The Tangible Culture Investigation Project
Since early 2008, I have been working with a group of students and faculty on a project to investigate the cultural implications of tinkering, tangible computing, and the design of physical evocative knowledge objects. This project grows out of my long-standing interests in the relationship between the body and technology and the (cultural as well as corporeal) reproductive logics of emergent technologies. (Technologies of the Gendered Body, 1996). The theoretical framework that informs this new research is developed in my forthcoming book called: Designing Culture: The Technological Imagination at Work (Duke UP).
Current research projects include:
1) An investigation of consumer-grade interactive toys in terms of the way in which the toy design facilitates learning experiences. We are analyzing the mechanics and poetics of interactivity to develop a vocabulary of interactive "mixed-reality" learning.
2) A literature review of the efforts going on in museums and libraries to incorporate body-based learning experiences, including the development of new protocols to allow gaming in community libraries and the incorporation of make-spaces within science/technology centers.
3) The development of case studies of significant popular cultural manifestations of physical tinkering culture including Maker's Faire, Machine Project (LA), and The Tech Shop (Menlo Park, CA).
4) The physical prototyping of new evocative knowledge objects such as a multi-touch interactive globe.
5) The physical prototyping of everyday wearable media that incorporate sensors, LEDs, and smart fabrics. Examples include passport cosys that block RFID signals and totes with built-in cell phone flashers.
6) The development of new protocols of cultural analysis that involve the use of digital software such as semantic network interfaces.
Current members of the research team include: Professor Perry Hoberman (Interactive Media, USC), Cara Wallis (Post-Doctoral Research Associate, Annenberg School, USC), Maura Klosterman (Doctoral Research Assistant, Annenberg School, USC), Susana Bautista ((Doctoral Research Assistant, Annenberg School, USC), and John Brenna (MFA student, Interactive Media, USC).
Early support for this research came from Atlantic Philanthropies and the Institute for Multimedia Literacy (USC) and Zumberge Interdisciplinary Award (USC). Generous support has come from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation as part of the initiative in Digital Media and Learning.