Buildfest 2025 and Planet Texas 2050 Reflection - Madeleine
Buildfest 2025:
During Buildfest 2025, we were given Datafeel Dots which were able to provide optical and haptic feedback through colored light, vibration, and temperature. Due to the time constraint of the project, having a finished product by the end of the event was most important, but from an idea standpoint, the projects that excited me the most were those that used haptics to add “magic” to an otherwise inanimate object- like an egg or a pop-up book- to bring it to life. In these projects, the haptic dots weren’t placed by themselves as wearables or held items but integrated into other objects, and I think this made the haptic feedback especially powerful because they built on the user’s expectations to take something that they thought was only possible in their imagination (like an egg getting warm and shaking or a snowglobe getting cold) and making it real. My takeaway here is that a good use of haptics depends on their thoughtful and creative application which may be subtle and primarily in support of another medium rather than as an item to show off on their own! This was also a demonstration of the potency of the user expectation and response cycle that Erin presented on the slideshow. I’m not able to find it at the moment, but I would really like to hear more about the psychology and science of what makes haptics impactful and how we can most effectively use it to enhance our users’ experience!
However, my biggest takeaway from that weekend is the importance of clear team communication, expectations, and delegations. Because we found a team at the event and were under strict limitations for the time we had to choose a project, our interests and expectations didn’t perfectly align, and it was hard to find ways to ensure the work was spread evenly and all members had a chance to contribute meaningfully in a way they enjoyed. While my team was wonderful, if I could do it again, I would have wanted a team agreement that touched on important questions like
What skills, if any, do you feel comfortable contributing?
How do you envision yourself contributing?
How do you enjoy contributing?
What do you hope to get out of this experience?
What do you not enjoy doing?
How much time are you expecting to spend on this project and when?
What expectations do you have for how other members of the team treat you?
What expectations do you have for how the team functions? (Amount of effort? Delegation? Feedback methods? Independent/unilateral vs unanimous decision-making?)
Planet Texas 2050:
During Planet Texas 2050, I attended Environmental Storytelling: Film Screening and Discussion with Kelly Ashton Todd for the screening of Katahdin. During this piece, there was heavy use of anthropomorphism and especially dramatic and vivid facial expressions by the actors. The use of this in a conservation-centered film about deforestation impressed on me that we are social creatures who mimic those around us, not only by following examples or picking up their mannerisms, but also by echoing the emotions of those around us. Another moment that stood out to me is when I got to partake in the fun of figuring out what was happening. When the actors went still, the music changed, and the movement became accompanied by disturbing cracking sounds, I was confused, but the subsequent discovery increased my engagement with the film, and I enjoyed getting to guess and discover what was going on instead of being told in each moment. This let me experience the importance of audience interaction, even in a unidirectional film such as video.