Techno-poiesis

After listening to the various contexts lectures it was Janet Bezzants on Techno-poesis and Ian Roberts on Objects that held the most relevance to my own research. I was however very interested in Millers lecture on Politics in Art as it focused upon feminist themes which I often work with outside of the MA.

Janets lecture focused upon the quest to discover the poetics in material computing. She is concerned with how technology impacts upon our perception of the world. Something that bears relevance to the digital aspect of my research into how we read e-books. She considers the way in which we interact with technology and how this effects the way we understand the world. During the lecture the theme of technology almost becoming invisible emerges. Beginning with a prediction made in the 80's that 'technology will disappear into the woodwork'. Something that I agree with fundamentally, technology is becoming invisible with wi-fi internet being an obvious example. Tech based objects continually become smaller, sleeker and less intrusive. This is true of e-readers in particular, they are becoming less boxy and more intuitive as they progress.

Janet introduces the concept of affordance. That technology has a way of telling us how to interact with it. We recognise signs such as a 'play' symbol for a film. Affordance is something that still needs work in e-publishing. It is often confusing to navigate an e-reader at first. She also considers the 'tacit dimension' a new concept for me. This is the notion that 'we know more than we can tell'. She offers the example of riding a bike. That we can explain the mechanics of riding a bike but not how it feels. This feeling is something you have to experience for yourself. She suggests that the body has its own tacit understanding of something. This is a concept that has implications for reading and objects. Can we really explain the pleasure of holding a book? its weight, scent and the individuality of each copy?