Friday, October 11, 2013
This Giant Lego Calendar Syncs Automatically With Your Smartphone
gizmodo.com: Even though your schedule is constantly at your fingertips via smartphone, everyone gets a little off track every once in a while. So the creative studio Vitamins dreamt up a solution that bridges real-life and online schedules: A giant Lego calendar that syncs up with smartphones.
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I think this lego-calendar idea opens up a huge discussion about user interface. Studies show that what makes a thing, be it software or a tangible item, successful is the user interface. People tend to like using things in certain ways. Apple is so successful not because they've invented a very smart system (in fact, often times the simplicity makes it unbearable, but because they invented a product that uses intuition and aesthetics to its advantage. The ease of usability makes it functional for most people, and the pretty shape and design does a lot to help brand and to make holding and using a device more pleasing. One thing that very few people have ever been able to capture is to make something that is both tactile and digital. I would go so far as to say that outside the world of 3-d printing, which is all about making digital items tangible, this is a neat system that does bridge that gap. All in all, I think this is a great system that could be developed into a large scale phenomenon. And legos. I like legos.
I think the idea behind this is really cool. I know I am currently having some internal struggles with my calendaring/time management system, which at the moment is a weird marriage of digital and paper. I really like writing things down, but sometimes I'm out somewhere and need to make an appointment but don't have my master planner/notebook/to-list book. For those times and appointments I need to be actively reminded of, my Google Calendar is a lifesaver. The Lego interface feels a little gimmicky to me, but I really like the concept of being able to more seamlessly transition between something tangible and physical and something digital.
So much of our daily world has been moved online. Even though we may tap a keyboard or touchscreen this isn't actively tactile enough to be especially interactive. The idea of the lego calendar is really nice because it brings a fun, child-like reminder to a very adult and professional need. Also, the ability to observe an extended period of time from a distance and pick out patterns through color would be very helpful for the work designers/managers/TDs do. Although the calendar does not provide detail, it does provide a basic reference for budgeting time and looking ahead.
This is such an interesting concept. One of the things that makes this so brilliant is that they are able to transfer the physical object calendar into an online one. I would not be near as saddened by all of the technology ruling our lives if this concept of also having the tangible object was a possibility more often. Also I think this aspect makes it even better for keeping track of an entire groups schedule like they were talking about because different people prefer different ways of time keeping and this really caters to that. I know a ton of work goes into making our crew schedules and I wonder if a program like this would be an effective way to keep track of everyones crew schedule since they change so often and so many people need to keep track of it at once. Also the taking a photo and upload thing is first of all amazing and second of all would be so helpful, so many times I take a picture of some schedule i need and then have to sit there and go back and fourth on my phone to transfer it to my calendar.
I'm with Michael on this one. The idea and function of the calendar is neat and very interesting, but you can't add something digital and have your lego calendar update itself. Which is the first problem I see. However at the same time, this might be an interesting replacement for our scheduling boards in PTM as they operate in a slightly similar fashion. I think it would it be interesting to play with and test in our office, as we currently go by just the physical boards in the office, with the lego calendar we could easily digitize and share the schedule so different crews could look up when they're supposed to work.
This is definitely very brilliant idea. I think by allowing the calendar to be organized both in your cellphone and in your room, it will help people keep reminded of their different schedules. While reading this article, I had an idea of what if we make our production calendar out of this giant Lego calendar. Different colors can indicate different productions.If it is in our shop, it will be very helpful to see the overall view of our calendar, since time managing is very important aspect in Drama. However, I also find this concept to be somewhat unpractical. Firstly, this calendar which covers every months of the year is very giant, so people will be reluctant to place it in their house. Also, even though different colors help distinguishing different tasks, the person can easily forget which task goes to which color. Still, the idea of to sync both offline and online calendar is really cool and they should develop more in more efficient way for easier use.
I once upon a time had a similar idea. But like all those who have ideas, no fruition comes from simply keeping it in your head. Regardless, I wanted to build a system involving a camera and a touchscreen wall. It would interface with your phone and computer, and everything would be updated live. So you could have two people at opposite ends of the world working on the same virtual whiteboard! This project here is the same idea, connecting the physical and virtual worlds, which I find rather interesting
Within the world of Human-Computer Interaction and design there is a process known as diagramming, which is literally mapping out a piece of wall and placing post its on it until we can physically see clear connections, then putting them together and looking at the project again on a higher level of abstraction. I adapted the process for my personal calendar/schedule and now have a lovely wall in my bedroom riddled with post its.
In actuality though, I think this would not work for large-scale projects. For productions with forty people working on it at any given time? You're going to need a big wall. The legos could be scaled down, but what if you lose one? Or one falls off? Should we create a software script to check for those? This is a neat idea for a very high level of abstraction, but I don't think it'll be precise enough for many applications in theatre.
This looks a lot like the production calendar we use here in the school of drama! Different colors represent different projects (or in our case production stages), and the days are organized up top. Although there are a few major differences I find it interesting how similar they are.
Besides the similarities, I really like how it is not only a visual representation but a physical reminder as well. We were just discussing how writing something down helps memorization in PTM last Monday and I wonder if this calendar works the same or better since you physically put the blocks on the calendar.
Also, I like the tangible aspect of the calendar more
than the digital one but it is still amazing that you can scan it in to sync!
The way that Vitamins Design is using their Lego is important to me because they have found a way to visualize data and more importantly, get anyone talking about data visualization. It's a topic that people care a lot about, but don't have the words to communicate their idea's about. The words that they do hear tend to scare them off. Not to mention people's distaste of graphs caused by traumatic math classes. In short, it's really hard to get people to want to talk about data visualization. In this case Lego is acting as a gateway for people to feel comfortable talking about the topic. A quick read of the comments shows me that everyone has some new idea's about how they could use Lego to show what is important to them. Some commentators have even moved away from talking about actual Lego, but because they started thinking about Lego they are able to talk about how they want to visualize their data. At it's core this makes a lot of sense. Vitamins Design used Lego to help people understand blocks of time better. For the same reasons Lego is great at that it is great at letting us all have some way of talking about how we look at all kinds of data.
I've been using Lego to visualize data since I was a kid. I was really in to Lego. At this point in my life I find using Lego as a calendar a bit dull. I think that with the image recognition software that Vitamins Design has made and some creativity we could be using plastic bricks to understand all kinds of data very soon. In fact I did a little extra reading about the Lego calendar on Vitamins Design's website and it turns out that they took the idea of using Lego to display data fro other's who they read about. These others (including GM) are using Lego to show budget savings. Clearly there are many more places this idea can go. I hope that I hear about it when Vitamins Design releases their software so that I can play around with it.
Very cool solution. Of course the title is a little misleading, as “sync” implies bi-directional communication. I’ve thought about the different types data that can be visualized with Legos, but never a calendar. I’m actually going to try this as a system when I can actually get enough time to implement it.
I love this. I love how each "block" is a "block of time" because that means people can literally build their day. I don't know why that seems to much cooler to me than writing it down; maybe it is because legos are so much cooler than day planners. I think it's really interesting that this calendar is broken up in a very similar way to our season calendar. The only difference is, instead of having each line represent a different month, our calendar represents a different show. I wonder what it would be like if all our schedules were lego schedules. I think we should try it. They'd probably be a lot faster to update...
This is amazing. Organizing calendars has always been my biggest problem because I prefer to write everything down as it sticks in my memory better that way but then if I misplace my journal or am away from my backpack, I can't check my calendar. This system is great because it allows the tangible element that will stay in your memory but it also automatically transfers over your computer so you never have to worry. Also, the choice of using legos is great because it a reminder of childhood so every time you look at your schedule, no matter how busy you are, you can't help smiling.
I love that this group came up with such a great solution to their problems using simple everyday items. What's even more impressive is that they came up with a program to implement it into their online calendars. I feel as though this goes well with a point I like to make that everyone should have a bit of programing and coding experience in this day and age. It is becoming such a huge part of our lives and practically everything we do is based on coding. It relates back to how the scribes used to hold so much power because they were the only ones that knew how to read and right. It only makes sense that everyone knows the language of the modern day.
I think this is so cool and innovative, and presents a new and exciting way to organize our lives. Everyone loves legos and now you can use them for more than building extravagant miniature buildings! I think from a design aspect, this lego calendar system allows for our daily lives to be hands on as well as digital. This team of designers uses color, patterns and a familiar childhood toy to make daily planning fun and more efficient. I have been trying to find a calendar program that I will enjoy using and that effectively helps me plan my day...I think I just found it!
This is a very neat way to visualize a calender in the real world, and to bring it up to the cloud. In watching I came up with a couple changes I would include if I was to build one. Firstly, I would point a camera connected to a Raspberry Pi at the legos, so that I wouldn't have to worry about taking a picture. Beyond that, I would also come up with a way to have appointments pop of the legos automatically if their corresponding events were deleted online. Finally, and most ambitiously, I would come up with some sort of placement device, which would add events to the lego calender, if the online calender was updated.
This is a very neat way to visualize a calender in the real world, and to bring it up to the cloud. In watching I came up with a couple changes I would include if I was to build one. Firstly, I would point a camera connected to a Raspberry Pi at the legos, so that I wouldn't have to worry about taking a picture. Beyond that, I would also come up with a way to have appointments pop of the legos automatically if their corresponding events were deleted online. Finally, and most ambitiously, I would come up with some sort of placement device, which would add events to the lego calender, if the online calender was updated.
When most of our organization stuff exists on paper or online its nice to see something that makes your schedule a tangible object because for people like me seeing a visual representation of what needs to be done is much more effective than looking at it on a screen. But you cant take that giant lego calendar with you everywhere you go so having the ability to easily sync it to the cloud is very cool.
Im not really sure how useful this is, for me i dont really see it as useful or organized. I love color coding and all of that but looking at the example its seems fairly difficult to read. and what if you only need 30 minutes instead of 4 hours o how ever long a single block is for? I love that the physical calendar syncs up to your online calendar and i with there were something more like that in the real world that could take my planner that i write in (its easier for me to see than typing it) and automatically post it to my gmail account, but i just see this calendar as not working and having a lot of pieces that will get lost around the office.
I really like the idea of combining the connivence of having your schedule be digital with the tangibility of having a physical representation. We live in a world where it is often an expectation that we have pieces of information readily available on our phones and computers; however, that is at the cost of our ability to remember them on our own. I think ideas like the Lego Calendar offer both accessibility of digital information but also forces people to actually think as they organize themselves and gives them the chance to commit the information to their memories.
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