Windows and Mirrors

Transparency is everything in interface design. Perhaps not everything but it's majority of everything. Designers want the users to look through the interface and really experience it. They want the magic codes and operating systems to be hidden. Transparency isn't the only way we could work though. The Wooden Mirror was a good example of how opaque designs could be. I think that we do take technology for granted and we don't really understand how much controlling it takes to even spell check your essay. I have a love-hate relationship with GPS systems and how slow they are and how they keep "recalculating". One time I was getting frustrated with it for being so slow and my friend reminded me that this little piece of metal is sending data to outer space (millions of miles away from where we are), into a satellite (rotating somewhere around the earth), and sending it back to us at this exact location. Pretty amazing. I, of course, stopped complaining after this. The point is, making technology invisible to us allows us to fully experience the systems but it makes us unaware of all the effort put into giving us what we need.

Needs/Solutions

Need: I want to write with other people.
Solution: Pass it on notebook. One person can get a notebook, get information about other writers online, write a narrative, and then mail it off to the next person. Could be done online or off.

Need: I can never learn the dance steps even though I watch it over and over again.
Solution: Step by step translator by a program watching the video. Person upload could also type in notes and feelings.

Need: I can't find any inspiration anywhere.
Solution: Idea bouncer. A space created where people can take photos (or other medias) and share and "bounce" off ideas.

Need: I want to share work with others.
Solution: Online galleries by individual profiles, group/department, whole community.

Need: I want to start my collection of other people's work.
Solution: Collecting space where users can "grab" art/writing/videos. Somehow can't copy or save though because of rights.

Need: I don't know what equipment to use.
Solution: Place where people can suggest, rate, review, etc. equipment.

Need: I don't have any tools or materials to start anything.
Solution: Exchange place with a no money system (trading post). Perhaps suggest places you can get cheap supplies.

Need: I want critique from other people.
Solution: Place for interactive commenting by keywords or ideas or even writing on.

Need: Where do I even start learning a skill?
Solution: Beginner's section where there are tutorials in various medias.

Need: I want to draw with others.
Solution: Interactive canvas online that detects by mouse or by camera movements and allows users to draw on screen using unconventional tools. No need for a pad.

Need: I need help remembering choreography.
Solution: Dance in front of the camera and a program records what happens through text using dance terminology.

Need: I want to choreograph a dance involving a group of people.
Solution: Meet other people who wants to learn new choreograph, post choreographed dance and let them learn, come back together and "dance" together.

Need: I'm too advanced for any additional learning.
Solution: Contribute by becoming a "mentor" and teach/guide younger/inexperienced members provided through a "help hotline" with one on one live video chat.

Need: I don't understand the culture/language behind this.
Solution: Group of "translators" (through a program or volunteer) deciphers for people who are lost.

Need: I want to incorporate another person with a different culture's work into my work.
Solution: Get person's info and collaborate through posting own work and working together online to blend together using live chat with sharing screens.


Edit:

Need: Ways to easily collaborate.
Solution:  Community members can virtually build (with analogue, digital, multimedia components) in a space provided with through live webcams or just mouse movement. They can link notes, videos, inspirational artifacts, photos, etc. to the virtual project. Some virtual projects can actually be made physically somewhere if so desired.

Need: Way to let people of different talents collaborate. (i.e. dance meets writing, music meets fine arts, etc.)
Solution: Use virtual multimedia tools/interface to allow members to collaborate remotely, or if they meet up, the tool can easily facilitate their physical collaborations by using audio/video/recording devices/etc.

Need: I want to visualize my music.
Solution: Program takes music and converts it into a drawing/painting, and even a dance, based on rhythm and tones. Users can also take the clip and make their own interpretations of it.

Need: How can I get music onto my work?
Solution: Program where people draw onto the canvas and each point that is touch creates a note, so each drawing would create different melodies depending on where it is touched.