TELEMATICS EXTENDING BODIES
Susan Kozel · The MIT Press eBooks · 2008
This chapter discusses how the barrier between bodies and technologies can be dissolved further by considering Merleau-Ponty’s notion of flesh in the context of wearable computing, in particular, the whisper[s] project. Wearable computing, in which miniaturized and wireless computers are used, facilitates the transportation, storage, communication, and modification of personal data. The chapter draws a line between wearables and bio art, and discusses the concepts of data choreography across bodies and mobile wireless networked devices. It questions whether the use of wearables and ambient technologies falls into the domain of locative media and invites debate from geographers, sociologists, philosophers, locative media artists, and designers. The design and implementation of the whisper[s] research project helps in exploring discourses around locative media in urban spaces.