Material Meaning: As creatures in the physical world, people are able to manipulate tangible materials to create and associate certain meaning with objects. This meaning is embedded in the object or material and the social context it lives in. For example, folding a note in half can mean the message on the note is confidential [...]
I created this video to simply depict how a tangible medium can carry a message of its own.
In Phil Van Allen’s paper, Productive Interaction he states:
“Productive interaction is a recasting of the author/designer’s position in relation to the audience. Instead of laying out a linear narrative in an enveloping experience, the productive interaction designer frames an exploration of a meaning space, making sure the audience has the affordances to create their own [...]
I recently did some in-depth research on how the Carte de Visite, and the 1950’s oral culture it thrived in, is closely related to the digital social media age we are now engaged in. The following are some excerpts from the first draft of my research paper, which is also available for download: “Carte de [...]
This diagram attempts to visualize where I currently see my thesis research in relationship to social media, tangible interfaces, and social relationships in the physical world. I believe that new tangible interfaces working symbiotically with digital infrastructures will be the means to liberating the limited methods of interaction we currently experience through the internet.
The way we behave online is very different from the way we behave offline. Obviously. The question is why? One important reason is the public nature of internet based interactions. Facebook is not a private space, it’s much more like a boulevard, where people pass by and browse. Conversations are light and casual, exchanges are [...]
Norman Klein and I have been frequently discussing how to define the technological era we have at present. It’s something everyone talks about, maybe because we share some distaste for the amount of surrender we have given to the digital domain. Many continue to debate between digital and analog, a longstanding feud. However, Norman recently [...]
I have been looking at how certain institutions and social groups use badges and patches to visually distinguish the group and the individuals therein. The military uses iconography to establish rank structure, to specify specialization and to recognize accomplishments. Understanding rank insignia is like knowing a visual code that determines how one should behave in [...]
I would argue that the virtual representations of ourselves are different characters than we are in reality, mere avatars living in an independent virtual space. Simply put, we behave differently online than we behave in reality. This calls to question the accuracy of the data that is deemed as a valuable insight to who we [...]
In reality, we place value on our relationships in varying degrees. This variance is not integrated in the defining of virtual relationships. Be it your lifelong friend or a simple acquaintance, in virtual space, these relationships are fundamentally equal.