POCKETS OF PLENTY: AN ARCHAEOLOGY OF MOBILE MEDIA
some very rough on the fly notes on Erkki Huhtamo’s talk:
Title: Pockets of Plenty: An Archaeology of Mobile Media
media archaeology - secret histories, dig beyond historical narratives, motivated history , nondeterministic history, cyclical, returning over time.
premises of media archaeology -
- media do not exist independently of the cultural frameworks that evenlop them (media specificity is, in the end, cultural specificity?)
- attention to the discursive dimension, also when inscrtibed in material artefacts
- “media technology” gets its meaning(s) when turned to “cultural form(s)” (r. williams)
- the “dream worlds” of culture (w.benjamin) are equally important - and real - as the material ones.
the history of media is the history of their uses (quote by Carolyn Marvin)
the history of mobile media has not been written - is this possible at all?
using media archaeology as a way of excavating lost traces of “mobile media”
replacing the “unearthed” traces
3 basic categories
- portable (can also be wearable and vice versa)
- wearable
- vehicle-mounted (bicycles to satellites)
“ur-formen” - things you carry in your pocket - (mihayli csiksmentmihayi reference) - you can look to the objects we carry with us to give insight into what mobile media might be.
(slides with examples of 1800’s artefacts. flip books, fans, pocketwatch)
history of photography - with daguerrotype - notion of early stages surrounding photography - “you push the button we do the rest” slogan from kodak 1888. press reaction to the amateur photographer saw the portable camera as a pest and irritation.
conflicting discourse with introduction of new technology that radically altered society - point of struggle to do with gender issues. - camera phone draws even more parallels - an example of a “topos” which keeps recurring.
(slides with example of late 19th century hidden cameras - hat cameras, vest camera)
imagery of wearables (tv goggles) - introduced in 1930 as a concept - or television monacle 1938 - hand set for television - strong relationship to head-mounted displays of wearcomp. telephone operater as cyborg -
(image of ipod) - related back to images of early 20th century usages and concerns of headphones and speakers - radio jewelry to be worn in pinkie ring - embedded radio handbag - u.s. army signal corps wrist radio, 1953 - maxwell smart’s shoe phone from Get Smart 1966 - pen communicator from Men from U.N.C.L.E. 1960’s.
first demonstrations of wireless - horse mounted wireless apparatus 1907, bicycle mounted apparatus, baby carriage mounted apparatus. connection between wireless and radio - Lee DeForest “Wireless Auto No.1″ 1907
Recent concept objects from Irium. NHJ Television watch - chose three images because they show clearly how processes of innovation taking place around wearables circle around ideas that have been seen often in the past - they are not new models - is this conscious? or does it just cycle? - industrial imagination tends to defer to topoi seen in the past -
if we want to understand new technologies in a wider cultural context - it’s important to look at the histories presented.