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Welcome Buffalo News readers!
You probably dropped by after reading Steve Watson’s article entitled “Video technology creates a few very-public lives“, which offers a great dialogue into the ambiguity of identity in our increasingly networked lives. As I’ve mentioned at the end…
“We are rethinking the things that we’ve taken for granted,” Lim said. “Whether it’s privacy, identity, or so on. What’s happening is we are re-evaluating these things. Because the status quo just isn’t enough.”
As someone transforming into a “social cyborg”, I’ve been experiencing what it would be like to be hyper-connected as a human being. My project continues to push the boundaries of digitizing and sharing rich experiences, by combining streaming video, GPS data and possibly bio + emotional impulses as accurately as possible. While experimenting with ways of establishing a richer sense of presence and feedback in a non-directional everyday setting, this project dabbles on concepts relating to:
1. Continuous Partial Presence: Be it text updates or video feeds, loved ones feel as if I am actually close by when I am actually half the globe away.
2. On-Demand Crowdsourcing: Decisions can be augmented by the minds of many. As I engage in everyday affairs, my peers are polled to suggest what I should do (e.g. purchasing decisions, useful lifehacks).
3. Public Therapy (?): The idea that I’d be mindful of habits since my life is visible to all, and particularly magnified for my internal review.
4. Redefinition of Identity / Privacy: Privacy is a broad term, so here I am trying to find boundaries. Technology augments behavior, for instance, private phone conversations become public after cellphones were introduced.
5. Memory Prosthetic: I can opt to record moments of my life on video, and render the media deep searchable by date, time, subject matter, etc.
If you’re interested to learn more about me, check out my About page. If you wish to learn more about lifecasting, check out the following key articles below:
How (and WHY) you might want to build your own lifecasting kit
- How to never forget: The story behind Kevin’s wearable cameras
- How (and WHY) you might want to build your own lifecasting kit (pictured above)
- Video: When Life comes with Instant Replay…
- The Joys of Surveillance: Crowdsourcing of the Social Contract
- Zaobao Weekly newspaper features the Social Cyborg (pictured below)
- Video: Zaobao reporter tries out the sousveillance backpack
- Video: If “blogging” is a dirty word, then I am scum…
- Video: Priscilla asks about my 24/7 blog cam (lifecasting)
- Video: Go Motorboarding to the campus
- Video: Tech65.org interviews the Social Cyborg
- First trial run of GPS blogging @ City Hall (Singapore)
- Video: Jeremiah’s interview with the Social Cyborg
- theorycast.40 :: Interview with AtlasRider (video + mapping + biker)
- Demo and Interview with Buffalo News
Zaobao Weekly newspaper features the Social Cyborg
How about you try it?
If you’d like to try something like this, but can’t afford the equipment, all you might need is your camera phone. Using Qik, you can easily broadcast video live from your cellphone, and even get viewers to chat with you right while you’re shooting! Here’s our Prime Minister demonstrating Qik at his National Day Rally speech and here’s my Qik profile if you’d like to add me as a friend.
So… what’s next?
My friends have made interesting suggestions on how I could further this project, but I’d love to hear your thoughts on how you’d like to see this take flight. I also encourage you to try this on your own, so feel free to ask if you have any questions.
Finally, do watch out for Alex Halavais’ upcoming “wear-tech” blog (TBA). As a tech enthusiast and assistant professor of communications at Quinnipiac University, he’s been my key mentor and sense-maker in our age of complexity.
