Karl Löfholm
University of Gothenburg
karl[at]lofholm.se
Totem: Dance! top
Totem: Dance! takes dancing out of the clubs and into a public space. We move the elements of a dance floor out into the open, how will people react? Will this encourage dance or will it be ignored?
Our group wanted to tackle the lack of social interaction in Swedish society. To address this we decided to take a socially acceptable action out of its context and place it within a different context. We specifically focused on dancing, which most people would never consider doing outside of a club environment. Could we get people to dance in public and with other people?
The goal of the project is to encourage dancing as a collaborative and social interaction by connecting 1) people and 2) sensory elements (beat, music, visuals, lights, etc.). We envisage beat as a connecting element and dancing as a social interaction. We want to introduce sensory elements (2) to an environment via an artefact and encourage people (1) to collaborate and interact through dance.
Our solution to the problem is Totem: Dance! The totem detects the movement of people and responds with music and lights. The totem has varying levels of response that increase with more dancers. We hope that this will inspire people to interact with each other and to dance.
(Presentation video will be available soon)
the project.
Totem: Dance! was created out as part of the 2010 Interaction Design Project course at Chalmers and Gothenburg University. The purpose of the course was to lead to an increased understanding of design issues and challenges associated with the work of an interaction designer. The course gave us training and educated us in the science of interaction design through workshops, literature studies and lectures. The course required that students form groups with four to five members who were each responsible for deciding on a project idea that they wanted to explore. All steps of the project were documented and a report was written to explain the complete work process. Every group also had a supervisor to assist the group and to support them throughout the process.
realisation. top
Wood, Perspex, a laptop, an Arduino, LEDs, a motor, and lots of wire are just some of the materials that were needed to realise Totem: Dance! More than three prototypes were created before coming to the final design.
The frame of the totem is made out of wood and Perspex in the shape of a triangular prism. This shape was chosen to maximize the interaction area of the totem. Due to a technical limitation the initial idea of a full 360 degree interaction area was not possible, but the triangular prism allowed for two large distinct interaction areas within the technical constraints. All inputs and outputs are situated within the totem and besides the requirement of external power the totem is completely self contained.
Our totem contains a laptop that acts as the main processor for the input technology. The outputs are synchronized via the laptop but controlled via an Arduino micro controller. To detect people and their movements, we use a combination of sonic sensors and web cameras.
photos. top
about us. top
The Totem: Dance! project was carried out, in the spring 2010, by five students at the Interaction Design master program at Chalmers University of Technology and Gothenburg University, Gothenburg.
David Marshall
Chalmers University
davidmarshall[at]gmail.com
Alexander Neumann
University of Gothenburg
alneuman[at]techfak.uni-bielefeld.de
Richard Potter
University of Gothenburg
rkpottee[at]gmail.com
Christofer Stäke
University of Gothenburg
christofer.stake[at]gmail.com