Preface
The following is an essay requested by my lecturer for my Physical Computing course. So the subject matter and language is more formal than what my cosy readership is accustomed to. This medium, however, is a blog and the discourse of the blog is not, typically, a traditional academic style. So here comes an uneasy truce.
This essay is a discussion of the thesis by Erik Sandelin & Magnus Tortstensson Digital Peacock Tails available at http://www.unsworn.org/dpt/digital_peacock_tails.pdg (pages 15-30). I will discuss some of the ideas raised by the thesis and my point of view. And there might be pictures.
The power code doesn't go with my top...
Digital Peacock Tails (DPT) discusses why we do the strange things that we do - why we wear uncomfortable cloths and do terrible things to our bodies. DPT presents examples of organizations and people within the area of interactive design, art and experimentation who play with these ideas. Some are searching for the next killer application such as wearable computing and others want to subvert and distort well understood places and things to make us reconsider the nature of what we think is 'normal'.
We are, and have always been, what anthropologist Ted Polhemus calls "the decorated monkey" (1). We plaster paint on our bodies, put holes in places that should not have holes, an entire universe of possibility exists on top of our heads and our choice of dress can say a thousand words. Why we do these things is linked to symbols of independence, tribal acceptance and signs of authority. DPT argues that women who wear high heals do so as symbol of pride and power - independence and proof that such an inefficient item can be afforded. The high-heal is absolutely useless for anything else. Fashion circles consider the heal an extension of the feminine curve extenuating the figure but I suspect we could convince ourselves that a plank of wood strapped to each foot is equally inefficient and encumbering and therefore an item of beauty.
Doing useless things and performing extremely dire alterations to our bodies been taken a step further by Perl. Perl has taken to extreme corset wearing and has completely crushed his lower abdomen. Following in the theme of inefficient clothing as a sign of independence Perl must be the most independent man I've ever seen.
Extending our bodies by augmenting them with external devices is an activity we have pursued since the first person figured out that a big palm leaf could carry more berries than a cupped hand. Then backpacks, belts, portable tools, clothes with pockets, pouches all allowed us able more independence - to be able to take what we need to the spot rather than drag the items in question back to home. The calculator is a good example of a modern device made small and portable to allow a person to do more in one spot. If you consider the laptop computer an extension of the traditional calculator then the amount a person can do with just the items he or she can carry is impressive. But the key is personal augmentation and the average laptop is on the verge of reasonably portable. They may seem small but try carrying one to work or university on a regular basis. The next killer application is supposed to be the wearable computer and an army of industrial designs, fashion designers and electronic engineering interests are mounting behind the drive to make the idea reality. But wearable clothing has provided a limited commercial success. The hardware is still fairly clunky, the best power supplies that can drive a portable computing are heavy and the idea of radical hardware modification to suit clothing is prohibitively expensive unless you can afford mass production.
I propose that one major factor in the lack of success for augmenting our clothes with high tech gadgetry is the psychology of fashion. Clothes are purchased with the expectation of being disposed within a year or two at best. They are purchased to suit the season and in quantity to be mixed and matched as the situation demands. The current ideas wearable technology is that the clothing should be fashionable and attractive. But this locks us into specific and expensive fashion apparel which we would have to wear for at least a year or more and be agreeable with our entire wardrobes. This might seem a bit anal but the notion of 'gone with season' is what drives the fashion industry. Ultimately I believe this kind of technology has already arrived via our mobile phones and has spread up the sides of our faces with the cordless ear peice.
A social aspect that arises from wearable computing devices is the effect on social interaction. The primary purpose of wearable computing is for communication and, if this new technology takes off, then the potential for disruptive behavior via interruption sky-rockets. Voice communication, micro visuals, text messaging and real-time textual chatting converging in a personal communication device could well be the end for uninterrupted person to person communication. To counter these effects DPT proposes social mobiles to modify people’s behavior to make it less disruptive. Variable level of electric shock depending on how loudly the person at the other end is speaking or The Musical Mobile that requires the user to play the tune of the phone number they wish to call. While not practical in all situations it would be a wonderful world if they could be enforced within specific situations such as meetings or lectures.
(1) Polhemus, Ted (1996) The Customized Body London: Serpents Tail. p.7
