Mediated Presence through Physical Objects

I’m interested to figure out a way to enhance intimacy and support authentic connections across a distance. How can intimacy be represented in mediated spaces? For me, the most intimate means available to connect with a faraway person is through webcam (voice+image). The imPulse project explores the idea of creating intimacy across a distance by sharing an extremely private and internal attribute – a person’s heartbeat. It often takes much longer for us before we get to feel another person’s heartbeat. This project has gone through several iterations, the latest, a wireless module, presented at CHI’07.

Immediacy :: reciprocity and synchronicity

Immediacy relates to the timing and latency of data – how important is it to receive the information right now? The more synchronous a conversation is, the more attention it requires and the more intense it feels. A conversation is usually more meaningful when conditions allow for reciprocity to take place. But it is not necessarily more meaningful when the information is immediate. What interests me is to explore how immediacy and synchronicity affects the strength of a connection to a remote person or place; their presence.
I’ve just about had it with online social networks. Tools like facebook or twitter are great at first. They support asynchronous conversations with people I’d never tried hard enough to stay in touch with. But there are not enough tools which support the deeper, more substantial connections. That’s what I long for and that’s what I think is missing.
Keeping this idea in mind, the Kotel installation explores a real-time connection to a remote location by using live video streams. The cameras broadcast images from the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, and are overlayed within an interactive display. This creates a direct, one-way channel between a person and that place. The display is controlled by touching a rock.

Context :: taking things out of context

Local cultural norms (or the context in which they exist) play a key role when designing objects for people to interact and connect with. By modifying an already known object it is possible to latch onto a user’s existing habits and take advantage of an existing relationship between the person and the object. Everyone knows how to hold a baseball bat or where to look for the ‘take photo’ button in a digital camera. It is Okay to spit in Canal street, but considered a sin a mere few blocks away in Soho.Though it is important to take into account these cultural and social norms, I find it extremely interesting to place an object out of its’ usual context – placing it in a new environment. When done correctly, there can be a strikingly powerful impression left on the viewers. For example, I will never forget an exhibit I saw in Israel this past summer, where real qassam missiles were taken from real-life bomb scenes in Sderot (an Israeli city bordering Gaza) and reproduced in a central Tel Aviv boulevard. Real rockets, real furniture in real scenes from the Sderot bombings. There was something so powerful about recreating these scenes, taken out of context, and placed in the central part of Tel-Aviv. By placing these scenes in a new environment the topic raised much more attention.

World News Wheels is a prototype I worked on, inspired by the shape and of Tibetan prayer wheels which can be found all across the Himalayas. Many believe that once turned, the prayer inscribed on them rises up to the heavens. It is the people’s duty to circumambulate around a given path, turning as many wheels on the way as they can. This is done twice a day, as the sun rises and sets. I was interested to take these objects and superimpose a new layer above them; one that brought images from events and happenings around the world. It is common for people to consume news in the mornings while reading the paper, and in the evenings when watching TV. In this project, I had hoped to shift the regular use of these object, which have pre-existing cultural context, into a device that helps consume news. This is part of a bigger idea to explore ways for people to have a more emotional connection to worldwide newsworthy events. What was interesting about this specific trial, was that for users, wheels are a highly appealing interface. Yet for those who recognized their similarity to the Tibetan wheels, the project took on a completely different light.