Assignment: Midterm Project 1: Group project proposal
Collaborators:
Assignment: Midterm Project 1: Group project proposal
Collaborators: Karen Joy Nomorosa, Sunny Lee, Tanushree Jindal
MOCHEE-LALA
OVERVIEW:
We embarked upon our project by thinking about children's television viewing habits. Many parents frown upon television viewing but at the same time children-targeted television shows and characters such as Dora the Explorer, Spongebob Squarepants, Blues Clues and Baby Einstein continue to be immensely popular. The concern among many parents is the lack of interactivity, passivity, isolation that are often associated with the viewing of television. Many children's shows have come a long way to address these concerns by simulating interactivity but these are merely attempts at simulation.
THE USER EXPERIENCE:
The project was conceptualized with Dora the Explorer in mind. In every episode of Dora the Explorer, Dora, the main character, embarks upon a journey to find something or help somebody. Along the way, she performs different activities that help her achieve her goal. She invites children to participate in these activities. However, the medium by which the stories and activities are delivered are severly limited as it is one-sided, without opportunity for Dora to interact with the kids watching the show. Adding tangible user interfaces will bring a different, richer dimension to the experience as kids will be able to feel like they are actually part of Dora's journey.
This experience is enabled by the use of different tangible user interfaces:
1. Backpack and Toy Chest. Whenever Dora embarks on a journey, she asks children for help in filling out her backpack for things she finds or things she might need. The project involves having an actual backpack and a toy chest full of different possible things to be put in the bag. At this point, instead of kids just pointing on the screen at the object Dora is referring to, they can actually go to the toy chest, look for the things that Dora refers to, and put it in the backpack. The backpack recognizes these objects, and gives feedback to the Dora on screen, who can then give the appropriate reaction to the viewer.
2. Maps / Interactive Surface. Another important character in the Dora series is the Map, who indicates the trail that Dora must follow in her journey. An interactive map can help children determine where they want to go next. An interactive surface can also be useful in enabling Dora's other activities. For instance, sometimes she asks kids to look for other characters in a given scene, or she teaches them how to speak Spanish. There are a variety of ways by which an Interactive Surface can help make these activities richer and more experiential.
