(IN)TANGIBLE HERITAGE(S)
Abstract
Redefined-coms is a research project that explores the possibility of radically redefining personal telecommunication devices to resonate with alternative notions of identity. Personal Identity is a notoriously difficult concept to characterise. William James famously articulated such complexities in the following statement “Whenever two people meet, there are really six people present. There is each man as he sees himself, each man as the other person sees him, and each man as he really is.” In contrast, the way in which telecommunications systems identify people is straightforward and unchanging. The ‘international mobile subscriber identity’ is an unchanging number that the network utilises to identify your phone, lacking any of the contextually derived information that our real identity is often sensitive towards. The dissonance between our complex personal identity and the reductive telecommunications identifiers, can cause tensions. Social interactions and behaviours are often highly context specific but within tele-coms they are conflated into one device, potentially impacting and impairing the development of our personal identity. Smartphones enable numerous social relations across numerous platforms streamed into our life with few mitigating influences like context, location, social setting, or memory. This research proposes a rethink and an exploration of new possibilities, not in the form of add-ons based within an app, rather a radical rethink of how the fundamentals of the system inform the functionality on an individual level. The methodology taken in the project utilises ‘redefinition design’ methods, which are a special case within the speculative and critical design approach. Due to the ubiquity of smartphones and the limitations related to possible hardware redesign; the project is contextualised within a counterfactual 1970’s timeline. Thus, enabling a fundamental redesign at the point in which the status quo had not been established as the devices and systems where in a state of flux. Three semi-functioning devices make palpable three alternative ways in which identity can be manifested within hardware and the redesigned telecom systems.
Austin Houldsworth is a double graduate of the Royal College of Art and fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He is an Interdisciplinary design practitioner, researcher, educator with a focus on critical & speculative design practice. Austin works as a lecturer in Product Design at the University of Huddersfield, associate lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University, visiting lecturer at Chester University and the Royal College of Art. His research and practice strive to leverage change through the application of design within unfamiliar disciplines. Like reimagining and redesigning monetary systems (‘For moneys sake’ 2018). Building the world’s first prototype human fossilisation machine. Or recently founding the ‘Intergalactic Space Agency’ at the Eden Project. He also runs Ahaaa; a design consultancy that works with industry to develop and run design competitions. Like the founding of the ‘Future of money design awards’ for Consult Hyperion, V&A, Money2020 and the ‘Creative Insight Awards’ for Worldpay.
Alexander Gillott is a lecturer in graphic design at the University of Huddersfield and PhD candidate. With extensive experience in both commercial and academic settings, his work bridges academia and industry. For the past 10 years he has run the design company ‘Gilliot Creative’ and more recently his work has moved towards exploring the commercial viability of slow tech through his PhD research.
9:30 am - 11:00 am
Wednesday 15th June, 2022