Invisible networks
In collaboration with: Michelle Teran (Artist)
As mobile and wireless technologies proliferate in urban environments the space can be considered as having an existence in terms of several visible and invisible layers. In particular, we consider that there is a physical layer that makes up our everyday direct experience and several invisible layers of the digital nodes and networks that facilitate communication. Yet, due to the ways in which we have traditionally considered space, there are many limitations in current ways of perceiving and thus engaging with these immaterial environments. In this project, we explore concepts and methods for raising public awareness of the presence and potentials of networked social spaces. These methods include public performance, where participation is through engaging in a series of walks through the city, and workshops where participants engage in the design implications through a process of locating, examining and documenting some of these invisible networks. Overall, we seek to explore research questions that regard the social space generated through the intentional, or unintentional use of widespread public wireless communication technology.
As mobile and wireless technologies proliferate in urban environments the space can be considered as having an existence in terms of several visible and invisible layers. In particular, we consider that there is a physical layer that makes up our everyday direct experience and several invisible layers of the digital nodes and networks that facilitate communication. Yet, due to the ways in which we have traditionally considered space, there are many limitations in current ways of perceiving and thus engaging with these immaterial environments. In this project, we explore concepts and methods for raising public awareness of the presence and potentials of networked social spaces. These methods include public performance, where participation is through engaging in a series of walks through the city, and workshops where participants engage in the design implications through a process of locating, examining and documenting some of these invisible networks. Overall, we seek to explore research questions that regard the social space generated through the intentional, or unintentional use of widespread public wireless communication technology.