ASSIGNMENT 1: TECHNIQUEST

ASSESSMENT: BRIEF 1
TECHNIQUEST

NAME: VIVIEN VAN DER SANDT
ST NO 06003781
viviensandt@yahoo.co.uk

9 October 2006

Mapping Music:
Exploring a ‘touch screen’ that utilises alternating current

Science-discovery centre Techniquest provided a range of HCI devices to choose from. Since the Personal Project I hope to do later this year entails using a world map for an interactive, educational game, I looked at several examples of how Techniquest has used the world map in Human Computer Interaction (HCI). Techniquest exhibits include the Pangaea Puzzle (which demonstrates continental drift and features tectonic plates floating on compressed air); the Geocron (an electric clock that moves a world map slowly across the screen, showing time zones - the countries in the lit-up area are at that moment experiencing daylight); and the World Music exhibit. I explored in depth the World Music exhibit, as it seems closest to what I may want to do with my Project.

At first appearance, the World Music exhibit is a large, flat board (240cm across and 120cm high) featuring a map of the world (oval shaped). The map is flanked by two monitors with buttons, left and right of where the User stands. Two headphones hang from hooks. Text on the monitor indicates what the User should do to activate the display: headphones need to be donned, the puck (akin to a stethoscope, attached to the headphones) needs to be placed anywhere on the map. Then the traditional music of the country touched on may be heard through the headphones. (The music of only 63 countries - out of the 190-odd countries of the world – is featured). When the User has activated a recording, a written, explanatory piece about the music/country appears on one of the monitors.

The monitors have four selection buttons, taking the User into: (Top Left) The introduction/Instructions to the exhibit; (Top Right) language preference – English/Welsh; (Bottom Left) a category labelled Why Science (which explains the science behind the exhibit); and lastly, the Bottom Right button, which takes the User into a category headed Why Music (more information on world music)

When a connected spot on the map is selected and music is heard, text and pictures imparting more information about that country and its music automatically appear on one of the monitors if it is set to the Top Left button.

If the User selects Why Music (by impressing the bottom right button), s/he could find out all about world music generally (the earliest recordings of folk music were done on paper in 1903 by Briton Cecil Sharpe and later by Perry Granger on the Edison phonograph recorder; the portable recorder was only available in 1948). This in itself illustrates how technical advances have enabled us to have accessible records of a cultural heritage, and how easy modern technology makes it to disseminate that knowledge. In short, the perfect marriage of science and culture.

The aim of the device is twofold: to provide a cultural and geographic experience/ education regarding musical styles from all over the world, and secondly (in line with Techniquest’s raison d’etre) to illustrate a scientific/technological principle.

In this exhibit, the scientific principle being illustrated is that of transformers and alternating current. (As mentioned earlier, the User can learn about the science by selecting the Why Science button). It is explained that the headphones are connected to a half transformer (or puck). The puck is made up of a coil of wire around a core of silicon steel which can be magnetised and demagnetised. Behind the world map are 63 similar half transformers (as explained, there are only 63 music snippets), each with alternating current flowing in the coils. Each alternating current comes from a recording of music. The User gets the alternating current in the coil and hears the music.

So far, so good but the exhibit, I thought, had several problems which suggested that it had not been entirely thought through. The first problem is who was it aimed at? Techniquest (as staff member Sue Cavell explained to the group) is aimed at young children. In addition to being accessible in terms of content, the exhibits’ designers have to consider the proportions of the human body – as exhibits, of course, also have to be physically accessed (reachable buttons, visible screens, and so on). In terms of dimensions, Techniquest hardware is designed with a 12-year-old in mind, taking that as a median size between child and adult.

But here the World Music exhibit throws up a real problem, as in terms of placement (37cm above the floor, making the map about torso level for an adult) the display seems aimed at children. However, the dimensions across (240 cm) are unrealistic, as a child will not be able to see the monitors unless s/he is standing at the far right or left of the map. (Even I, as a shortish adult, could not see the monitors at all times – therefore missing out on the corresponding information for countries placed centrally on the map).

Another small problem is that the puck measures 5cm across; when placed over the Balkans, for instance, the User could not target one individual country, the puck covered at least six – an area from Italy to Macedonia, in fact. The music of Albania came up while the puck straddled these six countries, which would be confusing for a child. With large countries like Russia and Canada, the problem was the opposite - the musical snippet was not always triggered if the puck was placed within the country’s boundaries, the User had to find a particular spot in the country to trigger the music. Many a User may have moved on without hearing the musical snippet. One therefore feels that the dimensions of the exhibit, and specifically whom it is aimed at, have not been thoroughly thought through.

Is it trying to be a bit of everything for everyone, for instance a child may be satisfied with hearing a musical snippet, while an adult would like to hear the music and read the text? My finding is, having watched public interaction, that not many people were drawn to it. (In fact not even my classmates, until I called one over and tested him on it – at which he was so taken by it, that he decided to make it the subject of his assignment!). A map of the world is not the most exciting thing visually, and the display may attract more children if, for instance, it featured a few ethnic faces/ figures in national dress, to provide a visual hook for passers by. Or possibly a bright, representational (maybe ethnic-art inspired) map would be more attractive. The only time I saw the exhibit being used (in about five hours of observation, as I was there for two visits) was when a mother demonstrated it to her two children. World Music does seem to be rather a ‘Starbucks crowd’ interest (that is metropolitan adults). Is this display aimed at the adults who accompany the children? In that case the dimensions (specifically the height) need to be changed. And it would be improved if the monitors were placed right ahead of the User, not left and right, as they cannot be read from all points of the map.