Monday
On Monday we worked with the girl scouts that are attending an e-textile camp at the school of informatics this week. We helped two groups of girl scouts make paper circuits and solder the LEDs in place. The camp is featured in the video below.
After helping out with the girl scout camp, Mina and I made a peer review table with our feedback from the previous week. Then we worked a bit more on our poster. We decided to change the methods section into a series of graphics depicting the different participatory design sessions and the toolkit iterations. Additionally, we added graphics to compare our toolkit to others. In the afternoon we met with Ben to discuss our progress prototyping and working on the paper. Mina and I asked Ben to look through our paper to get feedback for Wednesday. Additionally, after running my hard wooden bases and soft fabric bases past Ben and Mina, I decided to take their advice and change the shape of the LED base so that it is smaller and better fitted to the size of an LED.
I went to the prototyping lab after the meeting to work on the LED base and add magnets to the hard bases I made last week. I also soldered snaps onto some LEDs and a light sensor and sewed some snaps into the fabric bases. After working in the prototyping lab, I went back upstairs to work more on the paper. I added a bit more to the findings and discussion section and then submitted the paper for peer review.
Tuesday
On Tuesday I printed a hard copy of our current paper to make some edits. While making edits on paper and then making them again in the digital realm is tiring, it is difficult for me to get a fresh perspective on a paper I have been reading for so long. I made some edits to the paper and realized that some of the prototyping information that Mina and I placed in the Findings section most likely belonged in the Methods section as it gave the details of how we built our objects, leading to the design of our toolkit. Mina and I talked about it and decided to restructure the paper a bit and place the details of building the physical objects in the methods and the eventual outcome (the fabric and wooden bases) in the findings. Additionally, we are going to add more to the discussion and create a future work section after the discussion. I also continued working on my fabric bases and wooden bases by finishing sewing the snaps into the conductive fabric on the fabric bases.
Wednesday
On Wednesday Mina and I put the finishing touches on our poster, like the acknowledgements and logos, and turned it in to be reviewed later. Then I went down to the prototyping lab to laser cut some conductive fabric strips and more bases for the LilyPad Arduino. I want to be able to make a circuit to sew by machine and have a finalized toolkit to leave. Mina and I talked with Ben about our paper and prototyping. He returned our paper with some feedback and liked the way we structured the methods vs. findings for the exemplar object iterations. Mina and I still have to add more to the discussion, which I am finding a bit difficult. Ben said that we should consider the broader implications of our research and what it contributes to the community. After our meeting I worked on my third iteration of the medication box. The box is made with a LilyPad Arduino, a light sensor, and LEDs. The LEDs come on when the box is opened or if the box has not been opened in 12 hours. I am making this version of the box with my updated fabric bases. I made the circuit for the box today on the lid. After finishing the circuit I worked briefly on some edits to the paper as we had some word choice changes and wanted to insert a few key phrases.
Thursday
On Thursday I soldered the conductive fabric strips to the LilyPad Arduino base. I also laser cut a few more hard wooden LED bases, because I now know that the design fits better. Additionally, I used the laser cutter to create a flower to aesthetically enhance the inside of my box. The flower turned out very nicely, although it was a bit hard to transfer onto the box. I also finished my box by adding a hemmed cotton fabric square to cover the circuit and placing the flower on the square. The fabric overlay is hot glued on one corner but is attached by velcro on the other sides so that the LilyPad Arduino can be reprogrammed and the batteries can be changed. I also added cotton fabric to the bottom of the box and finished assembling the box. After the prototyping session, I worked a bit more on the paper and finished integrating Ben’s edits. I also read one of my peer’s papers and gave some anonymous feedback.
Friday
On Friday I worked a bit more on my guide. Then I attended the ProHealth Design Lab Meeting. After, Mina and I met with Dr. Siek. We discussed the possibility of extending our email access past the end of the REU so we could continue working on the project. Additionally, Mina and I brought up the possibility of a student paper which would focus more on the toolkit and our iterations on the exemplar objects. Dr. Siek recommended the TEI conference, which has a deadline for submission in August. However, to write a paper of this nature we would need an IRB to test it and see how usable it is. We would test the unmodified LilyPad Arduino components as compared to the soft fabric bases with conductive fabric, the hard wooden bases with magnets and the hard wooden bases that Mina is working on.
For the rest of the day Mina and I worked through the necessary paperwork for to submit the IRB. We prepared a consent form using the template provided online and a study information sheet. Additionally, we prepared a recruitment template, as we will be reaching out to participants via email. Mina and I prepared surveys to ask participants before, in-between, and after the activities to assess how the different versions were perceived. I prepared preliminary instructions for adding a LED to the LilyPad Arduino, adding a light sensor to that circuit, and adding a buzzer to that circuit. I created some code so that the light would be on unless the sensor was covered and the buzzer would be off unless the sensor was covered and loaded it on to the LilyPad Arduino. In the afternoon I sat down with another REU student who was unfamiliar with the project and had them follow the printed instructions to see how it would take. I made some changes to my instructions to make them clearer. Additionally, we decided to change the activity set to only include the LED and light sensor because of the time constraint. Mina and I will work to finish the IRB over the weekend so that it can be reviewed on Monday.