This week I decide to create a prototype of a project that I though doing it as a gift to my mother. In one of the first softness class, Alex presented a concept for a project that explored the idea of an object that could transmit presence over distance for people that are separated or live in different parts of the world. It was nice to have the discussion on the class about this kind of artifacts that can communicate over distance some kind of presence . I liked the idea. Is very hard to have relationships over distance
and sometimes you just want to be there but you can. It is also true, as Despina pointed out, that this kind of objects try to substitute something that is not possible to happen and that normally is an object that at the beginning can be funny or playful but it's lifespan ( find a better way to explain this) is very short - like a toy.
For the assignment of this week I decided to explore this topic. I use Skype to talk with my mother and normally we talk every other day but since I started school it's very hard to find time to talk with her and when I have some time I call. Sometimes she doesn't ear the call and miss it and even if Skype has an option that allows you to see who called and all the missed calls, my mother never see that and thinks that I never call her.
So my idea was to create an object that could create some idea of presence to my mother at the same time trying to solve that problem of the missed calls.
Since she is always asking me for a portrait (with a recent picture) I decided to create a portrait that lights up every time I call through skype and if my mother miss the call, he portrait keeps light up, dimming over time, giving some awareness of the passage of time and allowing my mother to know if I called and how long did I called.
I started by building the circuit with led's and programming it in Arduino.
When this part was done, it was time to start by building the prototype. I printed a picture in a clear paper ( to give the light box effect) and I started building the prototype in cardboard.
With the structure was completed was time to take the circuit out of the breadboard and put it into the structure. It was the first time I did this and I was happy because it worked at the first time.
With the circuit done, now I think I have to think how to:
- build the structure in other material and in a way that it can be easy to change the picture and to change the batteries
- create a program that can access the Skype ( using an API) and track the missed calls
I am very happy with the result of this project and how in a short period of time I has able to build the prototype and having it working and also, doing something for my mother.