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The University of Southampton
Winchester School of Art

Pythiatechnics: The Ethology of Playful Media Design: Seth Giddings  Seminar

Seth Giddings
Time:
16:00 - 17:30
Date:
28 October 2015
Venue:
Harvard Suite (Room Number 3032), WSA

Event details

Media theory tends to regard its objects as operating in the past or present tense. Media are either mnemotechnical - prosthetic memories, recording and archiving actual and fictional past events (books, photographs, films, some social media), or they are of the moment - instantaneous and synchronous communication (telephones, email, other social media). Media design however is by its nature pythiatechnical: it is oracular, looking to and shaping the future. It anticipates and configures objects and behaviours yet to come. Taking recent research on the production and testing of a mobile dance app/game as a case study, this talk will explore the complex relationships of technology, culture, and environment through which digital media design imagines, shapes and configures its future players and play.

Speaker information

Seth Giddings,Seth is a media theorist and artist whose research and teaching explores the intersections of theory and practice in media art and design and of technology and culture in everyday life. He is particularly interested in playful technology, from popular videogames to experimental games and other playful systems. Recent projects include his book Gameworlds: virtual media and children’s everyday play (New York: Bloomsbury 2014), memory-work on LEGO play, and ethologies of the production of playful robots, dance games, playful social media, and digitally augmented playground equipment. www.microethology.net instagram: giddingsseth twitter: @sethgiddings

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