Inside Interface

In my artt2372 class, we were introduced to the interface, which is a type of circuit that we would be working with. We first started class off with a discussion then Dr. Justice showed us his interface circuits that he had created. As he was showing us his circuits I was getting worried because it seemed to be more complicated to me. Once I saw all the wires on the table and the copper tape I began to think I wouldn't get my piece to work the first time around. The materials we used for the interface were the makey makey, USB, alligator clips, copper wire, and construction paper. The first thing I started on was making the outline for the sprite onto construction paper. I wanted to start with the construction paper sprite first because it seemed more simple to start there first so I wouldn't be overwhelmed with the making of the scratch code and the copper wired and alligator clips setup. I chose to make a Jack-o-lantern because I would be able to make the jack-o-lantern glow. Natali from class inspired me to try to make my jack-o-lantern light up because when she made her firefly illusion I loved it because it was cute, simple, and beautiful to look at. My idea was to create a scratch project that would have a jack-o-lantern start off dark and say, "something doesn't feel right" and after that, it would change to costume two, which would be the one where the jack-o-lantern lights up and says, "now this is more like it." I wanted to add speech bubbles to create a more interactive space for the users. After I made the scratch sprite I moved onto the code. The code made me nervous because I felt like I wouldn't be able to get it to work right while also working with the copper tape and alligator clips. Once I started working on the code; I kept checking what Dr. Justice wrote in his code to compare where I would have to put certain points so my sprite would change to costume two, and how to work with the timing on the code. When I looked over Dr. Justices' code it helped me to understand how to get my code to work properly. Once I finished the code, the sprite maker on scratch, and the construction paper sprite; I would have to move onto the wiring with the makey makey and where to put the copper tape. I waited to do this part last because I was worried that I wouldn't be able to make it work. I started figuring out how to put the copper tape on the back of the construction paper by looking at Dr. Justices' example. When comparing the example to mine I knew I did it right but I was still nervous that It wouldn't work the way I wanted it to. For the alligator wires, I also looked at Dr. Justices' example on how he hooked up the alligator wires to the makey makey and the copper tape. Once I hooked everything up together I was hesitant about starting scratch to see if the interface would work. When I pressed the down arrow the jack-o-lantern started to light up! To myself, I felt excitement and relief because I finally understood! Making the interface threw me out of my comfort zone but I also learned more how switches work and how they would apply to our everyday life.