Week 2 Interview

For week2, our team had the opportunity to interview Janice and John Balash, two key individuals involved in the ETC Tour at Carnegie Mellon University. The ETC Tour is a unique experience that provides visitors with a glimpse into the world of technology, art, and design. The tour is conducted once a month and is mainly attended by students and parents interested in Carnegie Mellon University as a potential educational destination.

Interview with Janice

Janice provided us with a paper that outlines the tour process. She starts by taking visitors to the RPIS to give them an overview of ETC (15 minutes). Then, the visitors are divided into different groups based on their age group. She emphasized that 

  • the physical space is inadequate for a group of 20. 
  • Quasi is a stop for the tour and we need to learn about it by interviewing Dave.
  • The stops can either be active or passive. 
  • The rewards system is crucial for the success of the tour.

Interview with John

From our conversation with John, we learned about some pain points in the current tour process. One of the most significant issues is 

  • the lack of assistance during the tour. 
  • Additionally, John believes that showing interactive demo would benefit the tour greatly.
  • He also mentioned that not everyone is interested in reading the handbook.
  • Visitors would love to get some surprises at each stop.

Programming

Our newest demo is a bubble-popping game, which was built by following online tutorials. We’ve also updated the sprites to give it a fresh theme of flower blossoms. Additionally, we now have the ability to understand the kinect body view scripts.

To conclude week 2, Mike took us on a tour of the ETC building to introduce us to the history of art and installation. We learned a lot about the hardware history of ETC, and it was a great opportunity to get a behind-the-scenes look at this amazing facility.

By understanding the needs of the tour and the pain points, we can work towards making the tour a more enjoyable and enriching experience for everyone involved.

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