Midterm Project Concept

Our project has evolved from directly translating visual information into LEDs to using the LEDs as a visual response to sound.  The viewer will approach the box containing the LEDs (which we anticipate to be a square-base pyramid with a hole cut into the top) and will peer inside the box.  The LEDs will be scrolling a message by default that incites the viewer to vocalize into the box.  By nature, the viewer will probably at first speak into the box at a normal or quiet tone.  The message on the LEDs will change, provoking the viewer to heighten the tone of their voice.  The viewer will then try again, this process repeating until the viewer is yelling into the box.  Once the voice reaches a loud enough tone (breaking a threshold that we designate in the code), the box will instead give the viewer praise for his or her loudness.
The box functions as a device that praises a certain kind of behavior and provokes the viewer to conform to it.  Loud vocal tones (which can either be aggressive and commanding by nature or can be interpreted as such) seem to be widely accepted as "stronger" in many situations in society.  Because the voice is louder and more commanding, the content it speaks is deemed better and more important, despite the actual meaning of what is said.  Extroverted individuals, by definition, speak as they think, and therefore are more talkative, seeming more "friendly", and are more likely to voice their opinions.  An article explaining the difference between extroverts and introverts agrees that "extrovert behavior seems to be the standard in American society, which means that other behavior is judged against the ways an extrovert would behave" (Bainbridge).  I hypothesize that those who interact with the box that are extroverted will reach that loudness threshold first, and will be rewarded more quickly.  The introverts that interact with the box will have to go through some inciting and provoking before they reach that loudness level, providing that they continue to interact and are up for some stepping out of the comfort zone.  After the introverts interact with the box, they will have behaved in an extroverted way that diverts from their normal behavior.  The box, in a way, "trains" the introvert to be louder, through negative/positive reinforcement.


Bainbridge, Carol. "Extrovert." giftedkids.about.com. About.com. Web. 15 Oct 2012. <http://giftedkids.about.com/od/glossary/g/extrovert.htm>.