Assignment 1: Reading and Reflection

Due: Thu, Feb 4, 10:30AM

In the first phase of the course we will review readings and video related to the major course themes: telepresence, presence, absence, and the proxy body.

For this first assignment, please read the assigned article (one of the articles listed below) and write a short blog post on the course site with your analytic reflections. The objective is to identify a theme or question which inspires further thinking, not simply to summarize the content.

Prompts

1. When in doubt, focus: your response may center on a specific point or two and describe your reactions, analysis, and questions. It isn’t necessary to address every point in the source.
2. Sometimes a text raises more questions than it answers.
3. Please write coherent prose, not just notes or a list. This doesn’t need to be long, a well-constructed paragraph or two may be enough.

Reading Selection

• You are to read and write a response for one of the four readings below:
  1. Lauren McCarthy. Feeling at Home: Between Human and AI, Want a Smart Home Assistant? Invite This Artist to Watch You for Three Days Instead
  2. Marisa Gomez. Reconceptualizing Body, Space and Place: Telepresence in Art*
  3. Eduardo Kac. TELEPRESENCE ART
  4. Affective Haptics: Current Research and Future Directions, IEEE Access, 2016, DOI: 10.1109/ACCESS.2015.2497316