Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Broken probes: toward the design of worn media

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Personal and Ubiquitous Computing Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This article describes the development and use of broken probes: prompted processes of degradation that produce unique identifiers with which to associate and retrieve digitally recorded histories. We offer our design and deployment of Broken Probes as a methodology for eliciting insights into how broken objects and acts of breakage may be given new life through their integration with ubiquitous computing technologies. Based on these developments, we introduce the genre of worn media—a variety of computational material with which to frame and critically examine the manifestation of wear among digital things. We end by discussing how the genre of worn media sensitizes designers and Ubicomp researchers to issues of incompleteness, impermanence, and imperfection to help account for the ethical, material, and historical terms of endurance in a digital age.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9

Similar content being viewed by others

Explore related subjects

Discover the latest articles, news and stories from top researchers in related subjects.

Notes

  1. The application uses computer vision techniques detailed on the Aurasma website: www.aurasma.com/.

References

  1. Banks R (2011) The future of looking back (Microsoft Research)

  2. Barad K (2003) Posthumanist performativity: toward an understanding of how matter comes to matter. Signs 28(3):801–831

    Google Scholar 

  3. Bardzell S, Bardzell J, Forlizzi J, Zimmerman J, Antanitis J (2012) Critical design and critical theory: the challenge of designing for provocation. In: Proceedings of the designing interactive systems conference. ACM, pp 288–297

  4. Benjamin W (2008) The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction. Penguin

  5. Buechley L, Eisenberg M (2009) Fabric PCBs, electronic sequins, and socket buttons: techniques for e-textile craft. Pers Ubiquit Comput 13(2):133–150

    Google Scholar 

  6. Dunne A (1999) Hertzian tales. Royal College of Art, London

    Google Scholar 

  7. Garfinkel H (1967) Studies in ethnomethodology. Englewood Cliffs, NJ

  8. Gaver B, Dunne T, Pacenti E (1999) Design: cultural probes. Interactions 6(1):21–29

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Hallnäs L, Redström J (2001) Slow technology–designing for reflection. Pers Ubiquitous Comput 5(3):201–212

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Haraway D (1988) Situated knowledges: the science question in feminism and the privilege of partial perspective. Fem Stud 14(3):575–599

    Google Scholar 

  11. Holman D, Vertegaal R (2008) Organic user interfaces: designing computers in any way, shape, or form. Commun ACM 51(6):48–55

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Hutchinson H, Mackay W, Westerlund B, Bederson BB, Druin A, Plaisant C, Beaudouin-Lafon M et al. (2003) Technology probes: inspiring design for and with families. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on human factors in computing systems. ACM, pp 17–24

  13. Ingold T (2001) Beyond art and technology: the anthropology of skill. In: Anthropological perspectives on technology, pp 17–31

  14. Ingold T (2006) Walking the plank: meditations on a process of skill. In: Defining technological literacy: towards an epistemological framework. pp 65–80

  15. Jackson SJ (2013) Rethinking repair. In: Boczkowski P, Foot K, Gillespie T (eds) Media meets technology. MIT Press (forthcoming)

  16. Joyce R (2011) Traces of the human presence: antece-dents and precedents. Paper presented at the annual an-tropological association meeting (AAA), Montreal

  17. Jung H, Bardzell S, Blevis E, Pierce J, Stolterman E (2011) How deep is your love: deep narratives of ensoulment and heirloom status. Int J Des 5(1):59–71

    Google Scholar 

  18. Kopplin M (2008) Flickwerk: the aesthetics of mended Japanese ceramics. In: Exhibition catalogue, 28 June–10 August 2008, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithica, NY, USA

  19. Koren L (1994) Wabi-sabi: for artists, designers, poets and philosophers. Imperfect Pub

  20. Küchler S (1987) Malangan: art and memory in a Melanesian society. Man 22(2):238–255

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Lave J (2011) Apprenticeship in critical ethnographic practice. University of Chicago Press

  22. Mishler EG (1999) Storylines: craftartists' narratives of identity. Harvard University Press

  23. Odom W, Pierce J, Stolterman E, Blevis E (2009) Understanding why we preserve some things and discard others in the context of interaction design. In: Proceedings of the 27th international conference on Human factors in computing systems

  24. Odom W, Banks R, Kirk D, Harper R, Lindley S, Sellen A (2012) Technology heirlooms?: considerations for passing down and inheriting digital materials. In: Proceedings of the 2012 ACM annual conference on human factors in computing systems, pp 337–346

  25. Odom W, Banks R, Durrant A, Kirk D, Pierce J (2012) Slow technology: critical reflection and future directions. Group 11(11):30

    Google Scholar 

  26. Ramakers R (2002) Less+ more: droog design in context. 010 Publishers

  27. Rosner DK (2012) The material practices of collaboration. In: Proceedings of the ACM 2012 conference on computer supported cooperative work. pp 1155–1164

  28. Rosner D, Bean J (2009) Learning from IKEA hacking: i’m not one to decoupage a tabletop and call it a day. In: Proceedings of the 27th international conference on Human factors in computing systems. pp 419–422

  29. Rosner D, Daniela K, Ikemiya M, Kim D, Koch K (2013) Designing with traces. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM, pp 1649–1658

  30. Schütte AA (1998) Patina: layering a history-of-use on digital objects, Masters thesis, MIT Media Laboratory, Cambridge, USA

  31. Sengers P, Gaver B (2006) Staying open to interpretation: engaging multiple meanings in design and evaluation. In: Proceedings of the 6th conference on designing interactive systems. pp 99–108

  32. Star SL, Strauss A (1999) Layers of silence, arenas of voice: the ecology of visible and invisible work. Comput Support Cooperative Work (CSCW) 8(1–2):9–39

    Google Scholar 

  33. Turkle S (2008) Inner history. The Inner History of Devices

  34. Verbeek PP, Kockelkoren P (1998) The things that matter. Des Issues 14(3):28–42

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Were G (2010) Lines that connect: rethinking pattern and mind in the Pacific. Asian Theatre J 29(2)

  36. Zoran A, Buechley L (2013) Hybrid reassemblage: an exploration of craft, digital fabrication and artifact uniqueness. Leonardo 46(1):4–10

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the participants in this research for their dedicated time, efforts, and stories.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Miwa Ikemiya

  2. Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Daniela K. Rosner

Authors
  1. Miwa Ikemiya
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Daniela K. Rosner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Daniela K. Rosner.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Ikemiya, M., Rosner, D.K. Broken probes: toward the design of worn media. Pers Ubiquit Comput 18, 671–683 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00779-013-0690-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00779-013-0690-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation