June 2nd, 2010 - Some Questions
Watching people interact with the work posed numerous questions which I would like to find solutions to. This include how does the viewer know what to do? How do they understand how they are affecting the work? What happens when numerous of viewers engage with the work? Can I program the software to see each person individually and track them as different populations making overlaps and comparisons on the display wall? Do viewers understand that the small animated figures represent the unemployed and that their silhouette becomes a labor force, or the potential for one? Is there a way to better represent “the city”– the space the figures occupy when no one is in the camera’s scope of view?
I would welcome feedback, suggestions and the potential for technical collaboration on this project which I believe is culturally and socially relevant at this time as so many people are unemployed. I find it seductive and compelling to look at but am not sure that my aesthetic resonates so would be interested in discussion and critical feedback about the presentation as well as the content of the work.
Pau (June 8th, 2010 at 8:23 am)
Hi, Jody
Your questions are very interesting, I’d like to propose some possible solutions and comments:
How does the viewer know what to do?: the best solution is to find a way to let the viewer find out by him or herself what to do. Camera tracking is a good idea, since people quickly understand what is going on. A possible additional solution could be to add short instructions which pop up when a new silhouette is captured, although this may cause problems when many people are interacting.
Do viewers understand that the small animated figures represent the unemployed and that their silhouette becomes a labor force?: at this point, and watching the video, I think not. Maybe some information may help communicating this idea, but in any case I think the concept of labor force is a bit complex, and it could be understood if the figures were able to perform some sort of task when they are part of the shadow. Maybe changing the figure from “unemployed” to “worker”, by creating another symbol with the same stick figure?
Is there a way to better represent “the city”– the space the figures occupy when no one is in the camera’s scope of view?: I like the simplified city map or the squares representing buildings and cities. Maybe a possibility would be to have a grid with several buildings representing workplaces (office, factory) that the stick figures cannot enter unless the are part of the visitor’s shadow.
And some more ideas:
One way of representing this social situation could be in the form of a sort of game. The visitor can direct the stick figures to several blocks representing workplaces, but there are always too many figures and the blocks are quickly filled.
A different type of interaction could be one in which the user is able to push the figures with his or her shadow.
I hope this helps.
Best,
Pau
Jody zellen (June 27th, 2010 at 6:44 pm)
Pau
Thanks for the comments. If I was a better programmer I could
delve right into trying to adapt some of these ideas into the
current code for the piece but thats outside the realm of what I
can do. One thing learned when the piece was presented was that
people were hesitant to interact and were not sure what to do or
what was going on. I think multiple overlapping trackings could
work if each one introduced a separate country. I understand as
well about the fact that there is little difference between the
‘images that become the silhouette’ and the ones that are ‘urban
wanderers’ they do in fact change color slightly. i have gone
back and forth about a clearer representation of ‘city’ and again
it began as just grid lines because that was all i was able to
‘draw’ in processing. I have though about bringing in the outline
of the various countries to represent place or a simple diagram
of a generic city could also work for me. The game question–how
to really engage the viewer is a good one but again i am not sure
how to develop these ideas in code.
i will try to come up with some sketch and post them here soon.
thanks for your comments sorry to be so slow to respond.