Outline

Theme

The project theme for your Final Project is Other Minds. This theme is inspired by the book “Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness” by Peter Godfrey-Smith.

You are not expected to make a work about Octopuses! You are expected to engage with ideas that all living beings have minds — minds which are different to yours.

It is about cognition, consciousness, free will, intelligence, agency (to act) and autonomy (to act). It is especially about cognitive complexity of beings other than yourself. It is about seeing the world through different eyes, ears, and unimaginable sense organs.

This can possibly link to, and build upon, your Mini Project — as an extension, branching, or re-imagining of the thematic concept: “More Than Human”.

Creative Computing Final Exhibition

The final exhibition will be held Wednesday 11 December at the Birch Building, Innovation Space, Level 2, from 5pm to 7pm. All students are required to attend (as this occurs during regular scheduled class time).

The details are:

  • Time: 5:00pm - 7:00pm
  • Date: Wednesday 11 December
  • Location: Birch Building, Innovation Space, Level 2

The exhibition will run from 5-7pm. Feel free to invite your friends and parents if you’d like! We will order some pizza’s just for the class members before the exhibition starts (around 4:30pm) to celebrate your hard work.

The Setup

We will have a couple of computers (at least 2) setup in the exhibition space, so no need to bring your own computers along. You’ll be able to interact with any of your classmates’ artefacts through any of these computers, so there wont be ‘installations’ which only exhibit a single person’s work. We’ll have a main screen set up in the exhibition space. We’ll also have a number of stations set up for students to give a live performance or demo of their project artefact.

If you have any questions, email Matthew.

Description

The end of the school year is approaching, and so is the EXTN1019 final project. As we’ve foreshadowed all along in this course, your final project deliverable is an interactive creative code artefact for an end-of-year creative code exhibition.

Your goal is to provide an engaging performance/user experience of 2-3 minutes, but the exact nature of that creative code experience is up to you.

Specification

Your final project submission has three parts:

  • an interactive creative code artefact (your code)
  • a README.md file explaining how to interact with your work
  • a portfolio discussing the evolution of your project and your design decisions
  • a references.md file with a list of works and influences you need to cite.

Creative code artefact

Your creative code artefact needs to:

  • run smoothly in a web browser
  • be interactive (either by you, if you plan to perform with your artefact, or by others)
  • produce some sort of creative output (visuals, sound, visuals+sound, etc.)

You will develop your work to align with the exhibition theme “Other Minds” - your work will represent your interpretation of the theme. If you’re unsure about your ideas for whatever reason, then feel free to ask a question either in class or on Teams. You may build upon - that is significantly enhance or extend, your Mini Project work which was based on the theme “More Than Human”.

Portfolio

The creative code artefact you submit for your final project is a function of the decisions you make as you develop the artefact. Your portfolio should give us a window into the evolution of your artefact. We are not imposing a strict structure for the portfolio — you can get creative with how you present it — but we will give you a few guidelines to follow. Submit your portfolio as a .pdf file: if you have video or audio - include links to these resources in your pdf. DO NOT INCLUDE VIDEO FILES IN YOUR REPOSITORY.

  • Early in your portfolio, you should introduce us to your interpretation of the theme “Other Minds” and your user experience goals.

  • You should discuss the key decisions you made while refining your artefact — including screenshots, screen-recordings and sketches of your project at various stages.

Submission process

You must submit all the necessary files (code, image files, portfolio, references) by committing and pushing them to GitLab by 11:59pm Friday 22 November. The portfolio should be added to your project repository (the root folder, not any of the sub folders) as a .pdf, .md, .js, .html file. You must push it to your fork of the final project template.

You must ALSO submit to the Wattle assignment “Final Project”. This will record your submission time and enable marking of the assignment. You should submit a link to your gitlab repository.

Due to assessment timelines extensions beyond this date will only be granted in extenuating circumstances with comprehensive documentation

Marking criteria

The marking criteria are connected to the course learning outcomes (LOs), and you will be assessed on your project’s

Interaction design (connected to LO #1 & #4)

  • Do your interactions enhance the communication of your interpretation of the theme?

  • Have you meaningfully designed your interactions with your user experience goals in mind?

Artistic output (LO #2, #3 and #4)

  • Does the visual aesthetic (animations, colour, composition, texture) enhance the communication of your interpretation of the theme? OR Does your choice of sonic output (rhythm, timbre, effects, pitch, dynamics) enhance the communication of your interpretation of the theme?

  • Have you meaningfully designed your visual aesthetic OR sonic output with your user experience goals in mind?

Implementation (LO #2 and #3)

  • Have you selected computing concepts appropriately to implement your ideas in code?

  • Does your code work as expected? Are there any obvious bugs/janky bits?

Final Project Assessment Rubric

  A Grade
(9-10)		 B Grade
(7-8)		 C Grade
(5-6)		 D Grade
(3-4)		 E Grade
(0-2)
Interaction Design
LO #1
30%		          
Interaction Design Effectiveness
10 Marks		 strong and effective interaction, innovative and/or surprising and/or highly engaging. It genuinely deepens the user experience interaction is well demonstrated, well designed, and well implemented satisfactory interaction, but interactivity lacks depth/sophistication limited interaction, demonstration does not identify scope and purpose of affordances very limited user interaction (or lack of demonstration)
Interaction Connection to the Theme
10 Marks		 The interactions deeply and strongly enhance the communication of your interpretation of the theme The interactions enhance the communication of your interpretation of the theme The interactions are connected to your interpretation of the theme The interactions may align with an interpretation of the theme The interactions are disconnected from the theme
Meaningful Interaction
10 Marks		 The interactions are meaningfully designed for an optimal user experience, aligning with your identified, sophisticated, user experience goals The interactions are designed for an engaging user experience, aligning with your identified user experience goals The interactions enable a satisfying user experience which aligns with some user experience goals The implemented interactions provide a limited user experience which are not aligned with user experience goals Very limited or no interactions
Artistic Output
LO #2, #3 and #4
30%		          
Artistic Aesthetics
10 Marks		 Outputs demonstrate deep and critical engagement with aesthetics, communicating with purpose, generating strong user engagement Outputs show a degree of depth and variation which maintains engagement Artefacts generated show a sound understanding of aesthetics, but may contain implementation issues. Limited output, or output derived from existing work with VERY MINOR alterations Very limited output which demonstrate very limited understanding of aesthetics
Connection between Design and Theme
10 Marks		 Artistic artefacts/audio strongly enhance the communication of your interpretation of the theme Artistic artefacts/audio enhance the communication of the theme Artistic artefacts/audio are somewhat aligned with the theme Artistic artefacts/audio are peripherally associated with the theme Artistic artefacts/audio are unrelated to the theme
Connection between Design and User Experience Goals
10 Marks		 The design of the artistic/audio output deeply and meaningfully connects with the identified user experience goals The design of the artistic/audio output meaningfully connects with user experience goals The artistic/audio outputs are somewhat aligned with user experience goals The artistic/audio output show little relationship to any user experience goals Very limited artistic /audio outputs with no association with user experience goals
Implementation
LO #2 and #3
20%		          
Use of Computing Concepts
10 Marks		 Your selected and original computing/code concepts all contribute effectively and efficiently to the implementation of your ideas Your selected computing/code concepts (mostly original) contribute (almost always) effectively to the implementation of your ideas Your selected computing/code concepts have been mostly borrowed from elsewhere to implement your ideas Your selection of computing concepts has been limited and are do not work effectively to implement your ideas Selected computing concepts demonstrate a very limited understanding
Coding Effectiveness
10 Marks		 employs critical and creative thinking, drawing on data and information to solve complex problems effectively: the polished and well-documented code works as intended employs critical OR creative thinking, drawing on data and information to solve problems effectively: the code works effectively in most cases employs critical thinking, drawing on data and information to solve problems: the code works satisfactorily, but contains minor flaws draws on some on information in an attempt to solve problems: the code exhibits major flaws the code doesn’t work
Portfolio
LO #1 and #4
20%		          
Discussion of design decisions
5 Marks		 Discussion communicates effectively and concisely, and with a high degree of insight and analysis about the design decisions, compromises, adaptations, alternatives and/or synchronicity used in the design process Discussion employs critical analysis into the design decisions made in the design process Discussion employs some analytical techniques into the design decisions made Discussion lists design decisions made without reflection or analysis Very limited or no discussion of design decisions
Layout/Content
5 Marks		 Portfolio layout and curation creatively and effectively communicates the project development process and your journey into creative computing that lead to this point Portfolio layout and curation effectively communicates the project development process and/or your journey into creative computing that lead to this point with a degree of creativity Portfolio layout and curation illustrates the project development process with limited creativity Portfolio layout and curation is limited and covers parts of the learning journey or the development process, but lacks creativity Portfolio curation and layout are very limited, lack creativity, or do not cover the development process nor the learning journey
Reflection
5 Marks		 Your portfolio incorporates deep reflections into how the decisions you made drive and deliver your user experience goals and how your reflections helped you change and adapt your work to meet the goals/communicate the theme Your portfolio incorporates strong reflections into how the decisions you made serve your user experience goals and how your reflections helped you change your work to meet the goals Your portfolio incorporates some reflections into how the decisions you made align with your user experience goals Your portfolio includes limited reflections about the decisions you made Your portfolio lacks reflections
References
5 Marks
FAQ on referencing		 References are comprehensive, including code, artworks, research, and influences using the ACM reference style or using gitlab referencing as shown below References are mostly comprehensive, but may miss some influences, using the ACM reference style or using gitlab referencing as shown below References are either comprehensive but do not use appropriate ACM/ANU styles - or a mix of styles, OR they miss a significant number of works used and the ACM or ANU academic styles References are very limited (links to URLs for some works) References are missing. NOTE: it is expected that you reference ideas and sources from artistic influences, interaction designs, code examples, tutorials, etc.

FAQ

What’s with the interactive part?

You’ve been making interactive creative code artefacts pretty much the whole time in this course. Any p5 sketch which uses a mouseX or a mouseY or has a keyPressed() or mousePressed() callback (or anything along those lines) is interactive, because the behaviour changes in response to the input of the viewer. Same with the Tone.js stuff — all the “hit space to play” stuff makes it an interactive work.

Now, since interaction is one of the marking criteria, you probably want to put a bit more thought into it than just e.g. “hit space to play”. You should investigate different forms of human-computer interaction and how affordances are designed and implemented to engage, and affect audiences/users. How can your interaction contribute to the way an audience feels/responds?

One other thing: making your final project interactive doesn’t necessarily mean it has to be able to be used by just anyone with no training — it’s ok if you make an interactive performance interface just for you.

Do I get a mark for the portfolio?

Yes: see the rubric section “Portfolio” above. The portfolio will help us better understand your process and final product when we mark it. We will be looking at your design decisions, content curation and creativity of layout, reflections on the design process and learning journey, and referencing.

What type of file should the portfolio be?

The portfolio should be

  • a new PDF file in your project folder called fp-portfolio.pdf

If you want to make your portfolio in a Google slide deck, you can submit a fp-portfolio.pdf which holds a link to the slide deck.

If you want to submit a video or audio file you can submit a fp-portfolio.pdf which holds a link to the slide deck.

However you create the file, make sure you add, commit & push it to GitLab — because otherwise it’s not part of your submission.

What sort of “design decisions” should I discuss in my portfolio?

Here are some ideas.

  • Did you have an ideas which you found challenging to implement in code? How did you overcome this and what compromises did you make? What did you prioritise?

  • The implementation of an idea. The “breathing circle” exercise from Week 3 taught us that there is more than one way to implement an idea. Why did you decide to implement an idea a certain way and did you explore alternatives?

  • Were there any “happy accidents” which you decided to keep or explore further?

Keep the descriptions of your decisions as brief as possible; we care more about why you made those decisions and how it relates to your user experience goals.

What should the layout of my portfolio look like?

You can get creative with the layout of your portfolio, as long as it’s readable (if submitting a pdf) or audible (if submitting a video).

See the example below for some inspiration. This is a year 12/13 painting coursework portfolio from Amanda Zheng — a highschool painting student from New Zealand. The portfolio documents their exploration of a theme. A discussion of their work can be found here.

Example portfolio

Can I use some of the information I used in my Mini Project when explaining my project in the portfolio?

The portfolio is not meant to be a description of the project. It should showcase the evolution of your final project. You will also need to reflect on how the decisions you make serve your user experience goals and write/talk about this in your portfolio. You may include significant influences / lessons learned from Creative Computing this year — including lessons learned from your Mini Project.

What will we be doing in class for the final weeks leading up to the final project submission deadline?

Class is still on as normal including Wednesday Nov 20. There might be some “content” to work through in the class, but it’ll mostly be about supporting you to develop, test and iteratively refine your final project and exhibition presentation.

You need to make the most of these remaining class sessions! That means:

  • working hard outside of class until you get stuck, and then bringing your problem to class (although you can also post questions in the main Teams channel) at any time, as per the class communication policy

  • taking the time after a class to finish off any work you didn’t get done, and to ask any followup questions if you get stuck

  • talking to your classmates (either on the general Teams channel, or you can even DM them) to see how they’re going, ask for advice, get feedback on your work in progress, etc.

Will the final exhibition be in-person, or online?

Yes, it will be in person

Do I have to demonstrate my work live at the exhibition?

No, you don’t have to. If you are working on a sound/music artefact, you might prefer to submit your portfolio as a video, but it’s not a must. This time you’re primarily submitting the code artefact itself. That means your code really needs to work — and not only on your laptop.

Don’t fret, though, because we’ll be exploring ways to make sure that it works reliably in the last few weeks of class, but the key is going to be checking things at the “test URL”.

What’s the relationship between the Mini Project and this final project?

This is the big one — it’s meant to be a standalone work of interactive creative code, with a degree of depth and polish that’s beyond what you did for your Mini Project or for your blog posts.

Can I use code that I’ve already committed & pushed to GitLab as part of one of my labs?

Yep, that’s fine — if it’s your code, you don’t even have to reference it. If it’s code from the template itself, then make sure you make a note of it. As an example, if you copy the Pianoetta class from the lab 13 (Sequences) template you should say something like this in your references.md file:

The `Pianoetta` class (starting at line 130 of my
`audio-sketch.js` file) is taken from the [lab 13 template repo](https://gitlab.cecs.anu.edu.au/extn1019/2023-2024/year-11/extn1019-2023-lab-13).

Can I use code from elsewhere on the internet (e.g. p5js.org, coding train, GitHub)?

Yep — using/remixing other people’s creative code is common practice in creative computing. However, there are two things to be a bit careful about when doing so:

  • you need to reference everything in your references.md file (seriously, do it as-you-go rather than waiting till the end, because “whoops, I forgot to add the reference” isn’t an acceptable excuse)

  • it’s ok to use these external sources, but your final project must contain significant new work by you — you can’t just cobble together stuff from these other places and pass it off as your own
  • see above for an example of how to reference code from the GitLab labs covered during the year
  • For other works cited by you, the preference would be to use ACM reference style for in-text citations in your portfolio. You should use in-text citation in your portfolio, and have your complete bibliography in references.md. To be clear, references in text should be shown as a number in square brackets: [1], with a matching entry in your references.md file. This resource may be useful for formatting your bibliography in Markdown.

If I find a bug between the submission date and the exhibition, can I fix it?

Yep — the “push to GitLab -> show up on the test URL a couple of minutes later” thing will work all the way up to the exhibition time. As described above, though, your last push before the deadline is still counted (and marked) as your submission.

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