January 09, 2006
SWITCH issue 21:
Pacific Rim
Electronic Privacy in Asia: What is the effect of the Fantabulous Kawaii Gizmos, Wireless Privacy Daemons (Waveband: 2.4-GHz) & Orientalism by Adrien David Cheok and Roger Thomas Tan, Mixed Reality Lab, National University of Singapore: "There has been a growing debate amongst artists and scientists about the effect of electronic privacy due to the rapid increase and use of mobile digital media devices, which can potentially transmit and receive personal information. We argue that in Asia the concern of attack on privacy due to these digital devices is generally lacking, and this stems froma deep thread of Orientalism in Asian societies even in the digital age...
...Intimacy as Asia’s fundamental cultural essence has reached such a level that it is not uncommon to bathe naked in a group in a bathhouse in Japan. Would knowing his physical whereabouts or stealing pictures of him sitting at his office desk typing away at the computer then bother the average Asian? On the contrary he would more likely to be puzzled than upset at one’s intentions for carrying out such deeds. In Singapore it has become completely common to purchase a “Singtel” camera to monitor ones children in the house while at work, and cameras are ubiquitous in normal office spaces. Thus from a baby to adult the concept of bothering about privacy is much lessened compared to European cultures.
Other articles:
Here Be Dragons!: Bio-art beyond the edge of everything
By Anne Farren and Andrew Hutchison
Department of Design at Curtin University of Technology in Perth, Western Australia
Karaoke Ice: A Night Out
By Nancy Nowacek, Marina Zurkow, Katie Salen and the CADRE City as Interface Group
ISEA 2006 "City as Interface" Residency
Towards New Bodies and New Biologies: Life as Code, Body as Protocol
By Carlos Castellanos
SWITCH Editorial Member
Ladyboys: Human Art
By Skyler Thomas
SWITCH Editorial Member
Playing With Culture: Gaming Across the Pacific Rim
By Christopher Head
SWITCH Editorial Member
SWITCH is the new media art journal of the CADRE Laboratory for New Media of the School of Art and Design at San Jose State University. It has been published on the Web since 1995. We are interested in fostering a critical viewpoint on issues and developments in the multiple crossovers between art and technology. Our main focus in on questioning and analyzing as well as reporting and discussing these new art forms as they develop, in hopes of encouraging dialogue and possible collaboration with others who are working and considering similar issues. SWITCH aims to critically evaluate developments in art and technology in order to contribute to the formation of alternative viewpoints with the intention of expanding the arena in which new art and technology emerge.
Posted by jo at January 9, 2006 05:32 PM
