I believe computation is a tool through which you can help people to make choices. For instance, what websites to visit, what product to buy, how to spend their evening, or how to power their new PComp project. I guess one of my hobbies is helping people because that what makes me happy and gives energy and motivation. When I was practicing HTML and CSS, my team and I made a website about different meditation techniques. I thought that a great website can motivate people to try something new, which in turn can help them to change their life or at the very least make it less stressful. That’s what I hope to achieve this term: to learn more about how I can help people through computation.
Here’s my first attempt at using JavaScript at p5 (I'm apologising for my drawing skills in advance). I honestly wanted to draw a robot, but somehow it turned into my self-portrait or rather the portrait of someone I don’t want to become. I started with the basic shapes and lines. It was quite hard to identify the coordinates of the elements, and I still have some problems with that. But after some time, my p5 drawing became somewhat similar to the one I drew on the paper. After doing the contour, I moved on to adding colours and stroke, which was a lot of fun. Especially when my whole picture became green. In the end, however, I really liked the result.
Work in progress
What I tried to draw was a person who tried to connect with nature, but was too distracted by their phone to do that. Hence, instead of watering the plant, this person was staring at the screen. Have you ever noticed that when you look at your phone or laptop, your face doesn’t express any emotions, unless you look at something cute or funny like a puppy? So, this person I drew was emotionless, unhappy and also too distracted to notice that something is wrong… that what he’s doing is wrong. What I wanted to express with this drawing was the feeling that the hype around technology limits the real-life experience that we can get just by going to the park. Indeed, most people go to the park, but they still stare at their phones, which means they’re disconnected from the surrounding world.
Final result:
Summary: I enjoyed using p5 so much that I couldn’t stop myself from adding more details. I can’t wait to learn more! I certainly had some problems with the curve and the arcs which I want to get better at. But overall, my first experience was quite fulfilling (and therapeutic!).
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