After much thought and consultation I decided to start down the path of physical computing.
I have always been interested in how people relate to technology, for work as an interactive nedia developer it’s essential to have some insight into human computer interaction. Bit what interests me even more is how people relate to computers in the first place. Computers meen so many sufferer things to different people. For me the computer has replaced the Lego box of my youth. It’s a box of possibilities, a potal into a world limited only by my imagination and resourcefullness.
My kids see the computer as a playground full of games where they are pretty likely to find a fried or too hanging out. It is also very empowering in he computer does their bidding it’s a sophisticated “seemingly smart” tool that they have mastery over.
My wife approaches the computer with a sense of mistrust as a computer systems administrator computers are objects that need constant tending, they create problems and need to be sorted out.
My mother sees her computer as a holy Grail somewhere in it’s depths it contains the secret of health and eternal youth.
My father in law is the worlds biggest bizzare where someone with a few wits can trade in trinkets well enough to surround themselves in riches with the profits of cunning deals.
These feelings relate to computers in their standard environment, once you find the computer in a different environment these feeling can quickly change.
I despise computer kiosks in museams, this sort of display strikes me as lazy and unimaginative. Why would I travel to a building full of physical wonders to get an experiance I could have anywhere. Another issue I gave with this is these computers are very shallow neutered version of my fabulous box of possibilities.
Sooo how is all this relevant to what I want to do with electronic media?
To place art on a screen, or have any interactive art shackled to a mouse or keyboard means people coming to this piece are already tainted with preconceptions. If I realy want people to be as open as possible I feel I need to break away from these constraints.
I have explored with camera interactivity before what I realy want to do is step outside of that. So my first step as I see it is to gather input from a physical space and translate that to a visual response.