Title:	DO IT YOURSELF MEDIA NETWORKS
Author(s):	Liesbeth Huybrechts
ISBN:	978-972-8924-55-3
Editors:	Piet Kommers and Pedro Isaías
Year:	2008
Edition:	Single
Keywords:	ubiquitous computing, network ecologies, art and society, DIY
Type:	Short Paper
First Page:	506
Last Page:	510
Language:	English
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Full Contents:	click to dowload
Paper Abstract:	We don’t always realize that the boundaries between the physical and virtual worlds in our daily life are becoming increasingly sketchy, even invisible. We often realize that a chat session is possible thanks to a computer network. But it is less obvious that our city, our living room or even our food, in addition to Internet traffic, depend on this technology. Developers are trying their best to make this “ubiquitous” technology (often referred to as “ubiquitous computing”) as obvious as possible. The outcome is that now and then we actually tend to forget that it is out there. This technology, which operates under the visible surface, can then ensure that we are “lived” instead of “living” ourselves, while “experiencing” technology. There are artists who are trying to remind us of this presence. They play an important role in exposing the social and cultural impact of this technology and help us react to our surroundings in a more personal and durable manner. Louis de Cordier and Sarah Pillen or Anouk De Clercq, for example, use subtle interventions to highlight the impact that the interweaving of virtual and physical worlds has on our life. Certain artist’s collectives such as OKNO and FoAM prefer to take it to the next level and guide people in their contact with technology and media. They check technological networks to see where they can intervene, enabling them to install alternative “network ecologies”. These activities are often referred to as Do It Yourself (DIY). They reveal where technology plays a role in our environment, how we can use this knowledge to our own benefit, and also how we can creatively shape our own surroundings. Creativity is thus not only reserved for artists. Creativity intervenes at all levels of our daily life. It helps us take our place in the world that we live in more consciously, whether by decorating our living room, or mapping our personal route through the city (Certeau, 1988). Below we will look at how artists approach the phenomenon of ubiquitous computing and how they bring about network ecologies and DIY cultures in response to it. The fields of tension between tangible and intangible, place and space and between disciplines serve as the source of inspiration for alternative field studies on “space”. In this research we chose to combine insights of the communication and cultural studies with the artistic and design research to make a more holistic and material approach to the man/technology/environment relationship possible. The paper is a part of an ongoing research towards the question on how art mediates the relation between man/technology/environment.
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