Major Studio | INTERFACE : Final Project Research

This article discusses the relationship between negative comments from parents and eating disorders in college-age women.

A similar study found that emotional reaction impacted evaluation rather than frequency of comment.

This study is an indepth look at bullying focused on children who stutter. Although this is not directly related to my project it offers great insight into the effect of bullying relative to the developmental stages of a child.

An interactive website to prevent teasing and bullying. This was created in reaction to Columbine.

Statistics from this website:

An estimated 160,000 US students miss school each day due to fear of attack or intimidation from peers. (National Education Association, 1995)

Stresses of “victimization,” can interfere with student’s engagement and learning in schools. (NEA Today,1999)

Sixty-six percent of youth are teased at least once a month, and nearly one-third of youth are bullied at least once a month. (2002 National Survey of Students Grades 5-12, Families and Work Institute)

Teenagers say revenge is the strongest motivation for school shootings.

87% said shootings are motivated by a desire to “get back at those who have hurt them.

86% said, “other kids picking on them, making fun of them,” causes teenagers to turn to lethal violence in the schools. (Alfred University Study)

A study specifically dealing with weight-teasing in adolescents.

I thought it was cute how this website says to not tease your scottie dog! Could be used as a “reaction” comment to someone who enters a negative comment.

“YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE QUALITY OF THIS DOG’S EXISTENCE.”
Is the maxim which should guide every dog owner. By providing your dog with the best of care, you spare yourself the worry and shame of knowing that you are failing to serve your dog’s best interests. A clean, well-fed, well exercised, and healthy dog is a happy one; a pleasant and rewarding companion in whom you may justly take pride.
Apart from the general points of pet care which apply to all dogs and are best covered in other works (see Recommended Reading), the one thing which is critical to a Scottie’s health and happiness is the emotional atmosphere of his home. Scotties are particularly sensitive to atmosphere, and if he is neglected or bullied, a Scottie will droop and become sad and withdrawn. Before bringing your puppy home, enlist the active commitment and participation of all the household in this new venture. Some dogs are naturally buoyant characters, and cheerfully withstand bad treatment or discord between their humans: not so the Scottie. <strong>He is especially vulnerable to meanness and teasing, and will be made very unhappy by these. </strong>And if there is unhappiness in the home, he will suffer greatly for you, and grieve that he cannot fix whatever is bothering you. A stout little dog, the Scottie has a peculiarly tender heart. Cherish and respect that heart.

Major Studio | INTERFACE : Final Project Prototyping Thoughts

A full scale working live webcam and website might be a little ambitious for the time frame of this project. A mock situation is the answer to this. I think that I will most likely film on one day and then organize and present on the website. When that is all together I will advertise the website and the ability to vote to try to get feedback. Then I will have another day that is dictated by the submissions. Those who leave their email addresses will be updated with the new footage perhaps — could be a reason for them to not be anonymous.

Need to do full rapid prototype of step-by-step, for sure.

Major Studio | INTERFACE : Final Project Anonymity

I was just thinking about the element of anonymity with this project. It would be interesting to offer a “signed” comment. It would be interesting to see the differences between the Naughty and Nice sides.  Perhaps an incentive would be to receive updates on the project for the next month… “See your comments in action” sort of thing.

Major Studio | INTERFACE : Final Project “Beautiful” Word Search

So, similarly to the “Naughty Word Search” of a previous posting, I have searched for Nice words, as well. I’m starting to think that this is an interesting angle to add to the project. The vast amount of language that describes each can lead someone from fairly innocent words on down or up to far more descriptive language. Could be an interesting “help” feature on the website… “Need help with your insult?”

Main Entry: beautiful
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: attractive
Synonyms: admirable, alluring, angelic, appealing, beauteous, bewitching, charming, classy, comely, cute, dazzling, delicate, delightful, divine, elegant, enticing, excellent, exquisite, fair, fascinating, fine, foxy*, good-looking, gorgeous, graceful, grand, handsome, ideal, lovely, magnificent, marvelous, nice, pleasing, pretty, pulchritudinous, radiant, ravishing, refined, resplendent, shapely, sightly, splendid, statuesque, stunning, sublime, superb, symmetrical, taking, well-formed, wonderful
Antonyms: grotesque, homely, plain, repulsive, ugly, unattractive
Source: Roget’s New Millennium™ Thesaurus, First Edition (v 1.3.1)
Copyright © 2007 by Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. All rights reserved.
* = informal or slang

Main Entry: beautiful people
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: wealthy fashionable people
Synonyms: aristocracy, beau monde, café society, cream of society, crème de la crème, cultured class, elite, famous people, glamorous people, glitterati, haut monde, high life, high society, in-crowd, jet set, privileged class, smart set, society, society people, the in-crowd, the privileged, the upper class, the well-to-do, upper crust, wealthy people
Source: Roget’s New Millennium™ Thesaurus, First Edition (v 1.3.1)
Copyright © 2007 by Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. All rights reserved.

Main Entry: A list
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: upper class
Synonyms: aristocracy, beau monde, beautiful people, cream of society, crème de la crème, cultured class, elite, haut monde, high life, high society, in group, jet set, privileged class, smart set, society, the Four Hundred, the privileged, upper crust, upper echelon
Source: Roget’s New Millennium™ Thesaurus, First Edition (v 1.3.1)
Copyright © 2007 by Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. All rights reserved.

Main Entry: attractive
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: appealing
Synonyms: adorable, agreeable, alluring, beaut, beautiful, beckoning, bewitching, captivating, charming, comely, enchanting, engaging, enthralling, enticing, fair, fascinating, fetching, glamorous, good-looking, gorgeous, handsome, hunk, interesting, inviting, looker*, lovely, luring, magnetic, mesmeric, pleasant, pleasing, prepossessing, pretty, provocative, seductive, stunning, taking, tantalizing, teasing, tempting, winning, winsome
Antonyms: repellant, repulsive, ugly, unappealing, unattractive
Source: Roget’s New Millennium™ Thesaurus, First Edition (v 1.3.1)
Copyright © 2007 by Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. All rights reserved.
* = informal or slang

Main Entry: awesome
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: amazing
Synonyms: alarming, astonishing, awe-inspiring, awful, beautiful, breathtaking, daunting, dreadful, exalted, far out, fearful, fearsome, formidable, frantic, frightening, grand, hairy*, horrible, horrifying, imposing, impressive, intimidating, magnificent, majestic, mind-blowing*, moving, nervous, overwhelming, shocking, striking, stunning, stupefying, terrible, terrifying, wonderful, wondrous, zero cool*
Antonyms: blah, bush league, ho-hum, lame, ordinary, trivial, unexciting, unimpressive
Source: Roget’s New Millennium™ Thesaurus, First Edition (v 1.3.1)
Copyright © 2007 by Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. All rights reserved.
* = informal or slang

Main Entry: beau monde
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: fashionable elite
Synonyms: beautiful people, bon ton, fashionable society, good society, haut monde, high life, high society, smart set, society
Source: Roget’s New Millennium™ Thesaurus, First Edition (v 1.3.1)
Copyright © 2007 by Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. All rights reserved.

Main Entry: becoming
Part of Speech: adjective 1
Definition: flattering
Synonyms: acceptable, agreeable, attractive, beautiful, comely, cute, effective, enhancing, excellent, fair, graceful, handsome, neat, nice, presentable, pretty, seemly, tasteful, welcome, well-chosen
Antonyms: ugly, unattractive, unbecoming, unflattering
Source: Roget’s New Millennium™ Thesaurus, First Edition (v 1.3.1)
Copyright © 2007 by Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. All rights reserved.

Main Entry: café society
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: fashionable people
Synonyms: beau monde, beautiful people, cream of society, elite, fashionable society, glitterati, haut monde, high society, in-crowd, jet set, right people, smart set, societe
Source: Roget’s New Millennium™ Thesaurus, First Edition (v 1.3.1)
Copyright © 2007 by Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. All rights reserved.

Main Entry: cream of the crop
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: the best and brightest
Synonyms: aristocracy, beau monde, beautiful people, best of the best, cream of society, cream of the cream, crème de la crème, haut monde, high society, pick of the litter, privileged class, smart set, the elite, the finest, the privileged, upper class, upper crust
Source: Roget’s New Millennium™ Thesaurus, First Edition (v 1.3.1)
Copyright © 2007 by Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. All rights reserved.

Main Entry: curvaceous
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: voluptuous
Synonyms: Junoesque, attractive, beautiful, bosomy, built, buxom, comely, curves, curvesome, curvilinear, curvy, full-figured, pleasing, rounded, shapely, stacked, statuesque, well-developed, well-proportioned, well-rounded
Antonyms: anorexic, bony, flat, skinny, thin
Source: Roget’s New Millennium™ Thesaurus, First Edition (v 1.3.1)
Copyright © 2007 by Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. All rights reserved.

Major Studio | INTERFACE : Final Project “Ugly” Word Search

At thesaurus.reference.com I entered in “ugly”. Below are the first 5 words that appeared from that prompt. It is frightful how many grotesque words are in existence to provide you with despicable language as a means of belittling homely, deformed, bad-looking, and repulsive people.

Main Entry: ugly
Part of Speech: adjective 1
Definition: unattractive
Synonyms: animal, appalling, awful, bad-looking, beast, deformed, disfigured, dog, dogface, foul, frightful, grisly, gross, grotesque, grungy, haglike, hard-featured, hideous, homely, horrid, ill-favored, loathsome, misshapen, monstrous, pig, plain, plug, repelling, repugnant, repulsive, revolting, unbeautiful, uncomely, uninviting, unlovely, unprepossessing, unseemly, unsightly
Antonyms: attractive, beautiful, lovely
Source: Roget’s New Millennium™ Thesaurus, First Edition (v 1.3.1)
Copyright © 2007 by Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. All rights reserved.

Main Entry: ugly
Part of Speech: adjective 2
Definition: disagreeable
Synonyms: base, despicable, dirty, disgusting, distasteful, filthy, foul, frightful, hideous, horrid, ignoble, low, low-down, mean, messy, monstrous, nasty, nauseous, noisome, objectionable, odious, offensive, pesky, repellent, repugnant, repulsive, revolting, scandalous, servile, shocking, sickening, sordid, sorry, terrible, troublesome, troublous, unpleasant, vexatious, vile, wicked, wretched
Antonyms: agreeable, kind, nice, pleasant
Source: Roget’s New Millennium™ Thesaurus, First Edition (v 1.3.1)
Copyright © 2007 by Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. All rights reserved.

Main Entry: ugly
Part of Speech: adjective 3
Definition: dangerous
Synonyms: angry, bellicose, black, cantankerous, crabbed, crabby, dark, disagreeable, dour, evil, fell, forbidding, formidable, gloomy, glum, grave, grievous, major, malevolent, menacing, morose, nasty, obnoxious, ominous, pugnacious, quarrelsome, rough, saturnine, scowling, serious, sinister, spiteful, sullen, surly, threatening, treacherous, truculent, vicious, vinegary, violent, wicked
Antonyms: delicate, gentle, safe
Source: Roget’s New Millennium™ Thesaurus, First Edition (v 1.3.1)
Copyright © 2007 by Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. All rights reserved.

Main Entry: awful
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: terrible
Synonyms: abominable, alarming, appalling, atrocious, bad, deplorable, depressing, dire, disgusting, distressing, dreadful, fearful, frightful, ghastly, grody*, gross*, gruesome, grungy*, harrowing, hideous, horrendous, horrible, horrific, horrifying, nasty, offensive, raunchy, repulsive, shocking, stinking, synthetic, tough, ugly, unpleasant, unsightly
Antonyms: beautiful, good, nice, pleasing
Source: Roget’s New Millennium™ Thesaurus, First Edition (v 1.3.1)
Copyright © 2007 by Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. All rights reserved.
* = informal or slang

Main Entry: base
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: vulgar
Synonyms: abject, abominable, cheap, coarse, common, contemptible, corrupt, depraved, despicable, disgraceful, dishonorable, disreputable, foul, grovelling, humble, ignoble, immoral, indelicate, loathsome, lowly, mean, menial, offensive, paltry, pitiful, plebeian, poor, scandalous, servile, shameful, shoddy, sleazy, sordid, sorry, squalid, trashy, ugly, unworthy, vile, worthless, wretched
Antonyms: good, honest, moral, noble, principled, virtuous
Source: Roget’s New Millennium™ Thesaurus, First Edition (v 1.3.1)
Copyright © 2007 by Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. All rights reserved.

Main Entry: boorish
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: crude
Synonyms: awkward, bad-mannered, barbaric, bearish, bucolic, cantankerous, churlish, cloddish, clodhopping*, clownish, clumsy, coarse, countrified, gross*, gruff, ill-bred, ill-mannered, impolite, loud, loutish, lowbred, lubberly, oafish, ornery, provincial, rough, rude, rustic, swainish, tasteless, ugly, uncivilized, uncouth, uncultured, uneducated, ungracious, unpoised, unpolished, unrefined, vulgar
Antonyms: charming, cultured, polite, refined, sophisticated
Source: Roget’s New Millennium™ Thesaurus, First Edition (v 1.3.1)
Copyright © 2007 by Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. All rights reserved.
* = informal or slang

Main Entry: churlish
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: crude
Synonyms: base, bitchy, blunt, boorish, brusque, cantankerous*, cloddish, clodhopping*, crabbed, crude, crusty, curt, cussed*, discourteous, dour, grouchy, gruff, grumpy, harsh, ill-tempered, impolite, loutish, lowbred, mean, miserly, morose, oafish, ornery*, rude, rustic, snippy*, sullen, surly, tetchy, ugly, uncivil, uncivilized, uncultured, unmannerly, unneighborly, unpolished, unsociable, vulgar
Antonyms: agreeable, civil, nice, pleasant, polite
Source: Roget’s New Millennium™ Thesaurus, First Edition (v 1.3.1)
Copyright © 2007 by Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. All rights reserved.
* = informal or slang

Main Entry: cranky
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: irritable
Synonyms: bad-humored, bearish, bitchy, cantankerous, choleric, crabby, cross, crotchety, cussed, disagreeable, grouchy, grumpy, hot-tempered, ill-humored, irascible, mean, ornery*, perverse, quick-tempered, ratty, snappish, tetchy, ugly, vinegary
Antonyms: cheerful, good-humored, happy, pleasant, sweet
Source: Roget’s New Millennium™ Thesaurus, First Edition (v 1.3.1)
Copyright © 2007 by Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. All rights reserved.
* = informal or slang

Major Studio | INTERFACE : Final Project Design Brief II

Problem Statement
Daily life is filled with judgmental commentary. We encounter this judgment and meanness both in the media and in conversation with others. Oftentimes it is veiled in the humor of a sharply honed wit, yet even with this measure of amusement it can impact an individual’s emotional outlook dramatically. I would venture to say that each of us has both been guilty of making such comments and been victim to them. Even so, would we choose to change? If given the opportunity to build up or tear someone down would we really pick the path of positivism over the allure of mean humor?

Context Analysis
Compliment Machine by Tom Greaves
http://www.wpadc.org/events/siteprojectsdc.html
http://www.gadling.com/2007/08/04/washington-dc-compliment-box-you-smell-good/
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=3405997
The Compliment Machine was a project by artist Tom Greaves for the Washington Project for the Arts by the Corcoran Gallery. This project focuses on providing a kind word for passersby.

HumorDoctorMD Blog
Speaks to personal experiences with negative humor. Thought provoking to read this very open account of his thoughts on the subject. He outlines a number of specific items that the general public find humorous (or at least are presented as humorous by film and tv). Although this makes sense on paper… can we as a culture really cease to find humor in these topics? And is this really necessary?
http://www.humordoctormd.homestead.com/negativesideofhumor.html

Sissy Fight
http://www.sissyfight.com/
“SiSSYFiGHT 2000 is, like, an intense war between a bunch of girls who are all out to ruin each other’s popularity and self-esteem. The object is to physically attack and majorly dis your enemies until they are totally mortified beyond belief. You’ll never come out on top without making the right friends, so be careful who you’re nice to. Because in the end, only the shrewdest will survive with their social status intact!” -exerpt from the website

User Profile
University students ages 18-27. This user will be relatively well-educated and a part of the web media culture. The user will be used to websites being referenced in and will not hesitate to follow up by visiting the site and participating when prompted.

Solution
Create a physical experience where the user will be faced with either a positive or negative comment. Film the user being told their comment to provide evidence of reactions. The video of this interaction would be fed through a streaming web cam to a website where participants are invited to vote on whether the commentary should be negative or positive. In addition, the user of the website would be invited to contribute comments of their own whether they be positive or negative.

Desired “Walkaway” Requirements
User to have heightened awareness of judgment and “meanness”. Self-reflection to motivate user to be aware of the effects of these comments. Opportunity to interact by contribution and choose the climate of commentary.

Technical Requirements
Perfect system: Web cam with streaming video, voting system on website,
Mock system: Have a few of elements live and working and others simulated to carry point across

Schedule
Week 1, Nov 5 & 7: Developing Idea, Planning

Week 2, Nov 12&14: Concept, Research, Refine

Week 3, Nov 19&21: Develop, Wireframe, Rapid Prototype (with User Testing)

Week 4, Nov 26&28: Build

Week 5, Dec 3&5: Build and User Test

Week 6, Dec 10&12: User Test, Develop Presentation

Week 7, Dec 17&19: FINAL PRESENTATIONS

Keywords:
Negative Humor, Meanness, Judgement, Commentary, Teasing