Moduled is a multipurpose lamp for people who are in need of different functions, forms, and colors of lighting. Moduled is a portmanteau word that is made from the words “module” and “LED (Light Emitting Diodes).” The characteristics of Moduled being a product design that uses LEDs instead of incandescent light bulbs and the fact that Moduled is made up of different modules are the core and key concepts of Moduled’s design.

Moduled, although working as initially expected, still has room for improvement. In order to mass-produce, smaller versions of the Arduino or even small microcontrollers may be substituted instead of the Arduino Uno in order to reduce pricing and weight. Also, different types of LEDs and different methods of installation may make the LEDs brighter for better lighting. Overall, this was a project that I wanted to do ever since I came to Design and Technology. Having an undergrad major in industrial design, I was not able to actually make my designs work. All that would result from massive research and concept generations were aesthetical mockups or software scenarios that showed how concepts worked. I set a goal of making a product that actually worked. I also have a design ideology in complexity in simplicity. I strongly believe that things that are considered as “basic” such as lighting and “basic shapes” such as circles, squares, and trapezoids can be totally reinvented with the addition of details. I tend to try to find beauty within seemingly simplistic objects. Moduled gave me an opportunity to work with materials I have never worked with before such as wood, wood stains, rare earth magnets, etc. The process of trial and error with different LEDs and different materials made me grasp a better understanding of which materials should be used for different circumstances. I hope Moduled can provide the basis of new generations of lighting where people will have the freedom to make any type of lighting with any type of form according to their needs and desires.

You can download my final presentation here

You can download my final paper here

Congratulations to all of us!

Have a great winter break and see you all next semester!!!

For this project, the class had to work on a public intervention. Through many prototypes and many failures, our group decided to focus on making a crowd-sourced movie made by the people, for the people.

The Smiley Prototype

The Camera Crew Prototype

We had made other prototypes prior to the final crowd-sourced movie such as the Smiley Prototype where we tried to grab the public’s attention by displaying numerous smiley faces using blob detection and the Camera Crew Prototype where we tried to act as a camera crew and deliberately shoved cameras into people’s faces to document people’s reaction. But soon we realized these interventions were either too passive or too aggressive.

Union Square Park

By making a crowd-sourced movie, we wanted to grasp people’s notions of Union Square Park. Why we chose Union Square Park is because we thought it was a place that showed a lot of diversity and history of New York City. We also wanted to make full use of its liberal space. By holding interviews with people who frequently came to Union Square Park, we could better grasp the inner needs of change for the park. We wanted to use the public as communal knowledge.  We had no given author, director, or scripter. What we learned from intense interviews directly translated to our scripts. How people acted out each line was of their own choosing. We believed that if we worked together, we could create something fascinating.

Nickelback – Rockstar MV

Red hat and bowtie

We were greatly inspired by Dr. Seuss’ “If I Ran the Park.” The book is full of imaginations and provides great inspiration and motivation. Other precedents we looked at were the “Johnny Cash Project (www.johnnycashproject.com) and the Crowdsourced Fan Film of Star Wars Uncut. In the end, we wanted to go the direction of Nickelback’s Rockstar music video where numerous clips of people of all age and sex starred in the video each singing a phrase of the song. We grabbed a spot in the middle of Union Square and made people from all around the world say a line of our crowd-sourced movie. A red hat and a red bowtie were used to resemble the magician that summoned all the wishes of Union Square Park.

The whole public intervention project was very fun and intriguing. It was fun working with people I’ve never met with before. And most of the people of Union Square were very nice and some were even eager to be starred in the video. Regulars started greeting us as we were in the park very often throughout the project. The public started to find people who could participate in our video. We saw a lot of patterns people had in Union Square Park. Because the project was very intriguing, perhaps I would like to further work on this project in the future. Problems we could fix are the ambient noise created by street performers and random people. We could also incorporate more involvement of the public as a group rather than as individuals. Overall, though, it was a very fun experiment in working with the pubic and trying to intervene into people’s lives.

final video and our project blog can be found here

final presentation (pdf) of the project can be found here

Cultural Probes 

Bill Gaver, Tony Dunne, and Elena Pacenti

As a product designer, I remember doing cultural probing in undergrad days. Our group’s goal was to make a new entertainment product for people our age (early 20s at that time). We handed out our very own cultural probing package to people who were unique in certain ways but who were all aged in their early 20s. We handed the packages out to physics majors, design majors, engineering majors, etc. We gave them a diary to write on along with stickers, pens, magazines, etc. so that they could decorate their diary. It was experimenting with cultural probes and to see the diverse results cultural probing had to offer. And fortunately, we did “explore functions, experiences, and cultural placements quite outside the norm.” Because we didn’t want the probing package to seem like a project, or something irritable for the tester, we tried to make it as aesthetically pleasing as possible so that people would actually WANT to record their daily lives. Along with giving them probing packages, we also carried other methods such as shadow tracking to see different people’s lives and to see it in their point of view. We believed that there was only so much information that could be gathered if we left the testers to do everything on their own therefore we followed them around the entire day acting as their shadows and documented and recorded their entire actions of that day. We would also talk with them during different instances and receive direct feedback and very useful opinions. After an analysis of the probing packages, we realized different tendencies of different people in their early 20s and made a product that would soothe each user at different times. Like the article mentions, we received feedback from the testers saying that this cultural probing package made the testers rethink about how they acted in their daily lives and some even thanked us for giving them a fun and interesting experience.

Experience Prototyping

Marion Buchenau, Jane Fulton Suri

Prototyping, as everyone knows it, is used for “understanding, exploring, and communicating.” There are so many different types of prototyping that it is really hard to define or explain prototyping as a single word. One action is better than saying a hundred words. I believe this to be the motto of prototyping. Clearly, from this article, we can see that prototyping is used for three main purposes: reliving existing experiences for better understanding, exploring new and intuitive design ideas and to check on feasibility, and communicating design concepts for better understanding. For each instance, people must check the methods of communicating prototypes for better understanding of different targets.

Although acting out a certain case (Train Journey Experience, ROV Pilot Experience, Patient Experience) may be effective, it is sometimes really hard to grasp the “real” environment unless you are actually in the user’s shoe. I think it was a very good idea to ask questions to an ex-ROV Pilot in order to relive the Pilot experience. This gives the prototype much more depth and a solid base to work off from. It would also be very fun to act out certain circumstances in a train journey and act randomly. Instead of trying to make a gadget that you think “looks cool” and is “up-to-date” in technology, prototyping gives you a sort of proof that a proposed design WILL affect certain people and WILL be of beneficial use for a diverse range of people.

Scrapyard Challenge

September 25, 2011

Our team (Galina, Yong, Jason) decided to make a musical sailing ship entitled “Sound Wave.” In the beginning, we just started to tear apart junk in order to find some useful parts. All three of us wanted to make something that spun therefore we picked out a CD player. Unfortunately, although the time display and radio was working, the cd rotation did not work. We wanted an automated rotation but because parts were indeed from junk, the cd rotation motor seemed to have broke. Since then, we changed our concept so that – when in best-case scenario – the wind would be able to control the “sail” of the boat.

As seen on the picture above, random wires attached to the CD. These wires were connected to the power through aluminum foil and solder. The wire on the yellow tube would provide the input for the MIDI device and make sounds as the wire touched the wires on the CD. The two wires attaching would basically serve as the switch.

Because we wanted to create more musical notes, we decided to put a more wires grew out of the cd. As seen in the picture above, we color-coded the green and purple wires to make two other sounds. As the CD turned, this would not only affect the movement of wires on the CD, but would also affect the green and purple wires to create more crazy music!

This is the finished result of the “Sound Wave.” It has three different inputs color-coded yellow, green, and purple.

The inputs would be connected to the blue wires while the power source was connected to the red wires.

It was really fun playing around with junk. At first, i was thinking to myself if I could actually get junk to produce music. I realized the power of aluminum foils, wires, and solders. It was very fun to think of other methods of switches and to make totally random music!

Below is the video link of our Sound Wave working. You can’t really hear our sound because the video was taken during the huge music jam session.

Scrapyard Challenge

Interaction Relabelling and Extreme Characters: Methods for Exploring Aesthetic Interactions

J.P. Djajadiningrat, W.W. Gaver, J.W. Frens

Coming from an industrial design background, it was really interesting to read this article. In the world we currently live in, mostly all the famous must-have gadgets focus entirely on a rectangular screen interacting with people through complicated software. Hardly do you see products with different shape and for and material physically interacting with human. This article talks about how interactive relabeling and designing for extreme characters may lead designers to think outside the box. When deciding on a thesis project in undergrad, it was really hard for me to decide on a topic. After long thought, I decided to create a design that focused on a somewhat extreme character in Alzheimer’s Disease patient’s caretakers. I made countless trips to different sanatoriums and used many methods such as diaries, user tracking, collaging, etc. to really grasp how the caretakers felt and how they acted towards patients of Alzheimer’s Disease. I had the opportunity to dive into a distinct user and to create a product that did not look prototypical. Because caretakers in Korea were usually old and were far from being tech geeks, it really would not have made any sense for me to create an iPad-like device that enables caretakers to manage Alzheimer’s Disease patients – the caretakers would not really find it comfortable carrying around an iPad and working with software that can be hard to understand. What I spotted was that almost every caretaker had a watch. I somewhat held an interactive relabeling myself and tried to store daily logs of patients into a watch so that caretakers could easily manage different patients. While reading the article, I really liked the product design created for the polyandrous twenty-year old. The other products for the drugs dealer and the pope were too clichéd and stereotyped therefore didn’t show much potential for development. But the “appointment fan” really made use of its aesthetics and combined it with interaction in a very purposeful way. I can see an image of a polyandrous woman luxuriously taking out her fan and blowing wind to herself while at the same time checking her schedule. Not only can this fan-appointment device be used by polyandrous woman, but I can see it also being used by other comparatively “normal” people.

What do Prototypes Prototype?

Stephanie Houde, Charles Hill

As a designer, there are many times when designers need to prototype their concepts. There are also several reasons for prototyping. Designers may prototype their conceptual “artifact” in order to see if their design really works, or to find out any other ways to solve different problems, or simply to make an effective presentation in order to persuade clients. Deciding on what the main goal of the prototype is essential during the process of prototyping as prototypes have several different outcomes. I like to think of prototypes as a communication tool towards different audiences in order to receive feedback that can improve the final outcome of the artifact. Just like people talk differently to children, teenagers, adults, old people, etc., prototypes must also be different for different types of audiences for better understanding. As an example, you would not make your prototype through touchscreens if you wanted feedback from a baby; you would make it on paper and crayons. After reading this article, it was quite clear that there are very diverse mediums such as video, paper / pencil, computer programs, pizza boxes, toy cars, etc. that can be used in order to communicate with different types of people. But it doesn’t mean the higher the technology, the higher the hierarchy of prototype. As seen in Example 9 of the article, toy cars and walkie talkies were used just for the sole purpose of the look and feel of the design. Because the “role, look and feel, and implementation” are three main factors of prototypes that need to be considered in order to achieve “integration”, I believe this is why designers like us make user scenarios, draw countless number of aesthetic sketches, and carry technological research and practice.

Assignment 3: Buidling two mashups (software / hardware)

Software Mashup

Concept: 

In my case back in Korea, there were many cases where our family would argue about which route to take when heading on family car trips. Because there are so many obstacles that create traffic such as weather, accidents, # of cars on road, etc. and it changes everytime, people actually have a hard time determining which route to take. I decided that I wanted to mashup up information regarding the distance from start to destination (naver map) and the live information regarding current traffic situation and # of accidents and # of cars. I wanted to use the live cameras that use electromagnetic waves to detect the number of cars passing by and to make a simple visual interface for people to understand.

How it works:

People go to the livetraffic.com site and write in their departure and arrival location. The map then calculates many diverse routes that are somewhat similar in distance travelled. What it also does is it uses current traffic information through speeding cameras and detects how many cars are actually on the road. it uses color coding (red – yellow – green) in order to show how crowded the roads are. On the left is a mini key that shows the current road condition for each route (20 colored circles). People can then click on their preferred route and can click on the cameras to see a live video playing the current traffic situation in the area.

Hardware Mashup

Concept: 

Although we have weather apps and weather channels and weather news on the internet, there are actually very many times when I forget to bring out my sunglasses or my umbrella because I don’t know the current weather. I believe the channels, apps, and sites aren’t very naturally interfaced for human purposes. I wanted to create a hardware device that everyone all around the world sees so that they can be naturally informed of the current weather. I created a wireless internet handle that receives weather information and portrays the current weather situation in a visual way.

How it works:

The handle has LEDS and a heat sensor in order to naturally display current weather. People wake up and are forced to use door handles. Once they touch or see the door handle, they will realize the current weather and can prepare the appropriate clothing, umbrella, accessory, etc.

Coming from an industrial design background and really interested in physical computing, the Maker Faire was a very fun experience for me. A live show of dissolving Mentos in Coke Zero, a huge dragon made entirely of junk that breathes fire, lamb gyros, products made by Arduino, 3d printers, toys playing instruments through MIDI, etc. are just some of the things I saw at the Maker Faire. Because I wanted to see how Arduino could be used, I first headed towards the Arduino tent.

The product that got me most excited inside the Arduino tent was a product entitled “Keyglove“ by Jeff Rowberg. This is because during my industrial design studying days, I remembered a concept mobile phone that used fingers to represent keys. What intrigued me the most was the possibility of Keyglove’s further development. Although people are used to QWERTY-based keyboards, it doesn’t necessarily mean it HAS to be the most comfortable. Because the wearable computing market is becoming very popular I believe the Keyglove will impact the world of gaming, design, art, music, etc. I’d love to see a further developed Keyglove where if I made a certain shape with my hand while putting on Keyglove, a 3D CAD software would automatically create the shape I’m making with my hands.

As I entered the indoor section of the Maker Faire, the work that first caught my eyes was the “Lumarca” designed by Matt Parker. Using a projection, Lumarca used a volumetric display to show viewers a three dimensional image in motion. When I first looked at it in the dark, I initially thought that it involved high technology. But once I asked the artist on the mechanism of Lumarca, I realized it was just a calculated projection in motion towards strings attached to boards. When I researched for Lumarca on the internet, I also realized the creators incorporated Kinect into Lumarca. They created a 3d projection portraying the exact movement of somebody moving infront of the Kinect. What’s so interesting is that the Lumarca need not require a 3d glass in order for people to see 3d.

Although it doesn’t require much technology, I also found “Hidden Messages – Magnetic and Polarized” by Robert Hermes to be very interesting. This was a good example to show that use of materials can make a big difference. People can view a hidden message once viewed with polarized viewers. In places such as airports where so much information is given such as different flight numbers and different timed flights, the use of polarized material where people can see through would be highly effective. People can have polarized tickets that allowed them to only see the information in airports that represented their specific flight.

Because I have an industrial design background, every time I passed by a 3d printer, I just wanted to buy it. Just last year, I had paid $2000 to create a fine mockup of one of my product designs in Korea. Seeing that a 3d printer now only costs about $1600 shocks me. There were 3D printers that worked by addition while there were 3D printers that worked by subtraction. Because I’ve already seen many printers that work by subtracting from the raw material, I was more interested on those printers that worked by addition. An example would be the “Ultimaker: the fast, affordable, large build volume, open source 3D printing” made by the Ultimaker. Just like its name, it was indeed a fast, affordable, open source 3d printer. It would accept almost any type of CAD file and would print in such detail that I couldn’t believe it. It created what seemed to me like a billion layers of shape in order to achieve the detail of the final product. It was very fun to see. There were just so many 3d printers!

I want to buy everything from Maker Faire!!!!

“Mashups: The new breed of Web app, An introduction to mashups”

Duane Merrill

Before reading the article, I didn’t really have an idea of what a mashup was. Words such as API and API enabling REST, SOAP, etc. were not familiar terms. As I continued reading the article, the idea of open APIs and different types of mashups started to become interesting. I realized that I have already been introduced to mashups by being working with open APIs while drawing in CAD software. Wikipedia defines mashup as “a web page or application that uses and combines data, presentation or functionality from two or more sources to create new services.” I regard mashups as a tool for combining and portraying rather complex data into a comparatively simple interface that is much more understandable to ordinary users. Furthermore, in the case of web 2.0, because almost everybody can retrieve information through mashups, these people can also contribute to the development of open source information. Mashups include Web 2.0 and social software that not only connect people to the computer screen, but also from people to people, computer screen, TV sets, cell-phones, microwaves, etc. – basically everything around you. Consumer mashups such as mapping mashups, video and photo mashups, and search and shopping mashups create a base for limitless exploration. As an example, people can use open API and link together words with pictures that have been tagged. They can drag every available picture online that has the tag of “2011” and can create a timeline or can create a map of where and when people actually took the photo. Basically, when one takes a photo, that picture can be represented by what time the picture was taken, who the picture was taken by, who is actually in the picture, the occasion of the picture, what camera was used to take the picture, etc. Later, all these information can be used to either reorganize pictures or to map these pictures into totally different topics. I believe mashups are a great way to make use of or increase the usability of all the massively stored information on the web that can’t be simply accessed by everyday users.

“Calm Technologies 2.0: Visualizing Social Data as an Experience in Physical Space”

Michael Hohl

As I was reading this article, I was first interested by the idea of making calm technologies – communication designs that gave sensual experiences to users without much disruption. The WebPresence was a very good example of interfaces that are not only aesthetically attractive, but conceptually appealing as well. It reminded me of when friends would throw small stones towards your window in order to grab your attention. But does WebPresence actually solve a problem? Can it actually be called a practical design? Because humans are already fully occupied by all the information provided to us through the mobile phone, the internet, and SNS such as twitter and facebook, should there be more products and services that alert humans of information? I like how the article touched upon how art challenges assumptions. “How would these disruptions affect our ability to concentrate and focus on tasks such as writing and reading that require longer periods of uninterrupted immersion?” In my case of twitter, facebook, and foursquare, I turn off all the pushing and alerting alarms so that I don’t have the urge to check on my twitter, facebook, and foursquare whenever it blinks or sends me an update. I am already using too much technology. There are times when I want to free myself from technology but pushing alerts and alarms prevent me from doing so. I still do believe that communication designers should work to improve calm technology as it will have limitless potential for communication design aside from alerting and pushing functions. I believe it necessary for designers to sometimes think in a bottom-up development as although some people may consider these designs to be currently useless, such research and developments can create a firm foundation for future design.

“A Manifesto for Networked Objects: Why Things Matter”

Julian Bleeker

When reading the section of this article related to networked video, I could not help but think about Big Brother of “1984” where every action taken by every person would be watched by telescreens and would be recorded as data. But as I started to read more about the author’s take on the role of future blogjects, it really made sense to me and it did not seem like “1984” at all. Yes we have up-to-date technology where cars can record everywhere you went and how much fuel must be pushed in order to gain the optimum driving experience. Yes we have internet based products that calculates so much information at such a short time. But are all these calculations and information necessary for the development of technology or development of the world? With the incorporation of Web 2.0, blogjects now have the opportunity to provide information that can actually raise political, environmental, etc. issues that can be debated on by people. The pigeon example in this article is an example where a blogject can raise questions and start debates regarding pollution of a certain area. It not only collects information regarding pollution, but it also raises an issue that people must take into concern. I totally agree in that mashups and blogjects “need to mean more than the sum of its parts.” Creating useless sensor-based objects that only have functions of collecting meaningless data is no longer needed. “Blogject is to make, disseminate and enhance meaning, to draw attention and to be assertive.” We now have so much technology and information available to us that we need to consider how such technology and information will be used wisely for the future.

“Grey Album Producer Danger Mouse Explains How He Did It”

Corey Moss

Here, a mashup is understood much more as “a new song that is mixed from the vocal and instrumental tracks from two different source songs. (usually belonging to different genres)” Jay-Z and the Beatles song genres are different indeed. It can be seen that Jay-Z’s a cappella version of The Black Album acts as an open API if this was a Web 2.0 mashup. People can work with the a cappella tracks and coat it to an entirely different song. But in the process of recreating two different music into one, the most challenging aspect would be to create the music so that it doesn’t sound like one music was “just laid on top” of another. Similar to web mashups, people would not find it so intriguing if two different types of information were just combined with no concept whatsoever. Although some people may find mashing up music to be an easy task, there are so many things to consider such as “the strike of a drum or cymbal” and “changed up tones and pitches.” A deconstruction of something and integrating the parts to another is a difficult task but only though this process is mashup created. Burton says that creating this grey album was not as easy as people say but rather it was a difficult form of deconstruction.

I went to youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obksjtagvLY)

and listened to Danger Mouse’s version of Dirt off your Shoulder. I found it interesting because it sounded like a Beatle’s version of hip hop.

Assignment 2: Completing seven projects in seven days

Concept: 

Right from the start, I knew I wanted to make seven projects that were related to me and my background. Because I take Creativity & Comp Lab, Physical Computing, and Code for Art this semester, I tried to stay away from computer programming related projects for Major Studio. I tried to make seven daily projects that just popped up in my head, no matter how stupid they were. I believed this project was a good chance for me to do projects that I’ve always wanted to do.

Day1: Jason Kim and Identity

(click on pictures for enlarged view)

First and foremost, I really wanted to make myself a business card

My logo is where you would put your thumb when handing out my business card to others.

Day2: Jason Kim and Advertisement

I made a Snapple bottle wrapping in order to advertise myself and placed it in a grocery store beverage shelf. The advertisement had information about my homepage, facebook, and twitter. I also tried to play around with the Nutrition Facts saying that all people need for their daily intake is to visit my homepage.

Day3: Jason Kim and Product Design

I asked myself “can I make something useful without spending money and without technology?” Then I remembered Katherine telling me there were thrown away cardboard and materials on the fourth floor of 2W 13th. I went and picked up cardboard, paper, wooden stick, and some shower curtain clips. I decided to make myself a table organizer.

Day4: Jason Kim and Graphics

I decided to make a poster of everything that represented me and the graphics style I liked. This poster has a person made entirely of icons of all the product design concepts I made during my undergrad. It also has my favorite style of graphics and my logo as well.

Day5: Jason Kim and Pictures

On day 5, i really just wanted to work out… and take interesting pictures… and make a photo diary. I love to take pictures of things that people might miss during their daily busy lives.

Day6: Jason Kim and Doodles

I love to doodle. I love the color yellow. I love shoes.

I bought Sharpie pens, some badges, and a yellow shoe.

This equated to…

Day7: Jason Kim and Tattoo

I’ve always wanted a tattoo. But I knew I was going to regret it afterwards. So I tried having a tattoo for a day.

7 in 7 Experience and afterthought

I think the main difference between a concept and an execution is that when one creates a concept, he or she only thinks about a plan of a project whereas in execution, he or she actually does the work. There are many times when I think a certain project will seem interesting but I don’t have the will to actually carry the project through. I start to doubt myself of the idea and think it to be silly at times. Seven in seven gave me the opportunity to do some projects I have been wanting to do for quite some time now.

Because the project had no “wrong” way, it gave me freedom to do whatever I wanted. I tried not to create a concept that would link all seven of my projects at first because I thought it would then reduce my creativity to explore. I tried at most to do a project that first popped up in my mind each day – no matter how silly they seemed. Once I finished all seven projects, I realized all seven projects had a relationship to either my background or my personality. My business card represents who I am and my advertisement is a method to advertise myself. The cardboard box I made represents my industrial design background while my poster represents the type of graphics I like to use. I incorporated my hobbies of running and taking pictures for one of my projects. For the last two projects, it shows I really love to doodle and draw.

I do not think there actually is a real “finish” to a certain project as every project – whether one thinks it finished or not – always has room for improvement. But if I had to define a finishing of a project, it would be where one or a group would no longer have any additional ideas to further add to the project or finds or find adding more to the project will make the project too broad. I would like to say that my projects are finished within the seven by seven criteria but have lots of room for improvement if I wanted to further develop each idea. Although a project might seem good one day, it might look horribly bad the next. I don’t think any of my projects look horribly bad but I can certainly change them to look better. As an example, although I spent 6 hours doing my graphic poster and thought it looked ok, I saw it the next day and was wondering what I was drawing. But this was actually quite intriguing. This was one of the interesting things I found out about myself while doing the seven in seven project. Sometimes I’d grab a pen or start to draw on illustrator without thinking much but things were actually being drawn naturally.

I am very glad we had the opportunity to do the seven in seven project. Although it came as a stress when I didn’t have an idea each day, I think it was a good experience in that it gave me the opportunity to do projects I would have never done unless it was the seven in seven. I really learned a lot about myself and had the chance to release a little bit of inner self in me.

Assignment 1: Re-imagining a social network

Concept: 

Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Vimeo, etc. are all SNS that requires vision. In other words, you are not able to multi task while social networking. I wanted to create a new interfaced social network that allowed “communication” between people in the internet. I thought what best way to hear people’s voices and to communicate than the old fashioned radio? I wanted to use the concept of FM (Friend Manager) and AM (Anonymous Manager) in order for people to hear other’s current status and music preferences online. The radio format allows reminiscence and to hear forgotten music and personal stories.

How it works: 

Once logged into Stream Talk, people have the choice of either being a “host” or an “audience.” When hosting, people only need to either upload a previously recorded file like their presentations or talks or they can record live through the program. Other Stream Talk users can hear your radio talks live and can interfere the radio with questions. The host has the option of receiving interferences while hosting their own radios live. In the Audience part of Stream Talk, people can hear to the most popular Stream Talks on a live, daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly basis. By turning on Stream Talk, people can just listen to other people’s radios while doing other work.

This is the flash prototype of how Stream Talk would work: streamtalk