The Great News: The deadline has been pushed back so we have a full additional two weeks to iron it out and get a presentation together!
The Best News: The three of us have absolutely improved on almost every aspect of the MaKey MaKey Chord Board (from now on it will be known on this blog as the MMCB) and have a plan for how we will build this system.
So, here is the plan.
Over the next ten workdays, Savannah, Matt, and I will be putting together the components (digital and physical) for the first prototype of the MMCB. We have estimated product cost to be approximately $75 to $100 depending on how we go about it (which would make it very affordable in schools.
Step One: Record live instruments. While the three of us were discussing the idea, the point was brought up that just Scratch sound may be harder for kids to connect with. For example, as a vocal student, I am actually better at hearing chordal differences in vocal harmonies. So, we will take three instruments minimum (guitar, piano, and voice) and record each of the tracks to be inputed into Scratch rather than having to assemble the programming all in Scratch. Today, we recorded piano. We played a chromatic scale up three octaves. From those pitches, Matt (our resident SRT genius) is going to assemble each of the tracks. Tomorrow, we will record my voice and Matt's guitar in the same fashion.
Step Two: Assembly of Scratch programming and organizing it into a file-sharing center. One of the additional improvements that the group came up with today was the idea of crowdsourcing the project. Although our group is the creator of the first MMCB, if we win the contest, we can put the basic blueprints to make one online. That way people can build them and even improve on them on their own time without having to buy a crazy product all at once. In addition to the blueprints, we will create a database for scales that can be used by anyone. If we win the money from the contest, we could potentially continue to record more and more scales in more and more keys. For our demo, we will most likely only use chords from major keys, but in the future, the database could expand to as many scales as requested by the users.
Step Three: Build the actual board. The board has undergone some design changes while we were discussing it. It will look a little something like this:
The board will be a box with the parts based on the inside. The MaKey MaKey itself will be affixed to the bottom of the box using screws (which will connect the ground to the wooden box). This gives the device portability and gives easier access to reprogramming.
Step Four: Create a presentation for the contest. Hopefully we will be able to show this to some high school students and get their opinions on it while having them test it for us. We will probably end up making a web page or something along those lines to help show our progress.
I am stoked!
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Today, I also started interacting with the online workshop that Dr. Ruthmann asked me to participate in. For the most part, the first day included creating a profile and introducing myself on a forum. The general vibe that I am getting from this course is that it will not have enough structure or incentive for me to feel fully invested in, but I feel that it will help me to learn about Scratch much more. The program says flat out, "Participate as much or as little as you want." In my opinion, that language is not conducive to the program. Saying you can do as much as you want takes stress off of a busy participant, but saying you can do as little as you want can possibly discourage those who thought the course would have clearly defined goals or structure. I honestly am worried that I will have to end up forcing myself to participate more than I will want to.
However, the community aspect of the workshop seems really cool. People from all over with all sorts of different backgrounds were introducing themselves on the forum, and I really enjoyed looking over some of the really interesting profiles. I like the idea of knowing who you are working alongside, even if you are not necessarily addressing them directly.
I hope that this program will turn out better than I am anticipating. With any luck, I will be able to find my own motivation to do the assignments, regardless of the odd statement that almost discourages my participation.
And now, bedtime.
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