TEST

Ok – i’ve found the essay that I wrote for Horizon Zero, and as I’m planning to use this as a space to put those things I don’t use in my day job, I’m going to put it up in three parts. But first a bit of background.

In my previous job, I developed a series of experiments using mobile technology. I also got interested in thinking about the new social behaviours that mobile use was creating, and the historical parallels with the introduction of other new technologies. I strongly believe that there are a few common fantasies that recur with the launch of every new technology, and these tend to be both utopian and dystopian. Inevitably both types are hyperbole, and picking your way between the two is a better way to think about the future. Most of the stuff I find myself idly thinking about, or idly writing, is like this.

In this presentation, I went back to a term that I used half-seriously to describe the experience of mobile telephony – the Temporary Intimate Zone or TIZ – and picked through each part of the phrase to see if it made any sense. Its a rambling essay about public space, discourse, and technology, and doesn’t really go anywhere, but includes most of the ideas that I’d like to think more about, so seems a good place to start this blog from. Well, ignoring the first rant about bad web design, that is…

oh, and yeah, TIZ is meant to be a slightly tongue-in-cheek adaption of Hakim Bey’s TAZ. But I wouldn’t take it too seriously if I was you…