chance to step into. These are a few comments regarding some points that were
raised and I conclude with some questions and thoughts.
With regards to the issue raised about control, and Daphne's observations about
Google and Gordon's book, I would like to add some comments that Siva
Vaidhyanathan made in his lecture, "The Googlization of the Global Street" that
took place 3 days ago in A'dam.
He mentioned amongst other things, the notion of "choice architecture" which has
a great influence in what choice people make in the end. He argued that in the
Google era it is not about cultural imperialism (what clothes to wear, what
music to hear, what movie to see) but about the protocol imperialism, that is,
how to do things. In that sense, he asserted that control has shifted from a
panopticon model to a "Cryptopticon" one. We don't see or understand the
surveillance tool and that is how it becomes more powerful. The new surveillance
tools are not trying to confront one to the realm but to track his/her
idiosyncrasy. His assertion of the Cryptopticon seems to be aligned with what
Gordon observes "the spectator wants to reconnect with the city, but doesn't
want to be told precisely how that connection is to take place".
As far as urban space is concerned, and the merging with digital information and
data, I also believe that this merging can be noticed in the ways that we have
started to navigate the city in relation and in accordance to our Internet
navigation. Google maps, Skype and Twitter make the first example. People walk
in the street using Google maps to orient themselves (and I am for sure one of
them), make free calls or video calls with Skype or make a twitter entry with
their mobile phones when they want to share something or to retrieve
information. In Amsterdam for example, a fellow student was recently describing
to us how he was stuck in a traffic jam and he wanted to know why. By entering
the world "police" in the twitter search he found out that a shooting had just
taken place and that police were investigating the scene. With these examples I
want to stress the importance of these small changes, tweaks and spins that
define the hybridization of space in an incremental way. And this changes are,
until now, defined mostly by marketing apps, services and iphones! Indeed, I
cannot access the info that GVB (public transport) provides to mobile users
because I have a windows mobile and not an iphone!
Including RFID and intelligent tagging - and I would like to add near-field
communication (NFC),- emergent technologies will eventually create the bridges
between physical and virtual, making urban hybrid environments a de facto
everyday experience as Martin Rieser pointed out.
"The world has become the web" ?
There is an upcoming conference (November 26) in Eindhoven that will address
these questions:
What if everything is connected to everything?
What if trees, lighting and shop windows become social media?
What does art look like in a 'cloud culture'?
STRP Conference, E-SPHERE: LIVING IN THE CLOUD
That is why I think we should come back and look into the design process of new
technologies and the architecture or protocol of the Internet. While the
spatial, material world, is being augmented , human interaction and the
social-communicational aspects of this world are being represented, processed
and structured in new ways. Through the process of highlighted news, with the
proliferation of aggregators, analytics, bookmarking, ratings and the notion of
"the most popular" site, blog, tweet do we lose our autonomy to choose what is
of our interest? with whom we will interact ? and how do the opinions and
suggestions of others affect and form our own? Does this immense structure
constrain our linking and browsing tactics? Are these constraints also extended
to our physical navigation-movement in space and frame our interactions and the
way those are triggered?
Is that structure the "gaze" that assembles the image of the world?
By the way, Google's aspiration from the beginning of its existence has been "To
organize the World's Information and make it Universally Accessible". Shouldn't
we be at least suspicious with that?
The promise/threat of the "Internet of Things" promises to change both our
cities and our relationsip with one another as the environment becomes the
interface and our distributed self into the environment becomes the data.
Theoretical research combined with a more active engagement with the
technologies under-study should provide a more systematic and realistic
understanding of this interplay and bridge the theoretical research with the
technical aspects, protocols, the apps and systems. Thinking of pervasive and
mobile technologies as means to extent our ideas and our understanding of the
everyday and as devices that align human practices and "tune" human
interactions, may be an alternative starting point for designing and engaging
with the technologies under-study. "When tuning is thought as a design process,
within this process we all become designers, improvisers, collaborators and
calibrators" (R. Coyne "The Tuning of Place: Sociable Spaces and Pervasive
Digital Media" MIT Press (2010))
Regards,
Olga Paraskevopoulou
MA student in New Media, University of Amsterdam
Master degree in Communication and New Technologies, University of Athens
P Think before you print - save trees
----------------------------------------------
________________________________
From: Katharine S. Willis <willis@locatingmedia.uni-siegen.de>
To: YASMIN DISCUSSIONS <yasmin_discussions@estia.media.uoa.gr>
Sent: Thu, October 21, 2010 11:50:02 AM
Subject: Re: [Yasmin_discussions] Hybrid Space - Hybrid Cities discussion
Dear all,
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_kodak/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"
University of Siegen
Unteres Schloss, 57072 Siegen
Tel: 0271-740-3065
E-Mail: willis@locatingmedia.uni-siegen.de
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