REFLECTION
MEMBERS INPUT
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prototype
phase & final
phase
My role in the project so far, has been one of brainstorming, and helping to problem solve in terms of figuring out aspects that could be changed to fine tune the project as a whole. As well I have worked as a researcher for pictures and details on the project. I think the project is going really well, as we have been able to work as a cohesive group that has been able to figure out any roadblocks that we have had so far, an example of this is when we were trying to figure out exactly what we wanted to do with the box we were able to talk it out together rather than getting frustrated.
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brannan
PROTOTYPE PHASE
For this project I worked to help solve problems, whenever something came up that needed ideas i was there to put my input. As well I did research on things for the box, such as pictures and other things. I did a lot of brainstorming as well as just in general helping to figure out solutions. I think we have worked really well as a group and were able to create a awesome project working together. I also learned that when you are able to listen and think about other aspects of the project you can find things that can be changed. For examples being able to talk about different things we want to put in our box, and being able to make changes based upon conversations in the group.
FINAL PHASE
My role in the project so far, has been one of brainstorming, and helping to problem solve in terms of figuring out aspects that could be changed to fine tune the project as a whole. As well I have worked as a researcher for pictures and details on the project. I think the project is going really well, as we have been able to work as a cohesive group that has been able to figure out any roadblocks that we have had so far, an example of this is when we were trying to figure out exactly what we wanted to do with the box we were able to talk it out together rather than getting frustrated.
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ISABELLA
PROTOTYPE PHASE
My role in the creation of the project was to write the back story/ narrative. I started with I think five journal entries to describe what our character was experiencing during her time on earth. Later on I added some more narrative about what ultimately happened after the earth was really bad, and who found the box. I think the overall project has been going really well. I have learned that when you actually have a group that wants to work together well, the overall project can be really amazing. I also learned some new things about creating the box from the wood cutter in the makerspace. Some of the issues that we have had came when we were trying to figure out what we should put in the box. Since there is sand that is in it, we didn’t to add things that would be heavy because it would make the whole project super heavy. But I think this project has came out really good.
FINAL PHASE
My role in the project has been designing the paths for the digital component of our artifact. Although I have trouble explaining it, I found the flowchart website very helpful when demonstrating to my team, rather than having them lost with my words. I wanted the user to have an easy path in order to unlock our safe, but having a touch of difficulty so they will have to use some of their own previous internal constraints to navigate. Some of the issues that arose was how difficult we wanted unlocking the box, trying to balance out a good amount of time to opening the physical component and the time spent with objects within the vault.The solving for the four digit code to unlock the safe is found within the laser engraved words on the outside of the box, not explicitly, but an obvious hint. We decided to simplify and depending on the feedback, we can adjust accordingly and either add more paths or make the hints less obvious. Another one was the objects within the box and how to engage it back to the digital component, how do we keep the user engage after they have opened the box? Overall I think the project is going well so far, our communication has been solid and everyone has made creative efforts.
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VIVIAN
PROTOTYPE PHASE
I created the website for the digital component and helped with creating the paths for unlocking our artifact. I also helped with converting images in Adobe Illustrator in order to laser engrave the placards inside the box. The project came out really well and I am proud with what we have made, one thing that I have learned was the process of laser engraving and my interest is growing in 3D printing and utilizing more of the makerspace. Issues that came up was more in the brainstorming and how far we should go with it, usually when we get carried away someone in the team would ground us and bring a more realistic approach. The box came out bigger than we anticipated, however we managed to just put less sand and put in bigger items instead of restarting the entire artifact.
FINAL PHASE
The role that I held in this project was to draft and create the vault and its mechanisms. I had prior familiarity with how to design the box, but I had not yet learned exactly how everything was sent to the engraver here at the makerspace. To do so, I had to find out how to export my CAD/DWG file to a workable PDF and make sure that it was to scale. Being that the box was well over the size of a piece of paper, there were extra steps I had to take to make sure that everything would still show up and cut out. I also had to mess around with illustrator to get the box cut - the printer/engraver read the file from illustrator. I had to learn to change the size of my drafted lines so that the laser would understand the weight/thickness of the lines and be able to cut it correctly. In the assembly of the mechanism, the cardboard proved to be too weak to support the desirable actions (as expected). I have started to look into continuing with the engraver to cut out better gears or going to the 3D printer to do so. The school only had fusion 360, which is similar to a program I have used for 3D printing (inventor), but still different, so I am learning to use it. I also noticed the tutorial to build the mechanism had some flaws in the measurements and the process, I ended up just measuring out and setting up new dimensions to make sure everything fit into the box. Another thing I had learned was how to build a website using wix, I have never used the site or tried to do website building before. Wix adds an easy way to edit a website and put it together that made it a lot better for me to understand.
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JUSTINA
PROTOTYPE PHASE
I had the role of designing and building the physical artifact including its mechanisms and some of the artifacts. I had already been familiar with laser engraving and a little bit of 3D printing. For cutting out the placards, instead of using familiar software (AutoCAD), I instead tried to learn to use Photoshop and Illustrator to help make some of them. With the help of Vivian, Michele, and Google I messed around with the two programs to try to convert images in a way that the laser engraver could read and cut. With the weak cardboard components and reliance on hot glue, I had to find a way to alter the design of the box to make the mechanism stronger and make sure that it actually could function. I went on to design the gears and 3D print them and using epoxy bond instead of hot glue. Like I mentioned before, I also found myself trying to help out more with the website and trying to learn to use Wix. I am super excited about the whole creation of the artifact and everything that went into it, and I’m really happy with how it turned out.
FINAL PHASE
The role for this project was compiling the logistical information. Most of this comprised of having the overall look be complete and the details that make the vault a whole. Compiling the website content was also part of my role and it was nice arranging the pages. I had input on the way the user would interact with the box and the process the user would be going through to unlock the box. Other tasks I did was finding some of the box's components to bring the user to terms on what the current state of the world is at the time. Our team's current status is very satisfactory. I think we work really well together, with each team member communicating very well, keeping the communication consistent and being accountable for our team as a whole and for ourselves individually. We have our specific strengths that collaboratively bring us to a complete whole.
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MICHELE
PROTOTYPE PHASE
FINAL PHASE
In addition to what I've contributed throughout the first half of the project, I added some suggestions to the items we include within the vault and how to to improve some of the items that others suggested. We decided to use "cards" that show the animals we deemed extinct at the time of the user exploring it and the pictures of those animals struggling in this current day. I helped with the formatting and layout of the cards while Justina worked with which animals we should include and its scientific terms. I also retrieved sand and a collected a few of my old unusable items to throw into the vault as well. Another incorporation I provided was the SD card that was used to include the character's photos of what she experiences in the world she lives in, which I used Photoshop to overlay a more rusted effect.
One obstacle we encountered around halfway through creating the vault was the gears not performing correctly. Because of this, we reprinted the gears and I collected and trimmed the excess 3D plastic material so that it would correctly fit with the rest of the lock network.
Overall, I think this project is a success and there is room to further add items to inside of the vault, allowing the project to continue improving, but seeing the final result was rewarding.