PRESENCE
A CRITICAL DESIGN Technology often prevents us from connecting with others in real life. Presence raises awareness of our disruptive behavior, particularly with mobile phones, and offers a measure of relief.
MFA Design and Technology Thesis Written and Designed by Yu Zhang Parsons School of Design 66 5th Ave New York NY USA ALL RIGHTS RESERVED All works Š YU ZHANG 2016 Please do not reproduce without the expressed written consent Thesis Advisior Jesse Harding Kate Sicchio
Louisa Campbell Andrew Zornoza
PRESENCE
The design criticizes technology’s disruption of the present moment when people have a sense of self and are truly together.
By Yu Zhang
CONCEPT STATEMENT Henry David Thoreau wrote about “Three Chairs” in his house, one for solitude, two for friendship, three for society.1 This piece reimagines Thoreau’s chairs for the digital age. My goal is to raise awareness of how our obsession with digital devices is impoverishing our lives. Instead of constantly consulting their smartphones, people might actually look up and be able to connect with experience and others, rather than isolating on the superficial exchanges provided by social media.
1. Thoreau, Henry David. Walden (The InternetBookmobile, 1854), 105.
ABSTRACT With technology’s increasing prevalence, social experience,
reshaping our sense of ourselves.
emotional experience and even the human mind are changing tremendously. The invention of technology is becoming
Henry David Thoreau once said, “I had three chairs in my house;
increasingly personal right now. In the past, people used to share
one for solitude, two for friendship, three for society.”2
one device in a specific place, like a family watching television together at home. Today, a smartphone can meet the different
In the case above, my reaction is to create a set of interactive
desires of almost everyone, so we carry our little phones every-
furniture (one table and three chairs) with affordances to bring
day, everywhere, as if the device were tied to our hands. This
smartphone addicts back to the present moment. The installation
seems to be the starting point of changing the ritual of social
will force people to be with others or alone with their individual
interaction.
thoughts, away from the constant distraction provided by mobile media.
People’s time is so valuable, everyone is pursuing greater efficiency. We want to spend time with our friends and family, but also don’t want to miss any messages from the phone. So when you get a new message, you just can’t help to swipe the phone to check what is going on, or start to post on social media. However, the moments when you and your friends are truly together seem less important. You may not even know about what the other said entirely, because you have already concentrated on the content on the phone. Meanwhile, those personal devices simplify our every emotional expression into 2-dimensional fragmented information, text, pictures, video, quickly passed to each other, or spread on social media. The response from the other side turns into a simple and quick reply or even a “like”. This simplistic way of communication seems to be highly efficient, but human relations are starting to become less profound, which is no longer connected to each other and self-fulfilled. Online platforms (social media) are
2. Thoreau, Henry David. Walden (The InternetBookmobile, 1854), 105.
IMPETUS The idea of focusing this topic actually started from 2011 while I
social media. However, just because our time is so valuable, we
was completing my bachelors degree in University of Oregon.
should spend the Present Moment with a right person, right time
When my journalism instructor raised a question, “whose
and right place for a real conversation without the disruption from
relationship was broken only because of social media?”, half of
smart phones.
the class raised their hands. I was shocked. Obviously, the virtual world provided by technology has already created a huge impact on people. This phenomenon can also be found while people are waiting for the subway, especially in the big city. Almost everyone is swiping their cell phones, whether they are alone or have company. At the restaurant, this phenomenon is even worse. Since when did people choose to use personal digital assistants to interact with each other instead of mutual communication? Last week, I scheduled a dinner with my friend. It was not easy to find a restaurant in New York at night without waiting. It took us a while to find a place, and sit down to enjoy our meal. In the meantime, she constantly checked her cell phone, mostly on social media. After ordering food, she finally put down her phone. I found that was a very interesting move. I asked her, “why are people so into swiping their phones?” She said, “Busy. People in big city just want to look busy. People are looking for time efficiency.” Then, as usual, we took a bunch of photos, selected the best one, added some filters and location, and posted it on social media. Surprisingly, the whole process of sharing the moment on social media actually took us a while. When I was on my way home that night, I kept thinking, yes, everyone is so busy, busy at school, busy at work, busy at chasing personal achievement. We don’t have much time to have a real conversation, and we are more willing to express ourselves as a photo or a video on
MY ROLE AS A DESIGNER As a designer, I’ve always thinking, is technology changing humans or humans changing technology? What actually is appropriate design that can be adapted for human need and bring the right effect? Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby used to mention in their What If... show, “usually when we discuss big issues we do so as citizens, yet it is as consumers that we help reality take shape. It is only when products are bought that they enter everyday life and have an effect. The act of buying determines the future. Another approach is to try and change human behaviour to fit the limitations of the planet rather than modifying the environment to suit our unlimited material needs and desires.”3 Through the complexity of the media transition, the way of people interacting with each other are no longer mutually exchange symbols that are interpreted as being meaningful. So I want to draw attention to people in the current situation through the form of critical design and create an impact.
3. Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby. "What If..." Dunne & Raby, accessed December 15, 2015, http://www.dunneandraby.co.uk/content/bydandr/496/0
RESEARCH We are living in the middle of the tremendous clash of old and
The emergence of those electronic devices are just tools for
new. Originally, we share information through a dialogue, also
people to share information or express themselves in an
known as word-of-mouth. Then, we receive information from the
efficient way. There is nothing wrong with those digital devices
new medium. The book is an extension of our eyes. Later, the
or the content inside. More importantly is how we use these
electronic technology, computer and television, shows up, which
tools and how we use them to bring a new form of human
makes the process of sharing messages quick and easy. So what
association and action.
exactly is this dramatic change influencing people? Is it making our life better or worse? Or why would I want people to reconnect with each other in a profound way?
THE EVOLUTION OF THE MASS MEDIA Figure 1.1 The Evolution of the Mass Media and Designer/Artist’s Role Figure 1.1:
same medium still can gather together in a small group.
Stage 1, people used to communicate with each other to share informa-
Stage 3, after the emergence of personal digital assistants, people no longer
tion in the community. They learnt, connected, fulfilled and establish
need to consider the location, time, content of the medium. The size of the
empathy from others.
devices can be carried easily to everywhere. People’s relationship has been
Stage 2, the broadcasting can reach a large audience through diversified
separated from then on.
media technologies, which makes people to have a different way to
Stage 4, a role of designer/artist is to create a platform or space, which
receive information. It is in a one-to-many model. People who chose the
somehow reconnects people together and reestablishs the social rituals.
1) Our Phones Reshape How We Think
to entertain themselves, at least when asked to do it on the spot.
Over the past few decades, technology usage has grown
boredom, sometimes negative stimulation is preferable to no
significantly. Today, almost every one has their own cell phones.
stimulation."5 Today, we almost don't have enough time to sit
As of 2013, 90% of American adults had a cell phone of some
down and think about self-reflection, not to mention a conversa-
kind, and for people under the age of 44, the number was closer
tion with others. We’re more eager to express ourselves in an
to 97%. The drastic increase in technology usage is especially
efficient way, and also want immediate feedback from others.
He said, "I think they just wanted to shock themselves out of the
noticeable in younger generations. In general, the way of 4
receiving information is not like the past, we don't need to wait in
However, are we all madly chasing high efficiency but at the cost
front of the television for a specific program, or even have a real
of true communication and connection? Maybe we need the high
person to talk with. Both of these situations require a specific time
efficiency in a formal business meeting, but what about in our
and a physical location. Now we can pull out our phones
daily life? After Sherry Turkle interviewed some high school
anywhere (whether in the
students, she shared the results in her book, Reclaiming Conver-
classroom, subway, or office), anytime (wake up, during a meal,
sation, that most young people would rather text than talk.
before sleep) and easily pick the content we would love to read.
Because they think it is hard to control what they are going to say,
We can always find the right content which can satisfy us
and they can edit their response to get them “right” in text
immediately through this small device. Everything can be
message form.6 In other words, for example, if we can articulate
determined by ourselves. Then we begin the pursuit of efficiency,
the things through in-person conversation in 5 minutes, but we
comfort, which also leads to the lack of patience and empathy. In
need 10 to 20 minutes to modify repeatedly our messages. So is
this way, people’s thought pattern has been reshaped into a new
it really the high efficiency that we are looking for? When we are
form, which always demands fresh and exciting input, and we say
in the same situation, atmosphere and time, we can have a
we turn to our phones when we’re bored.
face-to-face conversation or even physical contact, which can make the whole conversation more complete, and most important
In the recent experiment from Timothy Wilson, the study indicates
is that we can build empathy. When we are in the digital form, we
that people preferred to get electrical shocks to themselves rather
can’t expect what the other side looks like, how emotional the
than just sit there do nothing for 15 minutes. Some volunteers did
person is, how the environment is, and that’s why many people
not enjoy spending a few minutes to do nothing, but thinking or
are getting paranoid or even end relationships. Because we are
daydreaming, and they found it hard to concentrate. Wilson
unable to share the physical connection, and establish empathy
mentioned that many people find it difficult to use their own minds
with each other through the digital platform.
4. Alexid, C. Madrigal, “More than 90% of adult Americans have cell phones,” The Atlantic, June 6, 2013, http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/06/more-than-90-of-adult-americans-have-cell-phones/276615/. 5. Will Dunham, “Would you rather sit and think or get shocked? You'd be surprised,” Reuters, July 3, 2014, http://www.reuters.com/article/us-science-thinking-idUSKBN0F827V20140703. 6. Sherry Turkle, Reclaiming Conversation (New York: Pengiun Press, 2015), 22.
2) The Social Ritual is Changing
with co-present strangers, for those who frequently rely on cell
The biggest difference between face-to-face communication and
situation where the social ritual is changing constantly. For
the exchange of information through mobile media is the social
strangers, especially two strangers who both have smartphones,
ritual. Traditionally, in-person conversation is like a formal
maybe the content in the phone is a good starting point to have a
meeting, people should pay attention to things that happen, the
conversation, so they won’t have to do it under a huge pressure in
topic and even each other’s facial expression in the present
an awkward moment without any topics. Baym, principal
moment. Now the emergence of mobile media somehow changed
researcher at Microsoft Research, believes that research
the social ritual. We want to spend time with our friends and
suggests digital communications enhance relationships and that
family, but also don’t want to miss any messages from the phone.
“the evidence consistently shows that the more you communicate
phones to get and exchange information about news.9 We are in a
with people using devices, the more likely you are to communiWe allow our and others’ phone on the table just in case of an
cate with those people face to face.”10 The mobile device does
emergency call (rarely happens). The statistics show that 30% of
offer a great help to people before having a conversation. We use
people admitted that they check their phones during a meal with
it to schedule a meeting, a meal or a reunion with friends and
others, 24% said they check their phones while driving. As long
family. All the things we do before seeing each other are prepara-
as there is one person using a cell phone during a meal time, it’s
tion for a real conversation. Then why not sit down and pay more
like sending a sign “I’m busy on my phone, don’t disturb me”, or
attention to each other since we’ve already spent so much time to
“lighten the conversation up”. Turkle also mentioned that the mere
preparing?
7
presence of a phone on the table (even a phone turned off) changes what people talk about.8 When we communicate on our digital devices, we learn different habits, then we become accustomed to a life of constant interruption. On the contrary, in 2011 Scott Campbell and Nojin Kwak examined whether and how mobile communication influences the extent to which one engages face to face with new people in public settings. By accounting for different types of cell phone uses, the study found evidence that mobile phone use in public actually facilitated talking
7. “Mobile Mindset Study,” Lookout, accessed December 15, 2015, https://www.lookout.com/resources/reports/mobile-mindset. 8. Sherry Turkle, Reclaiming Conversation (New York: Pengiun Press, 2015), 25. 9. Scott W. Campbell, and Nojin Kwak, Mobile communication and civil society: Linking patterns and places of use to engagement with others in public, Human Communication Research, 2011, Volume 37, Issue 2, pages 207–222. 10. Iris Adler, “How Our Digital Devices Are Affecting Our Personal Relationships,” WBUR, January 17, 2013, http://www.wbur.org/2013/01/17/digital-lives-i
PRECEDENTS We are living in the third machine age, an age of electronic
Below are 4 examples of interactive projects that share the
devices that hardly seem like machines at all. For today’s
same social components. The first two projects are installed in a
designers, the biggest challenge is how to combine electronic
large immersive space, and the other two are reconsidered daily
technology with everyday objects based on aesthetics and design
objects.
form to enhance social contact and everyday experience.
The City as Playground Aldo van Eyck
Goldberg Marina Abramović
+1 Chair Kevin Saxon
Listening Table NYT R&D
1) The City as Playground
Theme:
Urbanism
Architect:
Aldo van Eyck
Year:
1947
In 1947, the architect Aldo van Eyck built his first playground in Amsterdam, on the Bertelmanplein (figure 2.1). His project represented the childhood of an entire generation. After the Second World War, there is almost no space for children to play and enjoy together in Dutch cities. Van claimed, “‘functionalism has killed creativity’. A building is more than the sum of its functions; architecture has to facilitate human activity and promote social interaction.”11 There are three key elements in Van’s playground, one is minimal design, which can simulate children’s imagination; second is the modular character, and it can be combined with the local environment; the last is the relationship with the urban environment, which makes the design of playground more natural and authentic with the surrounding.
Figure 2.1 Aldo van Eyck, The City as Playground, 1947.
11. Demerijin, “Aldo van Eyck and the City as Playgrounds,” merijinoudenampsen.org, last modified March 27, 2013, https://merijnoudenampsen.org/2013/03/27/aldo-van-eyck-and-the-city-as-playground/
2) Goldberg
Theme:
Performance
Artist:
Marina Abramović
Year:
2015
Goldberg is a recent performance by Marina Abramovich, which aims to help audiences remember what full attention actually feels like (figure 2.2). Before audiences enter this serious concert, they are required to leave their personal electronic devices, phones, watch and camera in the locker so they won’t get distracted. Then they’re given a pair of noise-cancelling headphones and sit for silence in first thirty minutes. After that, pianist Igor Levit breaks the silence by playing the Goldberg Variations. Marina mentioned in the interview that it is perfectly fine to fall asleep, and this public space was prepared to give audiences a completely different state of mind. This unusual performance provided an unconventional experience for audiences to remember how it feels when they are stay away from their digital devices.
Figure 2.2 Marina Abramović, Goldberg, 2015.
3) +1 Chair
Theme:
Face-to-Face Furniture
Designer:
Kevin Saxon
Year:
2015
The +1 Chair is a project from the RISD department of furniture design, which is titled “Face to Face: Searching for Authentic Experiences”. The chair itself just like seesaw, and it only can be balance when the weight of two people both sit on it, and encouraging a relationship of trust (figure 2.3). “With hook-up apps and social media, we’re able to meet new people so quickly and endlessly that it’s like we’re not able to enjoy the present moment of being with someone, as if intimacy is in danger because we’re always rushing to the next possibly better person,” Kung says. When Fung has been asked, “what his generation will need from the furniture of the future?”. Kung offered: “Togetherness. Furniture will need to intervene as a way to foster intimate relationships.”12
Figure 2.3 Kevin Saxon, +1 Chair, 2015
12. Caia Hagel, “Face to Face: Searching for Authentic Experiences,” ICON, last modified May 28, 2015, http://www.icoeye.com/design/news/item/11969-face-to-face-searching-for-authentic-experiences
4) Listening Table
Theme:
Augemented Furniture
Designer:
NYT R&D
Year:
2014
The Listening Table is a smart piece of furniture that hears and understands the conversations happening around it (figure 2.4). It questions the interaction between an object and its users. During the meeting, the table itself can understand people’s speech and record the important moment when any participant drops a marker. The marker will capture the audio and text transition in the important moment of the meeting. It is a new way to explore our daily objects. It looks like a conventional furniture set, but it brings the object into a new level. The table can be trusted and can also help people to improve the quality of the meeting.
Figure 2.4 NYTLABS, Listening Table, 2014.
PROTOTYPE 1) Design Thinking COMMUNITY
COMMUNITY
COMMUNITY
ONE CHAIR (SOLITUDE)
TWO CHAIRS (FRIENDSHIP)
THREE CHAIRS (SOCIETY)
Figure 3.1 Design Thinking - Community
Consider if a community is a circle, then like-minded people inside are all individuals. The table itself is a platform (a medium) that gathers each person, and a chair represents each one (figure 3.1). Based on Thoreau’s “three chairs”, when one person sits down, it means solitude, two means friendship, three means society. When all three of them all sit down together in this circle, then the community has been established with the content (people themselves) inside. Figure 3.2 Rough Paper Prototype
surrender your phone
arduino & sensor
Put the phone inside
arduino & sensor
Able to sit(reward)
Pull out the phone
Unable to sit (punishment)
Figure 3.3 Punishment System
Based on “phone stacking game” that people play in a bar. At the
stools are unable to sit because the seats flip down (figure3.3). If
beginning of the drink or the meal, everyone needs to stack all
they come closer, participants will find the text “surrender your phone
their phones at the center of the table into a pile, and whoever
to sit” on the table along with the slot. The seat of the stool can flip
pulled the phone out need to pay the bill for everyone else, which
up only when a person surrenders the phone into the slot. On the
creates a punishment system for people to remember and leave
contrary, when a participant pulls out their phone, the seat of the
their phones away during social gatherings.
chair flips down as a punishment to whomever left the present moment and this small community.
So I designed all the phone slots at the center of the table (figure3.2). When people see this piece, they will notice that all
2) Stool
arduino
motor driver carrier
linear actuator
Figure 3.4 Mechanism
In order to make the seat of the stool flipping, I did some research
In terms of the stool, I put an extra dowel under the surface of the
on the mechanism system about pulling and pushing. It turns out
seat, so the seat can be rotated with the dowel by the jigs on two
that linear actuator can do this pretty well, and it also can be
sides while the linear actuator is retracting.The mounting brackets
controlled by arduino with an extra board “motor driver carrier”
of linear actuator are mounted both under the seat and the piece
(figure 3.4). The linear actuator that I got can support 225 pounds
at bottom between two front legs. So when the linear actuator is
lbs maximum lift, which means almost every adult can be lifted.
retracting, it pulls the seat down, and vice versa (figure 3.5).
The retracted length is about 10 inches and stroke length is 6 inchs. The speed is 0.39 inches/sec, which is not very fast and won’t cause any accidents.
16 in
0.75 in
position 1
20 in
17 in
position 2
Figure 3.5 Stool Diagram
stool dimension (final outcome)
Figure 3.6 Stools Final Outcome
3) Table Table Top
phone slot chamfer
Table Bottom
table stand slot
Table Stand
corner bracket
Figure 3.7 Table Assembly View
Just like the “phone stacking game�, everyone stacks phones in
pieces of plywood with a certain angle and glued them into one
the middle of the table. I designed all three slots near the center
round, hollow piece, so that I can hide all electronic parts inside.
of the table, and chamfered the edges, so people can grab and
The table bottom piece has 1 inch deep slot, so the table stand
place their phones easily. The table top is finished by using CNC
can fit inside, and use screws to stabilize all of them at the
machine. In order to hide all the sensors and arduino, I cut 12
bottom.
45 x 45 in
1 in
35 in
20 in
1.5 in
table dimension
Figure 3.8 Table Diagram
Figure 3.9 Table Final Outcome
4) Electronic Parts
Power Supply Adapter x 3 110V- 240V
Motor Driver Carrier 3 Linear Actuator 3
Linear Actuator 1
Motor DriverCarrier 1 Motor Driver Carrier 2
Linear Actuator 2
Figure 3.10 Electronic Parts Diagram
Linear Actuator - Black Linear Actuator - Red Power Supply - Black Power Supply- Red
Pushing Pulling
Figure 3.11 Circuit (Linear Actuator + Motor Driver Carrier) Diagram
Controlling a linear actuator by arduino only needs a piece of motor driver and power supply (figure 3.10). The motor diver,
A2
rated for 12v 5a, comes with screw terminals and male/female headers unattached. The female power plug screwed into motor
A1
driver GND&VIN, and it also can be unplugged with power supply easily (figure 3.11). Another two holes OUTA&OUTB are connectied with linear actuator’s wires. A3
The action of making a linear actuator to move is using a photoresistor and a RGB LED (figure 3.12). They will be all mounted to the little phone container under the table top. So every time whenever a person puts/pulls a phone from the phone container will block the lights from LED, and triggers the data from photoresistor. So the fluctuation of number can send different movement to the linear actuator, in this case, pulling and pushing.
Figure 3.12 Trigger
Figure 3.13 Presence Final Outcome
BIBLIOGRAPHY Adler Iris. “How Our Digital Devices Are Affecting Our Personal
Henry David Thoreau. Walden. The InternetBookmobile, 1854.
Relationships.” WBUR. January 17, 2013. http://www.wbur.org/ 2013/ 01/17/digital-lives-i.
Madrigal, C. Alexid. “More than 90% of adult Americans have cell phones.” The Atlantic. June 6, 2013. http://www.theatlantic.com/
Campbell W. Scott, and Kwak Nojin. “Mobile communication and
technology/archive/2013/06/more-than-90-of-adult-ameri-
civil society: Linking patterns and places of use to engagement
cans-have- cell-phones/276615.
with others in public.” Human Communication Research. 2011, Volume 37, Issue 2.
“Mobile Mindset Study.” Lookout. Accessed December 15, 2015. https://www.lookout.com/resources/reports/mobile-mindset.
Demerijin. “Aldo van Eyck and the City as Playgrounds.” merijinoudenampsen.org. Last modified March 27, 2013.
Turkle Sherry. Reclaiming Conversation. New York: Pengiun,
https://merijnoudenampsen.org/2013/03/27/aldo-van-ey-
2015.
ck-and-the-city-as-playground/. Dunham Will. “Would you rather sit and think or get shocked? You'd be surprised.” Reuters. July 3, 2014. http://www.reuters.com/ article/us-science-thinking-idUSKBN0F827V20140703. Dunne Anthony, and Raby Fiona. "What If..." Dunne & Raby. Accessed December 15, 2015. http://www.dunneandraby.co.uk/ content/bydandr/496/0. “Generation Y”. BussinessDictionary.com. Accessed December 15, 2015. http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/Generation-Y. html. Hagel Caia, “Face to Face: Searching for Authentic Experiences.” ICON. Last modified May 28, 2015. http://www.iconeye.com/ design/news/item/11969-face-to-face-searching-for-authentic-experiences.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are many people who have provided invaluable advice, encouragement and help with this project. I would like to thank Jesse Harding and Prof. Louisa Campbell, who guided and helped me to finish this project. Thank Prof. Kate Sicchio and Prof. Andrew Zornoza for being genuinely supportive to my project. Also, thanks to Prof. David Carroll for giving critical comments and suggestions on my concept, and taught me to be more objective. Thanks to my friends who gave me comments and ideas after experienced my installation. Thanks to my friends and parents in China, who always support me. I also want to express enormous gratitude and respect for all of the artists, writers and designers quoted and referred to in the text for the purposed of academic analysis.
Yu Zhang’s Website www.plumeyu.com Contact plumezy@gmail.com
Yu Zhang, was born and raised in Shanghai. She studied Printing Graphic Art before in Shanghai. In 2011, she went to Oregon, and received a BS in Product Design in University of Oregon. In order to know more about design thinking, she moved from west coast to east coast to study Interaction Design in the Master of Design and Technology program in Parsons. Yu is passionate about making meaningful design based on visual and feeling.