Web + Emotion = more human
Emoticons have long since been relegated to first-base intimacy. They’re primitive relics of how we express what we can’t say in words. They’re also early avatars or “emblematic figures of contemporary co-presence” according to M.I.T’s Beth Coleman (in her new book, Hello Avatar). But now, Facetime and other video-calling apps have rendered emoticons further into … Read more
Home Truths:World Mobile Congress 2012
Home Truths at the World Mobile Congress 2012 Truth #1: If you’re not napping at the world mobile congress you’re meeting someone. If you’re not meeting someone you’re trying to set up a meeting with someone. If you’re not trying to set up a meeting with someone, then you’re the guy making smoothies at the … Read more
The Mobile Aggressor
This screenshot, taken from the Oscar-shortlisted documentary Mugabe and the White African, is a mesmerizing image. We can hardly consider mobile phones as mere communication tools anymore – they are powerful players in how we defend ourselves. Think of the single girl riding the tram home at night talking into her mobile tacitly signaling she’s … Read more
Angel of Death: tubing and texting. What else?
Even the angel of death tubes and texts at the same time. I spotted him on the Picadilly line en route to central London from Heathrow. There’s a glimpse of coverage just after (or before) Hammersmith and alongside all his fellow passengers he obsessed over messages, music and the web. His mobile fixated him like … Read more
Does SIRI have a heart of stone?
It struck me today after watching Youtube videos about SIRI, Apple’s new iPhone 4S digital assistant, that the thing most people want to do with SIRI is test her/his emotional boundaries. The majority of the clips star male tech fans proudly brandishing newly received iPhones with the programmed female voice*. Typically they start by asking … Read more
Blackberry Break Ups
In a fresh testament to how deep our affective relationships are with mobile phones, last week’s Blackberry out(r)age revealed users “breaking up” with their beloved Blackberrys on Twitter. Amongst all the (by now stale) joke tweets about the Blackberry server crash (What did one Blackberry user say to the other? Nothing…) Blackberry users started posting … Read more
Mapping A City’s DNA
My latest feature published in the Mail&Guardian, South Africa. It’s a relationship rarely considered despite its rigorous reciprocal nature. Undeniably cities are one of our greatest developments and also our accomplices in building social capital, intimacy, innovation and (idealistically) better lives. But how often do we invest time in understanding a city? It was a … Read more
