Interactive Technologies for the Public Sphere Pamela Lynnette Jennings
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Interactive Technologies for the Public Sphere Toward a Theory of Critical Creative Technology by Pamela Lynnette Jennings A thesis submitted to the University of Plymouth in partial fulfillment for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Center for Advanced Inquiry in the Integrative Arts (CAiiA) School of Computing - · Faculty of Technology .: · ·· · March 2006 Pamela Lynnette Jennings Interactive Technologies for the Public Sphere Toward a Theory of Critical Creative Technology Executive Summary Digital media cultural practices continue to address the social, cultural and aesthetic contexts of the global information economy, perhaps better called ecology, by inventing new methods and genres that encourage interactive engagement, collaboration, exploration and learning. The theoretical framework for creative critical technology evolved from the confluence of the arts, human computer interaction, and critical theories of technology. Molding this nascent theoretical framework from these seemingly disparate disciplines was a reflexive process where .the influence of each component on each other spiraled into the theory and practice as illustrated through the Constmcted Narratives project. Research that evolves from an arts perspective encourages experimental processes of making as a method for defining research principles. The traditional reductionist approach to research requires that all confounding variables are eliminated or silenced using methods of statistics. However, that noise in the data, those confounding variables provide the rich context, media, and processes by which creative practices thrive. As research in the arts gains recognition for its contributions of new knowledge, the traditional reductive practice in search of general principles will be respectfully joined by methodologies for defining living principles that celebrate and build from the confounding variables, the data noise. The movement to develop research methodologies from the noisy edges of human interaction have been explored in the research and practices of ludic design and ambiguity (Gaver, 2003); affective gap (Sengers et al., 2005b; 2006); embodied interaction (Dourish, 2001); the felt life (McCarthy & Wright, 2004); and reflective HCI (Dourish, et al., 2004). The theory of critical creative technology examines the relationships between critical theories of technology, society and aesthetics, information technologies and contemporary 3 practices in interaction design and creative digital media. The theory of critical creative technology is aligned with theories and practices in social navigation (Dourish, 1999) and community-based interactive systems (Stathis, 1999) in the development of smart appliances and network systems that support people in engaging in social activities, promoting communication and enhancing the potential for learning in a community-based environment. The theory of critical creative technology amends these community-based and collaborative design theories by emphasizing methods to facilitate face-to-face dialogical interaction when the exchange of ideas, observations, dreams, concerns, and celebrations may be silenced by societal norms about how to engage others in public spaces. The Constmcted Narratives project is an experiment in the design of a critical creative technology that emphasizes the collaborative construction of new knowledge about one's lived world through computer-supported collaborative play (CSCP). To construct is to creatively invent one's world by engaging in creative decision-making, problem solving and acts of negotiation. The metaphor of construction is used to demonstrate how a simple artifact- a building block- can provide an interactive platform to support discourse between collaborating participants. The technical goal for this project was the development of a software and hardware platform for the design of critical creative technology applications that can process a dynamic flow oflogistical and profile data from multiple users to be used in applications that facilitate dialogue between people in a real-time playful interactive experience. 4 Interactive Technologies for the Public Sphere: Toward a Theory of Critical Creative Technology Table of Contents Page Executive Summary 3 Table of Contents 5 List of Tables and Figures 12 Acknowledgements 17 Author's Declaration 19 1. The Liberal lronist as Progenitor of the Theory of Critical Creative 23 Technology 1.1 Introduction 1.2 The Stance of the Liberallronist 24 1.3 First Person Methodology: Experience seeding research 25 1.3 .l Encounters in Latvia, 200 l 26 1.3.2 The Meeting ofDouble-Consciousnesses 33 1.4 Toward a Theory of Critical Creative Technology 34 1.5 The Constructed Narratives Project 37 1.6 Chapter Summaries 39 2. Intersubjective Theories of Communication 45 2.1 Introduction 2.2 The Theory of Enactive Cognition and Intersubjectivity 2.3 Brentano's Theory of Intentionality 47 2.4 Dennett's Intentional Stance 48 2.5 Towards the theory of Universal Pragmatics: Habermas's analysis of 49 theories of communication 2.5.1 Polemic Relationships of the Meta-theoretical Framework 50 2.5 .l.l Behavior versus Action 51 2.5.1.2 Observation vs. Understanding 2.5 .1.3 Conventionalism versus Essentialism 2.5.2 Habermas's analysis of theories of society 52 2.5.2.1 Meta-theoretical decisions and Theories of Society 53 2.5.2.l.l Decision 1 2.5.2.1.2 Decision 2 2.5.2.1.3 Decision 3 2.5.2.2 Habermas's Models ofTheoriesofSociety 54 2.5.2.2.1 Mode11: Rational Knowing Subject and Phenomenological Subjectivity 2.5.2.2.2 Mode12 and 3: Rule-driven Generative 55 Subjectivist Theories 2.5.2.2.3 Mode14: Communicative Theories 56 Based on Intersubjective Experiences 2.5.2.3 Habennas's Niche: Holistic Communicative 58 Theories 2.5.2.4 Alternative Holistic Communicative Theories: 59 Bakhtin 2.5.3 Universal Pragmatics: a rubric for competency in rational 62 discourse 2.5.3.1 The Speech Act: from Searle and Grice to Habermas 64 2.5.3.2 Three Dichotomies in Communication 66 2.6 Communicative Action and Discourse: expressions and arguments 2.6.1 Validity Claims and Ideal Speech Acts 67 2.7 The Mechanics of Universal Pragmatics and Violations to Validity 69 5 Claims 2.8 Conclusion: ''Tug-of-War" the Communication Game 73 3. The Construction of the Public Sphere 77 3.1 Two Models of the Public Sphere 3.1.1 Public Sphere as a Nation State 3.1.2 The Public domain As a Locus for lntersubjective Engagement 3.1.2.1 Engagement in the Public Sphere 78 3.1.2.2 Properties of the Public Domain 3.2 Why the Public Sphere? Habermas' Motivating Questions 80 3.3 The Bourgeois Public Sphere 3.4 Weaknesses In the Theory of the Bourgeois Public Sphere 82 3.4.1 Historical and Intellectual Influences 83 3.4.2 Identity Politics 3.4.3 Religion and Science 84 3.4.4 Social Movements 85 3.4.5 Power Relationships 3.4.6 The Derivative Proletarian Public Sphere 86 3.5 Alternative Models of the Public Sphere 87 3.5.1 The Proletarian Public Sphere 3.5.2 Challenges to the Speaker I Hearer Dichotomy 88 3.5.3 Critique of Deliberative and Aggregative Models of 89 Democracy 3.5.4 Mouffe's Agonistic Democracy 91 3.6 Habermas Re-thinks the Bourgeois Public Sphere 93 3.6.1 Habermas's Modified Theoretical Framework for the Public 95 Sphere 3.6.2 The New Political Public Sphere 97 3.7 Conclusion 4. Critical Theories of Technology 100 4.1 Technology and the Public Domain 4.2 Instrumental and Substantive Theories of Technology 101 4.2.1 Instrumental Theories of Technology 102 4.2.1.1 Vannevar Bush Thinking As We May 103 4.2.1.2 Cybernetics and Human I Machine Symbiosis 105 4.2.1.3 Douglas Englebart HLAM/T Theory 106 4.2.1.4 Contemporary forms oflnstrumentalism: 107 Ubiquitous Computing 4.3 Phenomenology and Pragmatism: Perspectives on Substantive 109 Theories of Technology 4.4 Feenberg's Critical Theory of Technology Ill 4.4.1 Bias and Neutrality in Technology 112 4.4.1.1 Substantive Bias in Technology 4.4.1.2 Formal Bias in Technology 113 5. Dialectics of Technology and Contemporary Practices in Creative ll4 Digital Media Practices 5.1 Introduction to Feenberg's Dialectics of Technology 5.2 Primary Instrumentalization Characteristics in Technical Practice 115 5.3 Dialectics of Technology and Secondary Instrumentalization 117 Characteristics in Technical Practice 5.3.1 Concretization (systemization) 118 5.3.1.1 The Theory ofMultiliteracies 5.3.1.2 Multiliteracies and Agnostic Democracy 119 5.3.1.3 Multiliteracies and the Design Metaphor 120 5.3.1.3.1 Available Design 121 5.3.1.3.2 Design 122 6 5.3.1.3.3 Re-design 123 5.3.1.4 Fuller's Critical Models for Software Development 5.3.1.4.1 Critical Software 124 5.3.1.4.2 Social Software 5.3.1.4.3 Speculative Software 5.1.3.5 Fogg's Captology and Persuasive Computing 125 5.3.2 Vocation 126 5.3.2.1 Aligning Computer Science with Contemporary Critical Theory 5.3.2.2 Where is the Action in Human Computer 127 Interaction? 5.3.2.3 Principles for the Design of Embodied Interactive 129 Technologies 5.3.2.3.1 Premise l 130 5.3.2.3.2 Premise 2 5.3.2.3.3 Premise 3 132 5.3.2.3.4 Premise 4 5.3.2.4 Constructivism as a Meta-Theory for Feenberg's 133 Concept of Vocation 5.3.3 Aesthetic Investment (Mediation) 134 5.3.3.1 Looking for a Place at the Table: Aesthetics of 135 Experience and Technology Development 5.3.3.2 The Role of the Artist in a Technology Driven 136 World 5.3.3.3 Habermas's Aesthetics Denial 139 5.3.3.4 Langdorf's Aesthetics Appeals for Habermas's Validity Claims 5.3.3.5 Dewey's non-Aesthetic Worlds 141 5.3.4 Collegiality (Initiative) 142 5.3.4.1 Consciousness as a Social Construct 5.3.4.2 Metadesign, Communities of Interest and 144 Communities of Practice 5.3.4.3 International Creative Digital Media Communities 148 as Models for Collegiality 5.3.4.4 European Re-approaching New Media (RAM) 149 Forums 5.3.4.4.1 Ram4: ''Survival Kit" 5.3.4.4.2 Neurotransrniter (nn Project 151 5.3.4.4.3 Grassroots Community-based Technology Initiatives around the world 5.3.4.5 Community-based Technology Initiatives in the 153 United States 5.3.5 Conclusion 154 6.