May 6, 2026
Galina:
Replicating a research paper was something I had genuinely never done before, and honestly, I did not know what to expect going into it. I ended up enjoying the process a lot more than I anticipated. What surprised me most was that it was not just about copying what someone else had already done. It helped me see the direction researchers go, the kinds of questions they have to sit with, and how a big, complex idea actually gets structured into something people can read, follow, and build on. That was something I did not expect to get out of this class.
When I first signed up, I did expect research and design to be a core part of the experience, especially given that the class was centered around memory capturing and technology. But I was not prepared to replicate a research paper so specifically. I thought it would look more like extending or expanding on existing research rather than recreating it as closely as possible. I get why we did it this way, though. With a semester timeline, there is only so much room for original research, and replication gave us a real foundation to actually understand the work deeply. That said, I kept thinking about what it would look like to take the ideas further. For our patina engraver and wristwatch tracker project, I kept coming back to this idea of applying the concept of engraving patterns onto something like a physical wallet. Something where you could see over time how your spending or saving habits left a visible mark on the object itself, kind of like how patina builds up on a surface. You would check the app digitally, but the story would live on the object in your pocket.
In terms of what I actually learned, a lot of it was about things I had no framework for before this class. I did not really understand what researchers do, like the actual work that happens behind a published paper. Now I know how to read an HCI research paper, how to build a bibliographic trail, and how to think through user research methods. I also got a lot better at breaking down a complex project into smaller, more manageable pieces. With the patina tracker specifically, we went from learning how to use AxiDraw and Inkscape, then moved into working directly in VS Code, and applied that same step-by-step logic to the hardware and physical side of the project, too. That kind of technical deconstruction is something I will apply in the future.
For soft skills, working with a partner all semester pushed me in ways I did not expect. We kept each other accountable, stayed on top of deadlines, and were not afraid to ask for help when we were stuck. That kind of collaboration is something I want to take forward with me.
My whole idea of what research in computing means has shifted. I thought it was mostly people sitting with code or data. I did not realize how much of it is about asking the right questions, caring about people, and thinking through what a technology actually does to someone's experience over time.
Reflecting on my own skills, this project made me more confident that I can take a technical idea and actually apply it, not just conceptually but physically, in a way that could matter to someone. The connection between design thinking and real, tangible output felt new to me, and it is something I know I will carry into future work.
As for the shared topic of "Capturing and Sharing Memories with Technology," I really appreciated it. Memory is one of the few things that connects every generation of people, and technology that helps preserve and share those moments has the potential to bring people together across ages and experiences in a way that not much else can. The patina project resonated with me because it was not about storing memories in a cloud or a feed. It was about letting time leave a visible mark on something physical, which feels a lot more human to me. I think that distinction between passive storage and active, meaningful memory making is what separates interesting research in this space from the rest.
Aro:
Coming into this class, I knew we would be working with research papers by reading them and understanding their purpose and structure. What I did not expect was that we would actually be recreating the project of the research paper we were working on. When I first realized that was the goal, I was honestly a little scared. I was not sure we would be able to pull it off. But looking back now, it pushed me to take every small step seriously.
The first thing I learned was how to actually approach a research paper. I learned to ask more deliberate questions: What problem is the paper solving? Why does it matter? What makes their approach different? How to read each section of the research paper, etc. I also learned about citation practices and how to trace ideas across the literature, which the LitMap activity really helped me with. Seeing how a single paper connects to dozens of others changed the way I think about knowledge in computing and how everything can be interconnected. This is very important in research because you want to know what has already been researched on, and it also helps you support your claim and ideas.
When we moved into actually building the project, I learned the importance of breaking a big goal into small sprints. At first, the full system felt overwhelming. But starting small made it manageable. Each sprint revealed something we had not thought about, such as the materials we needed, which software to use, how to approach the physical construction, and then the technical side, piece by piece. One example was when the AxiDraw machine failed to draw correctly. After testing, we traced the issue to the charger not providing sufficient power. That is the kind of thing you would never catch if you jumped straight to coding. The sprint structure forced us to test in isolation, which meant we caught problems early when they were still easy to fix. Dr. Jones was also a big help in breaking down big tasks and in thinking through aspects we would have missed otherwise. From there, we worked our way up by learning how to control the AxiDraw from Python, figuring out the zone dimensions on the wristband, exporting and parsing Fitbit data, and finally getting draw_wristband.py to actually produce the correct patterns on the band after a lot of debugging. It was a slow process, but every problem we solved built on the last one.
This experience changed how I think about research in computing. The original Patina Engraver paper was published in 2015, and even in the decade since, the tools, hardware, and expectations have shifted. When we went to implement their system, we realized how much the paper left unspecified, such as the exact dimensions, the coordinate system, and how patterns should scale. We had to make a lot of decisions ourselves. That experience showed me that a research paper is not a complete blueprint; it is a starting point. The real work of turning an idea into something physical and functional is left to the people who come after.
In terms of my own skills, my coding improved significantly through the process of reproducing, designing, and debugging the system. But I also grew in ways beyond coding by reading and interpreting the research. And even though our project was not heavily hardware-focused, we did get to work on physical parts by constructing the wristband layers, testing different marking tools, and building a stabilization setup for engraving.
Thinking about the broader theme of the class: "capturing and sharing memories with technology", the Patina Engraver captures memory (data from physical activity) in a permanent and cumulative way. Every week of activity adds another layer of marks that cannot be undone. It becomes a record that belongs to you in a way a Fitbit dashboard never does. You wear it, and other people can see it and ask about it because it looks interesting and personal. That abstract quality actually protects your privacy while still opening a conversation, which I think is a really neat design decision.
I also got to see other approaches to this theme through my classmates' projects. Imran and Joyce's project used NFC tags to attach digital memories to physical objects, so you could tap your phone to something and instantly access a story or media connected to it. I tested it myself and thought it was pretty cool.