Installation Report

So now my installation is over, and WOAH that was super stressful, so much work goes into a full installation.. I think next time it may be better to focus on one object unless in a team situation - so much technology and other factors to rely on..Some snaps are below..

Poster

This is my poster I have emailed out to invite people to my exhibition..

Technical Difficulties

On Friday I tried to hold my exhibition but due to technical complications it wasn't possible.. So it has been postponed until Tuesday :)  I will be re-inviting everybody - not sure when to start or finish due to having overdue equipment etc and I don't want to hog it for those others trying to exhibit..  I hope that I can get stuff together and exhibit early to make for a quick pack down..

New Clock Sensor

So after feedback from the alpha presentation I decided to swap my sensor over to Ultrasonic so it could take the entire room into account - I found this website to implement it :) So I have that working great! Everything's on its way to coming together!

Final (Before Testing in Room) Face Display

So this is kind of the final image of my face mirror - I will adjust when in the room fully.. but for now it looks something like this :)

It makes the face ultimately paler while adding dark circles under the eyes ..

Eye Tracker Progress - Touchy!

I have done some more on my eye tracker - with adding a layering effect of the eyes.. It is quite interesting because it sometimes recognises and sometimes doesn't but here's a picture to show progress

On the left is the tracker finding my eyes and painting spheres over them.. then the right is the feedback in the mirror, with two dark circles altering the colour of my eyes..

This is a close up but its not quite as obvious as I would like .. Still attempting to make it to darker without making it look fake.. Left it captured image and right is altered image.

This one is slightly better but the circles are quite wide it looks like shadow casting - I am going to work with the shape a little tomorrow to try and get it more precise yet the colour contrast is quite nice..

Quiz # 4 - Report

The work I have chosen is Crossfire by Geoffrey Mann.  This work has stuck in my head since one of the first lectures.


To summarize, this work is by an industrial designer who decided to use audio to mould and shape everyday objects.  The waves ripple through each object and at the end creates the actual distorted object.  I enjoyed this work because I thought it was bizarre to let audio determine the shape of physical 3d objects.  They become unique and have endless opportunities.  For example, someone could say they liked a certain song and the song could determine the shapes of their plates, cups, knifes, forks and spoons.  If it was commercialized it could become a very unique yet individual market.


This work was apart of Geoffrey Mann's series called Natural Occurrence, which he explains as, "The Natural Occurrence Series renders the impossible through encapsulating the beauty that exists above and apart from the material world."  I think he has a unique look and perspective about how objects can be formed differently, each piece individually is as intriguing as the next.. Together the series outputs many different objects, that are familiar yet distorted in a beautiful way.  I really enjoy the videos because it just helps visualise the processes and methods he went through in order to get his final products.


If you want to find out more, visit his website Studio*Mrmann

Recorded Audio Hallucinations

Have recorded four audio clips that move from left to right creating a surrounding feeling..

Why Cant You Sleep?
I Know Who You Are.
What Are You Doing?
Did You See That?

These will triggered at random points with in the room ..

Eye Tracker Stuff

Okay so this a tad awkward.. as I track my eye and try to place a circle on it - it only recognises one eye and offsets it - I feel like its only set to one I may be able to fix it - I'm definitely going to try :) - only made it that dark on the face to show where it is - it will be more subtle than this.

Heartbeat Background Audio

So today I have been working on getting the basis of my audio completed - just for the background.. It'll be a calm heartbeat that moves from left to right..  If I have time I would love to make this get faster and slower according to triggered elements - but for the moment it's just in my patch - I'm sure I will have time :)

Triggering Eye Shading

Today, I got a face trigger to work so when the face is forward facing the shading goes on :)

Face Tracker Research

Okay so today I have spent a hardcore 7-ish hours on facial and eye detection and tracking research and have found a possible path...

So first of all my previous post about Robin Hewitt's pdf articles and website, seemed to be a dead end when further researched, she works directly and only with C++ which can not be converted into Max MSP as I discovered recently they cannot even externally be connected...

Secondly, I have been looking through Open CV libraries because turns out I can load multiple files for recognition.  The particular files are called "Haar Cascades" and they have particular algorithms which have many possibilities for each kind of shape of feature - they contain eyes, nose, mouth, profile and frontal face.  These are good except when they are tracked they are done as a square when I want the nice eye cut out and mouth cut out - so that would be the next step. (example below)

The third option would be Viola Jones with a flash external file, which is quite easy to implement into Max MSP except they seem to have a similar sort of outcome as the Open CV files that I researched earlier, so I just stopped looking at this...

There were a couple of others that were briefly viewed like softVNS, Eigenface algorithms etc..  but these were only briefly touched on and not in depth - I'm going to have to work harder on the Haar Cascades and Open CV sources and just get the eye field narrowed down - it has been done I'm just unsure on how...

Other Links:
http://www.quasimondo.com/archives/000688.php
http://www.computer-vision-software.com/blog/2009/11/faq-opencv-haartraining/
http://note.sonots.com/SciSoftware/haartraining.html
http://www.cycling74.com/docs/max5/refpages/max-ref/lcd.html
http://note.sonots.com/?cmd=htmlinsert&page=haartraining

Face Tracker Progress

Okay, so face tracker progress is not moving on as quickly as I would have hoped, but I can now draw ontop of max live video and am currently discovering how to set it to a tracked point...

As far as face and eye tracking goes, I have tried 8 different coding styles, each has kinda appeared harder than the previous - but I hope that by the end of tomorrow I will have worked out one far enough to be happy with the result - and be able to start tracking objects, definitely need to have my poster done by end of tomorrow :)

Room Booked Take Two

YAY MOVED ROOMS TO 3.08 :) SO I HAVE IT FOR A WEEK STARTING MONDAY YAY :)

Recently Determined Timeline

This timeline must must MUST be stuck to - otherwise I will not be able to achieve the greatest version of my installation...

Face Tracking Article

Found this face tracking article which talks about how to map and detect the face by colours, it uses camshift tracking features and Open CV to recognise the face.  I am going to research further into this and put it together in Max - the quicker I get my clock and hallucinations done the more time I will have on this...

The author of the above article has a website and she has done many studies and other publications which look directly into facial tracking, detection and recognition through Open CV.  I am going go through all her articles and hopefully end up with a nice face tracking that allows me to manipulate faces as well as perfectly detect them.

Clock Demo Video

Just a quick demo of the clock working - in a video..

Clock Mechanism Working in Max MSP

YAY I have got the clock mechanism working in Max MSP code, I converted it from Arduino into Max in order to make everything in Max! Just took the entire day so I'll pop the clock back together tonight and bring to presentation - I'll also have a hallucination projection to show - I'm not sure about the face eye status for Thursday but I will try to get it to work :)

This is the image of my converted Max patch from Arduino - it works with a counter and every 1500milli-secs it turns it on and then off quickly...

Photo's a bit blurry but this is the clock mechanism connected to the computer and spinning the little dial :)

Tearing Apart Clocks

Decided to buy like 3 clocks just incase I cut anymore wrong wires, had some fun ripping them to pieces to get the mechanisms out - because I already have the clock aesthetic I wanted saved up - just need to add the hands..

Hallucination Trigger Working

This is my hallucination trigger working, I just need to put my content into this to show it working for Thursday presentation, but yay trigger works.

Minor SetBack with Clock

I BROKE THE CLOCK! Have to buy a new one today and going to buy a spare just in case :)

Ticking In Max

I got the ticking working with varying gaps and volume changes :) Just have to get physical component of clock to work and clock component will be completed!

Face Detection Experimenting

I have been attempting all day to get my eye bag max msp patch working to something I like and I feel like I have not made much progress - with my deadline of the 14th of October I am going to focus on the easier components first and get back into eye/face manipulation soon - it is hard to achieve exactly what I want I may have to research and rethink the output of the mirror.

Have tried to do it through CamTwist, through Max MSP, through Quartz Composer and even as an external plugin - my results have not be great, so I am going to write in a forum and leave it till Monday and just get my clock finished by the end the week yay!

Room Booked

I have got the Architecture Lighting Lab for my installation on the 14th of October till the 24th of October :)

Goals For 29th September

Okay so I have made a few breakthroughs this week but I need to set goals in order to keep my achievements up...
I need to still build my clock and film my other hallucinations - I also need to finish my face tracker.. I don't think I can achieve this all by Thursday but I may extend my deadline to Monday next week...

So things to achieve:
- Get physical clock to work with sensor values
- Get ticking sound to play according to clock speed
- Getting mirror setup started
- Getting face tracker fully working with bags under eyes
- Planning and possibly filming two other hallucinations

Two Cameras Working

Yay I have two cameras working in the same patch producing different images using CamTwist - it works a treat :) I need to get usb extension cords in order to have them both running off the same computer and patch.. Now just have to finish off my clock and hallucination filming - oh and face recognition ..

Filming My Cat

Filmed my cat for my hallucinations - have a little clip of him running out of the shot after getting a fright.. Have got him cut out from the green and it's still a bit greeny and I'm going to slow down the clip too - maybe - it could be like a quick fright with a cat meow... 

Proximity Sensor Working

YAY I have got Max getting sensor values from Arduino input - now I just have to work with the clock in order to finish this component.. The values are between 0 - 1 for the Max patch which is easier to work with for my purposes.

Proximity Sensor

Okay so I have got my proximity sensor and seen that the values are between 35 ish and 550 ish so I can see which kinda distances I could use.  I need to figure how to put the sensors together with Max MSP - I have attempted it with different loading settings - and it doesn't seem to work - I'm going to bring this and my clock into my tutor tomorrow to see whats up...

Clock Progress

These are images from the clock I have begun to take apart, I have removed the back of it and figured out how it works - now I just need to slow down the blue cog in order to slow down the seconds hand - using Arduino and a proximity sensor.

Titles Three

In-Some-Nowhere
Physically Awakened
Emotionally Distorted
Shards of the Real
No Rest For The Wicked

Goals for 22nd September

Okay, so this week is going to be rough - I have so much I need to achieve in order to be on track...

I am still waiting for my proximity sensor but I want to get my clock working with Arduino and Max this week.  I want to get two cameras working whether they be USB or Firewire, I want to finalize my face and eye recognition to either be an image capturing picture frame idea or to continue with the moving mirror image (which is proving to be quite challenging) - I need to finalize my hallucinations and organize filming for next week..

In order, I will be doing:
- Camera face and eye recognition finalized with insomnia image of people
- Clock mechanics started and working with Max MSP and Arduino
- Two cameras working together in same patch
- Hallucinations planned to be filmed next week

Discovery USB Cameras

I found today, while searching through forums for something else that there is a possibility to use two usb cameras - I will attempting this program "CamTwist" this week ..

Hopefully we have some success as it will be easier to implement two usb cameras, than firewire cameras

http://cycling74.com/forums/topic.php?id=35007

Been Sick

Been a bit sick and sleeping all weekend so I need to really catch up this week on missed things, hopefully I can achieve last weeks and this weeks list of stuff to do before Thursday.. Going to be a busy week..

Eye Finder Patch

Had a nice discovery today of an Eye Finding patch which now I just need to offset the coordinates in order to darken underneath the eyes, I feel like this is getting me close though..  The mirror won't be entirely accurate but atleast the feeling will be there..

Hallucination Sketches

 This first sketch shows in context what the hallucinations might look like, the woman behind the bed covered in rags lurking in the corner then she climbs under the bed or appears to..  The cat would be in the opposite corner and move a few steps towards the bed - these hallucinations are meant to unsettling but not necessarily a scary, horror attribute to the room..

This second sketch shows what it might kind of look like, sort of storyboarding for the sequence of my hallucinations.  The woman will crawl under the bed after appearing in the corner - there could be a reverse of this in order to create a smooth-ish transition if it's triggered constantly.  The cat will more be like a calm cat sitting in the corner and then when a noise or area is triggered the cat jumps and gets a fright then fades away again..

Sleep Paralysis

Watched this doco - found it quite interesting at how the people's accounts had similarities, about an old woman sitting on their chest and stopping them from breathing.. I watched this because I wanted to see what kind of hallucinations people get so I could plan mine.. This doco was quite graphic though with people having sexual encounters as well as lack of breathing.. It became quite scary and could be a side effect of insomnia but obviously extreme cases only..

I want to include a person, a cat and a third object which is yet to be determined - I am going to work on the first two for now and hopefully a third experience will emerge..

Progress for Sept 15th

Received my proximity sensor but I need some more components in order for it to work .. I have ordered them today - so will not be able to complete my clock logistics today - I am going to get my face a bit more refined and my hallucinations planned for tomorrow.. So atleast something will be achieved this week.

Cool Maxuino Project

Found this wicked orchestra project using Arduino output to control the motors of the instruments..
Watch the video here.

I think this cool but it shows multiple inputs and is quite a cool way to utilise this kind of feature and communication between software, it can be used as a live performance instrument of just an installation pre determined..

All Patches Together

I have worked all three components into one patch at the moment, I am just trying to make all the values to work together - I have a sub Arduino patch and Face recognition - I need to make face recognition more about eye and mouth recognition but I will finish off my Arduino work first in order to complete that element by Thursday.

Hallucination Floor Plan

This is my patch progress so far - it shows the floor broken up and gets values from random squares for movement.  I also have embedded the Arduino patch so I can intertwine them all together.  So when component happens it kinda triggers or influences another - I have just realized I need to get two camera inputs so I'm going to have to work out how to that after my Arduino clock is working.

Website For Working With Clock

Found this website, for manipulating and working with an analog clock - going to get my clock this afternoon and try and work with it tonight so I can have it at least attempted by Thursday...

Also found this website, which seems more applicable for my purpose - I think I just need to grab my clock and get started in order to understand it completely...

Goals For 15th September

I have decided to get my Arduino code working with sensor values (a light sensor if my proximity hasn't arrived) - and to understand the workings of a clock to be manipulated...

I need to re-work my Maxuino code for sensors to trigger an action - this will include hallucination triggers...

If I have time I will also set up the floor triggers...

I will see how far I can get...

SUB-GOALS
- To understand and manipulate Max for Arduino output
- To decide on hallucinations
- To create and set up filming for hallucinations
- To understand a clock and how to hack it, in terms of speed
- To fake a ticking sound that correlates with the speed of the clock

Arduino and Max MSP Talking

So I have also been experimenting with Arduino and Max MSP talking - I have got a light working with a code but I need to wait for my sensor to fully implement this.  I will be using Max MSP to run my whole experiment and the clock will be run by Arduino sensor input, so I need to explore this further but intially it can be done and I do know how to work it - I may do some work with a light sensor by Thursday or Monday - just to get values and work with them with my clock.

Face Recognition

Been doing some work in Max today, not as much as I wanted but still have found a tracker that tracks faces except it gets a bit confused when my chest is visible and it thinks it is a face, I will be looking into this further, I also found how to track certain points so now I will be combining these two to track the eyes and the mouth hopefully...

Titles Two

Reverse Dreamland
Awaken Limbo
Chronically Conscious
Minded Containment
Living Dead

Max MSP

So, tomorrow I am allocating a minimum of three hours to work out Max MSP and get all the basic functions down.. This to me is the "ugly" component of my project and I need to address and resolve it quickly.  I will be using Max for face recognition and also movement - I will be hoping to incorporate my Arduino input so then all the components can be easily related to each other.  Today I am just going through online looking for relevant website that I will dive into tomorrow.

Some found websites:
http://cycling74.com/2009/10/26/making-connections-camera-data/
http://www.arduino.cc/playground/Interfacing/MaxMSP
http://www.soundplusdesign.com/?p=1305
http://www.cycling74.com/forums/topic.php?id=10717
http://www.maxmspjitter.com/

Goals to achieve:
- Arduino communication with Max MSP
- Max MSP movement triggers from camera
- (And if time) Max MSP hallucination output

Titles One

Going to post a few titles every few days and hopefully something I love will appear

Broken Dreamland
Distorted Slumber
Anti - Coma
Negative Forty-Winks
Rude Awakening
Zero ZZZ's

Max MSP

Today, I have been trying to reacquaint myself with max msp as a possible software to use for my interactive installation, I will also be looking into flash as well as can't quite remember its capabilities either.

Max MSP is proving to be some what of a memory block, I can't quite remember the functions but I will continue to work through and make a decision next week - also have ordered my proximity sensor to be used on my clock so hopefully that arrives soon.

Proposal Presentation

Had my proposal presentation today, it went well I felt.  I feel like I had some good feedback to give further depth to my design.  I need to integrate all the elements to create a more well rounded experience, where the user becomes immediately immersed in the feeling of insomnia... I like the idea of creating a hallucination within the mirror and also maybe using the heartbeat to correlate directly to the user in the space, so it's an instant connection.

Face Tracking Research

Found this good youtube video that looks into face tracking in a 3d format - it could help me with my mirror design so I can get the face effects correct and tailored to each individual face.  There is an option to download but it seems to be for pc only - may have to use pc to implement... These people make it: Face API link

Hallucinations

There will be hallucinations throughout the space which will be triggered at random by the user - as hallucinations are an uncontrollable element where the user can't for see them happening.  There will be an above camera which is gridded and coded so when the user walks into a undisclosed area they will trigger a projection image - and a sound? Unsure what hallucinations will be yet but will begin to determine soon.

Tick Tick Tick

An insomniac experiences time by the second - they are constantly counting down until they can go to sleep or calculating hours they could potentially sleep.  The clock in the room will be controlled by a sensor - if someone is close and interested in the clock time will appear to slow down and become louder, as you move away from time it will slowly resume to normal.

Insomnia Mirror

So to create an entire experience I want to manipulate a room into an interactive experience of insomnia...
The first way I am going to do this is through a mirror.  I want to capture the image of the users face and then place dark circles under their eyes and take the colour from their lips - the tireder we get, the sicker we look - so the longer the person stays in the mirror - the more intense their insomniac condition becomes.

Project Direction

Ok, so talking to Doug today I have opened up a whole new idea for my experience.

I know that I want to create a haunting experience for the user, a memorable feeling of insomnia and it's traits.

The idea of physically setting up a room in which insomnia has taken over as taken my interest...  The idea of accentuating individual elements that people experience with insomnia - like the time, the hallucinations and the tiredness of self... I will research into each of these elements and do some mockup examples for my proposal...

Program Options

I can't remember everything but I think Max MSP may be the best option for me when it comes to distorting the camera image .. I could use flash but I think Max MSP could be more appropriate for fractioning the reality that's infront of the user.

Could be a cool idea to have the entire mirror as a screen and its like the portal into the insomniac's mind...

Musical Option

This is a short musical excerpt I found on jamendo.com - its a loyalty free music website - this could be the calming music playing when the people walk in - obviously this is just a starting point but I like the curiosity in the tone of the music. It's track number 001 http://www.jamendo.com/en/album/15501

Proposal Ideas

Okay, so beginning to narrow down the ideas and make some kind of concrete decisions...

Firstly, my research question will be something to the effect of "What does insomnia feel like?" or "What is an insomniac experience?"

From my research done in the essay, I discovered an insomniac's experience is the idea of a distorted reality of self and environment - their perception is changed ...

To implement this idea, I want to create an augmented reality - have a scene which is influenced by calming and regular sleep and then place the reality of insomnia over the top forcing the user to interact with it in order to reveal the insomniac experience ...

To do this, I would consider the space to be a bedroom - it would need to be set up so when the user walks in they can relate it directly to the act of sleeping - then you will look through a portal (like a mirror - still need to determine this) and see the insomniac bedroom - it could also take a camera image of the person and distort it and feed it into the room...

I need to do room sketches and experience distortions as image examples - need to also decide on the portal and the specific attributes that will be used in the room

Precedent - Telematic Dreaming

http://www.hgb-leipzig.de/~sermon/dream/

This is a sleep installation that Szilard showed me called "Telematic Dreaming" by Paul Sermon.  The gist of the experience is that there are two separate rooms in which two people are - one room is capturing movements of the person and projecting it to the other room and then projecting back into the first room.  This way the users can see each other and interact remotely on the surface of the bed like a dream.  I like this piece of work and the idea of remotely sending an image of a person - the technology is also quite far along for 1992, but technology's capabilities has come a long way since then - there could definitely be a more creative way to do this projection and experience - but it is definitely a good inspiring precedent.

First Concept

My first sort of concept that is becoming more and more concrete is the idea of an augmented reality - having a nice peaceful space - when you enter you feel calm and peaceful - and then you interact with the space through an object or area and immediately the space alters into an insomniac's space with a broken reality which causes uneasiness and awakened feelings.

This first sketch shows the environments as two separate containers facing each other that you walk through as a continuous experience.  This idea has kind of been adapted to be on top of each other rather than separately.  It's like a mind perception chamber in which the user experiences.

This is the latest sketch, with two kind of concepts that could happen.  The first one is like a room where there is a small area in which you can hear and see the insomniac's reality above, not well implemented but still an initial concept.  The second drawing is a bedroom setting in which a component or part is digitally enhanced so when it is interacted with the reality changes into a distortion - maybe the mirror... am unsure if I want to do it...

Precedent - HitLab

HitLab is a company based in Christchurch, that deal with augmented reality.  I love their work shown in this video of a creature living in the real world from the screen.  Using an object to see the animation implemented into real life is quite cool, my project will be more like manipulating the environment to see through an insomniac's mind - through their perception - unsure about what kind of objects or reality it will be but I like the idea of having a bedroom and having taunting objects...

Essay Writing

Today, I have been looking at many many MANY books that show my research process for my essay - have also looked into augmented reality as a concept through design companies who have done it before and could inspire me to round off my essay and conclude my research for my proposal..

ClickSuite Talk

Today we had a talk from Emily from ClickSuite.  I really like ClickSuite's work and use of new technology.  It has inspired me to look into the idea of augmented reality.  ClickSuite did a project where you look through binoculars and see a butterfly and interact with it with a wand..  I like the idea of the user in a tranquil sleep space when they walk in but then looking through a portal or relevant gadget or mind something into an insomniac experience.. This technology could be fun to pursue with the idea of a physical object interaction fueling the feel of the design.

Journal Discovery

Found this journal about sleep and hypnosis which has many different articles from doctors and psychologists about sleep and behaviours and alternatively about hypnosis.

The article that has been linked is about chronic insomnia characteristics, I think this article is useful in determining the state of mind of insomniacs and what kind of things happen to a group of them.  It's quite interesting to read and if I could relate some of the findings to my experience - it would be more realistic - may see if I can question the author...

Hiding the Elephant

Just found this wicked book to read called "Hiding the Elephant" By Jim Steinmeyer.  It's about magic tricks and the history of magic as profession, kind of something interesting to have a wee read of - am going to read more and see if I can discover something more about neuro magic.. unsure if my sleep mind sub-conscious connection is related to neuro magic-ness..

Inspiration - Two-Face's Lair

Elle gave me this idea of looking into a split or two separate rooms to compare between the insomniacs and either the continuous asleep or just regular sleepers.  I like this concept, but am unsure if I would have time to implement two rooms - I also am unsure of my space scale and type of rooms so I need to look into possibilities and make a final decision by Thursday so my essay can be well fleshed out.

Precedent - Eoes Design

http://matsysdesign.com/category/projects/eoes/

This is a cool space in which reflections and shadows determine the space.  This plastic skin bubble formation could be a cool experience space, I could use a shadow and camera capturing scenario to create image builds and a mind space of an insomniac?  It's a creative surrounding space, that could be used to encompass you like an emotion, I'm unsure how I would implement this but it's fun to think about this kind of experience and space to project and capture with - it would be no colour - just black and white.

More Reading..

I found this book which I could use for one of my sources called "Insomnia: Principles and Management" by Martin P. Szuba, David F. Dinges.  Just reading the first few bits of it and having a skim - it seems to address all elements of insomnia and how to deal, not necessarily a cure.. I quite like the beginning when the writers talk specifically about a case, a young girl, who suffered from insomnia for 7-8 years, from when she was about 12.  It's interesting to hear how people accused her of drug abuse and depression because she just couldn't sleep - she knew insomnia was the main cause of her moods.  I like the feel given by this book and how it addresses her state of mind..I think this book could be very helpful in creating an "Insomniac's Experience" ... still haven't concreted an idea yet though..

Precedent - StoryBox

I really like StoryBox, the large scale installations they do make such a grand statement.  I like the echo of the container and the shape entices people to enter.  I'm unsure if I could get a container for this project but I would love one! http://www.storyboxproject.co.nz/

Three Concepts

I decided (for myself) by today I would have three really rough concepts to kind of choose between..

CONCEPT ONE
This would be to create the sound of sleep.  This is an interactive installation where you experience the environment of sleep while awake.. Images would be projected onto the walls corresponding to the sounds of sleep pre-recording.. The purpose would be to experience the state of sleep while being awake - it would be subtle sounds, calming and relaxing.. interaction would be restless due to amount of people in room so indirect interaction...

CONCEPT TWO
Insomnia is a interesting concept to me, so maybe creating an interactive installation fueled by text picking apart insomnia and the experience.. The user/users would enter a space filled with thoughts, emotions and time in the world of an insomniac.. Some how they would interact with the space and change bits - (not entirely sure on specifics) but the whole space mood would be set by the overcoming feeling of insomnia.

CONCEPT THREE
Designing the physical feel of sleep, an interactive object that has the "feel" of sleep - the touch not the actually mind feel of sleep..In our minds we feel sleep as this peaceful experience - want to relate that to a physical object where people interact with it and it does something - unsure what yet .. May incorporate continuous sleep study - as their experiences could be helpful

These are really REALLY rough ideas - may be updated later...

Encephalitis Lethargica

Encephalitis Lethargica is the opposite of insomnia, more a comatose state, where people sleep for years and then wake up.  I have been researching into the 1917 pandemic through this article.  Talking through the states and confusion of the doctors - linking the symptoms with rabies and Parkinson's.

This article talks about how many people were forgotten as nobody could deal with or help patients after their experiences that they died in the hundreds of thousands.  I enjoyed this article it explains further the people's reaction and the way they dealt with the unknown - I think I want to give the user the isolated experience of the individual...  still unsure about how but the mind experience would be a cool interaction - have to read Awakenings by Oliver Sacks, I think...

Insomnia vs Continuous Sleep

Researching further I kind of like the idea of sleep - either too much sleep or none at all..
What kind of state is our mind when we are continuously awake? Or continuously asleep?

I think I need to pick one of these so I can go further into my research.. I also need to consider the interactive experience.. Maybe I'll read some of these cool books I found and make a decision about the experience and the interaction - I would love to design the state of mind experience in some sort of way...

Books To Read:
Insomnia by Stephen King
Sleep: the mysteries, the problems and the solutions by Carlos Schenck
Before I Go To Sleep by S. J. Watson

Oliver Sacks

Not entirely convinced on the whole "humour" idea, I decided to explore different people we were introduced to in the lecture.  Oliver Sacks is a physician, author and neurologist that can't recognise faces.  I wanted to see what his studies were about to spark some inspiration.  He has written many books but one in particular stuck out to me.  It is called "Awakenings" and is about a group of people who were asleep for decades and Dr. Sacks studied them and woke them up.
http://www.oliversacks.com/books/awakenings/

There is a book and a movie relevant to this if I wanted to explore these ideas more...

Popular Science

I found this cool magazine from the 1870 - 2000 called Popular Science.  Each magazine contains feature articles from scientists and doctors about certain things.  I stumbled upon an article from Aug 1908 that looks at humour called "The Nature, Origin and Function of Humor" by Linus W. Kline, Ph.D.

He talks about breaking the surface tension with humour and how each grade of person can appreciate it.  There are six different types of humourous stimuli, according to Kline, these are: animals and their actions, man, man's actions, clothes, customs and manners, and words, language and thought.  Each of these contain there own particulars and details that cause someone to laugh.

I find this kind of study and explanation interesting, the idea of humour and how we connect easily with the "funny side" of things intrigues me.  How do we make the connection of a humourous situation to react with a laugh?  How does our mind view humour?  How do we determine the level of laughter/ reaction to a situation?

Initial Browsing

I broke NEURO and MAGIC apart in order to get a better understanding.

neu·rol·o·gy/n(y)o͝oˈräləjē/

Noun: The branch of medicine that deals with the anatomy, functions, and organic disorders of nerves and the nervous system

http://www.google.co.nz/

mag·ic/ˈmajik/

Adjective: Used in magic or working by magic; having or apparently having supernatural powers: "a magic wand".

Noun: The power of apparently influencing the course of events by using mysterious or supernatural forces. 

http://www.google.co.nz/

With these two definitions, I began to think of mysterious functions as humans and the ideas of experiences.  I want my user to have an unexpected emotional connection with my interactive space - through touch and sound.

I will research further into the connections we make with touch and sound, and how experience provoke subconscious emotions.

Decision

I have chosen to use interaction design for an audience to experience an element of neuro-magic.