Final Presentation
The semester is rapidly drawing to a close, and the team’s final presentation will be given this coming Wednesday, May 9 in front of faculty, students, and guests in the RPIS. The team’s client, George Blobe, will also be visiting the ETC to witness the presentation. A script, outline, and powerpoint have been assembled, and the team will be vigorously rehearsing and preparing in the following days, including RPIS rehearsals on Saturday, Sunday, and Tuesday. The goal of the presentation is to showcase the work done this semester, including the prototype developed, the design challenges solved, the mechanics of the process, and the potential for this project going forward.
Fine Tuning
There are a few last tasks and tweaks being performed leading up to the presentation. The home page of the kindworks site has been redesigned to be more informative and welcoming, and some additional features have been implemented, most notably the option to search e-Gears by their ID# from the home page.
New visual designs for e-Gears are also being generated, particularly those that illustrate the possibilities for customization and the impact that customization can have on how meaning is perceived through the Machine.
Furthermore, some final playtest data is being processed; the feedback from the Boy Scout test has arrived in the mail, and an additional test is currently in progress through Mechanical Turk. As a result, the Machine now boasts nearly 150 e-Gears from all over the world, containing a variety of stories.
In other interesting news, the team had the opportunity to present kindworks to the guests at the BVW Festival this past Thursday, and many appeared very excited by the possibilities! Most noteworthy was the enthusiasm expressed by high school administrators about the potential use of kindworks as an anti-bullying tool, which could provide both a platform for the experience to grow, as well as additional testing opportunities.
By This Time Next Week
Following the presentation, the team will be wrapping up work this semester. The project’s archives will be completed by the end of the week in anticipation of the May 12 deadline, and documentation, both design and technical, is on pace to be finished on time. The final hurdle is determining the logistics of physically handing off materials to George, whether through an in-person meeting, or via delivery, and this is currently being addressed.
