Interactive and Generative Art Exhibition
Ponderosa Rooms A+B – Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011
Set up – begins at 12PM
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Bring your project to the Ponderosa Room (A+B) and set it up at your assigned space
(see floor plan on the following page).
Exhibits are expected to be in full working order by 6PM, in time for the show.
Each project must be verified to be working by Jason.
You must have your video interview completed before the Exhibition begins at 6PM.
Exhibition – begins at 6PM
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All exhibits are expected to be set up completely by this time.
You should be available, but not hovering around your exhibit.
o Your only role will be to ensure that your project is operating as intended, and to
answer questions when someone takes more than a passing interest in your
work (they can come find you).
 Try to keep the conversation on “big picture” things unless otherwise
specifically asked. Try not to give the same overly-technical lecture every
time someone asks.
o Project should be easily understandable and interactive without student help.
Try to set up your exhibit in a way that is inviting and entertaining to the casual
visitor – maybe use some signs, pictures or prompts directed to the visitor.
Media (Kearney Hub, NTV, etc) will be invited to this event, as well as members of the
campus and community. Feel free to invite your family and friends – we want this to feel
more like a relaxed campus/community event, rather than a convention. There will be
flyers printed, if you want to help post them in your dorm or elsewhere.
Tear-down – begins at around 9PM
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All exhibits will need to be taken down by 11PM.
Students who own their exhibits are free to take their materials with them.
Students who used CSIS materials must return projects to OTOL 117.
If you can, assist in the transport of CSIS machines and equipment back to Otto Olsen.
Final Project Requirements
As outlined in the syllabus, the final project is an important part of this class. To receive full
credit for your efforts, I will be looking to see that the following have been completed:
1. Initial Proposal – due January 24th [25 points]
Formally propose your project using your WordPress blog, as per the instructions from the
course website.
2. Project Update #1 – due March 4th [25 points]
Demonstrate that you have at least started thinking about your project details by answering
the following questions:
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Where do you want to be in 2-3 weeks? 1 month? End of semester? [5 points]
What might your final exhibit look like? [5 points]
What are the general phases you will be doing coming up this semester to complete
your project? [5 points]
List or link to any sources of inspiration or help you’ve found so far. [5 points]
Post any sketches or drawings you have come up with so far. [5 points, optional]
3. Project Update #2 – due April 8th [25 points]
Again demonstrate that you have been thinking about your project, and have made some
amount of progress since the last blog post. Be sure to talk about the following:
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Were you able to hit your goals outlined in your last progress update? If not, why not?
[5 points]
What have you learned since your last project update? [5 points]
o Please be as specific as possible – list of materials used in your project,
something you didn’t realize you could do with your hardware, any changes to
your final idea that you would like to incorporate, etc.
What phase are you currently on? Do you need to make any adjustments to your plan?
[5 points]
What will you accomplish in the next 2-3 weeks? [5 points]
How confident are you that you will finish your project in time for the exhibition? [5
points]
4. Final Write-up – due by April 29th [50 points]
Note: This write-up is not meant to be something that takes up a ton of time – your project
itself should be first priority. This isn’t a formal 10-page essay, and it’s not an engineering
paper. Instead, this is really just another progress update for your blog, with one important
difference. Instead of talking about what you’ve been doing for the last couple weeks, you
need to summarize your entire project. This will be the primary means through which an
outside observer can get all the information they need to replicate your project. You can do
this in one of two ways:
1. Option 1 – Publish your work to your WordPress blog
Walk a new visitor through your entire project from concept to completion. Provide
links in your post to relevant resources, including your own progress updates,
proposal, materials, inspiration, etc.
Start by talking about your idea and motivation for the project. Then talk about how
you decided to plan out and organize your project, noting any adjustments or
changes you made as you went. Summarize your progress updates (with links) and
how you went about constructing your project. Discuss any techniques or tips you
may have picked up when building your project.
Bottom line: Anyone who goes to the exhibit and wants to learn about and/or
replicate your project should be able to completely based on this post.
2. Option 2 – Give back to the maker community
Publish your project as an article on Instructables.com then post a small (1-2
sentences) post on your WordPress blog linking to your Instructable. Articles done
through this option must be taken seriously! Proper documentation and pictures
throughout your build process are very important, so be sure to decide which option
you want to do as soon as possible!
It’s very easy to put together a bad Instructable, so cruise through this article to
learn some good tips: http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-greatInstructable/.
It needs to be informative, thorough, helpful and easy to follow. Browse Instructables.com
(particularly the Technology section) and sort by ratings to find good articles, then try to
figure out what makes them good.
5. Installation (50 points)
1. Set up your working exhibit in the Ponderosa Room on May 3rd (see info on first
page). [25 points]
i. Don’t take this too lightly – sometimes finished projects like to find ways of
sabotaging themselves, so plan on coming in as early as you can to install
your piece, just in case you have to run out to pick something up or do some
last minute debugging.
ii. Ideally your project will be interactive without requiring any prior knowledge
from visitors, but realistically a little guidance may be necessary. Think about
how you can engage the visitor’s attention using signs, prompts, diagrams or
audio/visual clues (see Chapter 1 and page 592 from the Programming
Interactivity book).
2. Demonstrate your exhibit working in the exhibition space to Jason. [25 points]
6. Project Video Interview – day of exhibition (after setup, before exhibition) [25 points]
Once you have set up your exhibit in the Ponderosa Room and demonstrated its operation,
you will be given a brief opportunity (1-2 minutes) to discuss and demonstrate your project
for the interwebs. You will need to provide the following information:
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What is the name of your project? [5 points]
o Short and sweet, conveys your project goals in one sentence, e.g., “motion
sensing NERF turret.”
What does it do? Basic operation, e.g., user does X, system does Y [5 points]
How does it work? [5 points]
o Use non-engineer terms – “I used DC motors that are controlled using PWM
signal from a motor shield stacked on an Arduino” is not as approachable as “I
used small motors to do X.”
o There is likely to be a lot of interesting stuff you can talk about, so try to keep it
short. Give just enough info to entice the visitor to want to learn more.
Demonstrate your project working for the camera. [5 points]
If someone wants to learn more about your project, or how to make their own, what
should they do? [5 points]
Once these videos have been edited and produced, a link will be sent to you, if you want to
post it to your blog.
p.s. No need to be nervous about appearing on camera – the focus of this video is on your
project, not you! Just hit the points above and make your project the star, and it’ll be a lot
easier!
Exhibition Awards
In an effort to make the exhibition a little more interesting and rewarding for all of you (and
encourage a little friendly competition) there will be three awards given at the end of the
exhibition. Guest judges will be attending the exhibition and will use their professional
experience to pick one project each.
Most Creative
Judge: To Be Announced
This award will be given to the student whose project displays the most creative energy.
This topic can be extremely hard to define, but if you want to aim for this award, be sure
to make an effort in making your exhibit aesthetically pleasing, intellectually interesting
and as unconventional and non-traditional as possible.
Most Engaging
Judge: To be Announced
This award will be given to the student whose project attracts, engages and excites
visitors the most. Because we have no very good way of quantitatively measuring these
metrics, the judge will make their judgment based on the size of the crowds at the
exhibits, the “lingering” of visitors at the exhibits, and how much the visitors seem to
enjoy interacting with the various exhibits. You have a good chance of winning this
award if you project is easy to interact with, interacts with groups of people and/or
provides visitors with a uniquely entertaining and satisfying experience.
Best Executed
Judge: Dr. Ken Trantham – Physics and Physical Science
This project will be given to the student whose project demonstrates the highest degree
of craftsmanship and maker spirit. Keep in mind that pure technological complexity does
not necessarily mean good execution – if all you make is one, very well-planned, wellconstructed device, you could definitely win this award.
Winners of these awards will each receive a $25.00
Gift Certificate to SparkFun.com!
(limited to one award per student)