Idea Generation

Concept selection

We took the various ideas we had from brainstorming and selected the ones we thought had the most promise. Of those, we picked the following 14 ones that seems to fulfill a diverse set of needs, while being coherent with each other if implemented as and installation.

Giving the fountain a personality

Recognizing regulars - The fountain can recognize people who come often to the plaza, and would play a specific water jet motion and sound as the regular sits on a bench. S/he would then get a discrete and subtle notification that the fountain has just greeted him.
Moodbar - As passerbys play with the fountain, its moodbar fills up, and if a threshold is reached at the end of the day, special games and shows are unlocked.
Weather reflection - The fountain adapts its mood (water, sound, and light activity) to the current day time and weather.
Bored Fountain - The fountain gets bored if nobody plays with it, but gets happier if people play with it.

Engaging passerbys

Engagement - The fountain observes the people sitting around, and reacts accordingly to the movements of one of them, attracting his attention.
Playful splash - The fountain sprays somebody with a jet of water, completely randomly.

Playing games

Musical Spots (chairs) - A game similar to musical chairs, but with spots instead. Players who are not standing on spots of teh right color at the end of the jingle get wet. The person at the kiosk can select the right color and influence spots movements.
Duck duck goose - The game of Duck Duck Goose where the person at the kiosk decides who is the Goose. A variant can involve weight sensors to select the Goose.
Direct Draw - Hand drawings on the touch screen are immediately reproduce by the fountain as water jets.
Stim-response draw - This can be adapted to the direct draw game, and consists of changing the kiosk reaction to a player's input, so s/he won't completely annoy the other people on the plaza.
Drunkenness - The kiosk has a built-in breathalyzer. If the people around the kiosk are drunk, all the activities provided by the fountain become suddenly affected by alcohol, and may not be accurate as expected...

Supporting local activities

Community update - The fountain can tell the people who are waiting for the movie theater of a restaurant (like Cheesecake factory) when their seats are ready.
Directions - The kiosk can tells the user the direction of a shop or a restaurant by displaying the itinerary with the fountain water jets.
Concert - When a concert takes place on the plaza, the fountain can sync with the music to provide a better experience.