tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6733046417281735238.post1949655330287022387..comments2023-04-01T08:22:21.406-07:00Comments on t r a c e | w o r k: Communicating via Roly Poly: The Remote Possibility of TouchColumbia Center for Archaeologyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03723214537331609686noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6733046417281735238.post-44046432727395617262011-12-10T13:14:18.166-08:002011-12-10T13:14:18.166-08:00Just saw this great kickstarter project which seem...Just saw this great kickstarter project which seems to be exploring some of the same issues...<br /><br />http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jayne/portals?ref=spotlightColumbia Center for Archaeologyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03723214537331609686noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6733046417281735238.post-87604401344086327882011-11-29T07:36:19.478-08:002011-11-29T07:36:19.478-08:00I saw this video a while ago, and it came back to ...I saw this video a while ago, and it came back to me while doing this week's readings, both of which are relevant to this post: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seNSl20t7eI. While there is an intuitive, emotional response to symbols of physical presence (for exactly the reasons Ana and Rose talk about above), I also find the technological recreation of physical contact fascinating in the context of this video and the Lambert article this week (citation, in case someone not in class reads these: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-8322.2009.00642.x/abstract), which describe the way in which society increasingly values other types of evidence over touch in disciplines previously dominated by "touch expertise". As science and medecine on one hand turn increasingly towards advancements in technological equipment over touch, technology elsewhere is seeking to replicate touch itself, and its psychological effects.Alisonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05612939884140424296noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6733046417281735238.post-91915930334512737642011-11-22T17:51:33.043-08:002011-11-22T17:51:33.043-08:00Although this is tongue-in-cheek (sorry, I couldn&...Although this is tongue-in-cheek (sorry, I couldn't resist), perhaps <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9KXKbBKp1A" rel="nofollow">they've got the same idea</a>?<br /><br />I'd agree with Rose, though, that despite the lifelike feel of technologies, in some instances actual human contact is psychologically irreplaceable. Yet, perhaps human-animal contact is? <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJq5PQZHU-I" rel="nofollow">Paro, the therapeutic robot baby seal</a>, is a Japanese invention that is intended to help calm nursing home patients. Patients often conflate the robot seal with a real animal pet. It responds when you pet it, needs to "feed" (charge), and gets sad when you don't treat it well. While petting Paro doesn't send a pat to your dog back home, it seems to be successful in fooling its users into believing they are having a real action-response exchange with a living thing. Could robotic humans serve the same purpose, or does that transcend the world of cuteness into the weird and creepy?Anna Toledanohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09053507112006003680noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6733046417281735238.post-68128448172755339412011-11-13T19:13:00.712-08:002011-11-13T19:13:00.712-08:00I love the idea of the Roly Poly. As someone who h...I love the idea of the Roly Poly. As someone who has spent time being physically distant from people of importance to me, I have exploited all the means of closeness technology can hitherto provide--from letters and phone calls to skype. And I've noticed--these methods can only cater to the least intimate senses: hearing and sight. The subter smell, taste, and touch are as maddeningly elusive as ever--until, perhaps, now. <br /><br />As I read this post my thoughts immediately went from movement to touch; I imagined how two people could use the Roly Poly in a way so that it would be a proxy for touch (for example, if the person's hand in the bottom right image was a few inches more to the left, and was impacted by the touch of the other). Touch is a sensation that we undervalue in our current society. We opt for flashier sounds and sights in terms of what we consider media, even though touch is in part responsible for everything from the development of a child's mental health to the balance of an adult's everyday psyche--in a first world abuzz with lawsuits and sex scandals, we cringe away from that most basic and most nourishing gesture, and it can leave us profoundly hollow in a way that only the Twitterverse can't fill. In all the languages of the world no words can stand in for a single kiss.Rosehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01909464107097607171noreply@blogger.com