THE
GLOWING PUPPET

AN INTERACTIVE MIRROR OF PERSONAL AND COLLECTIVE FEELINGS

We are
proposing to continue to work on the glowing puppet as a support for theater
workshops. Following the feedback we received from the mid-term, we plan to
make a few changes in how our puppet is used and several changes in how it is
designed.

Proposed
changes in the use of the puppet

We plan
to continue designing the individual puppets for use in the three collective
usage scenarios we proposed; to communicate with the central puppet as
collector of anonymous votes, as a mirror of the public opinion during playback
theater performances, and as a Greek choir to the ongoing performance.

We
propose several changes to enrich how the puppet functions as a mirror of the
user's feelings when used alone outside of the workshop setting. This will
related directly to some of our physical design changes, including an enrichment
of input methods and output function. In the individual usage cases, we are not
implementing the 'diary function' where puppets can record feelings over time
and play them back at will - this will streamline the concept.

Design
details

The most
important design changes we are proposing involve the input and output of the
puppets.

In our
previous iteration, the basic mappings of feelings to puppet input and output
was as follows:

negative
feeling --> squeeze (light to forceful) -->

      puppet makes a negative-sounding noise
(soft to loud sound)

positive
feeling --> stroke (light to forceful) -->

      puppet glows (soft to bright color)

We
would like to rethink this mapping. We have discussed both subtle and drastic
changes, but we feel that the best way to proceed is to observe and experiment:
we will build quick prototypes of individual puppets using different materials,
to observe what kind of reaction they elicit; we will try to observe which
different ways people have of expressing both negative (impatience, or
frustration, or anger) and positive (happiness, affection, support) feelings;
we might try quick Woz tests to see if the i/o mapping - both at an individual
and at a central puppet level - makes sense to users.  

As far
as the central puppet is concerned, we would like to experiment with a virtual
central puppet (that is, a screen, rather than an actual puppet) that takes its
input from the individual puppets as per our original design. This might create
a more spectacular group experience for the workshop participants, but might
also have unexpected effects on the performance. We will create a couple of
specific scenarios and try out different types of screen output to test what a
logical mapping to the individual puppets input would be.