Exploring a Future Where the Internet Is God

Exploring a future where the Internet is God

by Nina Cecilie Højholdt

May 2018

Thesis project Interaction Design Master at K3 / Malmö University / Sweden

Supervisor : Henrik Svarrer Larsen

Examination on May 29th 2018 Examiner : Per Linde

2. edition

Abstract

This research project seeks to create an encounter with the internet which nourishes the user’s relationship to the technology and celebrates it for its positive ideals. In order to do this, it draws on a speculative design approach, and explores which artefacts and rituals might exist in a possible future where the internet has taken on the role of technology today. Aspects from rituals and religious practice are used in order to create an experience that can be engaging, reflective and tranquil. The outcome of the project is an interactive shrine for the home, where the owner might practice their devotions to the internet through a designed ritual, as well as an accompanying narrative in the form of a sacred text. The design was the center of a focus group in which the participants collaboratively discussed, speculated about- and made meaning of issues surrounding the internet and religion. The research highlights the importance of the body, branching into the whole sensory apparatus, in religious practice, and makes an argument for the importance of the interplay between mind and body in interaction design.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my supervisor Henrik Svarrer Larsen for inspiring and intellectually stimulating conversations. Thank you for asking challenging questions throughout the process.

A big thank you to my fellow students at Malmö University, with whom I had exciting debates, thorough feedback sessions and great critique on my design work.

To the people who participated in my focus group, who allowed me to ask them abstract and provocative questions and in turn provided me with intriguing perspectives and opinions.

And lastly, thank you to all the people who offered their inputs and perspectives on my work, both on request and unsolicited.

Abstract 3

Acknowledgements 3

1. Introduction 6 1.1 Problem space 6 1.2 Presentation of the final concept 7 1.3 Related work 9 1.4 Ethics 11

2. Theoretical grounding 12 2.1 Artefacts as Mediators (What Things Do) 12 2.2 Embodied interaction 13

3. Methodology 16 3.1 Research through Design 16 3.2 Speculative Design 17 3.3 Doing design work 19

4. Rituals 21 4.1 Designing new rituals 22

5. Early experiments and inquiries 23 5.1 Talking to people about religion 23 5.2 Experiencing religion and spirituality 24 5.3 Constructing rituals 25

6. A shrine for the internet 27 6.1 Shrines and prayer beads 28 6.2 Analysis of common elements in rituals 32 6.3 Developing The Shrine 34

7. Focus group 40 7.1 Selection of respondents 40 7.2 Overview 40 7.3 Notable findings 41

8. Discussion and research outcomes 42 8.1 A speculative artefact 43 8.3 Learning from religion 45

9. Conclusion 47

References 48

Appendix A 52

Appendix B 54

Appendix C 56

1. Introduction

Few would dispute the fact that computation, and especially the internet, is increasingly moving into the uttermost intimate parts of our lives. Not only is it helping us solve problems and be more effective at work, we use it to communicate with loved ones, sharing secrets, getting medical help, keeping track of our health (everything from eating habits to our menstrual cycles), knowing where to be and how to get there, and so on. To put it briefly, the internet mediates an immense part of our daily lives. However, as our lives are becoming increasingly intertwined with this internet, nurturing our relationship with the technology itself should be important. This project seeks to use interaction design as a way to create an encounter with technology (namely the internet), not just through technology. As such, the focus is on creating an experience that serves a reflective purpose, rather than using the internet as a mediating utility. As the internet develops and grows, so does its misuse. The technology can become abusive, discriminative and disturbing. Privacy and surveillance concerns, social engineering, persuasive design for addiction, and stress, are all issues that have increased over the recent years (Center for Humane Technology, n.d.). This is an unfortunate development. This research project departs in a belief that the internet is inherently good. Its foundations are good. If we look at the original ideals of the internet (namely the www), we see values such as “open”, “free”, “collaborative” and “creativity” (Solon, 2017). I therefore believe in the importance of creating experiences with the internet emphasizing on the positive opportunities, and taking responsibility as a designer, by creating things that do good. Whether this be through concepts, products or experiences that embody these ideals, or through a more critical design practice.

1.1 Problem space

To sum up, this research project focuses on creating a positive experience with the internet, and through this, inviting the user to reflect on their relationship with it as more than a utilitarian entity. In order to achieve this, I will seek to examine how one might draw on elements of religious and ritualistic practice, using their perceived potential for creating engaging, serene and meaningful experiences. At first sight, this combination of religion and interaction design might seem like an ill-matched couple, and indeed, it has twisted some brows throughout the study. However, as written by philosopher Alain de Botton, it is possible, from a non-religious point of view, to find religion “sporadically useful, interesting and consoling – and be curious as to the possibilities of importing certain of their ideas and practices into the secular realm” (2012, p. 11-12). And as this paper will show, interaction design and religious practice share more similarities than first anticipated, and it has indeed been a particularly interesting lens through which to explore our relation with the internet.

This thesis is framed as a speculative design project. Using this approach, the project seeks to create a narrative wherein the internet has taken on the role of religion in today’s/past society. When people engage with the artefacts constituting the narrative, it seeks to create an experience where they can have a tranquil, positive and reflective experience not only through technology but also with technology. Distilling this framing into concise questions guiding the research then becomes:

What kind of interactive artefact might exist in a possible future where the internet has taken the role of religion today?

How could the process of designing and assessing such an artefact take shape?

What similarities exist between interaction design and religious practice, and what can interaction design learn from religious practice?

1.2 Presentation of the final concept

Having explored the above mentioned problem space through research and designerly practice, a final concept and prototype has been produced. The creation of this artefact can be seen as both a way of obtaining knowledge throughout the process, as well as an implicit theoretical contribution itself.

Imagine a future where the internet is something we actively celebrate, praise, trust in and devote ourselves to. A future where we see it for the immense power of connecting the world, transcending borders and breaking down barriers. With this project, the hope is for a future where the internet will be celebrated for its utopian foundations, not this increasingly dystopian reality. To quote Dunne & Raby (2007/2008), this object is created in anticipation of that time.

Figure 1. The Shrine

The Shrine is a home altar where the owner can practice their daily devotions towards the internet, the all knowing God. By interacting with The Shrine, they are able to have a tranquil experience with their beloved technology, opening up a positive space for reflection. The Shrine is focused around a set of artefacts and accompanying ritual, and by engaging with the ritual a manifestation of the deity (the internet) will appear. By doing the sequence prescribed by the ritual, the owner will experience a range of activities, engaging most of the senses and their body, which in turn makes the spirit change and sounds play. The ritual is designed to provide a ceremonial feeling, but also leaves time for the user’s personal agenda; whether they wish to reflect on the values of the internet or pray for a better connection to Netflix is completely up to them. Furthermore, they are welcome to explore The Shrine outside of the ritual, making their own meaning.

The Shrine and the designed ritual can be seen in the concept video found here.

The Shrine is accompanied by a set of sacred texts, The Book of Clouds, introducing new owners to The Shrine’s capabilities, as well as core beliefs, central stories and myths, suggested pilgrimage routes, and so on.

Figure 2. The Book of Clouds

1.3 Related work

This section will present a series of works that are related to the endeavours of this project. They are divided into two categories: Work related to technology and religion, and work related to interaction design and religion. In the first category, two newer religious movements will be presented; Syntheism and Kopimism. The second category highlights two selected projects of relevance within interaction design and HCI. When surveying the internet and library for examples, the selection was not abundant, however, as the following will show, some interesting articles and projects were found.

1.3.1 Syntheism and Kopimism

This project is certainly not the first to create a religious movement around technology, although the ambitions here might differ from Syntheism and Kopimism. However, they both offered some interesting, as well as provocative ideas. Syntheism is a movement striving to offer the same kinds of feelings to atheists and pantheists that religion offers religious people. It does not have a single source, but here I will focus on Bard’s (2013) interpretation of it. He argues that the God is something we ourselves can create, a representation of

all humanity’s hopes and dreams. He then proceeds to conceptualize four gods (arguing that four are better than one), where one of them is the internet. The Missionary Church of Kopimism, on the other hand, has a more practical purpose and ideology; they believe that the search for knowledge is sacred, and that all information should be open and free. As quoted from their website they “believe that copying and the sharing of information is the best and most beautiful that is.” (Det Missionerande Kopimistsamfundet, n.d.).

1.3.2 Mixing Technology and Religion

In the article Sabbath Day Home Automation: “It’s Like Mixing Technology and Religion” Woodruff, Augustin & Foucault (2007) describe the use of technology, in particular smart home systems, in orthodox jewish households during sabbath. While not the main focus of the article, I believe it makes a compelling argument for how religion and technology can co-exist and how technology does not have to be kept out of everything sacred. In jewish faith, the Sabbath is a time of peace, relaxation and reflection, and therefore a number of activities are proscribed. As society has evolved, so have the prohibited activities, which now include turning electrical devices on or off. But by using home automation systems, the jewish families interviewed were able to use technology to perform mundane activities such as turning on and off the lights in their home. While it might seem curious at first, this was done in order to support their religious practice and spiritual experience, and was, according to the article, “enhancing” the Sabbath experience.

1.3.3 A digital butsudan Through two related, but separate projects, Uriu & Okude and Urui & Odom explored the creation of interactive Japanese Buddhist family altars (butsudan) for supporting domestic practices of memorialization. ThanatoFenestra: Photographic Family Altar Supporting a Ritual to Pray for the Deceased (Uriu & Okude, 2010) was the initial project, wherein the authors discussed the creation of a new Japanese ritual for the dead. Six years later, more thorough work on a second edition was published, this time under the name Fenestra, in Designing for Domestic Memorialization and Remembrance: A Field Study of Fenestra in Japan (Uriu & Odom, 2016). The work is highly inspiring, as it showcases a well-designed example of an interactive take on a religious artefact and accompanying ritual. The work took departure in the traditional butsudan, a home shrine for one’s ancestors, but by adding interactive elements and new rituals, were able to create an engaging and meaningful way of venerating the dead. One important takeaway from the second version of the project, is the sensitivity needed when designing for religious contexts, especially surrounding something as delicate as passed loved ones. The authors described how some undesirable encounters with the technology had occured during their field studies, when the IR sensor in the artefact had unintentionally been triggered. This would

show the participants pictures of their deceased loved ones, without them themselves having initiated the ritual. Understandably, this was unsettling to some. However, this project also provided inspiration on a conceptual and executional level. For example, the authors described how they used mirror glass in the installation in order to potentially evoke contemplation, by seeing one’s own reflection in the piece.

1.4 Ethics

While a designer should always consider the ethical aspects of their projects, some topics call for more attention than others. This is perhaps one of them. Throughout the project, it has been important to be sensitive towards the implications that working with technology and religion might cause. For some (especially here in Scandinavia (Bard, 2013)), religion is a delicate and uncomfortable topic to discuss. And as I am not a religious or spiritual person myself, I have sought to provide extra attention to the tensions that might arise from the discussion of- and designing with religious elements. As mentioned, the Fenestra project (Uriu & Odom, 2016) detailed how their project created some undesirable encounters, as their technology failed to work precisely as expected. In continuation hereof, it is also important to consider my role as a white, western designer, when bringing in elements from various cultures and religions. I acknowledge that there are many things about the cultures I include that I don’t know, and I hope that my investigations, analysis and applications are seen as respectful and rich.

2. Theoretical grounding

This chapter will cover the theory laying the ground for this project, as well as my general practice as an interaction designer. It explains the foundations from which I understand the world, how it can be shaped through design, and what to keep in mind when doing so. It will first go through Verbeek’s (2005) writing on the mediating role of technology and artefacts. From that, the concept of embodied interaction will be explained, based on Dourish (2004), as well as the field of tangible interaction.

2.1 Artefacts as Mediators (What Things Do)

In the book What Things Do, Verbeek (2005) philosophises on the role of technology in our lives, and how it mediates and shapes our actions and perceptions. Verbeek challenges the idea of technology as a dominating force, and instead makes a case for describing technology “in a more nuanced light than the terms of the classical philosophy of technology allowed” (p. 203). However, I will not begin to describe Verbeek’s break with classical philosophy of technology (i.e. Heidegger). Instead, I will examine how Verbeek sees technological artefacts as something shaping our world, and how this is important in interaction design practice. Verbeek himself focuses on industrial design, “because this discipline concerns artifacts that play a large role in everyday social life” (p. 204). However, I would argue that with the advancement in technology and the growth of interaction design, many of these ideas apply to our field as well. Verbeek describes how products have a functional value (what they do) and a meaning or sign-value (what they express on a social/cultural level). Furthermore, in virtue of their design, products have semiotic functions; their form shape their meaning. Two types of semiotic functions are classified, their denotative functions (what it is and how to use it, which could be seen as related to Norman’s interpretation of affordances) and their connotative functions (their symbolic function, e.g. the lifestyle they appeal to). The secondary (symbolic) functions of products also refer to the culture they represent, e.g. the owner of the artefacts' values, that are represented in the object. Verbeek’s post-phenomenological perspective however, takes this a step further and also addresses how culture is shaped by the objects we experience the world through. Whereas the semiotic perspective deals with how objects refer to a specific social order, the post-phenomenological approach focuses on how objects shape this social order. This, Verbeek argues, is not another function of the product, but rather a byproduct of its functionality; a phenomenon that arises from the product's functionality. “In fulfilling their functions, artifacts do more than function - they shape a relation between human beings and their world” (p. 208). This mediating role is not consciously experienced by people, it takes place on a sensory level; “perceptions and actions always have an aspect of sensorial contact with reality, which is precisely

the point of application for mediation by material artifacts” (p. 209). In other words, this is what we, as designers, should be aware of. Verbeek argues that there is a certain one-sidedness in aesthetics of design, in that the visual aesthetics are in focus. Rather, he argues, that aesthetics should be extended to the whole sensory apparatus, as the things we design are often meant to be more than looked at. If mediation arises from the functionality of a product, and therefore through its use, the aesthetics of design can be extended to how products shape the world, not just how they look and what lifestyle they represent. This is indeed relevant to interaction design, and especially the subfield of tangible interaction (which will be described in the following section). When we design artifacts that have a certain physicality or tactile dimension (as opposed to “just” screen-based interactions), we much consider the aesthetics of the touch, sound, and so on, just as we consider the visual qualities. Furthermore, Verbeek’s perspectives of technology and artefacts as mediators might apply to all areas of interaction design. When we create something, be it a product, an experience or a service, it is important to be aware of how these artefacts will shape the experienced world of the humans engaging with it.

2.2 Embodied interaction

Where Verbeek focuses on the philosophy of technology in general, Paul Dourish in his book Where the Action Is - The Foundations of Embodied Interaction (2001), targets Human-Computer Interaction. Based on phenomenology, Dourish focuses on the term embodiment and establishes the concept of embodied interaction. This form of interaction is seen in tangible- and social computing which both rely on similar scientific theoretical approaches.

To Dourish, embodiment is a foundational out of which meaning and action arise, and a central concept in phenomenology. He takes departure in philosophers such as Husserl, Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty (who’s theories are beyond the scope of this project) and extends the concept to HCI. As he explains, “Embodied phenomena are ones we encounter directly rather than abstractly. [...] we, and our actions, are embodied elements of the everyday world.” (p. 100). As such, embodied phenomena are those occurring in real time and space and grounded in everyday experiences. Embodiment does not merely mean having physical properties, but rather it is a relationship between action and meaning (p. 126). Embodied Interaction is then “the creation, manipulation, and sharing of meaning through engaged interaction with artifacts” (p. 126). These computational artefacts inhabit the same physical and social world as us, and this is capitalized on in the interaction.

2.2.1 Tangible Interaction

Along with social computing, which this paper will not discuss, Dourish explains tangible computing in relation to embodied interaction. Tangible interaction is a wide term which has been explored by

many, but can generally be defined as computation that goes beyond the traditional interfaces of personal computers and move into the environment which we inhabit. As such, it is related to ubiquitous computing. Much work in the realm of tangible computing has been done since Dourish’ book - the Tangible Media Group at MIT for example, are continuously expanding the practice, now also working with what they call ‘Radical Atoms’ - a vision for the future where the physical material itself can change form based on interaction (Tangible Media Group, n.d.). However, this project will focus on the more current world of tangible computing. In his paper from a little over ten years later, Epilogue: Where the Action Was, Wasn’t, Should Have Been, and Might Yet Be (2013), Dourish stresses that embodied interaction is not exclusively found in tangible computing, but rather it is a fruitful place to explore the notion.

Dourish (2001) explains how tangible interaction capitalizes on our familiarity with the everyday world, or rather, “the way we experience the everyday world” (p. 17) - which is through direct interaction. It can take a wide range of forms, both inhabiting familiar objects or entirely new artifacts. A canonical example of a familiar object is Bishop’s Marble Answering Machine (Figure 3A), also mentioned by Dourish. A more recent example is the Plugg radio by Norwegian design studio Skrekkøgle (Figure 3B). The interaction with the radio is much simpler than the Marble Answering Machine, but it is still a tangible user interface; in order to turn the radio on, the user simply has to remove the cork plug from the radio’s speaker. When the cork is plugged back in, the radio turns off.

Figure 3A and 3B. The Marble Answering Machine (Bishop, n.d.) and Plugg Radio (Skrekkøgle, 2012).

In the category of completely new products, an example could be Thero by spanish designers Román Torre and Ángeles Angulo (2017). The artefact, an access point, allows its owner to physically manage their privacy settings on the network. By rotating the lid of the artefact, users may choose between 4 privacy settings, from completely open to complete blackout (Figure 4).

Figure 4. Thero (Torre, 2017)

Moving away from the familiar boundaries of the screen and into the world of tangible artefacts obviously poses new challenges. However, the solution to these issues are found in the nature of the physicality of the new interfaces themselves. In tangible computing, the physical properties of the artefact suggest how it might be used, just as in product design for example. This is similar to the semiotic denotative functions as described by Verbeek (2005). As an interaction designer, however, this also means that one must carefully consider the formgiving when designing tangible computational artefacts.

3. Methodology

This chapter will describe the scientific method for this thesis, and the use of programmatic design research and speculative design as the major methodical approaches.

3.1 Research through Design

Like many other (Löwgren, 2007; Löwgren, Larsen & Hobye, 2013), I see interaction design as a design discipline, and myself as a designer. My research is therefore not based on a positivist approach, but rather design research, and the growing tradition of Research through Design (RtD). That is, “a research approach that employs methods and processes from design practice as a legitimate method of inquiry” (Zimmerman, Stolterman & Forlizzi, 2010, p. 310). Design research and RtD takes designerly practice as central to engaging with- and creating knowledge about the issue at hand. It concerns itself with research of the future, and the artefact resulting from the designerly engagement can itself be seen as an implicit knowledge contribution (Zimmerman, Stolterman & Forlizzi, 2010; Löwgren, 2007)

3.1.1 Programmatic Design Research

In my practice, I am very much inspired by programmatic design research (Löwgren, Larsen & Hobye, 2013; Hobye, 2014; Larsen, 2015) and the ideology permeating it. For a number of reasons, however, I have not directly adopted the way of programmatic design research in this project. Firstly, it was not until quite late in the process that I opened my eyes for the possibilities of the approach, which regrettably made the adaption futile. Secondly, it is questionable how fitting programmatic design research could have been, even if applied from day one, as it seems more appropriate for longer processes; keep in mind that this thesis project lasted just nine weeks. And lastly, I am aware that this approach is quite young, and might not prove suitable for all endeavours. This, however, has not stopped me from adopting some of the qualities that I find the most appealing, as they are much in agreement with my own designerly practice. Programmatic design research stands as a frame for exploration (Hobye, 2014) and embrace a holistic perspective, where experiments, experiences, openness, complexity of the designerly process, tacit knowledge and serendipity all are of value. It does not have any hopes of being able to define an end-goal at the beginning of the process; the outcome matures with the obtaining of new knowledge, fueled by the designer’s engagements. For this project, it has meant making a virtue out of this ongoing process of redefining my problem space; as we gain new insights into our topic (be it from literature, inquiries or doing design), it seems inevitable that our understanding, and therefore framing, of the problem at hand changes and matures. This does not mean jumping from topic to topic without a clear goal, but rather embracing the fact that new knowledge (especially in such an explorative topic as mine) will flavor the problem space.

A phenomenological perspective

Programmatic design research also ties in well with the phenomenological (and post-phenomenological) worldview as much of the theory in Section 2 is based on. This also goes for my chosen research topic, as spiritual practice is indeed a very subjective matter, and so are rituals as noted by Levy (2015). While the discussion of phenomenology in interaction design could be (and undoubtedly has been) a whole phd worthy, I will draw on my understanding, although highly limited, of the theory as a guiding philosophy. Phenomenology is about exploring human experience, and the research following this philosophy will thus be guided by different ideals than the positivist research approaches. Stienstra (2015) writes that in order to embrace the complexity, holistic and continuous context that comes with phenomenology, we need to break with the paradigm of generalizability and objectivity in contemporary science.

3.2 Speculative Design

Research through Design is, as noted by Zimmerman et al. (2010), research of the future. “This focus on the future and the focus on concretely defining a preferred state allows researchers to become more active and intentional constructors of the world they desire.” (p. 310) However, how the designer chooses to explore these futures vary greatly. One approach, which I have undertaken in this project, is that of speculative design. Here the word approach should be stressed, as speculative design should not be seen as a general method for this project. Speculative design seeks to “create spaces for discussion and debate about alternative ways of being, and to inspire and encourage people’s imaginations to flow freely” (Dunne & Raby, 2013, p. 2). This is done through a design practice that asks “what if” questions and seeks to open up a space for debate about the future; what is desirable and what is not? For this, Dunne & Raby (2013) uses a diagram illustrating different kinds of potential futures (see Figure 5). The scope goes from the probable to the possible, and in between we find the plausible, as well as what Dunne & Raby calls the preferable future, intersecting between the probable and the plausible. In this project, this approach is used to speculate on a future where the internet is celebrated for its positive values, rather than focusing on the abusive and damagining uses of the technology that currently saturate the technology. This is my approach to designing for preferable future.

Figure 5. Adopted from Dunne & Raby (2013)

My approach to using speculative design is also one based on fiction. By creating a fictional narrative as a part of the design work, the design can be set free of the current norms, predictions and trends, and thereby be free to explore social and ethical issues. Using a level of fiction in one’s design “requires viewers to suspend their disbelief and allow their imaginations to wander, to momentarily forget how things are now, and wonder about how things could be” (Dunne & Raby, 2013, p. 3). Furthermore, this project’s use of speculative design also steps into the realm of conceptual design. This is design that is about ideas, but also ideals, that allow designers to stimulate their imagination and open up for new possibilities in technology, materials and manufacturing. It is not necessarily useful or feasible designs for the market, but rather “hypothetical or, more accurately, fictional products to explore possible technological futures” (Dunne & Raby, 2013, p. 14). By being presented as real products, people are able to explore ethical and social issues with these concepts in the context of normal life.

3.2.1 Do You Want To Replace The Existing Normal?

One example of Speculative Design that I will draw on as inspiration for this project is Do You Want to Replace the Existing Normal? by Dunne & Raby themselves (2007-2008). Through four artefacts they explore human needs and desires and speculate how these might be more complex and subtle in the future. As they write “In this project we are hoping for a time when we will have more complex and subtle everyday needs than we do today. These objects are designed in anticipation of that time. Patiently waiting. Maybe they are utopian.” (Dunne & Raby, n.d.)

Figure 6. Do You Want to Replace the Existing Normal? (Dunne & Raby, 2007-2008)

The quote above displays the design ideals for this project. Just like one might not see any need for a device informing you of the political stability of the country you are currently located in (which is the ‘function’ of one of the pieces in Dunne & Raby’s project above), this design project does not aim to create something that provides a ‘necessary’ function or experience. However, the point of speculative artefacts like these is not to provide a solution to a problem or providing you with a valuable service. Rather, they seek to open up a curious space for questioning, wonderment and reflection. Much in line with the speculative design approach of asking questions, rather than answering them, the designs do not solve problems, they create them. Do You Want to Replace the Existing Normal? does this in a very poetic way. The artefacts are subtle, simple in form and function, but curious and sometimes unsettling. It is the discussions and reflections, both internally and with other people, that make them valuable, their strangeness forcing people to consider possibilities and futures they might not have imagined otherwise.

3.3 Doing design work

To wrap up this chapter, here follows a short section on the methods applied when doing design work. As mentioned in the first section, I see myself as a designer, and reflecting on one’s designerly practice is therefore important too.

Sketching and prototyping are naturally part of how a concept is ideated and developed. In 2006 Holmquist wrote the article Sketching in Hardware where he argued “Whereas the graphic designer can sketch on paper, and the product designer can make mock-ups in wood or clay, a sketch of an interactive product has to express not only the static look of an interface, but also its dynamic properties.” (p. 47). The article ended with a hope for a future where sketching in hardware was not only possible in virtue of the tools available, but also an integrated part of design education programs. Presumably to Holmquist’s delight, this seems to be the case today. With the help of tools

such as Arduino, Processing, Wekinator and also techniques such as laser cutting, it is possible to quickly create interactive sketches, adding temporal and transformative properties to the traditionally static technique. In my practice, I use hardware and software sketching on the same level as the ones in pen and paper. Hardware and software sketching allows for whole new levels of the mind - sketch conversation as proposed by Buxton (2010), or Schön’s idea of seeing-moving-seeing (1992). While a hardware or software sketch might take initially more work than simple strokes of a pen on paper, they open up for whole new possibilities. As an example, one is able to transform the whole expression of the sketch by changing one variable or adding a simple line of code. Furthermore, just as Buxton (2010) describes the strength in ambiguity of one’s sketches, as it allows for fruitful (mis)interpretations, software and hardware sketches can lead to interesting mistakes. Sometimes the code you write will not do as intended, but instead offer a surprising new encounter.

4. Rituals

In order to create a positive, and conceivably engaging and reflective experience with the internet, I draw on ritualistic practice. The study of ritual is a vast field, and as such, the ambition of this section is humble. It seeks only to convey the theory that has been used as a guiding principle for this project. The interest in coupling technology and religion came long before any idea had formed, and for a long time, the focus lay on mythology, rather than ritual. However, as the project formed and my interest in the bodily and sensory aspects of religion increased (as will be eminent in the design process in chapter 6), so did the focus on ritual. Rituals are not exclusive to religion, but they are among some of the most obvious ones (Petrelli & Light, 2014)

Levy (2015) write that rituals “are not rigid procedures, but as described from a phenomenological perspective, a seemingly established series of actions or activities from which experiential meaning emerges” (p. 1). Rituals can exist in a myriad of forms and contexts, and according to Bell (1997) even a handshake can be considered a ritual. Levy (2015) and Levy & Hengevel (2016) differentiate rituals from routines in that they focus on the quality of the process, rather than the quality of the outcome. As such, engagement is seen as vital to ritual. Furthermore, they make a distinction between everyday rituals and ceremonial rituals, where ceremonial rituals have shared practice within a community, as well as a higher degree of formality1. Bell (1997) define six categories of ritual action (“a pragmatic compromise between completeness and simplicity” (p. 94)). These are rites of passage, calendrical and commemorative rites; rites of exchange and communion; rites of affliction; rites of feasting, fasting, and festivals; and political rituals. She also offers a perspective on ritual-like activities, which illustrate that ritualization can be more flexible, and are able to shine a light on the activities of more classic rituals. According to her, we, in Western culture, “tend to think of ritual as a matter of special activities inherently different from daily routine action and closely linked to the sacralities of tradition and organized religion” (p. 138). However, many activities can contain levels of ritual aspects, such as formalism and sacral symbolism. What is particularly interesting here, is how she notes the importance of the body in these activities and its moving in space and time. This extends into classic examples of rituals too, however, due to the emphasis on tradition and the enactment of codified or standardized actions, it can be hard to see, as we take much for granted when considering ritualistic acts. The environment of the ritual is created and organized by means of how bodies act within it, rather than the bodily acts being a response to the environment (p. 139).

1 It is noted, however, that this distinction should not be seen strictly 20

4.1 Designing new rituals

Petrelli & Light (2014) write that the idea that rituals are a “given” and are unchanged with remote origins is a common misconception. There are many examples of rituals being constructed, both in newer and older times. As such, it is also possible for new rituals to arise, for example by formalization, or by repetition. Bell (1997) for example describe a system of invented rituals in the soviet union, “for the explicit purpose of social control and political indoctrination, a dimension that most citizens clearly understood” (p. 225). An example here is the ritual of initiation into the working class, where factory workers would stage an elaborate ritual, a kind of rite of passage, to welcome new workers into the factory. By the extent that rituals have been invented throughout history, as Levy (2015) and Levy & Henveld (2016) also argue, it must be possible to also design them.

Petrelli & Light (2014) provide three core concepts of rituals as cultural performance. Cultural performance is an approach to studying rituals, which sees their symbolic content as a mean for communication. Furthermore, it looks at the semantics of the ritual, i.e. the values expressed (p. 16:6). These three core concepts might be useful when seeking to design a new ritual. They are: ● a ritual is an event that expresses cultural values and affects people’s perception; ● participants are active, and the sensorial aspect of taking part is important; ● ritual performances are “framed” in some ways to contrast with everyday life The rituals are implemented through multisensorial expressions, which is important as it triggers both physical and emotional engagement. Lastly, they stand outside of the mundane, maintaining a clear separation between that and the exceptional (p. 16:8)

Based on previous research, Levy & Hengeveld (2016) argue that there are two starting points for designing rituals; actions and artefacts. One might either start with a set of artefacts and through those explore the sequence of actions composing the ritual. Or one might use an already existing sequence of actions, in order to enhance the experience by reconsidering the artefacts (p. 3)

5. Early experiments and inquiries

In this chapter, I will explain some of the preliminary activities that helped shape my problem space, bring direction to the project, and laid a foundation for my future design work. The first section outlines some of the initial conversations I had with people about my topic, the second provides insights from a field trip to a protestant church at Easter service, and the third describe a small workshop carried out with two colleagues on the construction of a funeral ritual for a smartphone.

5.1 Talking to people about religion

Throughout my process, I have had many conversations about my topic with people, both spontaneous and more structured. I have talked to colleagues, friends and family, and their varied perspectives on both technology and religion has provided valuable insights and ideas. Most of these have been in occurances of casual conversation, and as such, they are not correctly documented. In some cases, I have taken notes during the conversation, which can be found in Appendix A. However, because of the limited documentation, I am aware of how they affect the project’s criticizability, and I therefore use the insights as inspiration and as a way to gain new perspectives, not as generalizable scientific data.

5.1.1 Religion Envy

In his TED Talk, What if the Internet is God?, Alexander Bard (2013) talks about “religion envy” - a feeling of jealousy on religious people that a non-believer can experience, which I questioned a few people about. Two friends both voiced that they certainly felt religion envy at times. One said that she felt it the most in hard times; it would be comforting to have something to project one’s frustration onto, and believe that one was not necessarily in control of what $was happening. The other emphasized the community often surrounding a religion as her main source of envy; she thought that the kinship existing for example in a church must be nice. From an analytical perspective, it seemed that these two friends both envied the perceived comfort of religion highly. In addition to the above mentioned friends, a family member was also questioned about religion envy. She proved somewhat more cynical however, and mainly saw religion as a form of escapism; as a way of disclaim responsibility in times of hardship, for example. However, she did note that she saw comfort in that, and could see how that would be attractive to many people. These perspectives encouraged further investigation of a religious take on engaging with technology. Would it in any way be possible to help fill the void of religion envy?

5.2 Experiencing religion and spirituality

One of the personal major challenges of this project, is being a non-religious and non-spiritual person. In addition to my reading and designerly activities around these topics, I have searched for ways of encountering religious and spiritual experiences. One inquiry was going to a church service on Easter sunday. By living in a mainly Christian country, the Protestant church was the most familiar, and I therefore hoped it would be able to provide insights without a high “barrier of entry”. Furthermore, the Easter sunday sermon is one of the most important events in christianity, so this day was chosen in order to get the “full experience”.

The two main takeaways in regards to what spiked my interest was the actions and rituals being performed, and the feeling of serenity and solemnity. In his TED Talk “Atheism 2.0” de Botton (2011) observes the importance of the body in religious practice; “The other thing that religions know is we're not just brains, we are also bodies. [...] a physical action backs up a philosophical idea. We don't tend to do that. Our ideas are in one area and our behavior with our bodies is in another. Religions are fascinating in the way they try and combine the two." Having taken particular interest in the bodily aspect of religion, I paid specific attention to the actions one had to perform during the service. The continuous act of standing up and sitting down provided structure to the sermon and served as a way of engaging the congregation. By knowing what and when to do the actions, a sense of comfort was achieved; there were no uncertainties. It also encouraged togetherness in congregation by doing these actions in unison. Another interesting aspect was the Eucharist. Here, the congregation went up to the altar where they kneeled and received the bread and wine. In addition to the bodily action of kneeling, the sense of taste was also engaged, providing another dimension to the experience.

The mere act of entering the church provided a sense of serenity and sacredness. The architecture, history, number of people gathered and the rituals themselves all heightened this feeling. This set the experience of the service much outside the mundanity of everyday life, and provided room for thoughts and reflections which one might not encounter usually.

Figure 7. Images from the church service

5.3 Constructing rituals

In order to gain some insights and inspiration for potential rituals related to computational technology, I held a small workshop experience with two colleagues. Having spent a lot of time researching rituals, and in relation to that coming up with a lot of interesting possible connections and designs for a possible future, I wanted to talk about these ideas with outsiders and gain new perspectives, ideas and angles. Furthermore, structuring an experiment about this forced me to concretize the knowledge I had gained so far. The findings made about rituals would have to be translated into something outsiders could work with in the experiment.

The two colleagues participating both knew the major details about my research project, but did not have specific knowledge about it. This proved very fitting, as I did not have to spend time explaining the project, but could get designerly insights and fresh perspectives. The workshop was centered around constructing a funeral ritual for a smartphone. The example was chosen as funeral rites exist in most (if not all) cultures and times, and often carry strong connotations to that culture’s worldview, tradition, cultural practice, etc. The smartphone was chosen as it’s a good example of a piece of computation that everyone can relate to and hold dear.

To stimulate the conversation, I made conversation-starter cards, illustrating various elements of typical funeral rites (Figure 8).

Figure 8. Constructing rituals workshop

The workshop was in practice the three of us talking, with me guiding the conversation by the use of the cards and examples from many different cultures. When making up the rites, we would group the related cards together. If the conversation mentioned elements not existing on any of the cards, I would draw a new one. Many of the insights gained were very specific to the funeral topic, which was not worked on further, so they will not be mentioned here. However, some interesting conversation about the life and death of technology emerged. If a smartphone has a soul, what is it then? Is it in the cloud, able to reincarnate and wander from hardware body to hardware body? If your phone knows everything about its owner, and its data is its soul, is it just a copy of its owner then? It was also discussed that the components or specifications of the phone would not be important; it was about your relationship to it. As such there was no doubt that one could have a substantial relationship to one’s phone. Both participants agreed that what you have with technology today is a relationship, not just something you use.

6. A shrine for the internet

Having now explained the some of the early experiments in the process, this chapter will present the design process, rationale and work that is the continuation hereof and led me to the final concept. The general focus throughout the design process was designing one or more artefacts that would support a ritual for a positive experience with the internet. The process was a bricolage of all the knowledge gained from early inquiries, theory read, backtalk from sketches and prototypes, feedback from colleagues, and everything in between. It was more like the squiggle in Figure 9, than say, the double diamond model or Buxton’s (2010) design funnel.

Figure 9. An illustration of the Design Process

However, for ease of reading it has been divided into iterations, all containing one or more experiments which lead to the final concept. Furthermore, a number of key insights will be noted in brief, which is an attempt at synthesizing some of the knowledge gained at certain points in the process, and which drove the designing forward. The first one stems from the initial research, and is therefore presented here.

KEY INSIGHT 1: Religion and the body

Religion recognizes the importance of the interplay between mind and body. Through bodily actions, the philosophy of the religion is backed up and taught (de Botton, 2011). One example is the mikveh in Judaism, where the physical action of taking a bath supports the idea of cleansing and forgiveness. Others could be in meditation, where the stillness of the body supports the stillness of the mind, metaphorically and physically, or the act of kneeling in the Christian church, to show submission in front of God. This relationship between body and mind lead the project towards the focus on embodied interaction.

6.1 Shrines and prayer beads

While numerous sketches on all kinds of ideas were made in the initial phases of the project, this section begins with two ideas that were more concrete and stemmed from the knowledge gained from theories and inquiries at the time. The bodily aspect of religious practice (see Key Insight 1) quickly formed as a focal point of the project. This did not necessarily mean involving the whole body in grandios movements, but rather keeping in mind that we experience the world with more than our eyes, ears and the tapping of fingers on a mouse or screen.

Figure 10. “How the computer sees us” (Igoe & O’Sullivan, 2004)

As a result, working within the field of tangible interaction (see Section 2.2.1) seemed obvious, and the sketching commenced. The ideas ranged from very speculative, to something that could easily exist in today’s society. Many concepts were idealized and discarded, but two stuck and were selected for further development, which I will outline in the following.

6.1.1 Prayer beads

The first concept was a set of augmented prayer beads, that would support a user in their religious practice (towards the internet). Prayer beads exist in a wide range of religions (the rosary in the Catholic church, malas in Buddhism and Hinduism, misbahas in Islam), as a way to guide one’s practice and make sure the correct number of prayers, mantras or tasbihs are recited. The concept of prayer beads was interesting, as they offer a tactile dimension to a believers devotions; the act of rotating the beads in one’s hand is directly related to the prayer being carried out. This would fit well within the context of embodied interaction and tangible computing.

Figure 11. Hardware and paper sketches of the prayer beads

Numerous ideas with the augmented prayer beads were sketched, including ideas of a vibration reminding the user of their daily prayers, color changing based on events on the internet, an accompanying display in the home (or perhaps even an app on your phone), and so on. One of the main challenges of the prayer beads would be the technical dimension, in regards to the size. Usually prayer beads are not very large, as they have to be able to be counted with one hand. While the prototype would be doable, although perhaps awkward in size, realizing a final prototype of higher fidelity would come with greater difficulties. One example of this, would be the project by Ou et al. (2015), in where they sought to embed a GPS tracking device in prayer beads, in order to detect early-stage dementia. While the project is clearly more focused on the engineering than the design of the prayer beads, it is a good example of the difficulties in embedding a microcomputer into something as delicate as prayer beads, especially in an elegant way.

Figure 12. Prayer beads with GPS device embedded (Ou et al., 2015)

It should be noted that at the time of writing, I have become aware of a “smart” prayer bead product by Acer, designed to assist Taiwanese Buddhist in their prayer, which is indeed very elegant2.

2 https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/5/17081574/acer-smart-beads-count-buddhist-mantras-taiwan-r eligious (Accessed 18th May, 2018) 28

6.1.2 The shrine

The second major idea, was an altar or shrine, that one could keep in their home and use for daily spiritual practice. Like the prayer beads, home altars and shrines exist in many religions and cultures, and are especially prevalent in eastern religions. Examples include house shrines for the daily hindu puja and the Japanese butsudan and kamidana (the first being for spirits of the dead, the second for gods (Nakamaki, 1983)). While not directly related to the bodily aspect, The Shrine had appeal for three reasons. Firstly, it could work almost as a platform, allowing multiple ideas to form within it, in regards to the artefacts and tools placed in and on The Shrine. Home shrines and altars typically have a wide range of items placed around it, used to assist the daily worship and spiritual practice (e.g. bells, candles, incense). These artefacts could be computational and as such compose the tangible interface. Secondly, by placing it in the context of the home, it might be able to provide a comfortable environment for spiritual engagement. While churches and temples have the power of setting itself outside of everyday life, it could be interesting to create a dedicated space to spiritual practice in the mundane setting of the home. Would it be possible to transfer the serene and ceremonial feeling I experienced at the church service (Section 5.2) into one’s living room? Lastly, it would be feasible to make a working final prototype of a shrine, as its larger form could accommodate embedded electronics easily.

Figure 13. Home altars/shrines from Catholicism, Hinduism and Shinto

Some very inspirational concepts from readings were the yorishiro and shintai in Japanese Shinto religion. These are symbolic material objects wherein a kami (god) settles, and it is through these objects that people can communicate with the gods (Nakamaki, 1983). The yorishiro must regularly be the focus of ritual performance, and in Japanese tradition, they can exist in all kinds of objects, from rocks and trees, to man-made things such as paper decorations and even the toilet (Nakamaki, 1983). The kamidana, the altar used for home rites, has an important shintai, often in the form of a round mirror.

Figure 14. A Japanese kamidana. Note the round mirror acting as the shintai.

One idea for the shintai or object of worship (e.g. a murti (image or statue of a deity) in Hinduism or the Buddha Shakyamuni in Buddhism), was using the home router. While not the object of praise itself, it could be a representative or manifestation of a god in one’s home. Another was to make The Shrine more like the Japanese Buddhist butsudan and use it to praise technology that had passed away, e.g. one’s old iPod or the smartphone that could no longer turn on. Here, one could keep representations of the passed, and I could experiment with making urns or spirit tablets (Southeast Asian plates, used in memorial of passed ancestors), and creating a ritual for the veneration of the “dead”.

Figure 15. Sketches of the router as a representation of God

6.1.3 Feedback session

With the two concepts (prayer beads and shrine), I conducted a feedback session with two colleagues, in order to gain qualified critique on the relevance, feasibility and substance of the ideas. The concepts were presented in paper and hardware sketches.

While I had initially hoped to realize both concepts, perhaps even adding a third one, in order to make a trinity of artefacts, both colleagues agreed that the idea of the shrine carried the most essence and potential. They argued that the shrine itself could support a myriad of interactions and sub-concepts, and that focusing on the one would have a positive influence on the future design process, both in terms of time restrictions and conceptual boundaries. Furthermore, the reasons that the prayer beads would be harder to realize, not only from a technical perspective, but also because they would come with other challenges such as the ergonomic dimension. This feedback was much valued. As a designer, it can be hard to discard ideas, especially ones you see great potential in. However, the points they made were sensible, and it was decided to let go of the prayer beads, and focus completely on the shrine.

KEY INSIGHT 2: Rituals

While the attention to the body is present in much religious practice, it is especially prominent in rituals, where it is an integral part of the performance. Here one might again mention the mikveh, or the Muslim bowing, ruku and sujud. Furthermore, rituals often incorporate a number of ceremonial artefacts, “utilized as a means for establishing or maintaining communication between the sacred (the transcendent, or supernatural, realm) and the profane (the realm of time, space, and cause and effect).” (Auboyer, n.d., n.p.) These artefacts can contain properties necessary for the worship and can take a myriad of shapes and meanings. This combination of bodily aspects and artefacts makes for a compelling framing of rituals as the central focus of exploring technology from a religious perspective. It also supports the approach of tangible interaction.

6.2 Analysis of common elements in rituals

As the shrine was decided to be the concept of further development, more inspiration for what to include in the shrine was sought for. In order to gain this, an analysis of artefacts and elements in various religious was made. The analysis is obviously not exhaustive and may have overlooked important parts of some religions. The elements examined are for example mostly limited to Buddhism, Hinduism, Shinto, Judaism and Christianity. However, populating the dataset provided a large bank of inspiration and a greater understand of the vast topic of religious rituals and artefacts.

Figure 16. Affinity Clustering of ritualistic elements

Throughout the process, extensive reading about religions and rituals have been carried out, and each time a new ritual or ritualistic element or artefact was encountered, it was written down. The first step of the analysis was to gather all of these and write them down on individual sticky notes. Some were highly specific, like the atang food offerings in the Philippines or the Hindu ghanta bell. Others were more general, like incense sticks or prayer beads, both of which exist in many religions. After writing all the elements down, and further researching more, affinity clustering was performed, in order to group the elements into more general themes. Here, the senses quickly emerged as a general theme. Other groupings would definitely have been interesting too; e.g. who or what this element is directed at (a deity, an ancestor, oneself), what purpose the element serves (praising a deity or spirit, making offerings, self-reflection), and so on. However, the categorization related to the senses proved interesting and provided great insight. The final categories were Sound, Taste, Smell, Gestures & Movements and Offerings. The observant reader might see that Touch and Sight are missing, and that Offerings is the odd one out. However, rather than using “touch” as a category, Gestures & Movements seemed to encapsulate the data better, as many rituals include specific patterns of kinesis. An example from this category would be the raka and sujud from Muslim prayer, which entails bowing and pressing the nose and forehead to the ground. Here we see the whole body being engaged in the ritual. Offerings is indeed not a sense either, however, it encapsulated many interesting concepts in ritualistic practice, for example the burning of spirit money (also known as joss paper) in China. Spirit money is paper, which is “usually burned in order to solicit favors from the gods, provide the dead with the cash they need to take care of business in the courts and hells of the underworld, bribe celestial bureaucrats, and placate offending demons or interfering ghosts.” (Bell, 1997, p. 110). Unsurprisingly, some elements also fell between categories. As an example, the Shinto concept of kashiwade, clapping ones hands before a shrine, was categorized between Gestures & Movements and Sound. The act, used to capture the deity’s attention, is a bodily gesture, but the sound arising from the gesture is also interesting, as it engages the outside world in the ritual as well. Other

examples of sound in ritual practice include bells, which exist in many religions, hereunder the suzu, again from Shinto. In the Taste category are the Christian ritual of Eucharist, here referring to the bread and wine that is consumed, and the eumbok which is a part of the Korean jesa memorial, where everyone partakes in the consumption of the food offerings. As noted by Bell (1997) “Shared participation in a food feast is a common ritual means for defining and reaffirming the full extent of the human and cosmic community” (p.123) Incense is widely used in religious ritual practice, and the most dominating practice in the Smell category. It is often seen in the form of sticks (Hinduism, Buddhism, Shinto), or in a thurible in Christian denominations. Another interesting element in this category, is the act of smelling in the Jewish havdalah ritual; here, a container of fragrant spices is passed around for everyone to smell.

For a list of each element in the analysis and the following clustering, see Appendix B.

As mentioned before, this analysis provided the design process with a large bank of elements for inspiration, as well as a deeper understanding of elements across religions and cultures. In the following iteration, it will be seen that the analysis proved a starting point for trying to engage all the senses in the final shrine.

KEY INSIGHT 3: The whole sensory apparatus

As evident from the analysis, religious rituals have a way of engaging the body that extends into the whole sensory apparatus. While gestures and movements are important, the body in all of its richness is brought into the ritual, through multisensorial expressions, triggering both physical and emotional engagement (Petrelli & Light, 2014) This might be connected with Verbeek’s (2007) notion that aesthetics should be extended beyond that of the visual, into the realm of the sensuous, as “perceptions and actions always have an aspect of sensorial contact with reality, which is precisely the point of application for mediation by material artifacts” (p. 209).

6.3 Developing The Shrine

Following the analysis of common artefacts in rituals, a longer sketching-prototyping-sketching period followed, where I sought to explore how the shrine could take form, what ritual it might contain and what artefacts might support this. The form ended up going in the direction of the aforementioned Shinto kamidana, more than e.g. a butsudan or Catholic home altar. A kamidana “has the religious function of endowing space with

purity, sanctity and security” (Nakamaki, 1983, p. 76), and it being the place of worship for many kinds of deities (rather than just one’s ancestors or a specific prophet). A myriad of tools were experimented with, seeking to engage as many senses as possible in the ritual. Some ideas were discarded because of their inability to enchant or inspire, while others sadly had to go because of technical challenges.

Figure 17. Cardboard and wood Prototypes of The Shrine

6.3.1 Elements and ritual

Designing the artefacts and ritual was a constant negotiation. For example, an idea for a ritualistic action would inspire an artefact, or an artefact’s technical challenges would limit the creation of an action, or the other way around. However, the big picture, the ritual designed was one of exchange and communion according to Bell’s (1997) categorization. These rituals “appear to invoke very complex relations of mutual interdependence between the human and the divine.” (p. 109), and fitted well within the context of The Shrine. The puja as earlier mentioned is an example of this kind of ritual.

Figure 18. Sketches of possible elements in The Shrine

The Shrine contains two kinds of interactions; direct and indirect. The direct interactions are those openly traceable by the user, the kind of elements that have a cause and effect. The indirect are those developing over time, that might be more peripheral. In the final prototype the latter are (unfortunately) the ones that suffered the time constrictions the most, but they include elements such as sounds playing, slight changes in the representation of the spirit and flickering in the lights on The Shrine. The more direct interactions and elements are described in the following.

The yorishiro

In the evaluation in Section 6.1.3, the idea of an interactive yorishiro or shintai was presented. The idea was much supported, and having an object for the spirit to manifest itself in at the center of The Shrine was therefore the object of much sketching and prototyping. Various ideas for a non-traditional display and manifestations were contemplated, but a screen with a graphical representation of the spirit was chosen for a number of reasons. Firstly, this allowed to work with the metaphor of the traditional shintai; a small round mirror that the deity manifests itself in. Using elements of existing ritualistic practice, but in novel ways seemed compelling. Secondly, the mirror itself offered possibilities. With inspiration from the Fenestra project (Uriu & Odem, 2016), mirror glass was placed in front of a display, so that one could see both the screen and one’s reflection. Seeing one’s own face when reflected in the manifestation of the spirit when looking at the display then could perhaps evoke feelings of contemplation.

Figure 19. Software sketches of the representation of the spirit

The access point

In order for the ritual to start and the “spirit” to be summoned, some kind of action from the user should be required. One idea that persisted for a long time was the idea of a touch on The Shrine itself. This interaction, for example with a LED candle, could be seen as an intimate and tranquil way of commencing the ritual. However, it came with more technical challenges than first anticipated. Capacitive sensing was explored thoroughly, but proved to be too unstable. The same was the case for using an LDR sensor. It was therefore regretfully decided to abandon interaction with mere touch. Instead, an older idea of a wireless access point in The Shrine was brought forward, which proved to have some very interesting perspectives in regards to symbolism (this will be discussed in the next session). To commence the ritual, the user connects their phone to the wifi emitted by The Shrine,

which then sets the rest of the ritual in motion. The network is not connected to the www, but in a further development of the project, it would be interesting to explore having a network for all the people currently using their shrines.

Welcoming gesture

Following the summoning of the spirit, it would only be fitting to bid it welcome. Gesture-based interactions are very common in how we communicate with technology today, so it would be interesting to explore this bodily mode of interaction in The Shrine too. Here, a Leap Motion controller, capable of reading hand movements, was prototyped with. Many gestures were experimented with, for example swipes and taps. However, these did not feel quite respectful enough. A sort of “rising” movement with the hand was then tried out, which evoked a more appropriate feeling of honoring. However, despite of the use of machine learning to recognize the gesture, the gesture recognizing proved too unstable. A simple distance sensor was experimented with instead, and through a serendipitous encounter, the act of bowing in front of The Shrine was adopted as the welcoming gesture.

Figure 20. Sketching and prototyping with Leap Motion and distance sensor

Offerings

In rites of exchange and communion a form of sacrifice or offering is often seen. This was also a recurring element in the analysis in Section 6.2. Various ideas for offerings were contemplated; what would the internet spirit approve of? The donation of electricity was considered, either through blowing on a fan or plugging in a cord. Some smartphones have the ability to charge other devices, which would indeed be very symbolic. Taking some power from your own device and donating it to The Shrine. However, in the end, a more traditional offering was decided upon; water. In cultures across the world you see earthly gifts for the gods. Fruit, rice, wine, sweets, even cigarettes. Water then, could symbolize the act of co-creating the internet, a metaphor for contributing to the spring of

life. The interaction would be to pour water from one flask to another, which could be detected by the use of capacitive sensing.

Figure 21. Sketching on the offering element Clapping

The act of clapping one’s hands is yet another element seen in much religious practice, for instance the kashiwade, which is a part of visiting a Shinto shrine. Here the clapping of one’s hands is done in order to attract the attention of the enshrined deity and express appreciation to the god. This interaction is both a gesture, as well as one of sound. Furthermore, by setting a specific number of claps (in this case, three) it adds an element of formality to the ritual, especially in combination with the initial bow and offerings.

6.3.2 Visual aesthetics

As The Shrine is inspired by a number of religions from across the world, a rather clean and ambiguous aesthetic was sought for. If people did not immediately think of a specific religion upon seeing The Shrine it might be easier to accept the story of an artefact belonging to a future religious organization. However, The Shrine did draw inspiration from modern Japanese home altars, as well as irreligious and pagan examples of home altars found on the internet.

Figure 22A and 22B. Modern Japanese home altars. 22A: kuyoのカタチ, n.d. 22B:(Inori Orchestra, n.d.

Figure 23A and 23B. Home altars. 23A: Free People, 2015. 23B: Kunderman, 2017

6.3.3 The Book of Clouds

A set of sacred texts, The Book of Clouds, was conceptualized as a way of supporting the speculative narrative of The Shrine. As argued by Dunne & Raby (2013), a fictional narrative can help the user to suspend their disbelief and engage in the design on a reflective level. The Book offers a guide to The Shrine. Furthermore, it allows for many of the ideas that had occured throughout the design process to be a part of the final project. The ideas in the Book includes the following.

Mythology

Religions often have a set of central stories, the mythology. These are tales explaining our origins, place in the world, our conditions for existing in society and in history (Bellinger, 1993). Myths do not necessarily have base in reality, but rather the metaphysical truths are the central. The Book of Clouds includes an excerpt from the mythology, this one about the Dot-com bubble - “A myth of villains and heroes, of pride, arrogance and flying too close to the sun”.

Proclamations from prophets Quotes from one of the prophets, Tim Berners-Lee3, including “This is for everyone” and “I hope we will use the Net to cross barriers and connect cultures”.

Suggested pilgrimage routes

For example, the small village of Nørre Nebel in Denmark where the TAT-14 transatlantic internet cable connects Denmark to the United States.

3 The inventor of the World Wide Web 38

7. Focus group

In order to gain insight into whether or not the design could fulfill its goal of creating a reflective experience, probing people to contemplate their relationship with the internet, a focus group was held. The focus group was chosen over single interviews as I was interested in what kind of discussions the design could open up for amongst people. While The Shrine is created as a single-user experience, the timeframe of this project did not allow for long-term engagements with users. Thus, the focus group was chosen, because it creates a space where individuals collectively make sense of- and construct meaning about the phenomena studied (Bryman, 2012). Seeing that the idea and ideals about The Shrine are rather abstract and perhaps alienating, the focus group seemed like the perfect opportunity for a group of people to understand and discuss it together. Taking departure in The Shrine as a speculative design concept, the goal of the focus group (as well as The Shrine in general) was to get people to reflect upon ethical and social issues related to the internet; its role in our lives, how we feel about it, what it is and can be, how we imagine it could be in the future, and so on. The focus group also sought to debate the role of The Shrine as a conversation starter and provocateur. What use does such a design have and what kind of discussions will it prompt?

7.1 Selection of respondents

Out of the people invited to join the focus group, four were able to make it. The participants were split equally between genders and in the age-range of 25-30. The group all had prior knowledge of this thesis project, some in depth, some on a more superficial level. Two were students of interaction design, two came from other fields. The group was what is in Bryman (2012) referred to as a naturally occurring group, meaning that all participants knew each other beforehand. This has the potential weakness of the group operating with taken-for-granted assumptions, and that their pre-existing styles of interaction or status might contaminate the session (Bryman, 2012). However, it might also result in the discussion being more natural and comfortable, which I chose to value highly, as the subject to be discussed might be abstract and provocative. My assumption was that people who are comfortable with each other might have an easier time discussing such a topic.

7.2 Overview

The focus group was split into three parts, each with a break in between. Each session lasted between 25-35 minutes.

The focus group began with an introduction to the focus group and its structure, as well as a quick recap of the project. Immediately following this, the first session began, which was concerned with the participants’ current relationship with the internet. The second session started with the participants being introduced to the prototype of The Shrine (set at the table we were sitting at) and being shown the video demonstration of it (see Section 1.2). They were then asked to discuss and reflect on the speculative question which in many ways has driven this design process: What if the internet was god? The last session was about the speculativeness of the design, and if creating such a design could be of any value. Notes from the focus group can be found in Appendix C.

7.3 Notable findings

While the discussion around the table is certainly interesting as a whole, I have chosen to extract certain points which are of particular interest to the project. Some of these are things that surprised me, some are things that confirmed my assumptions about the design and topic.

7.3.1 Can you have a relationship with the internet?

Much of this project relies on the assumption that people have, and can have, a relationship with the internet. However, asking about the participant’s relationship with the internet resulted in different answers than first anticipated. The discussion quickly became concerned with what the participants used the internet for, mentioning things such as getting work done, relaxing (watching movies and series, browsing entertainment sites), searching for information (both for school and personal enlightenment), getting news, and so on. The discussion was more factual and practical than emotional, which suggests that the relationship is one of utilitarian value, rather than emotional value. The lack of being able to define one’s relationship with the internet might also have to do with the fact that the internet was several times described as something very abstract.

However, later in the discussion, partially encouraged by myself, the conversation did shift towards being more emotionally based. As an example, the participants talked about feeling safe when using the internet, and about elder generations not experiencing the same level of comfortability and safety. “When I talk to people who don’t feel at ease with technology, I realize how bad the internet can be“. Other negative aspects were also brought up, for example it being a very stressful thing, or that people misuse the openness and freedom online. “Just as much as I appreciate the fact that the internet is open and free, just as scary can that thought be [...] that it’s open and free”. One participant explicitly said that he only felt emotions towards the internet when it was not working as intended. Others agreed that they could have many emotional responses to the internet, but it was the content, not the entity itself that evoked these feelings. This suggests that the participants saw the internet (as in the technology) and the content online as something separate.

7.3.2 A provocative question

When asked ‘what if the internet was god’, one participant in particular seemed provoked about the question. To him, it was far too wide in scope, and he asked me to clarify and concretize it. However, as Bryman (2012) stresses the importance of minimal moderator involvement, I let the participants explore the question without my own interference, a discussion that rendered particularly fruitful. In order to understand the question, the participants engaged with it from many angles, asking each other “what if it meant this, what if it meant that”. This led to a wide range of discussions, considering and constructing different possible worlds where the internet and religion merged. As such, the ambiguity and vagueness of the ‘what if’ questions proved to be fruitful, as it allowed for a wide range of understandings and reflections, which might not have been discussed had the question been more concrete and narrow in scope.

7.3.3 Manifesting something abstract

As mentioned before, the internet was described as something quite abstract and taken for granted by the participants. One defined it as “It’s an omnipresent thing that’s just there”. Another stated that “I think it’s quite abstract for me. In some way, I’m aware that I use it. I feel like I reflected a lot in my everyday life, but with the internet I don’t think I do. I don’t reflect on the fact that I use it. I feel like it’s just a thing that’s ‘there’”. The Shrine was designed in order to address just that lack of reflection, which the participants agreed could be valuable: “For someone [who] doesn’t reflect that much on the technology they use, this [the shrine] might be of value, because you can sit down and use technology actively, but at the same time have a meditative moment”. It was also described as a “space for reflection” From the discussion it seems that the physicality of the artefact could help with creating this space for reflection. The participants discussed how the boundaries between the physical and the virtual are blurry, and at times completely gone, but that the internet is still thought of as something existing outside of real life. This duality could be hard to comprehend. To help bring the internet into the same realm as us, the physicality of The Shrine might make a difference. “Make it less abstract in a way [...] today the internet is very flighty, whereas something like that [the shrine] can make it more tangible and manageable.” Someone brought up the idea of an app instead, but the discussion concluded that having a physically present artefact in your home would be more beneficial, as it would make it more present. “The physical presence would remind me of using it, an app I would have to seek out [open] myself”

8. Discussion and research outcomes

As the design process has shown, this research project has been a continuous development of phrasing the problem, acquiring knowledge (be it through reading, inquiring or designing) and rephrasing again.

This section seeks to bring together some of the most important insights gained from the research project and concentrate them into core findings, which answer the research questions stated in the beginning of this paper:

What kind of interactive artefact might exist in a possible future where the internet has taken the role of religion today?

How could the process of designing and assessing such an artefact take shape?

What similarities exist between interaction design and religious practice, and what can interaction design learn from religious practice?

To sum up, the final prototype is a domestic shrine, an artefact that might exist in a possible future where computational technology has taken the role of religion today. This artefact should be seen as the answer to the first research question, and the design process behind it as partly answering the second. The Shrine offers its owner an interactive devotive experience with the internet, through a series of ritual actions and artefacts. These are used to summon a spirit (a representation of the internet) and interact with it. Through the ritual, the spirit will change shape, sound will play, and the owner’s body and mind will be engaged. The Shrine is built around the category of rites referred to as “exchange and communion” (Bell, 1997), and seeks to provide a tranquil and reflective way of engaging with the internet, as more than a utilitarian mediator. The ritual is used as a way to set the experience apart from everyday life and establish an encounter where experiential meaning can emerge (Levy & Hengeveld, 2016).

8.1 A speculative artefact

Used as a debate-starter and discussion piece, The Shrine was the center of a focus group in which the participants discussed, reflected on, and collaboratively constructed meaning about issues surrounding the internet. Through the speculative nature of the design, the participants engaged with matters of technology, religion and society, discussed possible futures, ethical concerns, and personal experiences. This focus group also plays a large role in assessing the design and thus answering the second research question.

8.1.1 Creating a space for discussion and reflection

The process of creating The Shrine has been one of imagining and speculating, but also one of seeking to create a space for other people’s imagining and speculation. As explained in Section 3.2.1, the aesthetics of the speculative is heavily inspired by Dunne & Raby’s Do You Want To

Replace The Existing Normal?, where the artefacts are subtle, simple in form and function, but curious, strange and poetic. The Shrine seeks to mimic this poetic expression and space for imagining. The artefact is designed in such a way that it is simple and straightforward, while with obvious religious connotations. It is meant to be inviting, leaving the provocation to exist in the questions the artefact asks, and in the internal and external debate it creates - not in its physical expression. As evident from the focus group, the topic of mixing technology and religion did indeed provoke a discussion, while the artefact itself (aesthetically-wise) remained largely uncommented, except for a minor discussion of its religious shape.

While it would be intriguing to see the results of placing the final prototype “in the wild”, in order to get deeper insights into how it might be perceived over a longer engagement, the discussions that emerged upon presentation of the concepts were valuable for assessing the success of the design too. According to Dunne and Raby (2013), speculative design is about creating a space for discussion and debate, to inspire and to think about other ways of being. In the focus group, The Shrine was able to initiate and support a discussion among the participants, which would not have materialized unprovoked. As one participant stated “I don’t think it’s a conversation a lot of people would bring up normally”. And while a discussion does not have value on account of being novel, I deem it to be of value to debate and reflect on the internet, as well as religion. As such, the focus group helped validate that The Shrine shows signs of being a successful speculative design piece, as well as the value of such artefacts.

8.1.2 Physicality matters

Dunne and Raby (2013) stresses the value of presenting speculative artefacts as real products, in order for people to explore issues in the context of normal life. As such, the debate becomes grounded in the mundane, everyday life, rather than existing solely in our imaginations. While the participants in the focus group did not have a chance to engage with the design in its intended setting, most shared the belief that its physical presence in their home would create an interesting and valuable space for reflection. As evident from the initial discussion, people find the idea of having a relationship with the internet difficult to grasp, and the whole of the internet was seen as a very abstract entity. The participants saw the internet largely as a tool that’s ‘just there’, however, throughout the discussion it emerged that it is also an entity that carries more implications and emotions than just that. By having The Shrine in one’s home, the physical presence could act as a reminder for engaging in a reflection about technology, which was seen as healthy. As such, the act of embodying something as abstract as the internet (the phenomena, rather than the ‘tool’) into a physical artefact in the context of everyday life, could be seen as a valuable way of helping people engage with it.

8.3 Learning from religion

The third research question is about the similarities between interaction design and religious practice, and what interaction design might learn from religious practice. While some of these things were elaborated upon in the key learnings in the design process, the following section will seek to unfold on it more.

8.3.1 Engaging the body

As seen in the rituals section (4), and as made clear by the insights from the design process, religion (and religious rituals in particular) knows that there is a strong relationship between mind and body. Bodily actions in particular can be used to reinforce and supplement what happens in our minds. The abstractness of religious ideas and ideals can be manifested in the physical world through rituals, artefacts and practices. As such, the metaphysical attains a physical dimension. Religious practice embodies the idea of religious thought in the everyday world, both as a way to convey ideas and strengthen them. When performing ritualized actions, what happens in the realm of the mind is backed up, expressed and emphasized in the physical realm. This can be seen as related to the idea of embodiment and embodied interaction as presented in Section 2.2. Embodied interaction emphasizes direct experiences, rather than abstract ones. It capitalizes on our knowledge of the world, and occurs in real time and space. Thus, by involving physical actions in a mental exercise such as praying or meditating, an extra dimension of meaningfulness is added to the activity, as embodiment is a foundational out of which meaning and action arise (Dourish, 2001). I would argue that this holistic approach to being in religious practice, is certainly relevant to the field of interaction design. If we consider both the mind and the body when designing experiences with computation, there is a potential for creating more profound encounters. Of course, we have to be mindful of how we negotiate this relationship between mind and body. Artificially engaging the body in pointless interactions simply for the sake of activating the body, will likely not create a more embodied experience. However, by incorporating bodily actions that matches the experiences we want to create, we might be able to heighten the user’s experience of the engagement. This could be by using easy and unhurried movements in a design that should be calming to engage with, or more symbolic movements, such as the bow in the ritual of The Shrine.

8.3.2 Engaging the senses

This project has gone through an interesting re-framing, starting with an interest in the bodily, going over tangible computing, and ending with a pursuit in sensory engagement. While these might not seem that distant, focusing on all of the senses seem to open up a whole new world of interesting interactions. There are absolutely many interaction designers and researchers who focus on engaging more of the sensory apparatus in interaction with technology. The vastness of the field of

tangible interaction indeed proves an interest in moving computation closer into the world that we, humans with bodies, inhabit. However, at times one might feel as tangible interaction is just a slight improvement of Igoe & O’Sullivan’s classic illustration (2004) (see Figure 24). Does a full hand really make a big difference, or is it just another way of our limited possibility of engaging with computers?

Figure 24. Igoe & O’Sullivan’s “How the computer sees us” (2004) vs. how a TUI sees us? (my illustration)

Looking at the richness of religious practice in relation to our bodies, there is so much inspiration to obtain. In addition to the concept of engaging the body in an experience, religious practice acknowledges that in being bodies, we are sensorous beings; the body is not restricted to the locomotor system. This is something that religious practice has known for centuries; it uses the whole sensory apparatus in order to bring us closer to the gods. This project should therefore also be seen as a contribution to the increasing importance of the sensuous in embodied interaction. The direct, physical experiences we have should be extended to all aspects of being a sensing human. What kind of experiences can happen when we encounter technology embodied on all levels? Interaction design has a strength in its ability to engage us in interacting with technology in a way that goes beyond traditional screen-based HCI. We are recognized as humans with bodies. However, with fear of much repetition, the involvement of a greater part of our sensory apparatus is still generally lacking in our field. While The Shrine, in its current form, did not address all the senses, the possibilities for development are there.

9. Conclusion

This research project set out on an endeavour to explore the internet as something more than utilitarian, through imagining a possible future where the internet has taken on the role of religion today. By engaging with this speculative future in an iterative design process, an interactive home altar, called The Shrine, was created. The Shrine seeks to provide the user with a tranquil and positive experience, focusing on the utopian aspects of the internet, rather than the utilitarian and sometimes dystopian encounters we have with the technology today. In doing so, it opens up a space for reflection about the user’s relationship with the internet, as well as for imagining and speculating in possible futures with technology. Thus, the goal of this design project was not to create a utility or real product, but rather to create a design that would inspire wonderment and reflection. In order to do this, the design process drew on inspiration from a wide range of religious artefacts, experimented with hardware and software, and sought to create a design that is simple in form and function, but curious and open. A design that can create a space for discussion about the internet, our relation to it, and the issues surrounding it.

In addition to using religion as a frame for speculating in possible futures, religion, and notably religious rituals, were explored due to their perceived potential for creating an engaging and reflective experience. Through the design process, the focus increasingly shifted towards engaging the body, not just the mind. Religion and ritual has a way of combining the physical and the philosophical into experiences that are holistic; the practice of one’s devotions are brought into the world which we humans inhabit. Interaction design too, especially tangible computing and related fields, has a tradition of using the physical world, here in relation to our engagements with computation. Thus, both are about the relation between us humans and something belonging in a seemingly other world - whether this be computation or a god. However, when examining ritualistic actions, it became clear that the body in these are not limited to something that can move and touch. It is much richer and can involve all the senses. This was found to be very intriguing in relation to interaction design, where much of the interactions we see today still exist in the realm of touch, albeit beyond simply tapping on a screen.

To conclude, this thesis project is a speculative design piece, which seeks to create a positive encounter with the internet, by engaging the user in an interactive experience inspired by religious rituals. By engaging the body and the mind, The Shrine seeks to open up a space for reflection about the internet as something more than utility.

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Appendix A

Early talks with people about religion

Talk 1

With Friend 1, 26 years old, agnostic / non believer 18th of March

This conversation started when prompted about what I was doing for my thesis. Therefore it began by me introducing what I was doing for a topic (at that time defined as 'speculating in a possible future in where computers have taken on the role of religion in today's society')

Explained Bard's concept of religion envy and asked if she could recognize that. Her answer: - Definitely feels religion envy. - It would be really nice to have something to project one’s frustration onto, when times are hard and you are going through some stuff. - “I am not the master of this”. - Believing that someone else is in control - comforting.

Talk 2

Relative 1, 62 years old, atheist 18th of March

This conversation started when prompted about what I was doing for my thesis. A short introduction to the topic (see above) was made. She seemed sceptic of the idea of using religion in such a project, but when explained deeper, could see how it would be interesting

Explained Bard's concept of religion envy and asked if she could recognize that. - Somewhat. - Religion is escapism. - A nice way of saying “It’s not my fault” when something goes wrong - Of course this appeals to people, it seems comforting, but I don't feel envy

Talk 3

Friend 2, 30 years old, non believer and has studied philosophy 28th of March

This person knew the grand scheme of my project, but this conversation sprung out of an in-depth description of my visions at the time. At this point the focus was on religion, but also mythology and rituals.

Her comments: - We’re missing “the great narratives” (Lyotard). - Religion (and later ideology) provided us with these, but they are missing in our current society (the postmodern). - It would be interesting to talk about the internet as a Great Narrative. Could it be the one we're missing?

Later, I asked her about the concept of religion envy - Can relate to the concept - Envies especially the community that seems to surround religion, how religious people often have a strong sense of community.

Appendix B

Common elements in rituals

Sound Ghanta - hindu bell Standing bell / singing bell - Buddhist instrument Suzu - Shinto bells Wooden fish - mahayana Buddhist

Dhikr - sufi chanting of prayer Chanting - e.g. Buddhist monks Hymns - christian songs

Smell Dhupa incense sticks Thurible - incense burner. Catholic / ortodox Smelling of spices - part of Jewish Havdalah ritual

Taske Eumbok - part of korean memorial rite Eucharist Challah bread

Gestures and Movements Kneeling - some christianity and judaism Ruku & Sujud - Muslim bowing Kashiwade - Shinto clapping (between this and sound)

Wudu - Muslim washing Mikveh - jewish bath Baptism - christian sacrament

Prayer beads - e.g. rosary, misbaha, juzu

Lightning a candle - i.e. Hinduism

Offerings Food - cooked or uncooked. Rice, fruit, sweets Jesa - korean memorial rite with food offerings Pchum benh - cambodian festival incl. food offerings to monks. And rice throwing Atang - filipino food offering Sur - tibetan Buddhist flour, sweets & dairy Incense Beverage - i.e. grape wine, rice wine Water Flowers Spirit money - burnt paper offerings

Appendix C

Notes from the focus group (in Danish, which was the language the group was conducted in)

[Intro til tidsplan, format, osv. + Kort gennemgang af projektet, problemformulering, process, resultat]

Hvad er jeres forhold til internettet? Er det positivt/negativt? Ser i det som et værktøj eller mere end det? Hvor meget påvirker det jeres liv og har indflydelse på jeres liv? ● “Internettet er en kæmpe del af mit liv” (33% af dagligdag, mindst) ○ Praktiske ting ○ Afslappende ting - netflix, youtube ○ Holde sig opdateret på verden ○ Kan være bevidst eller ubevidst ● Internettet er en stor del af hverdagsaktivitet, det tænker man måske ikke så meget over ● Arbejde ● “Jeg tror ikke jeg er så bevidst om at jeg bruger det” ○ Tænker ikke jeg gør det så meget, men det gør jeg nok ● Tidssluger ○ “Ond tidssluger” ○ “Underholdning, lige her” ■ Både underholdning, og måske for meget underholdning ● Arrangere rejse ○ Faren ved at være et sted er blevet fjernet, fordi der er så meget oplysning på nettet ● Opgaveløsning, informationssøgning ○ Skole ○ Personligt

● Er virkeligt “powerful” værktøj ● Føler mig sikker på internettet ○ Kan godt forstå at forældre, bedsteforældre kan være skræmt over hvor stort det er ■ Blive fanget i hvad vi synes er “nemme” fælder ■ Frygt for at blive hacket (folk der ikke er vokset op med det) ■ Uoverskuelig instans

○ Internettet kan være rigtig dårligt for folk der ikke er indfødte “Når jeg snakker med folk der ikke føler sig tilpas med teknologi, går det virkelig op for mig hvor dårligt internettet kan være. Når mine forældre fx. ikke kan finde ud af internettet” ○ Det er pga. internettet at folk kan blive fishet osv. ○ Der sker alt muligt du måske ikke har kontrol over (hvis man ikke er “os”) ○ Ting vi synes er simple er rigtig svært for andre ○ “Lige så meget som jeg værdsætter at internettet er åbent og frit, lige så skræmmende kan den tanke være [...] at det er åbent og frit!” ■ Free speech kan godt blive problematisk, bare fordi det er internettet skal ting st

Spørger til det mere følelsesladet, mere hvis det var en person. ● “Det er jo sådan en allestedsnærværende ting som bare er der. Man opdager næsten først når ens wifi ikke duer eller man kommer et sted hen hvor der ikke er nogen forbindelse, hvor meget man egentlig har brug for det.” ○ Man opdager først hvor meget man har brug for det når det ikke er der ■ Kan være rigtig stressende ● Kan være stressende - for nem overspringshandling ○ For tilgengængeligt ○ Kan give dårlig samvittighed ○ Så er det problematisk ● “Internettet for mig kan være mange forskellige ting, afhængig af mange forskellige situationer”. ○ Meget kontekstbaseret ○ Kan være mange ting for folk ■ Ligesom religion kan ○ Kan være beroligende, ligesom religion kan ○ Kan være bedøvende - der er der at overspringshandlingerne kommer ind ■ Man reflekterer ikke over det i situationen ● “Jeg tror at det er ret abstrakt for mig. På en eller anden måde, så ved jeg jo godt at jeg bruger det. Jeg føler at jeg reflekterer ret meget i min hverdag, men lige med internettet så tror jeg ikke at jeg gør det. Jeg reflekterer ikke over at jeg bruger det, jeg føler bare at det er sådan en ting der er der.” ○ “Det gør jeg heller ikke. Jeg ser på ingen måde internettet som en person.” ● Det eneste følelsesmæssige jeg har, er når det ikke virker ○ Men man kan have følelsesmæssige oplevelser på nettet, men det er indholdet ○ Kan dog godt personificere internettet, som “gruppe” ■ “Internettet har det for vildt over det her”

● Farmor har svært ved at skelne mellem computeren og internettet ○ Grænserne er slørede ○ Det er også efterhånden totalt sammensmeltet ○ “Tingen ligger i skyen” ■ Sky-metaforen hjælper måske til at forstå det ○ I gamle dage var der en handling ved at gå på nettet - modemmet. Nu er det helt seamless.

[The Shrine præsenteres og videoen af det vises]

For at åbne debatten lidt op, vil jeg gerne starte med det spekulative spørgsmål ‘Hvad hvis internettet var gud’. Hvordan ville verden se ud og være? Positiv/negativ? Kunne internettet blive set som gud? ● Har karaktertræk til fælles ○ Usynligt ○ Uforståeligt (for nogle) ■ Dog, grundet i videnskab ○ Altvidende ○ Allestedsnærverende ○ Nogle gange ● Ritualer omkring det ○ Folk inkorporerer det så meget i deres hverdag ■ “Abstrakt og heroppe, men praktisk i hverdagen” ○ Oprette og slette profil - dåb og begravelse ○ Hvad er forskellen mellem ritual og rutine? ■ Ritual: Noget der har spirituel opløftelse ■ Rutine: Noget man gør det, en del af ens hverdag ● Det kan godt være et ritual (recording #2, omkring 4. minut”. Det fylder rigtig meget! Konsekvens (evt. indbildt) af ikke at gøre det. Kan ikke lægge det fra sig. ○ Så religion kan også være en rutine - det er bare noget man gør, “get it over with”. ● Forskellen på 3G og wifi og sammenligning med prototypen ○ Hvis internettet var gud var den mere polyteistisk. Den trådede gud, den trådløse gud ○ At snakke om mobilabonnementer kan blive religiøse retninger ● Hvad hvis internettet er gud? Gud be like “Jeg gider ikke sende jesus ned igen, jeg laver bare internettet”.

● Noget med at vi alle ved at det er hårdt, kan være straffende osv.

● Nogle bliver provokerede af spørgsmålet - hvad betyder det??? ○ Men god diskussion følger:

● “Sådan som jeg forstår spørgsmålet: Hvordan ville verden se ud hvis den gud vi har nu, var internettet? “ ○ Et væsen der er større end os, ● “Jeg tror ikke på gud, så jeg har svært ved at sætte internettet sammen med det” ○ “Jeg tror ikke på biblen” ← Kristent synspunkt ● Hvad ville det betyde hvis der ikke var kristendom osv., men at internettet var religion ○ Ville det betyde at vi fik et større sammenhold? Eller ville vi finde noget andet at skændes ○ Ville der overhovedet være noget forskel? (science (internettet) vs det abstrakte (gud)) ■ Men man vil stadig tro på det gode, tro på noget, osv. ● Kan spørgsmålet (what if) være en bekræftelse af at internettet er gud ○ Vil folk opføre sig anderledes på nettet hvis de vidst at internettet er gud nu? ■ Ville folk være lige så “grove” som de er nu når de er anonyme, osv. ■ Måske kun hvis internettet kan dømme en? ● Er gud dem der er på internettet? Dem der er online, bliver de dømmende. ● Religion: Leveregler. Derefter belønning eller straf (himmel, helvede). Ville der være det hvis internettet var gud ○ Det er der allerede. Internettet (gruppe af mennesker) gør det allerede, dømmer dig. Doxxing, osv. ■ Er det anderledes end hvordan religion er pt.? Man kan blive dømt, lukket ude, osv. ■ Ikke alle får en fair trial på internettet. ■ “Internettet har talt”, man kan blive dømt af en stor, udefinerbar gruppe, som man ikke kan gøre noget ved. ■ Heksejagt ● Voldtægtssag med 1000 sigtede: Konsekvens af noget man havde gjort på internettet! Men ramaskrig ○ De virtuelle bryder ud det fysiske ○ Kendte der bliver fyret pga. ting de har sagt på Twitter

● Både internettet og religion er moraliserende platformer. ○ Dem med mange følgere kan sprede budskabet ■ Hvis internettet er gud, hvem er så gud? Er det dem der har mange følgere? Eller er de præsterne? ● Den kirke du vælger at gå til. ● Du har mulighed for at påvirke din “congregation” ○ MEN man kan også dele positive ting. ■ Gofundme til en der ikke har råd til kræftbehandling ■ Bodypositivity på instagram ■ At gå på internettet er generelt en positiv ting ● Hurtigt indblik i andre folks liv ● Lærerigt ● Hvis internettet er gud og dømmer og bestemmer alt - det er lidt farligt ○ Hvis internettet er alt dømmende, altvidende, er det så ikke lidt ligesom gud nu? (Der er mange onde mennesker der lever, mange gode der dør). Life aint fair, men gud prøver hvad hen kan. Ligesom at gud burde kigge nogle andre steder, burde internettet så ikke også? ○ Hvis internettet var gud, så ville det ikke være en tilgivende gud. Internettet dømmer hurtigt og glemmer aldrig ■ Det har kristendommen i det mindste ● Men der er også så mange gode ting ved det! ○ Internettet kan få mirakler til at ske ○ Hjælp til sygdom, opmærksomhed på sager man ikke kendte til, osv.

Er der værdi i et design som dette? I et spekulativt design der er sat i verden. ● Som designer skaber du en verden om at internettet er gud, og i den process ligger der nogle tanker osv. om verden, religion, internettet, osv. ● Som interaktionsdesigner kan jeg få noget inspiration fra religion ○ Minder om headspace app’en, rent designmæssigt ○ Fedt hvis der var mere af det i teknologi ● For nogle der ikke reflekterer så meget kan det måske have værdi at sætte sig ned med et stykke teknologi og meditere ○ En form for refleksionsrum, hvor man tænker over at man bruger det ■ Kan gøre det mindre abstrakt, internettet er meget flyvsk, mit artefakt kan gøre det mere håndholdt ■ Hvis det eksisterer i ens hjem, bliver man ikke tvunget til at reflektere, men det bliver måske lettere

● Det er nok ikke en samtale jeg ville have normalt, men det fysiske tager det mere ned på jorden, gør at man kan føle sig mere “connected” med internettet på een eller anden måde ■ Meditativt moment - en sund rutine. ● Det er en værdi - det er ikke nok lige at sige “reflektér lige over det her” ● “Er der værdi i spekulativt design som alteret, ikke bare spekulativt design generelt?” ○ Fascination af teknologi, vil gerne være forsøgskanin ■ For at se hvad det ville gøre ■ Men har ikke brug for at reflektere over ritualer i teknologi ■ (Har ikke noget med designet at gøre, har noget med tro at gøre) ○ “Men den er vel ikke lavet til religiøse mennesker?” ■ Diskussion om det, ja/nej ● “Vigtigt design artefakt fordi det skaber tanker jeg relatere til andre designs” ○ Parallel til spil: Ritualet for ritualets skyld, vs. ritualet for kapitalismens skyld ○ Teknologi er ikke bare neutralt, det er noget der tager stilling til verden ■ Alteret er så anderledes, hvorfor er det anderledes? ● To dele i designet: ○ Hvad er ligheder mellem gud og internettet ○ Bruger det her spørgsmål til at lave et artefakt, som kan bruges til at sige noget om design ● Kan provokere, det har værdi ○ Især hvis man ikke er religiøs ■ Fordi den har en religiøs form ■ Religion ringer en negativ klokke for mange af os vestlige i dag ■ “Det er måske derfor jeg bliver provokeret” ● Ikke pga. form, for den er stille og rolig osv. ● Men mange negative konnotationer til religion

● “For mig er det meget tydeligt at klappet kommer fra japansk religion” ○ Men det er slet ikke tydeligt for alle ○ Klappet er underligt for nogle, fordi man er indoktrineret med at i kirken er man stille ■ Larm er tabu ○ Klappet i shinto er ikke applaus, det er mere ligesom et “amen” ○ Og det er noget man gør for sig selv, det er ikke et fællesskab ■ Modsat “amen” eller “om” sammen, som giver resonans sammen, som giver en ophøjelse idet man gør det sammen

● Kan fungere som artefakt til at diskutere religion ○ I sydøstasien er religion meget mere tydeligt - altre på alle gadehjørner, munke på gaden, daglige ofringer, osv. ■ Men langt mere individuelt, noget folk gør, end i USA fx. hvor det bliver “shoved down my throat” ● På den måde er det mere “tydeligt” i USA ● Men i sydøstasien bliver det brugt ○ I DK skal du ind i en kirke for at finde religionen ○ I USA er det også tydeligt, bibel på alle hotelværelser ○ Sydeuropa, jomfru maria på hver bjergtop ● Når du ikke kan finde noget på internettet er du først lost - “God has forsaken me”

Sidste punkt, har nogen noget at sige?

● Emnet har været tabu for nogen at fortælle om ○ Det kan være rigtig svært at forklare ● “Er det så slang for husalter?” ○ Kunne være kritik af mindless tv-kigning

● I vores diskussion har det været meget gud (tro), internettet (science) ○ Men der er jo også folk som mener at tro er over science, mere faktuelt

● Gør alteret det egentlig mere håndgribeligt, eller bliver det bare mere abstrakt?

● Vi kan se at internettet virker. MEN for 99% af befolkningen, er det så

● Hvad gør det at den er fysisk, ikke app? (Spørgsmål fra V) ○ Alteret kunne have en funktion til at lave et ritual omkring at lægge telefonen “i seng” ■ Henter den om morgenen igen, ritual omkring at man bliver forbundet til internettet igen ○ Jeg tror ikke det ville gøre en forskel for mig om det var en app ■ “Den fysiske tilstedeværelse ville minde mig om at gøre det, en app så skal jeg selv gå ind på den” ○ En app ville konkurrere med reddit, facebook, tinder, osv. ■ Fysikaliten giver den fyld i verden

■ Den er stille, modsat det “larmende” i apps ○ Noget omkring det at der er blomster i den, så skal man passe den ■ Blomster, reference til naturen ■ Blomster er levende ■ Blomster er pæne, rart at kigge på, det er måske nok, behøver ikke have den store mening ○ Hvorfor er det vigtigt for metaforen og fortællingen? ■ Noget andet end telefonen - gud er over det hele ● Og går ud i det fysiske