Andrew- much to my disappointment google can't translate scottish
gaelic so I shall have to pass on your contribution...
I wanted to follow up on the idea of interface. Veroniki raises this
indirectly with her reference to spectator and spectacle, in that she
talks about urban space operates as an interface in which I
participate (spectator) or i passively observe (spectacle). Tobias
also refers to this indirectly with the concept of control which for
me is the extent to which I can cause change in or interact with my
environment (i.e. can I control it or again am I merely a passive
observer). This brings me back to Daphne's comment:
*When we are interacting we may move around in physical space in
order to trigger events or read/write information onto space. In this
sense, physical space is a part of the context within which we
interact and which is supporting navigation and interacting with geo-
located information. So in my mind it may also be considered as an
aspect of the interface that we experience. *
If events are triggered by my movement in the space, this suggests to
me that the media is enabling the interaction (i.e. my movement is
detected and the technology causes an effect to occur). This raises
questions as to what extent I am truly participating in the
interaction and how the interface mediates this degree of
participation- have I chosen to interact or have I simply 'triggered'
a change.......
In my original post I tried to highlight what I feel is a cause of
tension in the hybrid city. This is the nature of the interface(s).
What provides my interface with the city?; is it the mobile screen
(the technology), my interaction with people (social interface) or
the physical structure of the city (material interface)?
Of course we can say all of these are the interface and we interact
with them on many different levels, but what is important is the fact
that we now experience the hybrid city through these various
interface more simultaneously. The physical and material space of the
city is augmented with these layers of technology/media and social
behaviours which changes how I interact. This goes back to the work
of Meyrowitz in 'No Sense of Space' who highlighted the effect on
the way we use spatial frameworks to ground our everyday interactions
and when these are mediated with technology our underlying
relationship to space is changed.
So the question for me is - do these layered interfaces work together
or do they function on different paradigms affecting my chances to
participate in the various spaces?
In my own research I have found that the non-visual and highly
socialised nature of mobile, locative and wireless media means that
it operates on an entirely different framework to the way we are used
to understanding and experiencing urban space - that is it has a
material, physical structure which we inhabit and move through in an
embodied sense . GPS (the basis of many urban media interfaces) as a
technology is a good example- it is based on the movement of remote
satellites, has a completely non-linear temporality and is omni-
present (we just need a receiver to capture the signal). Therefore
GPS interface present us with a view of the world which might try to
copy the way I perceive urban space but is actually fundamentally
different.
The 'spaces' of GPS and the 'spaces' of the material city work on
entirely different frameworks- this means they require different
interfaces. And this returns us to the problem of how I interact with
the different spaces of the hybrid city- how I control, participate
and observe the hybrid space.
I would argue that we need a more fundamental shift in the way we
design urban space so that it starts to respond to the social
dynamics (e.g. my original example of flashmobs) and the non-visual,
networked nature of media space. And media space needs to allow more
ambiguity (what Omar Khan refers to as 'under-specification' in the
Shared Encounter book), a way of representing space that can deal
with the sociality of individual, small scale dynamics and most
importantly puts less demand on our attention so that we can interact
with the urban physical space at the same time as looking at a small
screen and walking..(i.e. not get runover when we're trying to read
an email). For example - some researchers employed a person dressed
as a clown riding a unicycle to do tricks close to people using their
mobile phones in urban space (see http://ind.pn/Li13s). Asked
afterwards if they saw the clown - 75 percent said no. They were too
focussed in on their interface....
To sum up, eric gordon's piece offers an interesting perspective:
Spectatorship is not only the result of direct interaction with
technology. In most cases, technology has served primarily as a
structuring metaphor for urban looking. The digital possessive will
begin to alter how spectators interact with each other, with or
without network connection. It will begin to alter how they interact
with the built environment, with or without technology."
regards,
Katharine
On 20 Oct 2010, at 13:33, Veroniki Korakidou wrote:
> Daphne hi!
>
> A very interesting post and thank you for the reference. It poses
> the question of "who is the spectator" and "what is the spectacle".
>
> To come back to Tobias, who first put the question of "public"
> authoring in participatory strategies, a relevant graffiti came to
> my mind - I pass through this writing on the wall in my
> neighbourhood every day: "when rape becomes a spectacle, then the
> spectator becomes a rapist".
>
> Although I wish I am being mistaken, maybe the rhetoric of
> participatory action has already been reversed, like the rhetoric
> of social interaction back in the early 90s (through these popular
> media that you mentioned).
>
> Any opposite point of view, however, would be quite welcome :-)
>
> Very best,
>
> Veroniki
>
> --- Στις Τρίτ., 19/10/10, ο/η Daphne Dragona
> <daphne.dragona@gmail.com> έγραψε:
>
>
> Από: Daphne Dragona <daphne.dragona@gmail.com>
> Θέμα: Re: [Yasmin_discussions] Hybrid Space - Hybrid Cities
> discussion
> Προς: "YASMIN DISCUSSIONS" <yasmin_discussions@estia.media.uoa.gr>
> Ημερομηνία: Τρίτη, 19 Οκτώβριος 2010, 10:28
>
>
> Dear yasminers,
>
>
>
> Thanks to everybody that has posted new interesting directions and
> points to
> our discussion the last weeks. Some thoughts and questions came to
> my mind
> as I was reading the emails, so here is a small contribution from
> my side.
>
>
>
> Regarding the discussion on what does the "hybrid city as an
> interface"
> could mean and in particular Katharine's and Dimitri's posts on
> one hand
>
>
>
> *Katharine also suggests that "...For sure I carry a device with me
> that augments the space. But the screen is still my interface; it
> rarely spills out into the city."*
>
> *When we are interacting we may move around in physical space in
> order to
> trigger events
> or read/write information onto space. In this sense, physical space
> is a
> part of the context within which we interact and which is supporting
> navigation and interacting with geo-located information. So in my
> mind it
> may also be considered as an aspect of the interface that we
> experience. *
>
> * *
>
> and Tobias' comment on control on the other
>
> * *
>
> *"You can achieve the most effective control, if there is an
> illusion of
> no control: If you create a dispositive, where participants /
> citizens have
> the illusion to be authors / explorers of reality, it is much
> easier to
> control the space and the people within."*
>
>
>
> unavoidably brought the Google Empire into my mind. I believe that
> not only
> the platforms themselves, that is Google earth, Google Maps and Google
> Street Views , influence our notion of the city and enhance the
> hybrid city
> model but that the ambiguous character of control plays an
> important role
> to what this hybrid city is/ will be.
>
>
>
> The image of the world today very much depends on Google's image
> of the
> world, on its capturing through satellites, airplanes and google
> cars. It is
> an image that we can jump into, we can navigate, we can experience and
> explore, an image we can also contribute to with our own images.
> It seems
> like a world which is open and accessible , but under whose gaze it is
> mostly being assembled?
>
>
>
> A very interesting recent book that refers to the metamorphosis of
> the
> city's image through the media is
>
>
>
> Eric Gordon's, The Urban Spectator : American Concept Cities from
> Kodak to
> Google
>
> http://www.rorotoko.com/index.php/article/
> eric_gordon_book_interview_urban_spectator_american_concept_cities_kod
> ak/P1/
>
>
>
> For Gordon today's city is a "database city", "a city with no
> content other
> than to grant access to content... built for a spectator who wants to
> reconnect with the city, but doesn't want to be told precisely how
> that
> connection is to take place. This is the same spectator stepped in the
> language of digital networks and databases who desires a city he
> can possess
> and organize into a personalized urban narrative.
>
> …
>
> We are being watched but by whom and for what reason is unclear
> even for
> those watching. (taken from Kafka's Trial)"
>
>
> Gordon furthermore explains that we enjoy the database cities for
> the same
> reason that we like Google itself and we dont mind it having access
> to our
> personal's search histories. Because there is a suggested
> transparency: even
> if the same information is shared with marketers, we believe we are in
> control of our data and we feel safe.
>
>
> The potentialities given by the geographical oriented visual search
> engines
> today are surely exciting. But are we really granted access and
> control
> because we think that we can modify and personalise the urban
> environment?
> Can a new image of the city be shaped by all users - habitants?
>
>
>
> I think there is an interesting misunderstanding here , when
> believing or
> hoping that we are mostly going from the public towards the common
> when we
> are still in the stage of semi-private or semi-public exercising
> control.
> Something Molly also mentioned from another perspective.
>
> Cheers
> daphne
>
> On 18 October 2010 11:07, rob van kranenburg
> <kranenbuster@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Dear Nina,
>>
>> Thanks!
>> I know of it because my good friend Matt Ratto is running Critical
>> Making.
>> With Bronac Ferran, jaromil, Felipe Fonseca and Matt we set up
>> Bricolabs
>> http://www.bricolabs.net/
>> in 2007
>>
>> Greetings, Rob
>>
>> On Sun, Oct 17, 2010 at 5:15 PM, nina czegledy <czegledy@interlog.com
>>> wrote:
>>
>>> Dear All,
>>>
>>> thanks Rob - regarding the Internet of Things
>>> please note Designing Digital Media for the Internet of Things
>>> (DDiMIT)
>> our
>>> University of Toronto initiative since 2009
>>> http://criticalmaking.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Timbits2009.pdf
>>>
>>> best
>>> nina czegledy
>>>
>>> Dear all,
>>>>
>>>> also please check out the workshops Council, a thinktank for the
>> Internet
>>>> of
>>>> Things, launched with in december 2009
>>>>
>>>> http://www.theinternetofthings.eu/workshops
>>>>
>>>> This december 2010 in Paris:
>>>> http://www.theinternetofthings.eu/council-france
>>>>
>>>> Salut! Rob
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>
>
>
> --
> Daphne Dragona
> cultural [net]worker & mediator
> m: +306974040109
> skype name: dapdra
> http://www.ludicpyjamas.net
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Graduate Research School "Locating Media/Situierte Medien"
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