Jessica Porretta, Jenny Truong & Jessica Witt's Mouse Hack

For our mouse hack project, we wanted to create a space that relaxed the user. We thought the best way to do this was create a 'spa theme', with lit candles and a massaging pillow. Once the user sat down on the chair, they would experience watching a video of a waterfall with its calming sound in the background. Once the user was relaxed, they would then lie on the pillow to find a projection of traffic and a chaos of sound. Inside the pillow we had our mouse - which was attached to wires that were taped inside two sponges that were laid on top of each other. Once the sponged were pressed - this caused the wires to touch and 'presses the button' which changes the screen from calm to chaos.

The idea of being relaxed in our lives, is sometimes unapparent as even though we can be in a very relaxed setting, there is still some stress in the back of our heads that will always be there.

If we had a huge budget, firstly, we would definitely change the chair the user sat in. A big, comfortable massage chair that would vibrate and massage the user would be ideal. Second, when the user put their head on the pillow, the sound in the background would not change, which was a problem with the code. All of us tried hard to fix the problem, and when it did work, it would ruin the video. Third, a high definition video of both the waterfall and the traffic would also be ideal as it could allow the user to immerse in the space.

Chloe M's Mouse Hack

My mouse hack concept was based on nostalgia and fleeting moments, the way humans are fixated on capturing events and feelings via a lens. I chose to approach this using the notion of light seeing as film is exposed using light and has the images taken by the photographer are 'revealed' in darkness. For this reason I chose to use a light sensitive resistor as my button in my mouse. I put the resistor inside in an old video cassette (again emphasizing the feeling of nostalgia) and when the light is blocked the projected image is a compilation of home movies from the 70's. When the light hits the sensor, the projection is of a blank exposed film reel.

The reason I chose to use older footage I found online for the home movies was because I wanted something reminiscent. I especially like super 8 film because it has a very warm feel to it which is what I wanted to get across, a sense of longing for 'simpler days'. The song choice was also to emphasize the feeling.

Here is a video of my mouse hack in action;

Untitled from Chloe Martin on Vimeo.

If I were to improve my mouse hack, I would obviously like to make the installation and mouse casing more attractive. I'd also like to have more negatives and have them control the video playing on the screen, so for example the video on the screen would correspond to the captured negative being held to the light and the default setting of the projection would be the blank reel. It would also be interesting to play with my own home videos and make the piece more personal...

Lauren Bonsell's Mouse Hack

My project is a hockey game. When you shoot the ball and it hits the target, an animation of a goal is played on the projected screen.
 The concept is taking the on ice "shooter tutor" (a wooden or plastic obstacle to shoot around) and bringing it indoors. It allows people to test their shooting ability on a smaller scale, with the reward of a goal celebration animation. The idea is to be used as a gaming device or a coaching mechanism, to help improve shooting accuracy skills.

The million dollar budget: It would be a full scale hockey net and sticks. The animation would have top-notch graphics and would be timed with the motion of the player. Additionally I would add a traditional red light behind the net and an authentic goal horn. In a gaming arcade there could be multiples of the game lined up and have a competition to the most goals.

What I tried: Originally my idea was to take the mouse apart and solder my own wires in place of the switch. I bought pin headers and alligator clips and spent hours trying to re-solder the mouse circuit board but the solder we were using was old and wouldn't stick. I experimented with thick pieces of aluminum, tin foil, and copper wire. The best plan was to have two long stripped pieces of copper wire, stretched diagonally across each piece of wood contact. Therefore the X characteristic of the wires would ensure contact no matter which direction the swinging wood piece would go.

Finished Project: In the end I had to take an entirely new mouse and drill a hole in the button and have a long screw project outward from the mouse so that the swinging piece of wood (with the target on the front) could easily hit it.

Megan Shier - Mouse Hack

I choice to do a soccer related piece for my mouse hack. I am a huge soccer fan and I love the spirit, obsession and dedication fans have.
Focusing on fandom, I decided to create a simulated penalty shot setup and when the goalkeeper catches the ball, the keeper's club theme would play as part of a celebratory response. I designed it around my favourite club, Real Madrid Club de Fútbol, so the song that played is the chorus of "Hala Madrid" (full song: http://youtu.be/dyFmXLGcZkY).

I started with the gloves. I cut a small circle from the middle of the palm. I used conductive thread and on 2 pieces of foam, I stitched a pattern the same size as the circle on the glove. I lined up one piece of foam inside the glove and glued it in place so the stitching was facing outwards and glued the other on the outside of the glove so that when the ball was in the hand, the 2 sides would meet and act like pressing a button on the mouse.




Then, I lined the conductive thread up the arm and down the back of my Real Madrid jersey, keeping in place with tape (because the jersey was expensive and I didn't want to ruin it).









I kept the actual mouse in a small pouch that was clipped to the belt loop on my pants. It would have been to have attached it directly to the shirt, but again, I didn't want to do any permanent reconstruction to the jersey.







If I had unlimited money, I would have liked to have a full boxed in room to make a more authentic simulation. I would have astroturf and an actual net. I'd like to have a constant soundtrack playing of fans cheering just as a background noise, adding to the atmosphere. I would also like it to be interactive more by having multiple jerseys, and having the participate choice which one they would like to be and again, have whichever team they choice, that teams theme would play. But for what I have right now, I am very happy with how this project turned out (other than not having a soldering iron to connect the wires to the mouse - they kept coming detached)

Lilian Hiu Wai C and Sin Yi Betty C's Bento Mouse Heck Project

Our project is called Bento, which stands for lunch box in Japanese. We created our project with really food with facial expression that would scream "Your evil", "Stay away from me", "awww" and etc when they are poked with a fork. We were trying to avoid simple button pressing, therefore Bento involves the users to apply pressure on the food to pick them up, which triggers the button to play the audio files. The reason why we decided on creating the lunch box was to test if the users will feel for the objects when it expresses emotions, even though it is not really living.
Here is the inside part of the bento. 2 buttons replaced the original mouse left and right buttons, and 8 springs to support the platform.

Samar H's and Alex J's Mouse Hack

Alex J and Samar H created a project called DO NOT OPEN, referring to the privacy stickers so often placed on journals or personal files. The project is a book that exclaims, "No! I Said no! Nooooooooooooooooooo!" and "Don't open me!" when you open its two covers. Speakers and a mouse chip are inside the fake book, and 'wires' made of aluminum foil and gold leaf form connections that activate the book to talk when one disrupts those connections by opening the flaps.

The concept was to test existing notionsof privacy and curiosity. e.g. when one finds a jounral on the ground, one is tempted to read it, but also driven by thier conscience to respect privacy and not open it. DO NOT OPEN manifests the inner thoughts of guilt that run through anyone's mind when opening a document, text or otherwise that is probably not privy to thier eyes.

Linda L & Winnie K's Final Project

It's a record player with a selection of nostalgic songs from our generation. The code was created with Processing. Each time the user presses the button, it scrolls through a list of 10 songs in order. Once the array is finished, it returns to the very first one, continuing where it was left off.

Source Code