The topic of this Module would be Coping, and the material we are working with is the motors from our Arduino kit called Servos.
Coping can be understood like a metaphor, like getting a grasp of things. It can be a grasp of an idea or an object. When we are out and exploring the world we interact and cope with our whole body. We are active within the environment, and by doing that we adapt to things. Our bodies respond to the things that are happening, or allow the body to react to the things that are happening.
Skilful coping is usually explained when we know how to deal with a certain situation we have knowledge for. The activities such as tying the shoes and different habits we have that we learned by our parents don’t require to stop and think about how are we doing them rather than they are just happening.
Skills in life can be improved by learning. We can get better at doing things. There are different skill levels that one person can have. As it might continue we might wonder what is the difference between someone that is a novice at something and someone that is an expert. Both of these people have the knowledge but the person that is just starting is usually following a set of rules or so called scaffolding. When we are good at doing something we don’t think about it, or the steps we need to take to finish the task. We are just acting on the situation.
This module we are reading the paper “Designing for Coping” by Clint Heyer. In the paper he the talks about the four ‘lenses’.
– Malleability
– Direct Manipulability
– Meta Manipulability
– Social Manipulability
With malleability we try to fit an artefact into situation in a durable matter. We set it up for some kind of activity, which we think we might use it later. For example we set up the ingredients for baking a cake then we bake the cake. This should be done in order to be more continuous within the interaction, or make it more fitting for our personal use.
Direct manipulability is coupling of action – response. Which makes me wonder what exactly is direct? How do we decide something is direct interaction and what is not? Is using the mouse with a computer indirectness and interacting with a touch screen directness? What are the consequences of using these different interactions?
Meta manipulability presents the nuance. Nuance is how we are able to work with the tools as objects rather than tools. Their usage with constant flow without interrupting the the activity we are doing. It presents the ability of being able to fit the tools within that said activity, with allowance to make small adjustments to the tools without stopping. It contributes to the continuousness of the interaction.
Social manipulability – how our activity shows up to the others. What kind of feedback the other people get if for example somebody is typing loudly on their computer? What does that present and what kind of affordance can be seen?
In module two we are working on a project where we are supposed to strive towards expressing afforance, feedback and/or feedforward as a textural quality. We should try to deepen the nuance of perceptibility and action. It should be continuosly available and holistic. In the end it should be a presentation of a concept for tools.
Pink Prototyping 