ASG 2: Refinement of Proposal

Post no.14

I did the best I could to refine it, made it simpler to understand and more direct. I fixed a couple of things like the title, the reference, the timeline, research question and the introduction. I changed wearable media to wearable technology in the title because if I said wearable media and social/entertainment in the same sentence, it would be repetitive and redundant.

I changed the word 'environment' to 'events' as well to give it a smaller scope. Environments would mean public, and public wearable tech is a whole other area which involves many other fields.

The future of wearable technology for large crowds in social entertainment events.

A research proposal by

TseYing ONG

for

Interactive Media Design Pathway

Level 6 Enquiry / Report / Essay (6FTC1075)

Assignment 1 of 3

The School of Creative Arts

Faculty of Science, Technology and Creative Arts

University of Hertfordshire, UK in partnership with
The One Academy, Malaysia.

Introduction:

The presence of mobile phones in crowd conditions like concerts or raves disrupt audiences' experiences and limits immersion. Several solutions have been discussed to solve this problem and one of them would be the use of wearable technology. This tech is a rising form of future ubiquitous computing technology which could give audiences a more rewarding experience from the invisibility it's medium, discussed by Bolter's theory of Immediacy (1999). This trait of invisible mediums found in wearable technology is highly demanded by audiences.

Research question:

Define and deconstruct wearable technology.

How can wearable technology bridge and enhance the social interactions between crowds and the artist in entertainment?

Research topic:

This essay will introduce wearable technology dating from analog watches toward its evolution to the first wearable tech, then to its more complex and digital forms. By tracing its history, we will be able to identify how it relates and differs from wearable computers and wearable media. The second part of the essay will examine the usage of wearable technology in large social settings. Majority of wearable tech are innovated for personal use. Therefore, this essay will analyse wearable technology and its purpose of drawing crowd participation in entertainment.  Theories on Hypermediacy (Bolter,1999) and Transhumanism (Huxley, 1957) may be used to discuss the possible ethical debates of wearable technology.

Research scope:

Wearable technology is used in many professional settings: medicine, military, education. This paper is more concerned with those which apply in more social settings like interpersonal communications and mass entertainment. The latter category will be given more focus due to its popularity of use in simultaneous crowd participation events. Therefore, the author would like to explore wearable technology  used in a grand scale and how audiences respond to it.

Relevance to personal practice:

Wearable technology is one of the growing mediums of communication media technology according to IHS (2013).

The author will be creating a new media installation with wearable media that is to be used in concerts for her final year project. Therefore, this essay will enable her to study wearable technology's relevance to current and future use of the medium for crowd entertainment use.

Feasibility:

The feasibility of this research inquiry is moderate. The author's previous experience with wearable technology would aid her research on consumer needs and user experience.

The inaccessibility to wearable technology experts for deeper insight might be a disadvantage. However, there are current market researches available online by reputable sources and experts related to the field from MIT labs, VINT labs and IHS.

The author will also limit to using a maximum of 2 theories to concoct her argument.

 Timeline:

JULY (2014)	WEEK 9 – 2nd Proposal Draft WEEK 10  - PROPOSAL SUBMISSION
AUGUST	WEEK 12 – Blog progress WEEK 13 – PROPOSAL FEEDBACK
SEPTEMBER	HOLIDAYS - Blog/Research
OCTOBER	HOLIDAYS - Blog/Research - Refine proposal questions - Do some reading and analysing on theories
NOVEMBER	WEEK 2 - BLOG & Refine essay structure and proposal
DECEMBER	WEEK 5 – Blog refinement WEEK 6 - BLOG SUBMISSION WEEK 9 – Submit 1st Essay Draft
JANUARY (2015)	WEEK 10 - Submit 2nd Essay Draft and feedback from previous draft.
FEBRUARY	WEEK 11 - Submit Essay Final Draft and feedback from previous draft. WEEK 12 - SHARING SESSION WEEK 13 - SUBMISSION OF ESSAY
MARCH	Essay Feedback

Bibliography:

Bolter, J. and Grusin, R. (1999). Remediation. 1st ed. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, pp.213, 217, 218, 219,.

Hypermediacy will be used to evaluate the 'visibility' of wearable technology.

Ferrando, F. (2013). Posthumanism, Transhumanism, Antihumanism, Metahumanism, and New Materialisms Differences and Relations. 8th ed. [ebook] Columbia. Available at: http://www.bu.edu/paideia/existenz/volumes/Vol.8-2Ferrando.pdf [Accessed 7 Oct. 2014].

This pdf contains a detailed comaparison of Huxley's theory of Transhumanism to other similar terms as well.

Lister, M. (2003). New media. 1st ed. London: Routledge, p.20, Glossary.

This book states how interactivity is a 'value added' to new media (Ubi computing)  as 'old' media are more of a passive way of consuming media.

Schneider, S. (2009). Science fiction and philosophy. 1st ed. Chichester, U.K.: Wiley-Blackwell, p.Notes.

Through this theory of Transhumanism, wearable media becomes a medium in extending physical and mental limitations.

Srivatsav, N. (n.d.). Witnessed Presence and Wearable Electronics: the design of trust for sociotechnical systems. [online] Academia.edu. Available at: http://www.academia.edu/7092537/Witnessed_Presence_and_Wearable_Electronics_the_design_of_trust_for_sociotechnical_systems [Accessed 6 Jul. 2014].

This paper discusses the social technical presence in wearable technology and how it interacts with the lives of users.

Walsh, K. (2011). Beyond Student Response Systems – The Next Level Of Audience Participation. [online] Emergingedtech. Available at: http://www.emergingedtech.com/2011/09/beyond-student-response-systems-the-next-level-of-audience-participation/ [Accessed 16 Jul. 2014].

This author has shared his experience in audience participation and how technology aids this crowd simultaneous interactivity.

Wearable Technology - Market Assessment. (2013). 1st ed. [ebook] Available at: http://www.ihs.com/pdfs/Wearable-Technology-sep-2013.pdf [Accessed 3 Jul. 2014].

This market assessment by IHS provides detailed calculations of the future of wearable tech as well as the list of functions of the medium.

Huxley, J. (1957). New bottles for new wine. 1st ed. New York: Harper.

I referenced Huxley's Tranhumanism in the proposal.