Cindy speaks with Ars Electronica on the future of on-body technology, and the role of the designer ahead of the Ars Electronica's "human (un)limited" exhibition in Beijing.
Nice metallic tattoo or modern on skin interface? Based on the aesthetics of temporary skin jewelry on skin, DuoSkin creates devices that allow users to control their mobile devices or display and store information on their skin. The project is currently part of Ars Electronica's "human (un)limited" exhibition in Beijing.
Ars Elecronica, By Katia Kreuzhuber
https://ars.electronica.art/aeblog/en/2020/01/07/duoskin/
For a long time, technology was synonymous with tools or large, heavy equipment. Today, technology is becoming less and less visible, even one with us. Which vision is the driving force behind the development of on-skin interfaces?
Cindy Hsin-Liu Kao: At the Hybrid Body Lab, which I direct, we are interested in the convergence of technology and culture on the skin surface. We can extensively explore these slim interfaces which sit on the body surface, much due to the miniaturization of sensor devices and the development of novel materials in the field of engineering. However, while technological developments enable our work, we are interested in bridging the gap between the technical aspects and the broader cultural and societal contexts on what it now means to wear technology directly on your skin and to design differently for these concerns. This will become an increasingly important question as the body surface is complex and meaning-laden, and unlike any other media, not just another surface to technologize. In essence, we are inspired by, yet at the same time, not entirely content with the current state of technology. This tension is what drives our inquiry. We design artifacts as a lens to explore alternative possibilities of what these interfaces could be.
We spend more and more time in digital spaces. We are moving in a world in which our senses as well as our cultural techniques reach their limits. We cannot see the data traces we leave behind. We don’t know who is watching us here and recording every step we take. Yes, we increasingly don’t even know whether our counterpart is a human being or a machine. What does it take for us to be able to move in the digital world just as safely and self-determinedly as we do in our natural environment?
Cindy Hsin-Liu Kao: This question and anxiety around control and agency of technology, once it becomes so close to the body, is critical to whether they will eventually be embraced, or rejected when they move into the general-use realm. I think it is an essential role of designers of these emerging interfaces to start engaging broader populations in the inquiry of these questions, through public exhibitions to hands-on prototyping of these emerging interfaces, and also to provide opportunities for playful interactions which these devices. For instance, for DuoSkin, we actively conducted workshops inviting people to make, and also envision possible use cases, and concerns towards on-skin interfaces. Only by starting to understand how people from a broad range of backgrounds and cultures perceive these devices, and their concerns towards them, as early as possible, can we as designers be proactive and design in a way that respects the user’s preferred sense of agency and control.
Researchers and developers as well as artists drive technological progress. They create new possibilities and business models that – sometimes quite unexpected – have consequences for us as a society. How do you see your responsibility as a researcher, as a developer? Which limits do you want to overcome with your work, which ones perhaps impose on yourself?
Cindy Hsin-Liu Kao: As a researcher and designer, I think it is crucial to engage the public with these emerging interfaces as early as possible to understand perceptions. To design emerging interfaces which not only sit in the lab but can be prototyped and experience by broader audiences is important. For our DuoSkin project, beyond several smaller-scale workshops, our lab recently deployed a large scale and cross-cultural on-line study on hundreds of participants to understand perceptions towards the on-skin interfaces we designed. This, in turn, informs the next iteration of our work. I think these investigations should happen as early on as possible in the design exploration process so that design decisions and changes can be made and not wait until the technology is fully deployed as a product, as that is often too late. Only by understanding perceptions beyond our technological imagination can we start to tackle these challenging problems.
