Reflection

We spent quite a bit of time defining goals for this project and refining the concept itself, and while this meant that the implementation had to come together fairly quickly, it seemed to have paid off. Overall, critical reception was quite supportive and evocative, and encounters unfolded in the ways we had hoped. It also seemed to be effective as a catalyst for reflection and provocation, with most of the discussions centered around potential tangents for further exploration and poking at how this object-oriented ritual might take on a different feeling, tone, or purpose depending on the context in which it is encountered, or perhaps the physical form it takes.

We tried to create the rituals, not an object. It is because we found the distinctive characteristic of tasseography is it requires the process and by doing so, it creates a personal experience to it. During the demonstration, this process also allowed us to learn about the users as well. Even though there is an instruction, everyone interacts slightly differently. For example, we didn’t expect users to stir the salt, but they stir the salt while thinking about their desire. Also, some try to read the fortune while vibrating, and others try to read the fortune after the vibrating thinking vibration is the process.

The current concept focused on creating a spooky experience, criticizing the current use of technology. The next step would be to make it more useful to the users and create other interesting experiences and messages. I wonder how this approach would bring up more intriguing questions from the users.

Lastly, we really wanted to create something to take with them. We tried to use the ink methods and experimented with them but didn’t have much time to make it happen. This could be something that we could revisit and explore more.

Quotes from live demo

"Really successful in a way that you made it feel like a ritual- thought of this as an experience end-to-end even though there were points that weren't 'needed', contributed to ritual, embed my own meaning to it and interpret it."

"Interaction between me and this machine is interesting, feels pretty intimate, if I come back I would get something different."