DesignNews
The Design Club, RMIT University Vietnam. 2011
A Note from the Project
Manager
Hi there,
Thank you for looking into DesignNews Volume 2!
DesignNews is a digital newsletter initiated by the Design Club under the roof of Multimedia Design Department – RMIT Vietnam.
Volume 2 is the result of hard working and enthusiastic group of staffs and students from various fields. I would like to personally say thank you to
contributors who had dedicated their time into making this possible. It is indeed not an easy task. It took us 3.2 months to come with volume two
but today, we are very proud to bring you news, contents and designs that are original to the core of Saigon.
The contents of the newsletter are published in hope of encouraging the design community in Saigon to generate ideas and inspiration. The focus
of this volume is on Interactivity. The meaning of interactivity today is comprehended and perceived much more differently compared to the past.
It is now decided by the existence of physical or virtual worlds one would be immersed in. The line between the two worlds is extremely thin and it
is possible to interact with both worlds at the same time. With the advancement in hardware technology and various methods of communication,
especially through the Internet, the experience and content of interactivity has been magnificently transformed. It is now more complicated than
ever. By observing daily activities of the current generation of people, we can say people are more dependent on virtual worlds to work, run their
chores and communicate. Time spent on the physical world that we live in is lesser compared to a decade ago. We communicate through the
Internet at a frequent rate in oppose to making time for face-to-face meeting. An increasing number of people use games consoles as an option to
play virtual sports with their friends. Buying plane tickets could be done with a few clicks of the mouse. Announcing your current status and
whereabouts can be done through tweets. The idea of a physical location is slowly diminishing. Technology and interactivity is obviously making
life easier but the benefits are dependent on individuals. For interface and game designers, the constant advancement is always fun and exciting
to adopt but it also poses a challenge and query as to how effective and practical these technologies can be used.
I hope you enjoy reading our findings, we are not professionals but we try our best to bring you some local DesignNews!
Do My Ngoc
Project Leader
Contributors
Advisors
Ondris Pui
Doan Ngoc Duy
Project manager
Do My Ngoc
Editors
Do My Ngoc
Ondris Pui
Writers
Do Hong Phuc
Doan Ngoc Duy
Duong Bao Y
Hoang Tran Le Vu
Nguyen Hoang Phuc
Nguyen Phuong Hong Cam
Ondris Pui
Tran Thi My Linh
Designers
Do Hong Phuc
Do My Ngoc
Doan Ngoc Duy
Ha Bich Van
Le Huong Lan
Le Ngoc Hoang Nguyen
Lu Kim Hue
Tran Thi My Linh
We Welcome New Contributors!
We currently need passionate people who enjoy writing. We welcome any individual who can come up with new ideas and have the urge yo brighten up the
content of our newsletter. It does not matter if you do not have professional or
editorial writing skills. DesignNews is a chance for all of us to get together, learn,
support and not forgetting having fun with each other. We are looking forward to
hear from you. Please do not hesitate to drop us a line.
Contact
Do My Ngoc
s3298795@rmit.edu.vn
Ondris Pui
ondris.pui@rmit.edu.vn
CONTENT
4
Wish Button
8
Personal Interfaces
12
What if motorbikes can monitor
traffic with the aid of interactive maps?
16
Local intepretation of interactive technology
20
HTML5 or Flash?
23
Typography for logical interaction in HCMC
27
Functional Paper Folding
24
Interactive Entertainment Saigon Style
26
Interactivity with
Physical Computing
By Phuc Do, Nguyen Le & DuongTran
Interactivity can come from anywhere in our daily life, even the
most unexpected places. It is believed - though not widely - to have
the endless ability of breaking out from the common mindset in this
digital age. Working with this motto, the Design News team has set
up an interview trip around the central districts of Ho Chi Minh City,
with the support of a self-built inte ractive device called “Wish Box”.
Encountering curious folks from all walks of life along the way, we asked
them one simple question: “If you had a wish, what would it be?” These people
were then instructed to make a wish while pressing the “Wish Button”, the
imaginary Wish Box device would response by slightly vibrating, “processing”
and jotting down respective wishes on a piece of paper. The DesignNews team
– with a huge credit to our companion Wish Box - has managed to collect
several wishes (some of which put us in great awe and surprise), and now they
are put down to this magazine page as a creative visual collage.
The Wish Buttton was created as a tool offering to people from all walks
of life a chance to voice out their wishes - in form of a spontaneous and refreshing experience which differs from typical buttons that we encounter and use
every day (e.g computers and mobile phones). We look forward to expanding
this project to a larger scale, from that help aspiring designers to realize the
significance of getting to know and understanding the varied demands, needs
and mindset of different audiences in our society.
IF YOU
HAD A
WISH
WHAT
WOULD
IT BE?
Collage by: Do Hong Phuc
Collage by: Do Hong Phuc and Hsu Kai Sin
Personal Interfaces
By Hoang Tran Le Vu
People from different specializations have different tastes in life’s
views and manner characteristics. Three people were intentionally interviewed, a business man, a university student and an 11year-old boy on their views about mobile phones. They came up
with personal views and different expectations of what they
think a good phone or interface should be.
Dennis Tuan Phan, a business man in
event and branding field, has a clear
image about the dream phone if he
was a manufacturer. He seemed
extremely excited when being asked
about this topic. He himself is a fan of
high-tech devices. “I am kindly in love
with using technology in daily works.
Everytime I meet customers with presentations or any showcases, I would like to use devices to get
them interested and at the same time make myself as an interesting person. However, I dream of a flexible mobile that can
handle multi-tasking purposes.” He said.“A phone with foldable
screen is what I want because it is not seen anywhere yet “. As a
fan of mobile phones , I also want something that is classical but
at the same time modern. A small screen will look just like a
traditional one and I fold another screen to have a larger screen
for presentation and other displays.”. He explained more about
the “fit” in his sentences “A day to me will be really hard to
manage because I have to work with a lot of people, some
younger than me, some older and even at my age. I need a
mobile phone that can impress people in different ages. ” And
of course, that phone in his creation is unable to exist in this 21st
century but we will hope to own one , a device with a power of
many devices in a combined as one.
Mang Quoc Dung, is an RMIT student in Business Marketing. Beside tstudying, he is also a part-time delivery
man for a fabric material agency. He normally drives
miles from the city for his job so a mobile phone, in his
opinion, is a useful device. During our conversation, he
had on his left hand an Android HTC phone and an iOS
Iphone 3g on the right. The phones never have a
light-off screen due to the endless emails and status of
friends on online social networks. Interestingly, when
asked to brief about the phone he wants, he seems to
be pointing out all the disadvantages of his present
phones. “I need a phone with a 4-inch screen size so I
am comfortable to interact with it. This HTC is larger
than what I expected but the OS is outstanding. It is
open source compared but compared to the Iphone,
Apple’s product and has a user-friendly interface due
to the fact that a lot of money has been put into developing it. You basically pay for what you get.” He acted
like he was a real phone designer as describing how
the buttons, front/back camera, stereo speakers and
battery cover would be located on the phone.
Bin, the kid-next-door, is, personally, the most interesting character in my interview series. Although he is only 11 years old, he
has a creative image about the phone he “swears” to own when
he grows up. It is a combination of a
little shape from a PSP, a touchscreen from a Nintendo DS and the
color of an Iphone 4. He had no idea
about what he would be in the
future but in some present's angles,
It helps him in entertaining himself.
What else could you expect from
kids? It’s however interesting to see
that youTube is an important aspect
of entertainment among children of
his age.
For a while, when reviewing the sketches from these three
people and the “wanted” mobile phone. It can be seen as that
people nowadays are into touch-screen and multi-tasking
devices. Bin, the 11-year-old boy blew a new air to the generic
mobile interface compared to 2 others who opted for larger
screens. What he thought of was of gaming devices coupled as a
phone. Not the other way round like how boring adults would
think of. No one can be sure that if his ideas will end up as a hot
mobile phone trend. in teh future. Ideas are ideas. We know for
sure that interface and industrial designers can never satisfy
demand. They should always listen and comprehend what the
users need when designing their products. Listening to kids
might help change monotonous trends and add elements of
surprises because adults can be too rigid to explore.
WHAT IF MOTORBIKES IN HCMC
CAN MONITOR TRAFFIC
WITH THE AID OF INTERACTIVE MAPS?
Article by Nguyen Hoang Phuc
Photograph by Ondris Pui
Layout by Lu Kim Hue
T
ravelling around on your own vehicles is a daily demand: you
have to go to work, to school and go out. At the moment you
are confused about navigating, locating your destination,
figuring the shortest and safest ways and considering about
saving gas, you need a GPS signal receiver.
Inspiration
GPS
don’t own a car?
have you thought about
mounting a pocket GPS
receiver on your
motorbike??
(Global Positioning System) is a young
technology, quite popular around the
world and a little common in Vietnam. You
see navigators, adventurers and tours relying on this
technology to find their way around. It can also be
attached on your vehicles and save you from being lost.
After nearly 20 years of enhancement and development,
GPS receivers are now combined with other useful
features for travelling anywhere.
With 27 Earth – orbiting satellites, launched by the
U.S, at any spot on the globe your GPS device can receive
radio signal from at from up to 6 to 9 satellites at a time.
After locking at least 3 , GPS receiver will then simply track
the intersected point on their radio waves from satellites;
and that point is the GPS device itself. The deviation from
actual geographic location around 1 – 7 meters. However,
the radio signal from satellite can be blocked by tall
buildings, so the GPS receivers need space to “see” the
satellites. GPSinstalled within computers can receive
additional signal from the Internet. It is then combine
with satellite signal to give result. A modern GPS receiver
has ability to calculate shortest way to reach from location to another. It downloads traffic information such as
one – way streets, restricted roads and public destinations like schools, hospitals, parks, gas stations, and
restaurants. If you are driving, you can totally focus on
controlling your vehicles without looking at the map by
using voice – command features, the GPS receiver will tell
you where you are and where to go. Most GPS receivers
now have 4 – 6 GB of memory allowing you to store
images, music, video, contact details, and information
about your favorite destinations. You can also make a
phone call from a GPS receiver with Bluetooth connection
right to your phone. And those cool features mentioned
above are around 300USD in Vietnam.
In Vietnam, the local traffic observer center plans
to gives GPS users a charged package for real – time traffic information and cost about 100USD per year. This
service package work with radio signal as well. Your GPS
receiver will collect information about blocked streets or
traffic jam and direct you another way to avoid traffic
jams. Unfortunately, this package is not available yet at
the time of writing this artcle. For the moment, car drivers
can access VOV (Radio Voice of Vietnam) – FM 91MHz or
FM 95.6MHz; these radio frequencies will give you real –
time traffic condition and weather.
The features available within a GPS receiver are
quite realistic. It makes your travelling much easier. But
you don’t own a car? Have you thought about mounting
a pocket GPS receiver on your motorbike?
Inspiration
Vietmap Ltd is one of the first companies working
with Vietnam maps. They experiment and manufacture
devices based on GPS technology: GPS receivers, GPS
application for cell phones, iPhones and iPads. Vietnam,
actually, for now is not a good market for GPS receivers
although the price is affordable, said Nguyen Thu Hien –
salesperson, Vietmap Ltd. You can have GPS application
installed in your mobile phone for 50SUSD; with 330USD
you can own a PAPAGO – H8, a handheld GPS receiver
which also can be used for cars. Most customers, however, come to us for business solution – managing groups
of vehicles and properties, rather for personal needs. In
fact, why should they buy a handheld GPS while they
already know the trails and shortcuts? And they rather
ask locals for directions instead. That is why we don’t
have any products for motorbikes.
Overall, GPS is a realistic, effective technology for
life. It keeps you on your tracks, avoids traffic jams and
spots that are under construction, update traffic informa-
Do It Yourself :
tion and strategy to save gas. And it can save your life:
rescuers can tell exactly where you are by tracking your
GPS receiver’s signal.
For now, Vietmap Ltd offers only GPS receivers for
cars, handheld, business solutions and no particular
devices able to use for motorbikes. The main reasons
probably most motorbikes in Vietnam don’t have suitable handlebar, and users must concern about water
proof containers and bad guys. It is not like GPS receiver
in a car that is well protected. So, mounting GPS receiver
on motorbike at this moment is just an idea, not a solution! Figure it out with your own creativity?
“Yes, mounting GPS on motorbikes is absolutely interesting! But the point is how you
mount it on your motorbike. Most Vietnamese motorbikes do not have suitable handlebar for GPS. Sport motorbikes like chopper,
cruiser, touring bike and naked bikes are
more suitable for this solution. So you must
mount it the mirror. Bad guys will attack you
because they can see your shiny thing obviously. Furthermore, you cannot leave it with
your motorbike in parking lot. How inconvenient.”
Nguyen Truong Quoc Huy
(RMIT VN student, Diploma of Commerce)
“I did try to mount it on my motorbike 2 years
ago. You want to do it? Do it yourself using
your creativity, tools and clever hands.
Because there was no such thing manufactured as bracket to help you attach the GPS
on motorbikes. You can use bracket from car
– GPS, but you have to adjust it anyway. You
have to care about how you protect it from
rain.”
Vu Hai Dang
(haidang_alexandria, OtoSaigon Forum)
Velcro rocks! DIY mount it on your bike.
Inspiration
Picture 1
Picture 2
Picture 3
To achieve this objective, you need to concern about the ideal spot. GPS receiver’s screen should allow you to
observe easily because you don’t want keep your eyes on it for long. Should it be on the mirrors or on the speedometer? One day on weekend, my friends and I did an experiment. [Picture 1] This was our first idea. Actually this is just
a motorbike mirror* with an iPhone casing, but it sure was a good spot to look at. Sadly, with this you give the bad
guys reason to attack you. [Picture 2] This spot was also good, because you can still use your mirror. The GPS receiver
was close to the speedometer, easier to look at once. [Picture 3]. You can also try with iPad. For this experiment, the
glare from the sun was unberable and nothing could be read. The iPad is also heavy in comparison to the iPhone.
There’s a feeling that it is going to drop anytime! However, these are just ideas to get you rolling. iPad and iPhone
now has many free navigation apps such as Global Navigation, amAze GPS – Worldwide Navigation and iMap. As
long as you have Wi-Fi or 3G connections, those devices can turn the GPS. features on. Why not give it a shot, a little
change can make your life different, at least your motorbike would stands out.
*Try spotting the editor’s “peace” sign in the mirror.
LOCAL INTERPRETATION
OF TECHNOLOGY
By Duong Bao Y
Interactive technology in Vietnam
has become a necessary factor in life. The
Design News team have found a number
of people who had utilised and interacted
with communication and entertainment
technologies.
The interviewing process had been taken up by local candidates with the alternatives of occupation, age, social perception and
even social background of people. Additionally, the article will have a
little extend to the effect of these technologies in design field.
On the whole, almost interviewees, both technology and non-technology savvy can
aware clearly the preeminence of Internet and mobile phone since these tools can serve them
in communication, education and entertainment. There will be two main streams of opinions:
one from people who use these technologies most (young generation mostly) and one from
those who use them less.
With people who see interactive technologies as a “buddy”, of course they have a very
positive thought about them. They love these technologies because of some reasons that we
all can image. Keeping in touch with friends and family anytime, accessing Internet both on
laptop and mobile phone and entertaining yourself by many mini games are the main driving
factors that make these young people become technology followers. Truc – one of our interviewee - is a student who has spent 100.000 VND mobile phone card within a half of a week
just for talking to her boyfriend and other people. A remarkable amount is also paid for
services such as downloading music, movies; watching movies, video clips online. For example,
Lan and Nam - also students, ready to pay monthly for her account in a forum that allows
members to download high definition films.Convenience and suitability for a new style of life
is the “whys” they spend their money on these servicesWhat people have
missed on TV, at cinema theatre, football field; now they can watch it later on
the Internet. Another reason that now is gaining more attention from everybody is that interactive technologies are really useful tools for education. Phu
who is a software engineer said that he used to join in technology forums to
look at discussions on his problem and always want a mobile phone with
many modern features because he loves hi-tech. Another example is Trang.
She is a staff in office often search on How-tos to help her to do some tasks
and wish to have an iPhone 4 which is the newest version of its line to experience new features. As we see, interactive technology toward young generation is such an amazing thing and they want to follow along with its development.
A little bit different from young generation, stream two do appreciate
benefits of interactive technologies, however, they do not tend to catch up
with every changes of it. Through our survey, we realize that people that have
less interaction with these technologies are people from middle-age, spending half of their life without using them. They use Internet often for reading
news, checking mails, and mobile phone for calling, mostly. Mr. Sang and Mrs.
Linh is a couple, running a rice business – Mr. Sang can be seen as main owner,
Mrs. Linh just helps her husband on some tasks, she spends most time at
home. While Sang does use Internet and mobile phone with simple and basic
function, Mrs. Linh does not know to use Internet and she just use mobile
phone for only calling to her children. She gave a reason is that because she
has been doing business for many years without Internet and it is still good till
now so she does not see the need to use it. Her workers, additionally, have the
same level of using these interactive technologies. Although not having much
interaction with technology, these people still aware of the importance of
them in life.
Mr. Sang says that he is studying about managing business by using Internet
because he understands benefits that he can take from doing this way. They all
appreciate the support of these technologies in communicating from a far
distance, entertainment and they can even aware of the positive effect of
these tools on education for their children.
Towards opinions about computer games,
all the answers show that people have a
clear understanding both good and bad
side of them. Our interviewees agree that
there is a change in their attitude toward
computer games. Mr. Sang, Mrs. Linh and
Mrs. Tien – an architect asserted that they
have felt unpleasant whenever they saw
their children spend time to play computer. However, in the present, their opinions have been changed by explanation
from and experience with their children.
They realize that some computer games
like remember games, answering question
games or games that need clever working
out, can serve both purposes: entertainment and practicing thinking skills, their
thought has changed and they now often
use them as a helpful entertaining form.
From what is said above, people
now are seeing things through these interactive technologies. In design field, it can
be understood that things now can be
seen widely via the effective use of technology. Interactive technology not only
make designing more powerful but also
shorten the distance between designers
and audience. Consciousness of Vietnamese people about the importance of interactive technology will probably continue
to increase in the future. Young generation
is more interested in them. As a result, it
will be great if designers can take advantage from this “bridge” to support the purposes of designing. For instance, working
for a campaign rising up awareness, creating a website about this campaign will be
a good way to bring that campaign to everyone or by the use of Internet’s functions
like website, upload video clip, interactive
flash, etc.; advertising for new products
can be more effective. In brief, technology
is now a great tool for designers, especially
Vietnamese designers, not only for supporting on the quality side of their works,
but also in helping them connect to audience.
Vietnam is not a country that is strong in
technology; however, people understand
how these technologies can benefit their
life, their work, especially they are now
being used strongly in designing field as a
medium help designing reach its audience. Interactive technologies, besides the
meaning of communication, entertainment and education, now also indicate
integration of Vietnamese people to the
world; catch up with the world’s development.
HTML5 VS FLASH
By Doan Ngoc Duy
Apple's mobile devices use HTML5 for watching videos
on Youtube without flash player.
T
oday, HTML5 becomes well known due to it’s ability to run as a web
application (web app.) on smart phones. A web app basically runs
on the phone but exchangse data from web server as updates.
New app developers who are not familiar with Objective C or or other
streneous programming language can create a web app instead. This will
be an added advantage for iPhone and iPad fan boys because web based
videos can now be displayed in an alternative way in oppose to running
through Adobe Flash player. Oh wait, did I forget to mention about interactivity as well? With HTML5 one one can create pretty impressive interactive application that can amaze Flash developers as it is not only interactive but it talks to the server as well! As an example, go have a look for
yourself at www.html5games.com. Google is also exploiting the wonders
of HTML5 by allowing people to download application and games, that
are created with HTML5. If you are an iPhone developer, you would know
the hassle of signing-up as a developer as to get apps to be approved.
With HTML5 one can just click on "Add to Home Screen" button and use
the website as a web app; example as jQTouch b is a webapp for iPhone,
which can indicate the Geo Location. Compare the Facebook mobile app
and web app overleaf. They sneakily look the same.
Webapp.
App.
Some tips for Facebookers, if you cannot use
Facebook app on your iPhone and iPod Touch,
try using going to m.facebook and make a
"Home Screen" It looks exactly like an app.
Actually it is an app is some ways.
In addition, if in the past, the hotest game, Angry Bird was available on iOS
and Android OS. Today this game can play on the computer with Google’s
Chrome browser. The computer version was writen in HTML5. If you are
skeptical, go download. It looks and even sounds exactly the same. The
only difference is, you use a mouse instead of your flicking with your
fingers. As a result, I believe HTML5 is gaining popularity. You can play an
interactive game that is so much smaller in size compared on devices
without the need to install Adobe Flash player. It’s a pity that most of the
games on Zing me and other social network games requires Flash player
to be isntalled before playing it on your browsers. However, don’t get too
excited. HTML5 at the moment still has some disadvantage. You need to
be running the current generation of browsers such as Safari, Firefox 4v. /
5v., IE 8/9 and Chrome. It cannot work on older devices and browser. Sea-
soned Flash users will also find it difficult to work on an interface that are full of mark up languges. It’spossible but is it
worth it when you have zillion of lines of codes to animate an
object when you can just tween the animation in Flash. You
decide.
Diacritic and typography
in Interaction
By Doan Ngoc Duy
T
o detect and identify interaction in typography is a hard task.
The start off you can try spotting them in advertising campaigns around Ho Chi Minh city. For example, to get an In
society today, many agencies use the interactive advertising
including video, photography and game; thus they requires the
flexible typeface for their projects. For example; Climax Interactive
Agency (www.climaxinteractive.com) had to create as specfic typeface for advertising a lip product (bloomingkiss.com). Why?
Vietnamese tyepefaces have diacritics. Look left, the circled
element is how a diacritic would look like. Diacritics are not found
in many typefaces. If a diacritic is not in place. The pronounciation
would be different, thus spelling out a totally different meaning.
With the correct diacritics, viewers can interact and read adverisement correctly.
Most design layout requires the use of 12 point size typefaces in
sans-serif toencourage ease of reading. Imagine Vietnamese
typefaces with diacritics. Once they are scaled to a 12 point can be
difficult to distinguish. For example; this " ô" letter with a single
diacritic is easier to read and find. However, double diacritics such
as " ố ồ ỗ " are harder to find in typefaces. To add to the confusion,
it is also harder to read in a small point size.
Climax Interactive Agency (www.climaxinteractive.com) had to create as specfic typeface for advertising a lip product
Doesn’t this look confusing?
In graphic design and communication,
the main importance of a layout is to
communicate with readers. If there are too
much of information we can say that it is
infomation overloaded. What about when
there are too many different typefaces? It
will be difficult to categorise what is important in terms of hierarchy because all the
different typefaces are shouting for attention.
I think, it’s best to keep to a maximum of
three different typefaces when possible to
avoid confusion as to what is important
and what is not important. For example;
dates are important, so they should stand
out more than other supporting words.
Functional
Paper Folding
By Nguyen Phuong Hong Cam
Interactivity, it is no doubt that when people think about
this word they would automatically think about the internet, websites and applications. In fact, interactivity exists
everywhere around us, but it is so common that both you
and I do not ever think about or consider even once. I am
interested in origami, and practice various kinds of objects, and have integrated interactivity and paper folding.
This article is going to instruct you to make a stationary
holding, which can be twisted in order to save more space
and become more convenient to carry.
Preparation
1 pair of scissors
2 square sheets of color paper
1 hole punch, the size depends on your
desire to hold stuff
super glue
4. Do the same to the opposite edge
1. Pull the 2 opposite
corners to the center of the
sheet to make a triangle
4
1
2. Open the sheet and pull
the 2 corners to the center
2
5
5. Fold the corners towards the center of the sheet
3
3. Turn over the sheet and pull the edge to the center line
6 6. Pull to the point
7. Fold the corner to the point
7
10
8
11
8. Do the same to the upper side
9
9. Fold downwards
10. Do the same to the
upper side, you will get
2 two triangles making
up a square
11. Make holes, you can resize the holes
depending on your purpose. For example, if
you want to hold pencils you will need a big
punch. In this case I want to hold my
brushes, so I use a small-sized punch.
14. Dada, it is done now. It will be like this
14
12
12. Make another part that is the same as you have
done, and it is important to identify the right side.
15
13. It is almost done. Your
entire job now is to stick the
corners of the two parts.
Remember to use super glue
because it is more adhesive
and on the other hand it does
not ruin your paper, but you
have to be very quick and
careful as this will dry very fast.
13
15. The most interesting thing is when
you twist the box upon the valley folds,
you will get something like this
Interactive
Entertainment
Saigon Style
By Tran Thi My Linh
Entertainment is an indispensable element in human life.
Leisure activities like reading books or watching TV only allows
passive involvement. With games, people tend to enjoy themselves more as it is more interactive. This trend is also the same
in Vietnam.
Interactive Entertainment (IE) can refer to
any type of game in which the player's
actions directly affect the game. In addition, IE is used to describe video games or
other types of multimedia entertainment
where the actions and outcomes can be
controlled by the player. Therefore, the
reason why people like playing interactive
games is that these games allow player to
use skill or make decision to control
character’s actions to investigate the
storyline of the game.
Why is IE becoming more and
more popular?
Back in the past, Vietnamese do not have
easy to access to IE. Few families had the
ability to own a computer or a game
console; therefore, most children end up
going to cyber café to play games. Unlike
the past, Vietnamese people, nowadays,
have more chance to approach IE. Along
with the development of technology,
many types of game machines
(computers, Playstation, Nintendo, Wii,
etc.) are available and even cheaper than
before People can also afford due to the
recent development in Vietnam’s
economy.
It is obvious that IE is more and more
popular in Vietnam. Among many kinds of
games, somehow I can say computer
game is the most popular one. Unlike
other types of game machines
(Playstation, Wii, Xbox 360, etc.), computer
has become a necessary household appli-
ance in most of families in Vietnam.
Moreover, we can easily see that there are
“...IE is not only a mean of entertainment and just for relaxation
but also has advantages for
human’s mind and sometimes
physical...”
many Internet café which has been operating for a long time and attracted many
customers, especially students, coming to
play online games.
Benefits of IE
Many people claim that these games do
not bring any benefits and some parents
do not allow their children to play; however, IE is not only a mean of entertainment and relaxation but also has advantages for the mind and sometimes physical attributes. Actually, IE helps us in
improving eye and hand coordination.
You can easily realize that most of games
require players taking great coordination
of the eyes and hands in order to react to
the situation, especially difficult and
dangerous one. Well, most of gamers
easily realize this benefit; however, I want
to indicate an example. I think that most
of people know about a very popular and
famous game named Mario. We easily
consider that playing Mario needs eye
and hand coordination. We must control
the character to run, jump and hit the
head of enemies. Sometimes we also
need to run faster in order to jump further
to pass a big hole. Therefore, if the eyes and hands do
not coordinate, we may hit the enemies or fall to the
hole and the game is over. Moreover, many games provide various kinds of quiz and missions which need to be
solved in certain period of time to win the games. As a
result, this facilitates fast and accurate decision-making.
By solving quizzes and missions, players are encouraged
to memorize, thus enhancing brain fitness.
Drawbacks
We cannot deny that they also some drawbacks of IE
such as deteriorating eyesight, health or wasting money.
Among different disadvantages, being addicted to these
games, especially online games, has been the most
serious issue in Vietnam recently. Addicted to games
make players have illusion in their own life. Some even
think that they are the characters with fantasy power in
games that they play. This instense immersion makes
their life turn upside down. These problems have been
reflected in many newspapers and news in Vietnam.
“Angry Birds” - a very
famous game which is
available on Mac, Iphone
and PC allows players using
a certain number of birds
to shot and kill all the
enemies in order to win the
game. This encourages
players making quick and
accurate decisions.
About one year ago, it was a topic of disgust. This is the
time when people usually mentioned about online
game addiction and its negative affects on young generation. Some articles had mentioned that some
students had become criminals when trying to steal
money of families or neighbors and even more serious
because they lack the money for spending on their
game.
Along with the development of teh country, Vietnamese
are becoming busier with added pressure. Relaxation
and entertainment helps people to unwind after a hard
days at work. With this, Interactive Entertainment is
becoming more and more popular because it allows
players to escape into a different realm interacting with
characters in game and exploring its story. To enjoy the
benefit of games, people should divide their time wisely
when playing games. They should also think of the
consequences that would affect their capabilties in the
real world. Parents can be stricter and control the budget
of their children thus giving them less opportunity to
indulge endless hours with computer games.
Internet cafe attracts many Vietnamese teenagers
Jump
Run
Hit the enemies
Interactivity with
Physical Computing
By Ondris Pui
Trying to get out of the usual “mouse click” interactivity. Now you can! With a microcontroller, light sensor and a bit of enthusiasts, you could build yourself an interactive screen display that triggers upon detecting a light source. This could be a
fun project to warn intruders sneaking into your room.
Today, with easy access to products
such as sensors, reasonably priced microcontrollers and the vast amount of open
source programming languages, it is a
feasible stage for any individuals who are
keen to dabble into the world of physical
computing, creating contents that are
capable of fusing physical and digital
environments together.
What this article is about?
This article will look into the processes of creating a very basic interactive
display that triggers upon detecting a light
source. Note that methods described here
are only guides for you to create your own
projects. Tools and hardware can differ
depending on what is available to you.
Instrcutions are from a multimedia
designer's perspective and might not have
details like how an electronic engineer
would explain.
What knowledge do I need to
accomplish this project?
Some basic understanding on how
electronic circuit works. A bit of knowledge
about object oriented programming or
really keen interest to learn the basics. If
you are a designer, knowledge of Flash
Actionscript or Java will help.
Other things needed to accomplish
this project.
Set up a constant space for yourself
where you can come back and continue on
with your project. A personal workshop is
perfect. I would recommend this because
my workflow is haphazard juggling
between home and a bit of research and
testing at work.
Time Needed.
If you are new to electronics and
programming. Do not underestimate the
time taken for a basic project.
If you are a graphic designer thinking of dabbling into physical computing,
do not forget, beside on screen visuals,
you now have another set of problems
top deal which is physical connectons on
electronic breadboards. Setting up, wiring,
programming, debugging. You need to
give a minimum of 3 hours for each
session. Not unless electronics is your
major. I find the most fruitful time you can
get out of the project is when you spend
6 solid hours on one session.
I know this is ridiculous but as of
any project, the number of time put into
the project equates the outcome. I am
sure you you can work faster once you get
used to it but at a beginners level, be
preapared to live in a cave.
Hardware and Software
A computer running Linux, Mac OSX or Windows that has a minimum
of 1 USB port.
Arduino Duemilanove Microcontroller or other microcontrollers.
( The closest option I found would be getting one from Singapore.
http://www.sgbotic.com/)
Arduino Development Environment
(http://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/Software)
Processing. An open source programming language
(http://processing.org/download/)
Jumper wires, breadboards, resistors and photo cell sensor.
( Nhat Tao electronics market at Nguyen Kim Street District 10, HCMC)
Light is detected by a photocell.
The Processing code on the
next page gives you details as
to how Arduino talks to the
computer.
An intruder opens up the door to your room.
Arduino receives a signal from from the photocell and calls
up a processing code that is located on your computer. The
code is compiled as an App. In Processing you can export
an app easily under the file menu> "Export Application"
import processing.serial.*;
Serial myPort; // Create object from Serial class
int val; // Data received from the serial port
void setup()
{
size(800, 600);
noStroke();
bx = width/2.0; // sets the x image position using 200/2
by = height/2.0; // sets the y image position using 200/2
rectMode(RADIUS); //draws the image from its center point
// Open whatever port is the one you're using.
String portName = Serial.list()[0];
myPort = new Serial(this, portName, 9600);
//Kick starts the port
}
void draw()
{
if ( myPort.available() > 0) { // If data is available,
val = myPort.read();
// read it and store it in val
}
if (val == 0) { // If the serial value is 0,
PFont font;
// The font must be located in the sketch's
// "data" directory to load successfully
font = loadFont("ACaslonExp-BoldItalic-48.vlw");
textFont(font);
text("room is clear", 300, 200);
}
else {
// If the serial value is not 0,
PFont font;
// The font must be located in the sketch's
// "data" directory to load successfully
font = loadFont("ACaslonExp-BoldItalic-48.vlw");
textFont(font);
text("Warning", 300, 200);
//fill(0, 1, 153);
text("of my", 300, 250);
//fill(0, 102, 153, 51);
text("Intruder!", 300, 300);
}
Thank You.
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Contact
Do My Ngoc
s3298795@rmit.edu.vn
Ondris Pui
ondris.pui@rmit.edu.vn