Physical Music in a Social Environment.

PRESS RELEASE   

For immediate release                        

06/05/2012

Social Jukebox

Social Jukebox is a physical music player tailored to work in a social environment.

Wooden tokens contain a personal playlist created by their owner, providing a physical attachment to their music. These are easily attached to day to day items such as clothing, jewellery or keys to keep them close to hand. The Jukebox mirrors the physical interactions of a record turntable – something we have lost through the growth of digital media.

The Jukebox plays a track from a randomly selected token. This sequence continues throughout the social event providing a unique, collaborative mix built from the playlists of each participant.

While a number of projects already examine the physical possibilities of digital media, very few focus on their interaction and use within a social environment. When we listen to music together, there can be a number of sources all competing to be heard. Everybody has their own musical preferences that they want to share, and Social Jukebox allows everyone to contribute. It takes on the job of selecting tracks, weaving them into a playlist that includes each user.

The lack of a skip function encourages users to experience each other’s music, introducing them to new genres and artists.

The inspiration for this project started by comparing the social listening methods used twenty years ago with today’s way of sharing music. Through research it became clear that the meaning and consideration involved in sharing music has decreased through time. Where we would spend hours making someone a mix-tape, personally mixing it from various cassettes, we now spend minutes, even seconds, sending a link to YouTube or Spotify. The aim of Social Jukebox is to bring back the physical aspect of music sharing and allow it to thrive in a social environment.

The electronic workings are an Arduino board, an RFID reader and servo motor. Each tag contains a small RFID tag, linked to a Spotify playlist.  These are rotated under the reader in a random order by the servo motor. Once the tag has been read, an Applescript program opens the playlist in Spotify and plays a random song. The physical design has be carefully considered to be unobtrusive and allow the mechanisms to become the main focus. The design is a reference to vinyl turntables, found to offer some of the richest experiences in music.

The tokens containing the individual playlists are crafted from wood to remain subtle when they are transported, with a simple string allowing them to be attached easily.

Notes to editor: 

My name is Andrew Pairman and I study Digital Interaction Design at Dundee University.

The main focus of my work is to broaden our experiences of digital media through physical interactions. Physical computing always plays a large role in my projects, which I feel is important for bridging the gap between what we see on a screen and what we can experience off screen.

“BSc Digital Interaction Design at DJCAD at the University of Dundee educate students in how to design digital interactions by first understanding people’s needs and then working with them throughout the design process to develop appropriate solutions. Through an understanding of technology students are encouraged to design interfaces that work, so they become engaging experiences that people can interact with. The aim is to develop designers who can re-appropriate existing and explore emerging technologies in a playful way and use them as a creative medium throughout the design process.” – Polly Duplock, Programme Director.

Press enquiries:

Additional Images – http://flic.kr/s/aHsjzJWKCe

Video – http://vimeo.com/41579720

Andrew Pairman

Tel:  +44(0) 7871875392

Email:  hello@andrewpairman.com

Website:  www.andrewpairman.com

Twitter:  @MrPairman

Social Jukebox is a physical music player tailored to work in a social environment.

Wooden tokens contain a personal playlist created by their owner, providing a physical attachment to their music. These are easily attached to day to day items such as clothing, jewellery or keys to keep them close to hand. The Jukebox mirrors the physical interactions of a record turntable – something we have lost through the growth of digital media.

The Jukebox plays a track from a randomly selected token. This sequence continues throughout the social event providing a unique, collaborative mix built from the playlists of each participant.

The tags have been sanded back and treated with a dark stain and wax. This has brought them back to the dark mahogany look I wanted. This works well with the white carousel and allows them to stand out. I added a different coloured thread to each one. This lets them attach easily and gives them a sense of individuality.

The carousel is remade with the new top and just needs to be mounted into the servo mechanism.

With the box back I began to mount the slider and button. The button has a two state function and has a very solid feel and interaction. I want to keep the interactions as close to a musical device as possible.

The slider was then mounted and the audio input cable was fed through the provided holes and mounted above to provide an output socket.

I also mounted the RFID reader and fed the wires into the box for soldering onto the Arduino.

Embedding the RFID tags was one of the simpler tasks I’ve undertaken. Drilling a hole into the top of each token allowed the tag to be placed inside. You can see the tag through the hole which is what I planned. The reader detects each tag, which was a concern due to their positioning and the wood casing. These now need to be sanded down and coated with varnish.

I have the box back from its second time at the spray factory. This finish is much better this time and really happy with it. The next stage is to start fitting the slider and button. The carousel needs to be remade and attached to the servo gearing system. The electronics need to be connected and fitted then testing can begin.

The object was sprayed by a local spray factory and I picked it up earlier. I’m not particularly happy with the finish. It’s quite rough in places which will be very obvious. As I need to spray the button surround and carousel disc to match I’ve taken it back with the new pieces to be resprayed.

I’ve always maintained that the object will be white and i’m sticking to this decision. I want the draw less attention to the physical design and bring out the interactions. This is one reason why I chose to make them black.

To spray the box I used a basic primer. While this provided a nice matt finish the edges of the box became warped from constantly sanding between coats. I worked my way through two boxes with similar results. The next option is to use a local spray factory. Other people on the course have used it and the results are a lot better than what I could achieve. I decided the best way would be to fix the reader onto the box so when it is sprayed it will look like a single piece. After this I applied filler and sanded it back. Having taken it up to be sprayed I have a two day wait to see the results.

From my previous post I have taken forward a similar style to the Philips portable turntable. I etched the level indicators onto black acrylic using the laser cutter. I then filled the etched slots with a mixture of filler and white paint. Any excess was wiped off and the acrylic was buffed down to a matt finish. I used the same approach for my button insert. I’m undecided on using the phrase ‘START’ on the button however. I wanted to convey that each time the object is used it will play a completely unique playlist thus starting something new every time. I felt it would make each playlist a new and exciting journey.

I think I need to make other variations using Play and Pause in text and symbolic format so see how they tie in.

The glass RFID tags I ordered have finally arrived. I can’t believe how small they are. They are the perfect size for embedding into the wooden tokens I have already created and their frequency range is great.

I have had to replace my Arduino Uno with a smaller model due to the new size of the object. There just isn’t enough room for the Uno. I have sourced an Arduino Nano which will work exactly the same and, as you can see from the pictures, will fit inside the device.

I’m still very undecided about putting a lid on the object. It Is designed to be used on social occasions and is brought out and used perhaps once a week at most. I really like the idea that the lid gets placed on for protection whiles it’s not in use, mirroring a record player.

Over the past weeks I have played around with a few designs. The first two were created before the updated RFID Reader and were designed to sit on top. They made by vacuum forming clear acrylic then sand blasting it for a frosted finish. Their shapes take inspiration from various turntable lids that I researched.

The next design takes the new RFID Reader shape into account. I created a void so the lid sits flush with the top of the reader. This lid was made by laser cutting the individual sides and top, mitring the edges then bonding them. It was sand blasted like the previous attempts.

I’m happy with the shape however the joins are still visible through the acrylic. The solution would be to vacuum form the shape above and cut out the void using the laser cutter. As I’m still unsure about the lid concept I’m going to see how much time I have left at the end. I feel it’s not something that will add a great deal to the object.

I chose to add a volume slider to the object as I felt it needed something to convey that it is a musical device. I really like the volume sliders found on the Phillips 22GF Portable Record Player pictured below.

I wanted to replicate something similar to this on the object. I crafted my own buy splitting a 3.5mm audio cable and attaching two logarithmic potentiometer sliders to the left and right wires. Fixing the two potentiometers together and locking their sliders meant I could control the volume and maintain a stereo output.

Today Tim Brooke, a creative technologist from Imagination, gave a presentation showing some of his work and how he used technology to create interactive objects. It was a great opportunity to see how the technology that we use in our projects also gets used in industry.

In the afternoon we had the chance to speak with Tim individually. During my time Tim thought I needed to focus more on the context and where my project would be used. I had always envisioned the object sitting in a household and being brought out and used during social occasions. Tim felt there might be a bigger market if the object was embedded in social places like restaurants, pubs and clubs. Perhaps one at each table or in private booths. While I valued this concept I feel its something that the project would expand into and I will stick with my original idea of a household item.

I finally have the servo and gear configuration working exactly how I want. This took a lot of trial and error especially with the smaller box size. This version is very stable and solid compared to the latter. I have sunk the carousel below the hole on top instead of it sitting flush. This has helped to stop the jittery movement and allows it to spin smoothly.

After consideration I felt the box was just a bit too long. I cut a new one which is 15mm shorter. Everything seems to sit better and is more uniform and evenly spaced. Making the box smaller has made me think more about my gearing mechanism and pressuring me into making it fit and work in a smaller space. I’ve started to spray this to see what finish I can achieve by myself.

To turn the carousel I’ve been using a servo motor. This works through a gearing system so it can turn a full 360 degrees. The Mark One design worked fine as the gears were close together and directly below the carousel. For Mark Two’s form I need a different approach. There needs to be clearance for the tags to sit in and spin freely without snagging. My first attempt has the gears on the floor of the box which are attached to the carousel by a rod. This doesn’t work as well as it needs to. Its very jittery and the gears snag up. I’m taking a break to rethink this and will come back to it later.

As mentioned in the previous post I want my tags to be a similar shape to a coat toggle. I tried to turn this shape on the lathe but it proved too difficult and I just wasn’t happy with the outcome. The straight forward solution was to simple buy some toggles and alter them. I really liked the stained beech wood on these ones and are perfect once cut in half. I need to order new tags to fit inside. Thin glass tags will work best here plus they will be visible through the hole which I think is nice.

I want to embed the RFID Tags into a nice physical shape that can be easily carried around or attached to various items that are carried around. I’ve decided on a shape similar to a duffle coat toggle. This will provide a nice shape like a talisman and I can be easily attached via the hole through it. This creates a problem with my RFID Reader. The tag needs to be within 2-3cm of the reader and mounting this inside the box would prove tricky, especially as there needs to be room to spin the carousel. The solution is to mount the reader above the carousel, outside the box. Below is two stages I went through before settling on a final design. I’m really happy with this as I think adds a further reference to a turntable.

For Mark Two I’ve extruded the box to make space for some controls. These will be limited to a volume slider and a simple power button. This shape also mimics a record turntable which is what I want to achieve with this project. I want users to look at it and instantly recognise that it is for playing music. It will also provide extra space inside for electronics and components. The final form will be two parts. The outer shell will hold the RFID Reader and the volume slider. A smaller box will fit inside this. It will house the electronics and components as well as providing a raised base. The raised base will provide a shadow gap which will give the impression it is floating slightly. As I plan to paint it white this will help distinguish it from similar coloured surfaces.

This is my Mark One prototype. The servo motor spins the carousel exactly how I want it and I can easily control the speed through my coding. The tags can be easily read.

I still haven’t solved my loop problems but aside from that it’s running smoothly. I’m happy with the size and there is more than enough room to fit all my electronics into it. I’ve decided to use 4mm MDF for the final object. I will be able to accurately laser cut this and it can be finished easily and painted. It shouldn’t look like wood when its done. The lid will be frosted acrylic which I hope to vacuum form for a clean shape.

Mark Two will be just as challenging as Mark One but I feel I’m in a better place now I have a solid idea and physical prototype of my project. I’m extremely happy with the project and where it stands at this current stage. For me, Make Mark Two will focus on refining the physical appearance and the interactions that users will experience when operating it. There is a number of tests I have to do with materials, joints, sizing, durability of the object and its finish not to mention getting the electronics working flawlessly. I definitely have another busy three weeks ahead of me.

Now that I have updated my design I had to update my electronics and code. I’m using a servo motor to drive my carousel. Using this method is good because I can accurately control where it stops and what positions it needs to go to. The drawback is that it will only turn 180 degrees, not great f the carousel needs to turn 360 degrees. I’ve solved this laser cutting two gears from acrylic. The larger one is connected to the servo and the smaller one to the carousel. The ratio is 2:1 so a half turn on the servo will equal a full turn on the carousel. With this solved I had to tackle my next problem, timing.

The arduino will need to know when a rack has finished playing so it can turn the carousel to another tag. This was tricky but I got it working. I’m using processing as a packet sniffer. I connected Spotify to my Last.fm account. As soon as a song is played on Spotify it sends the data to Last.fm through the scrobbler. My packet sniffer can pick up this information and extract the track length in seconds. Processing then passes this number to Arduino through the serial port which it then multiplies by a thousand  to get the right time.

I’ve added all my code into one Arduino sketch with mixed results. My process is to move the servo so a random slot is over the RFID reader. If no tag is read within a few seconds it moves to another point and this loops until it detects a tag. When a ag is detected it’s number is printed to the serial port. Applescript picks up this number and opens the specific Spotify playlist related to it. Once the playlist is opened it automatically plays a random track. The track info is then picked up by the Processing packet sniffer and the track length is sent back to Arduino which stops the servo for the correct amount of time. When the track is finished Spotify pauses and the servo motor moves to a random point which brings the process into a loop.

Currently this process will run fine first time but when it returns to the beginning to start the loop the servo will not move. I’m more than confident I can resolve this but for now I want to focus on the physical shape.

Inspired by the use of bright plastics by Yuri Suzuki, particularly yellow, I have decided on a plain white design with two yellow accents. These accents will be the cable that connect the object to my laptop and the spinning carousel. I’ve chosen this as the yellow is quite striking and bold. As mentioned before I want users to be interested in it and I want them to play with it.

I’m currently testing designs for a lid which I hope will resemble the lid of a vinyl turntable. This will give the object a more occasional feel, like it is only used when there is a social engagement within its housed environment. The lid will be frosted and with the yellow carousel underneath it should be slightly visible through the lid. This will hopefully encourage users to open it and see whats inside.

Having decided to alter my design to work with just one reader, I spent time generating a lot of solutions. Some designs looked at sticking with the bowl and making the object an experience prototype. I wasn’t very happy with these as I want the final object to work  to its full ability (if possible).

My other designs looked at how tags could be placed in specific slots or areas and moved above the reader. When I spoke to Mike Vanis, one of last years graduates, he suggested that the bowl shape was too personal and the object should show that its designed for multiple users. Taking this into account allowed me to decide on my final design idea.

I’ve chose to go with a carousel style which will contain six slots. Tags can placed in these slots and are moved over the reader, which will play a single random track from their contained playlist, which will create a randomly generated playlist. Further inspiration behind this design was taken from a documentary called Press Pause Play. This documentary studies the progression of music and how it has evolved from something physical to something digital. One key section is when Anne Hilde Neset of Wire Magazine talks about the interaction and experience of listening to music. She would buy a record and loved the enjoyment she got by listening to it, reading the vinyl cover and watching it spin around on the turntable. To her, listening to music back then was a ritual. She goes on to explain that we’ve lost this experience as now we tend to be doing something else like reading a book or working while we listen.

I want to tap into this experience by visualising the changing of music track (this spinning of the carousel) and perhaps visualise the song being playing in some manor.

I’ve altered my arduino code to read RFID tags from two different reads. This has caused some major problems. At first they refused to work and after some research and tinkering I discovered that if the readers are too close to each other they bug out and will not read anything. The distance that they will both work at is around 15cm which is an issue. I need three of them to work within 2cm of each other.

My first idea to solve this was to provide some shielding between them. Tests ranged from metal, tinfoil and anti-static bags. I even tried a slightly crazy method of diluted salt water. None of these worked and turning the readers on one after another did not work either.

I came to the conclusion that I could waste a lot of my Make Mark One time trying to get this method to work or I could alter my design to accommodate just one reader. I went with the latter.

After my first attempt on the lathe I was really happy with the outcome. I realised I would have to make the bowl shallower so it is easier to place the tags in and pull them out. I also needed a recess in the bottom to house the electronics.

After another afternoon the in the workshop I had this.

The recess needs to be deeper but I can alter this later when I get round to making a few more versions. I think I may stick with the engineers foam as its very durable, easy to shape and the surfaces can finished to a nice smooth texture which is ideal for painting.

Now that Phase One is completed I feel it has been a excellent journey. Failures and success have shaped this project and as I start to begin the Make Phase i’m feeling happy and content with the overall project. I can’t wait to start seeing it take a physical form.

My research has unearthed some really interesting insights, some which I have utilised and others which have been discarded, and the feedback i’ve received from participants and friends has been extremely informative and positive.

I didn’t get what I expected from my cultural probes which I think is good. All they really proved was that my concept could work. After speaking to their users most said that it started conversations regarding the music being play and did stimulate the social interaction within the environment.

Reflecting over the my research I have decided to take the playful route for my design language. I hope this will make the object fun to use and will encourage users to interact with it.

I’m glad I started early with my prototyping as I encountered a few problems which would have stalled me if I had waited till the Make Phase. I had time to work around these and get a very basic representation to work. Once the breakout boards arrive for the RFID Readers the hard work will begin.

Overall i’m very happy with the stage that the project is at. I carried out all the research methods I intended to while fitting in time to start prototyping, just as my Phase One Plan outlined and i’m ready to get started on making this project a reality.

For a while i’ve been wanting to try out the lathe in the workshop. I knew it would be able to give me a nice bowl shaped container, I just wasn’t sure how easy it would be. It turns out it isn’t too difficult, with engineering foam anyway. The results above took a little over two hours most of which was sanding. The breakout boards for my RFID Readers are still to arrive so I can’t do any range tests till then. My first thoughts are the depth and width. I think the final product will need t be shallower and maybe 50% bigger in diameter. There will also need to be a recess underneath to house the electronics. The engineers foam has also proved itself as a new material I could use. I had always planned to use wood, something hard like oak, but painting the foam a solid colour is starting to become a viable option. I’ll conduct a few tests on the block above and see how it looks and feels. Overall, i’m really happy with the results and how simple it was although this will probably change with real wood.

I will be collecting my cultural probes on Saturday evening. I hope to collate the information they have gathered and post it in this space on Sunday night. Once I have this I can start to make my final decisions regarding the project. Design Language is the big topic I hope to answer by then. My personal opinion is telling me to go with the Playful, Generic side but I need to take the user in consideration as they will be using it.

[Watch this space]

I ordered and received my first batch of electronics. This includes an Arduino Uno R3, two ID-12 RFID Readers and two 16mm Button RFID Tags. I’m still waiting for two breakout boards which will allow me to connect the RFID Readers to the Arduino. I’m also planning to get some lathe practise. I know I’m going to have to create some sort of container and I think the lathe will be a great place to start. It’s been six or seven years since I last used one (fourth year at high school) so I’m pretty excited.

Rory Hamilton gave a presentation on prototyping and how to provide a valuable user experience without technology. This gave a great insight into the methods that industry companies use and how we can use them to our advantage. It really proved that not everything has to work the way it is perceived to.

In the afternoon we had the chance for a one to one chat with Rory. He could see the potential in my project and suggested I look at mobile technology to carry the playlist instead of a dedicated physical item. He then explained the benefits of RFID and NFC technology and how they are becoming popular in industry. These technologies also have great social integration. This was a valuable conversation which has expanded my thoughts regarding how the playlist with be carried around.

As part of a pressure project we had to take a bird eye view of our desk. I hate working at a messy desk so most of the things I have been working on or with get hidden in drawers or pushed and stacked at the back of of the desk. I’ve arranged most of these bit and pieces so they can be easily observed. The cultural probe development materials are arranged from left to right in order of process. The final models are still out and about. Everything else is mostly as it is seen. I’m reconfiguring some of my Arduino code as I’ve purchased my RFID Readers and Tags, which should arrive very soon.

This is the basic concept that I think the project should be created from. A container shaped hub is the main, static object. This will sit in the room when most social interaction takes place, usually the living room. Each user will have an object which embodies their playlist as a physical item. This will be something small which they can carry around without being obtrusive. When users enter the room they can place their object into the hub. The hub will read each object and know what playlist each one contains. It will then merge all the contained playlists into one large playlist and play each track in a shuffled order. This allows tracks from each playlist to be heard. This will be the basic operation of the device. Currently there will be no control over playback, only volume which will be provided by the users own speaker system. This may change when my cultural probes are returned and I can see what information they contain.

I realised that there is no background to this project so I thought I would revisit Phase 0 and show my process for deciding on a brief.

I did a bit of basic research and a lot of thinking over the summer break and I decided that I wanted to look at music and the different environments we listen to it in and the environments that music can create. A very expansive area. During the first week back we were asked to jot down a rough description of the area we wanted to look at. We then stuck this note onto a large chart based around Eddie Obeng’s Project Types. At this stage I determined that my project was a movie. This means that I know how I will create my project but I don’t know what the final outcome will be or do.

From this stage I started researching this area. I looked at several projects, the Spotify Box for example, and started gathering insights. As a quick exercise we were given a day to draft up one hundred ideas. I managed roughly sixty which I split into seven categories. After a discussion with my tutor I trimmed the categories down to three and started to form a brief for each one.

My three briefs were:

• An object that can record and playback music to connect family, partners and friends.
• A device that conveys the emotions of it’s user through music and tangible interactions.
• How we listen to music as a group and how can everyone contribute to the experience.

The next stage was Ideas Day. We had to exhibit the three briefs on individual boards. The boards had to include an image, a quote and answer six questions. Special guests were invited to speak to us and I think this day was the turning point for the project. I initially had strong feelings for the first brief but after the session they had completely changed to the third brief. From there we begin this project and also the first blog post.

As I gathered insights and research over winter another scope started to emerge. A few friends that I spoke explained that they are only in a social environment once a week at most. They thought the basic idea would be better for an individual. From this I decided to gather some insights and see where it took me. An interesting idea was what happens when someone comes home from a day at work. Could the RFID Tags be embedded into everyday objects that would trigger a certain playlist when they came home? One example of this came from a friend who hangs a jacket up when they arrive home. Placing the RFID Tag into the coat and the reader into the coat hook would allow a certain playlist to start when the jacket it hung up. The main idea I saw from this would be assigning certain playlist styles to certain objects. The coat could trigger relaxing music which is played after a hard day. A set of keys could mean the user is heading out afterwards so a more upbeat playlist is started while they get ready.

I planned to interview more people to gain a better insight to the rituals they have when they come home but I have decided to put this angle on the shelf for now. I may return to it after I finish my Degree. While it has some great interactions, it removes the whole social aspect of my project which is the main area I want to study. This idea could become an offshoot from the final idea, perhaps a feature that is employed when there is no social environment.

My second design language looks at the personal ownership of objects. I chose ceramic to convey this language because it is fragile and requires care when handling. This put pressure on the user to look after it and make sure they don’t break it. The sharing aspect from the playful design language will not be relevant as I think users will not want to give away something they value and look after. Above are some examples of ceramic being used within speakers. I really like the contrast with wood and if I choose not to use it for my individual parts I would to use it on the “hub”.

This design language is inspired by bright colours and playful objects. The idea is to create something that people of all ages will want to interact with. Bright plastics provide a sense of durability and fun. This allows users to get hands on without them having to worry about breaking it. It is also very eye-catching and can draw people to it compel them to play with it. Above are some examples which I printed onto a board. These are a few styles I would like to investigate if I decide to choose this design language.

The C60 was design experiment number eleven in the ‘I Miss My Pencil’ book. It looked at the experience of listening to music but also how we used to see and touch it. I really admire the way it plays the tracks in a clockwise rotation. It looks so simple when working but underneath is grid containing forty-eight RFID Readers, which is absolutely crazy! I plan on using three. This concept has been realised with care and attention to detail and I really want to use these methods in my project.

Over the winter break I observed how music is listened to within different social environments. I noted some distinctive differences in each environment.

Party

• Popular tracks that everyone recognised.
• Music played from several devices (mostly iPods or iPhones).
• Music played through a docking station with speakers.
• These devices were swapped when one did not contain a specific track.
• Device was never left unattended.
• No audio quality complaints.
• Occasional queue to put on a specific track.
• Conversations regarding the current track.
• Healthy and fun arguments over which track should be next.
• Boisterous and loud environment.

Relaxing

• New music that people wanted to share.
• Devices tended to be laptops.
• Music was played from inbuilt laptop speakers.
• Music often played from YouTube with emphasis that the video should be watched as well.
• Other members of the group were reminded of other track when listening to another.
• Something else normally playing in the background (TV, Movie or Console Game).
• Relaxed and quiet environment.

I’m still waiting on my cultural probes to be returned and to conduct a several informal interviews which will hopefully yield more information.

RFID Radios by Matt Brown provides great inspiration regarding design language. A basic speaker and RFID reader is then encased with a specific laser cut cover. The cover related to a band or charity, for example, and switches the radio station to the one programmed into the case. I like the use of design language such as the Union Jack to represent The Clash. Each cover can be visually linked to its creator.

Skål is a product that emerged from the Bowl project. I really like the simplistic design which allows the personal objects, which are used as triggers, to stand out. This is the interaction I’m aiming to achieve with my project except numerous items can be placed in and read to provide specific outputs. I’m still unsure whether to take the personal route (the toy trigger in the video, for example) or the generic route (the coloured cubes shown in the video, for example) Both have great potential which i’ll look into further as I research.

As part of our Phase One hand-in we had to create a two minute video which detailed a part of our research and development. I chose to show the creation process of my cultural probes. This explains their journey from a piece of cardboard to a fully functional research tool.

Music is a legal minefield when it comes to sharing and swapping. The best solution I have found to bypass this is Spotify. Spotify is absolutely perfect for this project as it allows access to a massive database of music. Users can build playlists and share them via URL or social media. The Spotify app automatically opens when the URL is accessed and opens the playlist ready for playing.

The next step was getting Spotify to interface with Arduino. I started by creating an applescript that would open a specific playlist on Spotify and start to play it. This was relatively easy and works extremely well. The next step was triggering this applescript via the Arduino. This proved far trickier than expected. I tried using Processing, however, I kept getting a lot of java based errors plus Processing has to carry out the applescript within its code and does not run an already available script. I gave up at this point and admitted defeat.

One week later I started attempt two. I’d done some more research into this and found a potential solution. The applescript editor included in OSX can accept plugins. I found one called SerialPortX. With the right code this can monitor the serial outputs from the Arduino within Applescript editor. My Arduino code is very simple and prints the number ’1′ whenever a physical button is pressed. The Applescript code watches the serial monitor and activates the Spotify part of the code when it detects that a ’1′ has been printed.

Although this process was very trial and error it works exactly how I need it to and will be beneficial when I start my Make Stage.

Video to follow soon…

The Spotify Box by Jordi Parra is one of the first projects I stumbled across when I began this project. There is a great blog that follows its progress from honours project to potential product. studying this project has really helped me get Spotify to work with Arduino and the limits that come with using Spotify.

I want to gain a better insight into how music affects the social environments we encounter as a group, whether it be relaxing or partying. I also want to explore the reaction to a physical device or devices that can be used to share music within a social environment.

I decided to create a cultural probe that I could hand out to a specific group and see how they reacted to it. I started by examining what information I wanted to gain. I settled on three key areas:

• Is the experience of a social environment enhanced when everyone can contribute their own music?
• Did the use of a physical device add anything to the experience?
• How was the lack of skip button generally received?

My honours project explores the way we listen to music when we are in a social environment but more importantly how can everyone be included in this activity. Below is the board I created to explain this brief to a number of guests that visited for Ideas Day. This brief sparked some great in-depth conversations with the guests I spoke to and provided me with some excellent feedback and insights. It wasn’t my front runner but Ideas Day won it over for me and I really saw its true potential.

Now I have my brief I can focus on my research. I plan on gathering my research through

• Cultural Probes
• Ethnography
• Interviews

The next few posts will examine the creation and organisation of these three methods and how I plan to utilise them.