This week we aimed to build our concept to a standard appropriate for testing next week.

We built the rainstick, successfully tested the housing for waterproofing, successfully housed the electronic components, and achieved communication between the controller and LED’s.

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During this build session, we also got some impromptu feedback from team 7. Whilst they understood some of the control, they didn’t interact with the rainstick in the way we expected they might. Their feedback indicated that we may need to revise the code. It also indicated that whilst some people may enjoy the sound of the rainstick, others may not. One member of team 7 said they found it annoying, whilst the other two found it relaxing.

We decided to record this feedback and add it to the official testing feedback we collect next week before making any changes.

Our design concept utilises the Hexbox as a canvas, with arranged LED rather than a strip of them. This week we finally had enough components to build the LED canvas. To do so, we first revised the arrangement discussed last week and recorded all necessary measurements. This arrangement is a scaled down version of our original concept illustration, a decision that was predominantly driven by our budget restrictions. To build the canvas we measured out all of the wires, cut them to length, labelled them carefully, and got soldering.

There was a small hiccup in this process when we purchased three core cable with solid copper wire inside; this would be OK in theory but it was impossible to solder. We had to go out and purchase individual wires better suited to soldering.

During the soldering process we were careful to test that the LED’s were working at each join. There were two joins we had to redo because the connection was insufficient, but we eventually got them all working and arranged them on the Hexbox to check. This last activity made it clear that the net wouldn’t be needed, and it also showed us that our testing next week would need to be done when it is dark so that the LED’s would be visible.

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Next Steps: Testing

Our test plan for next week is as follows:

• Set up the installation on site, at night when it is dark, and with all components working together as intended.
• Conduct a usability session with users thinking aloud as they interact with the installation. Their goal will be to control the LED’s with the rainstick.
• Record the session so that non-verbal cues can be taken into consideration as well.
• Ask for feedback after the test via a questionnaire.