[SigCHI] EOH ignition next week

[Joshua Benjamin <jebenjam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

You can read about our EOH project at the bottom of the email. If you 
have any questions, feel free to post to the list or if you're shy, 
my AIM name is ImmyZ32 and of course there's email.

1) EOH Planning Meeting : Monday 6 PM
Monday's meeting will be brief; we'll just figure out what everyone's 
doing, and where everything stands for EOH right now. If you want to 
work on the GMI and/or are simply interested in this project, come to 
this meeting.

2) Weekend Coding Extravaganza : Friday 5 PM - Sunday 6 PM
EOH is 1.5 months away; if you are planning to work on the GMI, come 
during the above time. This is a come and go period: work with us as 
long as you can, then come back when you are done, if you need to 
finish a homework, go to a party, etc. it's cool. I'll be there most 
of the time except for typical sleeping hours. We'll go out to eat a 
couple of times too.

3) Our EOH Project : the Gestural Music Interface (GMI)
A perceptively simple (and not all that hard to code) piece of 
software that will redefine a hand into a musical instrument by 
making use of the P5 glove. The trick, and our killer app part of it, 
is making it feel like the user is really making music with their 
hand, just as naturally as playing a trumpet.

Constraints by comparison: Wind and horn instruments use breath to 
control intensity, we can't do that. But for example, take a trumpet, 
location of the hand in relation to the body can completely replace 
the need for breath. Percussion/String instruments typically require 
two hands, we have only the use of the right hand for the perceptive 
instrument.

Physical Affordances by comparison: The glove detects motion in all 
dimensions of movement and has good precision of finger bending. Data 
provided via computer monitor can significantly help with 
feedback(a). Speakers will give real-time audio feedback to movement 
as well. Though there is no left handed glove, the left hand will 
still be used to control modes or something via a keyboard or mouse.
(a) feedback: affirmation that something the user does causes 
something to happen

Perceptual Affordances: A user should feel relatively comfortable 
with the system from the get-go since people already might drum their 
thumb on a table as a nervous habit, seen an orchestra conductor 
perform, have seen the movements to play a musical instrument before, 
etc. Instant audio feedback is analogous to musical instruments as 
well, though it should be noted that it may be confusing that the 
sound originates from speakers and not near the user's hand.
--
Joshua E. Benjamin  |  http://www.jbenjamin.org
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign