WEEK NINE: ALL COMES CRASHING DOWN

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I'm stuck. 

I have gone down a tangent and hit a dead end, and now I have to evaluate where I've been, why it sucked, and where to go from here. 

WHERE I'VE BEEN

I decided upon an interface which would allow users to communicate with others, upload and download information, access digital media and control third party devices.

I researched human consciousness, unconscioiss thought and lucid dreaming as ways in which users could "experince" the interface, however this erred too close to virtual reality and was discarded.

WHY IT SUCKED

It sucked because I wanted to stay away from virtual reality, but I was taking users out of the scope of reality. 

SO WHERE NOW?

I'm not sure yet, but I need to find a way in which users can still maintain their current levels of interaction with the outside world (although in some cases this may be limited to experiencing sight, smell and sound, without any means of returning communication).  I still don't want to create a virtual world, but a system thatcan be accessed while still being part of the physical "real world".

I have some thinking to do. 

GUESS WHAT THIS IS...
 
On a seemingly unrelated note, this occurrence has solidified my thoughts on why the designer is the right person to architect this entire idea.  The design process, as we are so often taught, is an iterative one, which is completely non -linear.  My "dead-end" is simply the death of one iteration, a solution that may not have worked, clearing the path for new ideas...