Reflections

Pre-Demo Reflections:

We installed the Feel-o-Meter in the studio about a day before the day of our project demonstration, in order to collect data the cohorts feelings and also to test it in the real-life context. 

1. We collected over 80 responses throughout the day. These responses were quite varied since a lot of our batchmates were just trying out the product by pressing buttons. But it also led us to the question of the presence of the device after the initial excitement wears off. Will it be able to capture true data?
2. We also realized that many times people would just hit the button and leave while their responses were not captured. To address this we added a small illustration that prompted the users to "Push - Breath - Release and then let the lights breath back". This not only helped us trigger the right usage but also create a need for the users to stop and analyze their true feelings before pressing the button.

Post-Demo Reflections:

We got some really insightful feedback and comments from our guests. It was wonderful to meet and exhibit our projects to people with a wide variety of interests and background. 

1. One really nice idea was to implement a feature to calculate the change in mood/emotional state/ feelings expressed. This would help us capture the change in mood a particular event has triggered. For example, people can express their emotional state before the start of the class and then at the end of the class, helping us capture the variation as a true measure of the impact of the class on the emotional state
2. One recurrent feedback was on the flexibility to change the prompt we had used, "How are you feeling today?". Our vision is to evolve Feel-o-Meter into a device that can be used in multiple different contexts and so in the future versions, we could include a small LED screen that could be customized to display different prompts on the basis of the context.
3. One very interesting question was regarding "what happens to the isolated feelings." Since we are displaying the aggregated data of the feelings - does that impact the people who have isolated feelings. For example - if the entire cohort is happy would that impact me in voicing out that I am sad? If the entire cohort is stressed, would it trigger stress in me as well? Also, the other aspect of this is: would my voice be lost in since the data is an aggregate?
4. A couple of guests asked us about how projects are utilizing our data and whether we agree with their usage? That led us to a bigger question on the control of data and its utilization that the developers of the IoT devices have. In the real world context, it would lead to a lot of safeguarding and creating ecosystems that are interconnected but also restricted. Does this indicate, can the internet of things truly be a full scope internet with free movement of data and information?