record – LABS

Thesis Info

URL where full thesis can be found: www.peripheralfocus.net/images/aether_design_doc.pdf

Keywords: tactile vision, experimental documents, reading, interaction design, interactive art

Abstract: 200-500 words: æther is an interactive, haptic surface for computer mediated visual information that allows for a physical experience of text analogous to the visual experience of whitespace in a poem. It began as an inquiry into how new technologies of representation affect human perception. Acting as a haptic surface for computer mediated visual information, it enables tangible experiences common to painting and sculpture which are rare in digital media. By ‘touching’a narrative thread, one can see it emerge from a sea of text and trace its path throughout the entire narrative. As an alternative interface to the printed word, æther shows how physical form and content can be used to create rich reading environments and thus shed light about the ways in which people read and thus, think. Its goal is to combine body knowledge and visual knowledge to allow readers/writers to think about how reading and writing can inhabit multi-dimensional spaces, how texts ‘feel’, and how they can be navigated by touch.