The social fashioning of emerging communications infrastructures

Abstract

This paper looks at the changing dynamics of the networked experience as new communications infrastructures emerge to support a network body whose disembodied presence is grounded in the necessity of the material. Unlike fixed networks, spontaneous ad-hoc networks rely upon mobile and flexible infrastructure which can dynamically reconfigure based on necessity and circumstance. As these communication devices are integrated into intimate personal objects, into accessories and clothing, the statement that ?the people are the network? becomes increasingly resonant. Within our research group several projects have sought to examine the social infrastructure of transitory ad-hoc networks. This paper presents some of the work developed towards socially fashioning networks, using clothing and accessories as the departure point for exploring the relationships between individuals, artifacts, and the networked entity they comprise. The projects deliberately explore fashion as articles to be worn or carried and how existing understandings of an object?s use and function feed into the experience and interaction of a networked system. The capabilities for these garments to connect, respond, or `remember and forget? give new meaning to the identity of the wearer. The understandings gleaned from these works provide insight into future conceptions of the self and one?s relationship to others, in addition to a more profound understanding of interpersonal and symbolic negotiation within shared `space?.