Day of the Mondays

We've separated the work load as follows:

M and A - preparing the presentation for Friday, impact statements
'D - photoshop'ing $ shot(s)
H - site picture (gazebo) and rough/simplified diagram of how floor modules work/generators

For Wed have everything ready to put into the presentation so we can review it.

!!!

Energy Efficient Speakers

For all you eco-friendly music lovers,

Replace the lights in your room with these! Eco-Friendly speakers.

design examples

a page from the "Middle School Student Activity Packet" for the Miami Science Museum—the quality isn't great but the PDF is available for download from the website...

sustainable dance makes its way west

The Miami Science Museum also likes what the Sustainable Dance Club (in Rotterdam) is doing, and has turned it into an educational exhibit called the Energy Dance Floor. It features a variation on the charging battery visual we had in mind, a thermal camera, and it allows the participant to connect their iPod and choose their own music to dance to.
<< The SDC describes the project as well: Sustainable Dance Floor USA >>

May 6, 2011 - Class Work Update

Class started off with a presentation from Professor Robert Arens on Framing Digital and Print Presentations. His four rules of thumb are as follows:

1. Take charge of how you want your work perceived
2. Start with the general then move towards the specific
3. Hierarchy is a must
4. Use a grid for organization

After the presentation, the group shared our STEM Stop exhibit scenarios generated from our user personas generated on class on Wednesday. All of the stories were creative and fun!

We discussed our design ideas of what the exhibit will look like. H volunteered to measure the gazebo in Mitchell Park to determine it's dimensions and photograph the gazebo. D' impressed the group with his awesome drawing ability ... including excitement lines to express light and sound waves. After seeing his bicep drawing skills ... his title of Awesome Drawer may need to be removed. We need to create a section drawing and cross-sectional drawings and appropriate signage for the site. In terms of deliverable next week, all of the necessary drawing and signage may not be essential. H and 'D are going to work on the drawings of the exhibit this weekend. A and M will work on the signage language and display ideas. M will begin writing the text for the signage this weekend. A will work on the layout out of the signage. We discussed our battery ideas. Eventually we are planning on building a scale model of the exhibit. H started drawing a story board of the exhibit. We discussed how we want to teach our idea to the public.

Professor Arens demonstrated created a collage in Photoshop on an image that would resemble an exhibit. The collage will help create a narrative of the exhibit with guests and show interaction at the exhibit. A volunteered to begin creating a collage of the exhibit. Everyone in the group will start collecting images of site, exhibit and people interacting with the exhibit.

In-Class Progress 5/4/11

Today in class we discussed the results from the surveys to make adjustments to our design and the focus of our design. The purpose of our exhibit and how to implement it became much clearer through this exercise. After the discussion we moved on to creating three personas that we plan to address in our exhibit. Phil and Crystal were our first two creations. We then worked on our individual narratives to be made into story-boards at a later date.

Survey Result Write-Up

The survey method involved interviewing friends, family, and people from the general public. (Mostly college students, a variety of ages and majors.) The changes that we would like to make to our exhibit post-survey include detailed descriptions of the different types of human power. Also, a significant effort must be made to educate the public about the types of devices that they can install in their homes and use in their daily lives.

Survey Evaluation!

The people we surveyed included college students, as well as faculty, parents, and siblings. We primarily surveyed them in person and conducted a few surveys over the phone. People are not as informed as we thought they might be, nor did they fully understand the term "human power."

Based on our results, we are going to incorporate more ideas and questions within the exhibit to help provoke thought and stimulate discussion. Virtually everyone we asked was very interested in learning more about incorporating human power in their own lives in convenient and cost-efficient ways, so our exhibit will provide alternatives to relying on non-renewable energy sources.

(Our eight survey questions are listed in an earlier post)

'D's results

Most of my sample were architects but a few random ones thrown in there (engineers and ags).  Renewable energy was consistently defined as energy that could be used more than once--some architects provided a lengthy philosophical description that said basically the same thing.  All said that human power is a renewable resource to some extent--some threw in biomass....  No one knew much about human power or were confused with the context.  Just about all said bicycles as human power technology, some others included gym machines, cranks, and hamsterwheels.  Everyone would use the technology if they had access, although some of the architects started talking about economics versus ethics....  No one knew of a human powered dance floor.  Only one person would dance in public alone, almost all would dance with friends, and all but one said music would inspire them to dance (the one person said money...).  All said they would be curious about an exhibit with lights and sounds.  Requests for more information included large scale applications, devices used for daily routine activities, very portable devices, and other practical applications.  Architects are weird people.

in other news...

Did you know, "a standard health club could produce enough electricity to light 72 homes for one month"?! (as per greenlaunches.com, a cool blog about eco-friendly innovations)

...check it out, a human-powered gym!

A's survey results

Of the 10 people I surveyed, none had significant education or technical knowledge relating to energy, renewable energy or human power. (farmer, English teacher, 11th-grader, in addition to college-level philosophy, computer science, music, and art students)

• All 10 were familiar with renewable energy, though some had a hard time putting the concept into words (some explained it to me rather than writing it down).

• Most were somewhat unsure of what we meant by "human power" until I elaborated a little, but everyone considered it a renewable resource.

• 7/10 people included a bicycle as part of their answer for technology/devices associated with human power. Other responses included "the human body," "body parts," "treadmill," "merry-go-round," "crank-flashlight and crank-radio," and "non-electric sewing machine."

• All 10 would use technology to harness human power if it were available to them, but mentioned conditionals such as time– and cost–effectiveness.

• Only 1 respondent had heard of a sustainable dance floor, but all were very intrigued when I later told them about the Sustainable Dance Club in the Netherlands.

• 5/10 people said they would dance in a public space alone, 10/10 would dance with friends, and they would be inspired to dance by "good music" ("the right mood" and "alcohol" were also common answers).

• 9/10 people answered that they would be more drawn to an exhibit featuring sound.

• The predominant response to what in particular about human power they'd like to learn more about was to find ways to incorporate it into their own lives more, and implement it more widely in society

sooo. like M said, we've got our work cut out for us...

M's Survey Results

From my survey of ten individuals, primarily college students, I found that there is not a consensus on what the definition of renewable energy. Most had a guess on the definition of human power, but there was also discrepancy between answers. Most of the group said that human power was a renewable energy source. When asked what technology they associate with human power, a majority of the group stated bicycle. Everyone who was surveyed said that they would use technology that harnesses human power if it was accessible and did not infringe on their lives. They would use the device if it was convenient. A few of those surveyed have heard of a sustainable dance floor. Most said that they would dance in public with and without friends. This surprised me because I thought that people would be more reserved about acting silly in public. To aid in this dancing, a majority of the group stated that having good music play would encourage them to dance. More people stated that they are drawn to exhibits featuring light, but a little less than half said that they were drawn more to exhibits featuring sound. Everyone surveyed stated that the would be interested in learning more about human power.

It looks like our work is cut out for us ... we need to educate the population on what the definitions of renewable energy and human power are. :)

Would you dance in public......like Matt :)

Monday, May 2— status update :D

GROUP EVALUATION

START:
We will make sure that the workload is split up evenly; perhaps begin assigning group members specific tasks to make sure we are all contributing equally, whether during or outside of class. We need to maximize our efficiency during classtime and also ensure our blog is updated regularly by establishing a blogging rotation.

STOP:
We need to avoid distractions and instead focus on our goal; sometimes we've explored ideas that weren't very relevant to our exhibit and we'd be more productive if we stopped taking these birdwalks. Essentially, stop wasting class time.

CONTINUE:
We will maintain our good communication and collaborative effort, as well as a positive and receptive atmosphere for brainstorming and contributing ideas. We already have many great contributions and links on our blog, and we want to keep that flow of ideas going.

FRONT END EVALUATION

We also developed survey questions to determine what our intended audience already knows and would like to know about human power:

• How would you define renewable energy?

• What do you know about human power? Do you think it is a renewable resource?

• What technology or devices do you associate with human power?

• If you had access to technology that allowed you to harness human power would you use it?

• Have you ever heard of a dance floor that harnesses human energy?

• Would you dance in a public space alone? with friends? What would inspire you to dance in public?

• Would you be more drawn to an exhibit that featured sound or light?

• What would you be interested in learning about human power?

We are each going to survey 10 people before class on Wednesday and then post a summary of our individual results to the blog. In class we will compile these results and write up a short description of our findings, the method used to gather the data, and how we refined our design based on the front end evaluation.

Status update!!!

THE TO DO LIST

M and 'D started detailing out the dance module today.  We got a rough schematic section showing how the mechanics work for the floor and figured out what we need to do for the design review sometime during week 7:

-a scale model of a module: 'D will look for materials over the weekend and bring them to class Monday.
-signage: M and A will figure that out Monday
-schematic drawing: H can start that on Monday

-We are thinking a full digital model (with all nine modules) would be good for the final review; H and 'D could start that when doing the schematic drawing but we'll figure all that out Monday :)

We should be able to get all this done during class time if we work efficiently!!!!!

LET'S GET HAM'D!!!!!!!



O.K. scratch all that, the professors have a different take on what we should have for the design review so we'll need to revise this :)  See you all Monday

Design Ideas

Here are our most recent design ideas. Drawn up by 'D himself. Sorry they are kind of hard to see.

Enjoy!

Hamsterwheels!

Human power at the Coachella Music Festival!!

http://inhabitat.com/coachellas-human-powered-dj-booth-blasts-renewable-blips-and-bleeps/

Human Powered Generator

Exploritorium bicycle generator

Exploritorium visit by Hannah.  A bike connected to lights and fans so that you can generate the power yourself!!!

Spring Loaded Gadget Charger

http://crenk.com/tag/recharger/

Our broader plans for the human race....

http://inhabitat.com/human-powered-gyms-in-hong-kong/

Human Powered Raceway Exhibit!

For all you raceway enthusiasts!

Human Powered Raceway Video

David is posting all of my exploratorium research

psssshhhh. people taking credit for all my hard work. shame. shame.

This is a swan

LOL DDR OMG

So, our lofty goal of creating a human-powered DDR mat??— Rotterdam (The Netherlands) was one step ahead of us. Sustainable dancing is the future!

piezoelectricity and the Sustainable Dance Floor!!

Human Powered Exhibits

For all of you human powered technology enthusiasts, here are some museums across the country that have human powered exhibits. Enjoy!

The Imagination Station Science Museum in North Carolina has a pedal power exhibit, where you have the potential to power light bulbs and a drill while pedaling on a bicycle.
"Pedal Power"

The Children's Discovery Museum in San Jose, California also has a collection of human powered exhibits.
"Children's Discovery Museum"

People power is also used to power Human Powered Vechices (HPVs). A few examples of HPVs can be found at the Tech Museum in San Jose, California.
"Human Powered Vehicles"

If you need some sustainable energy wear for this summer, check out this website.
"Sustainable Energy Blog"

Or, if you are into a bicycle race, race a stationary bicycle with your friend!
"Pedal Power Racing"

Human Power Exhibit example

You can power  two 8-watt florescent light bulbs, a 20-led lamp, a transistor radio and together a small 12-volt television...

Human powered device

Another human powered device.  It's orange or green :)
http://www.environmentalhealthclinic.net/biodivercity/?/Energy/human-power-5/

Generatorz

human power generators and accessories: a bike power generator and a hand crank for small power production applications (< 65 watts)... a good basic mechanism around which we could design an exhibit