This week we decided to converge on creating a system for graphical interpretation and diagramming. We thought the task might be having kids explain their data interpretation process by capturing "snapshots" of their process along the way. We starting building our functional prototype which included a 1) mounted projector for overlaying images onto the paper and 2) Wiimote for pen tracking, 3) we also created an prototype infrared pen/physical pen by taping a fine point marker to a wood barrel hand-made infrared pen with an infrared LED.

On the web application side, we adapted an existing doodling web application by adding "snapshot" and viewing history of sketches capability. The original web app by Ian Li (ianli.com/sketchpad/) was a freeform sketchpad with minimal tools (only a pen with variable stroke thickness and color). We liked that it was simple and didn't have too many extraneous features that might be distracting or not useful at all. The front-end of this application was done using Ian's modified HTML 5/Javascript code. We created a backend system using the LAMP stack (PHP/MySQL/Apache) for saving and storing sketches identified by a "sketchid". Each piece of physical paper has its own "sketchid" which will have a log of traces or history.