I was very scared of this part of my studies – electronics, but the introduction class and homework helped me start to navigate around this field. First, I learned about the basics of electricity:
V – Voltage - how many energy moves from one point to another and can also be looked at as pressure if we use a water analogy. Voltage is always measured between two points.
DC – straight current
AC – alternating current
I – current movement- the measure of the speed of the electrons in a circuit - how many electrons pass in a certain period of time.
R – resistance – resistance is the measure of friction or deceleration of the electrons in a circuit, and a resistor is a component made of a certain material that slows the speed of the electrons in a circuit.
W – Watt - The product of voltage and current in a circuit is a measure of how much work is done in a given period of time.
Hom’s low - V=I*R - For example - 9V / 0.02I = 450Ω
considering our led V we need to decrease it from the general V–>7V/0.02I - 350 Ω
The breadboard has an easy configuration but for some parts it was complicated for me to understand how to close the circuit, I think that because of the holes it makes it harder to understand the direction and order of the circuit.
I did not have a DC power supply so I used a battery to bring power to the breadboard. I started in the beginning connecting the led to the battery directly without using the breadboard just to understand how the circuit works and used the multimeter to measure the battery.
After setting up the breadboard and succeeding turning the led on, I used a button to activate the circuit with two leds.
The potentiometer was very scary at first sight and I was surprised to see that it was pretty easy to understand and perform (Tom's video was very helpful and I will never forget his last name – Igoe).
Arduino, wow this animal is very scary. I connected the wires to the Arduino with the led and the resistor but it did not work. Thanks to YouTube and all the tutorial videos, I realized that I didn’t connect the wires into the right places of the Arduino. After solving the problem and learning from it, I finally made it work.
I also downloaded the Arduino software and created a code for lighting up the led but the main issue was that I did not succeed to log in the Arduino into my computer, I hope I will figure this out in the upcoming lessons.
Once I felt much more comfortable with electronic components, I created a circuit that activated with a piece of fabric. I stitched a pushbutton switch to the fabric and used a silver fabric button to attach the wires and close the circuit.
** Tinkercad is an amazing tool to understand how electronics work and create projects in the future.
Response to readings:
Something that my instructor mentioned in class made me think ‘we are afraid but at the same time fascinated with technology’ and that leads me to physical interaction design. After reading ‘Fallacy of invisible interface’ I feel very ambivalent, from one side I do believe that invisible design sometimes intends to be uncertain but isn’t a good thing? when we do not understand tech or afraid from it the more curious we become. I agree with Timo Arnall ‘smartness actions making us feel frustrated for not being able to see what exactly goes behind the scene’ but could it be possible that once we created this ‘logic’ to the user it will become less enjoyable? What I love about technology is that it allows users to achieve their goals with minimal effort.
As Golden Krishna Samsung designer said ‘our job is not to create a better screen is to solve people problems. Forget about the UI and make the design more approachable, let the user do what they need to do without sitting in front of his phone – the best interface is no interface’. I think that by empowering this message people can become much more intellectual, future of foreground culture over technology is amazing but isn’t it a little bit too late? I feel like the newest generation will grow up in a world where invisible UIs are the norm. Steve Krug popularized the phrase 'don’t make me think' and in a way, that resamples the state of mind in our lives. So, does users really want to understand the mechanics of tech? I am not sure.