12000 Years Playing Ocarina

12.000 years playing ocarina

Filipe Pais FerreiraDigital Media PhD / Feup UP - Portugal

wiki definition

• the ocarina is an ancient flute-like wind instrument

• oval-shaped enclosed space with four to twelve finger holes and a mouth tube projecting out from the body

• It is often ceramic, but many other materials, such as plastic, wood, glass and metal may also be used

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocarina



10.000 B.C. 2007 A.D.

After 12.000 years of human effort on research...

Smule’s Ocarina (ocarina for iphone)

“Smuleʼs Ocarina is the first true musical instrument created for the iPhone”

smule’s ocarina advertising

Iphone pocket guitar

Intua “Beatmaker”

iDrum

Pianist

why smule’s ocarina on ADI?

• two different types of characteristics on interaction: interface navigation and object as a tangible instrument to be played (physical manipulation)

• the interaction strategy (blowing into a mobile phone is almost so crazy as to speak to a shoe)

• the social layer: the novelty this interface brings to communication and information exchange

analysis objectives

• How easy to use, accessible and engaging/desirable is the smuleʼs ocarina?

• How well is this object designed when compared with the original model?

• What characteristics make this object an extension from the original?

The Smule Ocarina is a wind instrument designed for the iPhone, fully leveraging its wide array of technologies:

• microphone input (for breath input)

• multi-touch (for fingering),

• accelerometer,

• real-time sound synthesis,

• high performance graphics,

• GPS/location,

quick demo on product functionalities

through the magnifying glass

ocarina’s interface:4 sections

• “holes” / instrument itself

• preferences

• “world” / online community

• help / info

1. “holes” / instrument itself

• menu access icon not very explicit

• blow action is not intuitive

• no feedback relative to accelerometer action (vibrato)

• sometimes, finger-touches seem to not register or release early or later.

• manual record mode bar appears randomly


• no haptic feedback when touching the “holes”

• sound generator is not realistic

• no mouthpiece: no haptic feedback (visual feedback is not instantaneous) while blowing, the air might go another direction

• annoying blip of the in-between notes: no note off delay (delay the action of raising your finger by a few milliseconds)


• no haptic feedback when touching the “holes”

Hideyuki Ando “Touch the small world” as possible solution

• no mouthpiece: no haptic feedback while blowing, the air might go another direction

Mouthpiece hack :)

Extensions of wii as example

2. preferences

• it’s not possible to display the root and mode somewhere on the main screen for quick change during performance

• no effects like portamento, delay, reverb or sound synthesis options available

• no options for more holes that changes octaves

• auto record mode comes by default, the user might not want to be broadcasted without permission

2. preferences

• "Confirm" or "OK" button for the mode chooser - tap somewhere in blank space to confirm a selection is nonstandard

• root, mode, finger and breath color selection opens the keyboard and becomes editable on tap, to change them one needs to slide over the box - change this specifications is frustrating

• the recorded sounds are not accessible

2. preferences

• the world globe is partially interactive there’s no possibility to select specific broadcast on point

• it’s not possible to see other users profile

3. “world”

• How to play: navigation buttons on he top, contradict the global interface standard; how to play looks a button; useless information: helps you to access the menu from the main layout!

• video tutorial and “play the leaf T-bone” buttons takes you out of the application without warning

4. Help / Info

analytic evaluationdefining an heuristic

Usability

• Help/info menu: video tutorial and “play the leaf T-bone” buttons takes you out of the application without warning

Visibility of system status: The system should always keep users informed about what is going on, through appropriate feedback within reasonable time.

• Holes layout: manual record mode bar appears randomly

• Preferences: auto record mode comes by default, the user might not want to be broadcasted without permission

(Nielsen, 1994) http://www.useit.com/papers/heuristic/heuristic_list.html

http://www.useit.com/papers/heuristic/heuristic_list.html


Match between system and the real world: The system should speak the users' language, with words, phrases and concepts familiar to the user, rather than system-oriented terms. Follow real-world conventions, making information appear in a natural and logical order.

• Holes layout: menu access icon not very explicit

• Preferences: "Confirm" or "OK" button for the mode chooser - tap somewhere in blank space to confirm a selection is nonstandard




Consistency and standards: Users should not have to wonder whether different words, situations, or actions mean the same thing. Follow platform conventions.

• Preferences: "Confirm" or "OK" button for the mode chooser - tap somewhere in blank space to confirm a selection is nonstandard

• root, mode, finger and breath color selection opens the keyboard and becomes editable on tap, to change them one needs to slide over the box - change this specifications is frustrating

• Help: How to play: navigation buttons on he top, contradict the global interface standard; how to play looks a button;




Error prevention: Even better than good error messages is a careful design which prevents a problem from occurring in the first place. Either eliminate error-prone conditions or check for them and present users with a confirmation option before they commit to the action.

• no mouthpiece: no haptic feedback (visual feedback is not instantaneous) while blowing, the air might go another direction





Aesthetic and minimalist design: Dialogues should not contain information which is irrelevant or rarely needed. Every extra unit of information in a dialogue competes with the relevant units of information and diminishes their relative visibility.

• Help/ How to play button: useless information: helps you to access the menu from the main layout!

• Layout is not minimalist and goes out from the standard




Help and documentation: Even though it is better if the system can be used without documentation, it may be necessary to provide help and documentation. Any such information should be easy to search, focused on the user's task, list concrete steps to be carried out, and not be too large.

• No help or further information about preference: root, modes

• No help or further information about “world” and it’s organization and functions




Flexibility and efficiency of use / different user levels (Shneiderman): Accelerators -- unseen by the novice user -- may often speed up the interaction for the expert user such that the system can cater to both inexperienced and experienced users. Allow users to tailor frequent actions.

• Preferences and interface in general don’t help the beginner to cross some difficulties (what is the funtion root/modes) and to solve doubts and don’t allow advanced users to add and personalize more functionalities like: note off delay, more holes to access different octaves, effects, sound syntheses, easy access to root and modes, so the complexity and expertise level and expression can be possible.




Accessibility

Provide choices in features and ways that tasks can be accomplished

• The qwerty keyboard when needed is too small for people with very large fingers and impossible to use for blinds

http://www.usabilityfirst.com/accessibility/principles.txl



• Taping holes or any other icons don’t produce sound or haptic feedback for blind persons

Provide choices in features and ways that tasks can be accomplished / Provide Feedback




EMOtiON!!温もり!!

Why must information be presented in a dull, dreary fashion, such as in a table of numbers?

[Norman04]

the object must be rich and complex, one that gives rise to a never-ending interplay among the elements.

second, the viewer must be able to take the time to study, analyze, and consider such rich interplay; otherwise, the scene becomes commonplace.

the real trick, and where most products fail - is in maintaining the relationship after that initial burst of enthusiasm. (Khaslavsky and Shedroff)

[Norman04]

“Sato and I spent much of the next hour trying to understand what transforms an impression of shallow cuteness into one of deep, long-lasting pleasure.”

[Norman04]

In the case of the Te ò strainer, the unexpected transformation is the key.

[Norman04]

what about smule’s ocarina?

FEEL, AND FEEL FOR: AICHAKU

“Believing that all things around you - rocks, river, moun- tain, and clouds - are somehow “alive” was something that I couldn’t grasp as a child.”

John Maeda

Aichaku(ahy-chaw-koo) is the Japanese term for the sense of attachment one can feel for an artifact.

It is a kind of symbiotic love for an object that deserves affection not for what it does, but for what it is..

Acknowledging the existence of aichaku in our built environment helps us to aspire to design artifacts that people will feel for, care for, and own for a lifetime.

[Maeda06]

• holes and breath visual feedback colors are able to be personalized (possible principle: the system admits user personalization on aesthetic matters?)

• the interaction subversion: transforming a mobile phone into a wind instrument

• the act of blowing into the phone

• generative graphics on “world” view (gives the feeling of being alive so we give attention and affect) (pp: systems should integrate generative “alive” systems with personalized answers) - aichaku

Emotional aspects inherent to the object

To be fully engrossed within a movie is to feel the world fade away, time seem to stop, and the body enter the transformed state that the social scientist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has labeled "flow."

Flow

[Norman04]

Flow

• detached state of consciousness, in which you are aware only of the moment, of the activity, and of the sheer enjoyment

• can occur in almost any activity: skilled tasks, sports, video games, board games, or any kind of mind-absorbing work,.

• you can experience it in the theater, reading a book, or with intense problem solving.

[Norman04]

Flow

• lack of distraction

• activity paced precisely to match your skills

Conditions to occur:

pushes you slightly above your capabilities

[Norman04]

The level of difficulty has to be just at the edge of capability: too difficult and the task becomes frustrating; too easy and it becomes boring.

There can be no interruptions or distractions that might divert attention if one is to become truly captured by flow.

[Norman04]

Tool usage concept from Heidegger

In applying the tool it becomes invisible to its users during its implementation, thus becoming an extension of them.

The objective presence of the tool only occurs if it breaks during its application.

does the system allow user’s to reach the flow state?

• sometimes, finger-touches seem to not register or release early or later.

• no mouthpiece, no haptic feedback (blowing visual feedback is not instantaneous) while blowing, the air might go another direction


Serious conclusions will be taken on the written paper

References

NielsenJ.(1994). “Ten Usability Heuristics”, useit.com-Papers and Essays, 1994, http://www.useit.com/papers/heuristic/heuristic_list.html

[Norman04] Norman, D (2004). Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things, Basic Books (2005), ISBN: 0465051367 / 9780465051366

[Maeda06] Maeda, J (2006). The Laws of Simplicity (Simplicity: Design, Technology, Business, Life), The MIT Press (2006), ISBN: 0262134721 / 9780262134729

Reference websites

Usability first: http://www.usabilityfirst.com/accessibility/principles.txl

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/





Date post:	14-Jul-2015
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