The Neenish Mirror & The Ludic Lift

The ITEE Crowd

Contributors: Unit: Distribution:

Bashkim Isai IENV3000/7944 IENV3000/7944

Lisa Underhill Studio II Stephen Viller

Dean Jullie Physical Computing Marie Boden

Felicity Lupo Year 2010 Andrew Dekker

Matt Lewis Semester 1

Table of Contents
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 1
Audience ................................................................................................................................................. 2
Staff ..................................................................................................................................................... 2
Students .............................................................................................................................................. 2
Public ................................................................................................................................................... 2
Interaction............................................................................................................................................... 3
Input .................................................................................................................................................... 3
Encouraging Non-Invasive Physical Activity .................................................................................... 3
Encouraging Aberrant Physical Activity .......................................................................................... 5
Discouraging Negative Health Choices ........................................................................................... 7
Extreme Physical Activity ................................................................................................................ 9
Output ............................................................................................................................................... 10
Input Context .................................................................................................................................... 12
Output Context ................................................................................................................................. 13
Brief Fulfilment ..................................................................................................................................... 15
Field Situation ....................................................................................................................................... 16
BBDO Buenos Aires: Nike and UNICEF 10K Challenge ...................................................................... 16
Philip Worthington: Shadow Monsters ............................................................................................ 17
Gene Lu: Handwash Tracker ............................................................................................................. 18
Ross Phillips: Video Grid.................................................................................................................... 19
ZiZi the Affectionate Couch............................................................................................................... 20
Known Constraints ................................................................................................................................ 21
Contributors .......................................................................................................................................... 25
Bashkim Isai....................................................................................................................................... 25
Lisa Underhill..................................................................................................................................... 25
Dean Jullie ......................................................................................................................................... 26
Felicity Lupo ...................................................................................................................................... 26
Matt Lewis......................................................................................................................................... 26
Project Plan ........................................................................................................................................... 27
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 28
References

Appendix 1: Gantt Chart

ii
List of Figures
Figure 1: Sketch tracking the number of people utilising the stairs with an infrared sensor. ............. 3
Figure 2: Sketch identifying the number of bikes parked using pressure mats. .................................. 4
Figure 3: Sketch tracking the number of people utilising an elevator. ................................................ 4
Figure 4: Sketch a treadmill which counts its usage and uses it as a positive method for input. ....... 5
Figure 5: Sketch encouraging physical exercise by promoting star jumps. ......................................... 6
Figure 6: Sketch vending machine with pressure mat to count usage. ............................................... 7
Figure 7: Sketch inserting coins into a vending machine. .................................................................... 8
Figure 8: Sketch a swipe card reader is located near a door in the gym to allow people to be
counted as they enter or exit the facility. ............................................................................................... 9
Figure 9: Sketch example of how plexiglass being implemented to skew a persons' reflection. ...... 10
Figure 10: Sketch a hall of video cameras and projectors which act as a virtual mirror. .................. 11
Figure 11: Digital Still single frame capture of the movement around elevators and stairs in the
General Purpose South (#78) building. ................................................................................................. 12
Figure 12: Sketch example of the context of a circus tent to house the Installation. ....................... 13
Figure 13: Sketch hallways of mirrors implementing cameras and projectors. ................................ 14
Figure 14: Digital Still Nike donates money to UNICEF for each kilometre run on a treadmill. ........ 16
Figure 15: Digital Still children playing with the Shadow Monsters installation. .............................. 17
Figure 16: Digital Still monsters which evolve from hand shadow gestures. .................................... 17
Figure 17: Digital Still Gene Lu's Handwash Tracker - how it integrates with its environment. ........ 18
Figure 18: Digital Still the video grid captures moving image and displays it in a grid. ..................... 19
Figure 19: Digital Still ZiZi the Affectionate couch responds to how you interact with it. ................ 20
Figure 20: Digital Mock-up posters indicating the positive and negative functions of stairs and
elevators (respectively) in the building................................................................................................. 23

iii
Introduction
The Neenish Mirror will be an installation piece which alters the residual self image of a
person to encourage physical activity. The work will measure the level of current physical
activity performed in participating faculties (grouped by buildings) around the university
campus. This communal interface for input will be used to change a mirrors reflection.
Placing mirrors in a public location will ensure direct access to the intended audience:
students and staff.

The concept essentially involves taking input generated by a positive or negative health
choice, processing this raw data, and concaving or convexing the then angle of a mirror
correlating to the faculty. This work fulfils the criteria of the brief by encouraging physical
activity within the allotted buildings.

The Neenish Mirror aims to visualise behaviours and choices regarding active living by
displaying differing scenarios of weight gain and weight loss by how a users choices may
affect their health and well being. This display does not aim to enforce change, but rather
provide a choice which allows the audience to make the decision.

The interaction of the installation attempts to educate the community, even if the audience
members are not personally interacting with the displays sensory inputs. Passersby may
not frequent the target buildings, but awareness of the health status of buildings around
them may make them more aware of the choices they make.

Alternatively to the Neenish mirror, the team will also explore the concept a Ludic Lift by
retrofitting an elevator to communicate with its riders to deliberate whether the choice of
using a lift is appropriate.

Introduction 1
Audience
The Neenish Mirror will provide interaction with the physical world in a way that aims to
educate the community even if the audience members are not personally interacting with
the displays sensory inputs. Passersby may not frequent the target buildings but awareness
of the health status of buildings around them may help them think about the choices they
make.

The Neenish mirror is targeted towards participating faculties/schools. After analysing the
structure of the university, we identified two audiences: staff and students.

Staff
The primary audience encompasses the teaching and administration staff of participating
buildings. These people were chosen as a primary focus as they reside and feel a
connection with a particular building. Playing on this emotion of pride the Neenish mirror
aims to motivate a change in the amount of physical activity being performed as it reflects
the healthy state of the buildings community.

To the residents the building is their home; residents may experience friendly competition
between other staff members from opposing faculties.

Students
Secondary to the staff members whom occupy a building are the students that study under
a particular faculty. The role of a student in the Neenish mirror installation is to further
facilitate healthy habits.

Public
The public will be able to engage with the work by performing the activities allotted to the
installation and utilise the public-space mirrors.

Audience 2
Interaction
The Neenish Mirror measures the level of physical activity that is being performed in
particular buildings across the university campus. Brainstorming sessions raised concepts
and hypothesis which were further explored as part of the interaction of the installation
including the concept of system inputs and outputs.

Input
An idea that interested the team was to implement inputs that were related to good and
bad principles. With this in mind, the team brainstormed the following ideas.

Encouraging Non-Invasive Physical Activity

The first of these ideas was an input to encourage users to walk up the stairs. This input
would be implemented in each participating building at every flight of stairs with two
sensors allocated to each staircase; at both foot and waist level. This will ensure that every
user is counted for, even if they step over the foot sensor.

Figure 1: Sketch tracking the number of people utilising the stairs with an infrared sensor.

Interaction 3
Riding your bike to university is also a healthy form of physical activity, and this idea
encourages users to partake in this. Adding pressure sensors to the bike racks can monitor
the usage of these and add data to the closest buildings total.

Figure 2: Sketch identifying the number of bikes parked using pressure mats.

In conjunction with stair and bike usage, elevator usage is being utilised as a negative input.
It measures how many people will use the elevator in a participating building, taking this
information to manipulate the mirrors. The two sensors positioned at foot level and waist
level will also ensure every user is counted.

Figure 3: Sketch tracking the number of people utilising an elevator.

Interaction 4
Encouraging Aberrant Physical Activity
In order to facilitate physical exertion, the concept of placing exercise equipment around
the campus was explored. The modified equipment would measure the usage of the
machines and report this to the installation. These machines would be placed indoors
within participating buildings.

Placing random exercise equipment around the university campus can encourage students
to participate in physical activity during their breaks. These will either be placed inside or
near participating buildings and added to their total, or placed around the campus where
swiping your student card will identify where to assign the data.

Figure 4: Sketch a treadmill which counts its usage and uses it as a positive method for input.

Interaction 5
Another piece of equipment hypothesised to be placed around the university campus was a
set of jumping mats which encourage people to do star jumps. Pressure mats placed
appropriately, two side-by-sides and two further outside of these, can count how many star
jumps each user has performed.

Figure 5: Sketch encouraging physical exercise by promoting star jumps.

Interaction 6
Discouraging Negative Health Choices
Vending machines can influence a persons diet in a positive or negative way. Our ideas
involve changing peoples actions from the negative to the positive, by measuring the
usage and displaying the results.

Figure 6: Sketch vending machine with pressure mat to count usage.

One way of measuring usage is to implement pressure mats at the base of each vending
machine, in participating buildings. This will identify when users use the vending machine,
sending the results to manipulate the assigned mirrors. Similarly to the pressure mat idea,
the proximity sensor will measure usage by sensing when users approach the vending
machine.

Interaction 7
Figure 7: Sketch inserting coins into a vending machine.

This idea differs from the previous concepts as it tries to influence the users decision to
use the vending machine through the implementation of audio. As each coin is inserted, a
sound with resonate (at this stage the Jaws theme tune) which will make the user consider
whether they are making an appropriate choice.

The Jaws theme tune appears to be the most appropriate option as the majority of western
civilisation can identify its tune as a precedent to impending danger. As more coins inserted
into the machine, will audio will increase in pace.

Interaction 8
Extreme Physical Activity
Using the gym can be seen as a fun form of physical activity, so our idea was to give users
the incentive to go more and contribute to a particular buildings activity percentage. By
using student IDs as swipe cards, we can use the encoding to pick up each users course and
what building to assign the data to.

Figure 8: Sketch a swipe card reader is located near a door in the gym to allow people to be counted as they
enter or exit the facility.

Interaction 9
Output
The output for the processed data needs to be a simple concept that still appeals to the
public to come and try.

Figure 9: Sketch example of how plexiglass being implemented to skew a persons' reflection.

One of two possible ideas was to have a physical mirror made from plexiglass that would
be manipulated according to the input. Essentially, the mirror will concave to change your
image to look thinner, or convex it to look larger through a push and pull mechanism. The
advantage of this idea is that the public can feel like they are interacting with the mirrors
more.

Interaction 10
Figure 10: Sketch a hall of video cameras and projectors which act as a virtual mirror.

The second idea for displaying the output is to use a video camera to transmit live footage
of the reflection. This will then manipulate the image on-the-fly to skew the reflection to
look larger or thinner depending on the data. This is the favoured approach by the team
currently.

Interaction 11
Input Context
A preliminary analysis of the proposed context for the input components was done. The
proposed space was the entry level of Building #78 General Purpose South. In order to
ascertain the usage of stairs and elevators in the proposed environment, a video capture of
the high-traffic areas were undertaken.

It was found that in a 2 hour period, 32 people utilised the elevators and 22 people used
the stairs.

Figure 11: Digital Still single frame capture of the movement around elevators and stairs in the General
Purpose South (#78) building.

The full video can be viewed online by visiting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2eUf_Jraxg

Interaction 12
Output Context
The whole idea for the project is to draw people in to try the mirrors themselves and to
promote healthier choices for their lifestyle. This means they need to be displayed in a
relatively public location. One idea is to display the mirrors in a funhouse tent somewhere
similar to the Great Court. This would easily draw users attention as it would be a different
and fun way of displaying the data gathered. Within the tent, the mirrors from each
building will be set up accompanied by circus-like music to add to the atmosphere.

Figure 12: Sketch example of the context of a circus tent to house the Installation.

Interaction 13
Another hypothesis for the implementation of the project is to set up a hallway of mirrors
in an unused and open space that is still accessible to the public. A suitable location could
include the Hawken Engineering hallways. Both of these ideas are highly suitable and
simple to implement, though the permissions of the university board would need to be
acquired.

Figure 13: Sketch hallways of mirrors implementing cameras and projectors.

Interaction 14
Brief Fulfilment
The Neenish Mirror covers all aspects outlined in the project requirements. It implements,
physical computing, promotes physical activity, and influences behavioural change to those
involved in the system. The project requires physical interaction in order to operate; even
using the elevators involves physically interacting with the elevator. For this reason,
physical computing is relevant in this project. Likewise, the physical activity aspect of the
project is needed to ensure that the system functions. The teams objective for this type of
system is that it will influence behavioural change by promoting physical activity as fun.

Brief Fulfilment 15
Field Situation
A vast amount of research and brainstorming was required in the early stages of the
concepts formation. This has aided in expanding and developing ideas for the Neenish
Mirror, as existing projects helped influence a higher level of creativity; this was explored in
great depth.

BBDO Buenos Aires: Nike and UNICEF 10K Challenge

Figure 14: Digital Still Nike donates money to UNICEF for each kilometre run on a treadmill.

A relevant example that was researched during the formation of this concept was the
Nike-UNICEF 10K Challenge, created by BBDO Buenos Aires, Argentina (Van Wageningen,
2007). The project was established in Argentina to encourage members of the general
public to exercise in exchange for money to be donated to UNICEF.

This was a highly relevant research project as it explores how physical computing, street
computing and physical activity interlace together all which are key topics in the project
brief.

The key inspiration this installation brings to the Neenish Mirror concept is the effect a
project of this nature took on the community and how it encouraged people to become
more physically active.

Field Situation 16
Philip Worthington: Shadow Monsters

Figure 15: Digital Still children playing with the Shadow Monsters installation.

Figure 16: Digital Still monsters which evolve from hand shadow gestures.

Shadow Monsters(Worthington, 2005) was also of particular interest for this project as
they both share a real-time video manipulation component. In the shadow monsters
installation, shadow hand gestures are appended with fangs, ears and voices to add to the
narrative of childrens stories.

Exploration into the visualisation aspects of Shadow Monsters will be undertaken.

Field Situation 17
Gene Lu: Handwash Tracker

Figure 17: Digital Still Gene Lu's Handwash Tracker - how it integrates with its environment.

One such project similar to the Neenish Mirror is the Handwash Tracker (Lu, Miller, St.
Onge, & Katayama, 2009) at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, USA. The project
was of particular interest as it shows how an external system can be built on top of an
existing structure: a washroom.

This is relevant to the Neenish Mirror, particularly when looking at the possibility of using
vending machines as an input. Further exploration into building on top of the vending
machine without affecting the original structure, will be completed; additionally, what
equipment would be required for this.

Field Situation 18
Ross Phillips: Video Grid

Figure 18: Digital Still the video grid captures moving image and displays it in a grid.

By implementing video imaging, the Video Grid (Phillips, 2009) captures loops of video
input and repeats them as part of a collage in a grid-like formation. This project was
displayed as a part of the digital art exhibition, Art Rock, in 2009 and is current at the V&A
museum in London, England. This idea is relevant to the Neenish Mirror as it applies the
use of digital video imaging.

Field Situation 19
ZiZi the Affectionate Couch

Figure 19: Digital Still ZiZi the Affectionate couch responds to how you interact with it.

To accompany the exploration of the voice-responsive elevator, ZiZi the affectionate couch
was identified as an important work in the field. The couch responds to the level of
interaction that it receives, it growls when ignored, purrs when sat on and emits soft
groans of delight if you stroke her long fur (Barrass, Davy, Davy, & Richens, 2008). It was
presented as an Interactive Sculpture at the International Symposium of Electronic Art in
Singapore, 2008.

The installation personifies an ottoman couch (also known as a poof or foot couch) in
order to have its owners draw a closer connection with it. Similar to the explorations of
Barrass (et.al.), the Ludic Lift attempts to investigate the feeling of empathy of inanimate
objects (Barrass, Creative practice-based research in interaction design, 2008).

Field Situation 20
Known Constraints
When creating a project that involves the community, many tests and observations need to
be carried out to ensure that all aspects of the project have been regarded and there are
no problems with it. Constraints are extremely important when creating a project like the
Neenish Mirror. With each input and output explored, constraints have been looked at in
order to create the best possible outcome for each situation.

A first input that was explored was walking up the stairs. The methodological constraints
were that people with disabilities would be excluded from the project as they cannot walk
up the stairs. The solution for this would be to make the university campus more
wheelchair accessible. The technical limits with this input would be the money
requirements needed for the infrared sensors. Despite this, the problem of not accounting
for people with disabilities does not pose as a major hindrance.

A second input was to walk more in general to encourage physical activity. The constraints
for this would be when documenting the data, recording how much people walk in general
and the equipment used can be quite vague and unreliable. A practical constraint for this
would be that people need a purpose or reward to walk more so that would need to be
implemented, usually through a reward system.

Another input that was researched was encouraging users to use the gym more. The
constraint with this input would be whether users would have access to the gym, however
people that use the gym are generally health conscious already, so this demographic
wouldnt need to be targeted as much, rather encouraged to maintain visits.

Exercise equipment being place around the university to measure data usage was also
another input that was explored. The methodological constraints that are involved with this
are that people are self-conscious and dont enjoy exercising in front of others. The
technical limits to this input involve linking the exercise machine to a university database to
determine what building the user is from. This would require universities approval first

Known Constraints 21
which could be quite a task. The practical constraints are that there has to be access to an
exercise machine that is in reasonable condition for people to actually want use it. Access
to this type of machine may be difficult as exercise equipment is usually rather expensive.

Putting bike racks throughout the university is another idea for an input that could be used
to manipulate the Neenish Mirror. The technical limits that would be involved with this
would be detecting what cyclists come from what building, and detecting whether a user
actually did cycle into university. The team is still working on how to solve this problem.
Another constraint that arises with the bike rack idea is that implementing it in a public
place would indicate that permission is required by the university administration. This
should not be a problem if the idea is presented across the board.

A final idea for an input that was conceived was to limit the use of unhealthy vending
machines. The idea was to limit this by creating a noise, similar to the Jaws theme, so that
users are aware that they are making an unhealthy choice. The first constraint to this idea
is that people may not be aware of the healthy option so decide to use the vending
machine as an efficient alternative.

Posters can be place around the vending machine to notify them of this. Secondly, sound is
extremely subjective especially when a university is as multicultural as UQ. The jaws theme
music may invoke different meanings for different people. There is no efficient way to solve
this problem so the team will choose music that would hit the biggest demographic. Testing
this system would be difficult and would be another problem as many people inadvertently
pass by vending machines with no real intention of purchasing products. The team is still
looking into a way to resolve this problem. Finally, the last constraint that is associated with
this system is that vending machines are not owned by the university so companies would
not approve with tampering of their equipment, but if the team worked with the company
they may give permission to do so.

Known Constraints 22
Figure 20: Digital Mock-up posters indicating the positive and negative functions of stairs and elevators
(respectively) in the building.

Another major constraint that is involved with the Neenish Mirror is the actual mirror
concept and which context it is going to be used in. The idea is to display the mirrors in
either a funhouse tent or a hallway of mirrors. This could be a major problem as people
may have low self esteem and body image problems. These mirrors could increase these
problems, so in order for this to be minimized, awareness needs to be made and the
mirrors would need to state that they represent the collective whole and not just the
individual.

Known Constraints 23
Additionally, people may abuse the system by tripping the sensors without actually doing
anything physical. This can easily be prevented by not letting the participants know the
location of the sensor. There are also a couple of practical constraints with the Neenish
Mirror. Firstly the equipment that would be required to implement a project like this can
be quite expensive. This problem could be solved if the university were willing to provide
the equipment or fund the project if it is presented to them. Secondly access to the
Universities Wi-Fi connection would be needed to store, send and record data that is
accumulated. In order for the project to work effectively the potential location for the
equipment could not be located in a dead zone.

An additional note is the time constraint of this project. There is a thirteen week allotment
for the entire project; from concept to implementation, so this poses as a major concern
for the team.

Known Constraints 24
Contributors

Bashkim Isai
Project Management

Bash is enrolled in a Masters of Interaction Design and is interested in approaching the

Neenish mirror from a project management perspective. With his experience in
Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, he endeavours to oversee and facilitate
the programming and electrical components of the project without undertaking the roles
directly.

Lisa Underhill
Visual Design and Documentation

Going into her third year of Multimedia Design, Lisa brings various skills to the project. Her
strengths lie in visual design, focusing mainly on graphics and illustrative art. She also has
previous experience with HTML and PHP coding and has completed various courses in
usability design and interaction. Additionally, Lisa has delved into 3D modelling, games
design and digital video production, bringing a diverse knowledge to the team. Her main
weaknesses are coding and electronics, though she hopes to learn more about these areas
in the project.

Contributors 25
Dean Jullie
Video Development and Electronics

As a third year Multimedia Design student Dean has a broad range of abilities that will
become useful within this Studio project. His strengths in multimedia lie in film as he has
experience directing, editing and producing videos. Second to that Dean is strong in user
interaction and usability design, having a grasp on the logic behind usability and the
possibilities for interaction. Also, Dean has some experience in HTML and PHP coding that
could benefit the project should the decision to use the web as an interface arise. In
contrast to the design world Dean has basic experience with electronics that should benefit
the project and render him as a valuable asset come implementation time. His weaknesses
lie in the interfacing of electronic equipment and the coding required for such complex
tasks.

Felicity Lupo
User Experience Design and Documentation

Like Lisa and Dean, Felicity is a third year Multimedia Design student who shares
experience in the areas graphic design, usability design and testing, and video production.
Her main strength lies in visual design, particularly, illustrative art which she has a keen
interest in. Similarly, Felicity has studied HTML and PHP coding, games design and 3D
modelling, which she hopes to implement in the project if needed. Her experience with
coding and electronics is limited, so she sees this as her main weakness for the project.

Matt Lewis
Networking and Electronics

The skill set Matt brings to this team is design, electronics and audio. He have a history in
audio engineering so anything involving sound, Matt should be able to interface well with.
Electronics are fairly simple and he has a good understanding of signal flow. Design has
always been a strong passion of Matts and he is relatively skilled in most design software,
including Adobe Illustrator.

Contributors 26
Project Plan
The concept of the Neenish Mirror is, in reality, a large project that may not be fully
implemented in a thirteen week timeslot. We anticipate that one building will be
retrofitted with the facilities required to implement a fundamental solution.

For more detailed information, see Appendix 1: Gantt Chart.

Project Plan 27
Conclusion
With the guidelines, concepts and information that have been presented in this document,
we believe that the implementation is entirely feasible within one building within the
allotted timeframe including 2 input methodologies and either the plexiglass or
video/projector mirrors.

We believe that the cost of resources required to implement the project is not substantial
enough to warrant any special attention. The resources that we require to implement the
solutions proposed in this document can either be purchased online and delivered within a
few days or purchased from a second hand retailer for some of the larger items (e.g.:
treadmill, if it is implemented).

Conclusion 28
References
Barrass, S. (2008). Creative practice-based research in interaction design. Computers in
Entertainment (CIE) , 6 (3), Article 33.

Barrass, S., Davy, L., Davy, R., & Richens, K. (2008). ZiZi the Afffectionate Couch (2003). Retrieved 03
25, 2010, from International Symposium on Electronic Art 2008: Singapore:
http://www.isea2008singapore.org/exhibitions/pe_ex_zizi.html

Lu, G., Miller, C., St. Onge, E., & Katayama, M. (2009, 12 09). Handwash Tracker. Retrieved 03 18,
2010, from Portfolio of Gene Lu: http://www.genelu.com/content/view/182/1/

MikeTheActuary. (2008, 01 01). Roadgeek Fonts . Retrieved 03 15, 2010, from Musings of
MikeTheActuary: http://www.triskele.com/roadgeek-fonts

Phillips, R. (2009, 12 09). Videogrid at Decode: Digital Design Sensations at the V&A. Retrieved 03 18,
2010, from Ross Phillips Archive: http://www.nipplecat.com/portfolio/labels/videogrid.html

Van Wageningen, M. (2007, 05 15). Benefic Treadmill. Retrieved 03 20, 2010, from DirectDaily:
http://directdaily.blogspot.com/2007/05/benefic-treadmill.html

Wikipedia Foundation. (2009, 08 23). AIGA symbol signs. Retrieved 03 15, 2010, from WikiMedia
Commons: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:AIGA_symbol_signs

Worthington, P. (2005). Shadow Monsters. Retrieved 03 20, 2010, from A collection of work by Philip
Worthington: http://www.worthersoriginal.com/viki/#page=shadowmonsters
Appendix 1: Gantt Chart

N.B.: The labels Week refer to the Week of the Calendar, not of the University Semester.