‘The Familiar’: Technology-being-with-us
Image 1: Tiger and Magpie, n.d, © National Museum of Korea; Image 2: Traditional Jeasa ritual in head house of JeonJu Jung Clan, 2009, © National Intangible Heritage Center
Symposium:
Session Title:
- Ghosts & Supernatural 1
Presentation Title:
- ‘The Familiar’: Technology-being-with-us
Presenter(s):
Venue(s):
Abstract:
Abstract (long paper)
Digital technologies pervade contemporary life, so much so that the boundary between the physical and virtual world has become increasingly blurred as digital technologies are embedded ‘seamlessly’ into our constructed environment. Consequentially, our awareness of the presence and tangible qualities of computational systems disappears as these technologies merge inseparably with physical reality. This phenomenon is a direct consequence of ubiquitous computing. In this paper we investigate how cultural perception influences the ways we understand and approach the application of ubiquitous computing and its related technologies – such as electronic sensors, camera vision and radio frequency identification (RFID) – in creative practice. Through attempting to articulate the conditions that give rise to a distinctively ‘Western’ apprehension of digital media, this investigation aims to establish a basis from which an alternative interpretation of computational systems might be explored; one that may defamiliarize digital technologies by adopting an ‘Eastern’ 1 perception of our digital nature as ‘technology-being-with-us’.
