PROJECT PRESENCE
An exploration into the human impact of ubiquitous connectivity
With Sofie Holstein-Homann and Duncan Fitzsimons
Sponsored by Nokia
How will we communicate when our environments become increasingly more intelligent and interlinked? How will pervasive networks alter the very reasons why we stay in touch?
We continue to rely on language as our primary communication tool, but in many cases our actual intention is to share emotional understanding, and this is something that language is particularly inefficient at conveying.
This study challenged our present communication paradigm through the creation of
3 communication experiences, each of which transmit a sense of human co-presence over long distances.
1. DON'T LOOK WALLPAPER
Don't Look is an experience where an image of another environment is seen in the periphery of our vision. When you look at the image, face detection software causes the image to disappear. This ensures that this channel is not as a video wall, which would detract from the co-presence effect.
2. AIR TEXTING
Air Texting captures the benifits of communicating through text message except with the emotional richness of receiving a handwritten note.
By receiving the message in the same form as it was when it was conceived,
there is possibility for a more in-depth emotional insight.
The finger is tracked and messages are formed. Gestures are recognised to initiate
a message and contacts are selected by writing their name or number.
To send the text... click your fingers.
3. CHANNELS
Channels is an ambient communication link between distant environments.
Each element of the wallpaper pattern is affected by different physical stimuli
in another environment.
Through prolonged exposure, we become aware of others' situations
as we subconsciously learn the meaning of the changing patterns.
Each type of flower, bud or leaf represents a different aspect of the distant space. The presence of others, how many people are there, how active they are, how much they are engaging with the wall and other illustrative quantities are expressed through the flux of the channel.
Some elements, such as the pile of leaves at the foot of the wall, suggest a history of the other space. There should be no need to actively analyse the scene,
a subconscious awareness will come about instead.
Selected exhibit for the Wired NextFest 2007
Sponsored by Nokia
Royal College of Art, 2007