First week of the semester

We were given an overview of the semester during the first week, as well as briefing on the approximate timeline, the deliverables for the semester, and the FYP. Afterwards, we broke up to our individual classes and I got to meet my classmates for the final year. For the first class, we were given a task to prepare a presentation for the next session to share on our project, the title of our study, what we were hoping to achieve, and where we were in terms of progress in our research.

I was essentially venturing into unknown ground because I hadn't brought up my research topic from the previous semester. I had no idea what to anticipate. My initial research has given me a general concept of what I was going to do. As I gave the concept some time to settle into my thoughts, a few questions based on the study surfaced. My next step was to identify any problems that came to me while making an interactive piece of art. I was finding myself getting sidetracked and putting things off as I was working through problems and queries. This set off an idea in me.

The users' attention span and level of interest are the most crucial factors in everything interactive and immersive. It would be a "failed" interaction if there were no participants, no engagement, or no quality to keep the participants engaged throughout the entire encounter. I tried to extend out this notion into new thoughts by making a mental mind map. Everything that sprang to mind seems to contradict something else. First of all, there has long been a widespread belief that individuals, particularly those in younger generations, have a shorter attention span as a result of the advancement of technology.

The way that media is consumed—such as tiktok, Instagram reels, and YouTube shorts—seems to indicate that people are ingesting more and more information in a shorter amount of time. The days when people would watch a 30-minute YouTube video with greater interest are long gone.

The contradiction arises when I try to use interactive technology in the hopes that it will spark their attention and be sufficient to keep it going. In order to maintain participants' interest, I assume the artwork needs to incorporate additional elements. If I were to base my understanding of this topic only on what I know now, the work's narrative and storyline, graphics, and interactive components would have a major impact on participants' attention spans.

Expanding on this idea, the query and subject gradually entered my thoughts. How can we use technology to improve interaction and experience without making things too complicated to ensure that people have the longest attention span possible?

We had a quick in-class exercise where we were to create a mind map of the research topic we would be doing. Drawing from earlier studies, the mind map was created really fast and simply. But as I went through this exercise,
I realised that I was only scratching the surface and that everything appeared to be quite hazy. I'm hoping that as time goes on, I'll be able to refine my topic and make it more focused.After receiving stickers, we were instructed to look at the mindmaps created by our classmates and to attach them where we felt they were the most intriguing. This would allow us to determine whether the subjects that piqued our attention align with those of others. Even though the comments were extremely varied, they tended to focus on the things that I also considered to be noteworthy.

The lecturer suggested a few questions to help with the sharing of our topic when I was preparing for my presentation. Throughout my research preparation, I noticed that many of the questions I had lacked a solid answer. One question, for example, inquired about my present research state. Because the topic has only recently been established, there isn't a lot of information or knowledge on it. There were also no readings or literature reviews.

Because of this preparation, I am conscious of my lack of comprehension on the subject I am attempting to explore, but this was also to be expected. If I had a general understanding of the subject, I would be able to read and learn more about it in the future.