Research Plan
for Monday 2/10/20
The main area for my thesis would be: VR and AR do not have a clear design or development principle. The principles should be considered before development. I think there are too many applications or games in VR that only want to distract the public with cool technology and not really create something that is useful. Beat saber is a great game on VR, but that is only used for entertainment.
In terms of focusing on AR development. Another area is finding engaging educational tools that could be enhanced with AR. Potential applications that are being developed or already out there. I think there is something is simulation training development apps or data visualization. Having existing systems converted or experienced with a new medium is something I want to explore.
What are you hoping to discover?
I want to see if I can find a pocket that has been overlooked. I want to investigate why did VR die in the 1990's? Why is it being invested by Facebook now?
What makes VR and AR so different? Why isn’t intertwined with each other?
Why is this important to you, or to the project?
I am fascinated with human behavior and I believe that the next medium will be some form of AR or VR, we are just in the primitive stages. I want to explore what other alternatives there are to push the field into something different.
How do these intentions shape your project?
I think having a deeper understanding of the behavioral patterns of people using new technology, there could be a answer as to why people need new mediums with new developments in technology.
How will you go about doing your research? How will you document it? Are you sitting and reading? Doing site visits & meeting people? Watching videos or talking to people online? Creating prototypes and getting feedback?
Schedule
I am planning on doing mini design challenges. I am approaching pre-thesis as a design challenge within itself. Because there many paths to getting the end goal of making something, I want to create an adaptive approach.
I will be referencing IDEO’s Human Centered Design Approaches
I need the yin and yang of the design. I plan on having mini monthly goals of planning and iteration. I need a balance between the two.
Here are some screenshots of my way of approaching this method for pre-thesis:
I have mainly been working from the basic process above from my notebook. Going from Research ->Inspiration -> Prototype -> Content with myself.
I plan on referencing the IDEO method of getting inspiration and creating something. I will document my process partly in medium and in Are.na websites to show my weekly progress and resources I will be using. My daily updates can be displayed on weekly blog posts on Medium.
So within the month this is my plan:
For the first month designing I want to complete the following:
Decide on what design challenge I want to do
What kind of impact? Scope? Filtering process, multiple versions?
Create Project Plan
Mapping out on a calendar. Get all resources/variables. Who should I get help from? Can I do it myself? Create an adaptive project plan.
Recruit tools
Collect social interviews understand the demographics. Understand the social communities around gender/age/ethnicity/race/socioeconomic status. Get spectrum of people from the extreme to mainstream sides.
Secondary Research
Once I have a solid design challenge, I will need to utilize the internet, library, professors, professionals as much a possible to gain as much knowledge on the idea. I use the aggregate data and find the most recent innovations in the field I am designing for. From understanding the recent innovations, I will need to look at other solutions that worked or didn’t work in the industry. I will try and either branch off an existing solution or try and come up with my own.
What will you do, when?This is a plan! You will change it.
I want to make a prototype headset that can do both VR and AR.
Here is a link to my are.na: https://www.are.na/grant-ng/thesis-things-wf5kujsbuk
