NewWays of Seeing

Exploring ways of changing how we see the world

Amongst the many technologies that are changing the way we interact with the world (and each other) are those which let us see the world - that let us gather its visual properties. Often our choice to use these technologies is intended to alter the event itself, by giving it some especial status or honour but doesn’t alter what we see. Weddings would be less than they are if there were no pictures taken or video captured; but what we see in those videos or cameras is not altered because we look through them. But technologies don’t just alter the status of the event, they can also alter what we see, recollect and understand. The emergence of a whole raft of new ‘seeing technologies’ -wearable ones, robotic devices and so on – are altering the way we might see and experience the world – even altering what our perceptions tell us are the possible ways the world can be seen. This theme seeks to explore what the consequences of these new technologies might be as well seeking to devise new technologies of its own.

Research questions include

• How can perceptual experience be altered by adjust the interplay of time, place and serendipitous visual capture?
• To what extent does the human body play a central role in the way we perceive things and how far and in what ways can an artificial vision be separated from our bodies?
• In what ways does the passing of time change our perception of events and how do visual traces of various kinds alter that sense or perception?
• And in what ways do new ways of integrating images on the web create new ‘networked’ seeing values?

Projects:

Previous projects have included Glancephones, The Other Brother, and the use of wearable camera (Sensecam) to create UGC for broadcast. New projects will build on this research.

• Time camera - a camera that only takes pictures or short video clips for a set amount of time, after which it is impossible to use it anymore. This camera may also be used to display it content (i.e. it will change into a digital picture frame)
• The down-at-heel camera – a camera in which the captured images slowly decay forcing the user to think about the passing of time.
• Forgotten lookings (a.k.a. Screen Object) - a small piece of furniture that lives on your shelves and over time pops up digital content that hasn’t been accessed for quite a long time. The object subsequently allows the user to either ignore or engage with the content, and this can lead to more active interactions (e.g. by sending it to a larger screen or television).
• Distant lens: investigations of the evocativeness of wearable camera images when viewed long after their capture.
• Encapsulating happenings: investigations of different ways of capturing specific and time-bound experiences, such as music festivals. Possibilities include wearable cameras and audiophotography.