Reflection

Overall, the embodiment elicited reflected the experience desired, with folks crouching and standing up on their toes to explore the full scale of the walls. Noise levels were well accounted for by the amplifier and volume dials, and when combined with the object labels and exhibit description, the overall narrative and backstory was effectively communicated to many visitors that I spoke with afterwards. Ideally the nuances of use (place the cup firmly and flush against the wall, slide and rotate it around to find the tags), rather than needing to be explicitly called out, could be addressed by refining the system itself to allow for greater flexibility of user interpretation and use.

Due to lack of stability and last minute hiccups, public reception to the demo was quite limited. Those that were able to encounter the functioning installation, however, delighted in discovering the different hidden audio samples and found the concept alluring and intriguing. For future iterations, either the sensitivity of the RFID sensor should be heightened, or the location of tags made more obvious. Soldering all connections to a flexible proto board would also potentially make for a more resilient artifact. Though I wanted participants to have to search around for the hidden audio presences, it was a bit too difficult for visitors to activate the audio samples during the live demo, which would have resulted in a higher drop off rate as people became overly frustrated or bored. Potential refinements could include improvements as simple as a patterned wallpaper overlay to mark active areas, or further interactivity such as tag locations which respond with light or change in form.