Emotional Experience

For my Non-Linear Timeline Project I wanted to create a way of cataloguing emotional experience over time. We discussed in class the idea that memory itself is not linear in the way it works and in fact it is sort of like a composite of various things built up into a whole. I wanted my piece to be a proposal for a way of recording and creating a sort of digital simulacrum for this memory process that could be carried around by a person on a PDA-like device or cell phone. With this program a person would be able to create a web of entries each with emotional experience attached. While this proposed program could serve those with cognitive impairment I could also see it serving a role for an average person as well: as both a personal encyclopedia and emotional dictionary.

I've given this proposed program the temporary title of EmotionBase (standing for emotional database) and created some sample operating windows. This program would allow a user to create and organize entries under four categories: people, places, ideas, or things. The user would be able to create links between relevant entries, add descriptions and photos to an entry (which would work best on a camera equipped portable device), and search these entries through a number of methods. However, what separates this program from a more typical database is that the users are also able to attach emotional experience to each entry over multiple instances--much as memory is altered by repeated encounters with something. These entries would be registered by adding a note and by picking spots on two charts: a 'fun-boring' chart and an 'important-unimportant' chart. This nomenclature for my charts is decidedly inelegant at the moment and I would be more than willing to replace it with a better emotional experience model. Each of the two charts is represented by a colour scheme: blue-red for boring-fun, and green-yellow for unimportant-important. These colours are represented in the background of each entry and will change with each emotional entry added to a database entry. This will give the user an instant idea of their feelings on the topic, without reading the text, and the fact that it will develop over time will allow for their emotions to change and grow on a certain topic.


On the left is a sample of what the program would look like on a portable device (in this case a cell phone). This window shows a 'place' entry for the OCAD main building and the background yellow hue shows that it is IMPORTANT on the importance scale and neutral on the FUN scale. [Click to Enlarge]

On the right is a sample of the emotional experience entry form for a sample item. Notice how the background of the item changes as the two sliding scales are moved. [Click to Enlarge]


These are prototypes for the front end screen for this program and for the various section screens. The 'Main' screen shows the various ways of searching through the entries and the most recent entries. The section screens show samples of people, places, things and ideas, each with there own emotional experience shown as colour across the back

of the entries. Click to Enlarge: [Main] [Section Screens]

The visualizations of the various colours for the emotions and the scale that the emotions are entered on could be played around with quite a bit so that the individual visualizations are unique and expressive. I feel that with a tool such as this each individual user could create and maintain unique non-linear memories through a digital intermediary. Each person who used this would create their own unique web of relations; each of them becoming pieces of art.

-Jacob

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