For the focus newspaper, I looked for ways to measure self-perceived creativity and also how is it related to socialization, contact with the material world, especially nature, and how it works at schools during undergraduate years. So I thought about a design that focuses on a really specific part of nature: mushrooms. In North America, hunting mushrooms is something common to see. There are clubs in universities, amateur groups and so on that consider it a hobby. Unfortunately, mushrooms and macrofungal in general can be really tricky if you are not a specialist in them. Some of them you can only identify in the lab using microscopy. This amateurism and misinformation are a cause of mushroom poisoning around the continent.
In the other hand being in contact with nature and learning about your surroundings is really good for your mind and soul and according to some studies being in contact with nature is a great way to foster creativity in childhood.
Using AI and AR this app would help people identify mushrooms, and it would also alert them about poisoning. The app would also teach you the characteristics of each species and you can create your own monster mushrooms on it after you collect more than two mushrooms virtually. The way to collect them would be by finding them in nature and taking a picture of them.
Critique
As I said above some mushrooms are really hard to identify, and some of them are really similar to each other. Will the AR give the right information about it? Can you trust it?
The information about poisoning would be good for adults, but children using it would have the maturity to use this information properly. (it reminded me of That “suicidal game” that was played years ago by children on Facebook) Couldn’t it be a tool and a source for something like this to happen again?
Combining mushrooms’ characteristics to create your own monsters is something strong enough to foster creativity. How would you make it interesting for the users who want to play? How would you measure it? Would it make people be more confident about their own creativity skills?
