Intimacy At Distance 2024

Block Seminar Design Theory 2nd semester

Lecturer:
Dr. Joëlle Bitton

The module takes place over 1 week, from 12h to 16th of February 2024, from Monday to Friday, 9.00-17.00 - see timetable below for details.
(alternating between class on Zoom 12.02&14.02 and class in Toni-Areal 13&16.02). 

Topic

You may have first read the description of this course on the school Intranet or on an email. Your different activities online have probably shifted in the last few years, for instance during the height of the Covid pandemic and then between convenience and functionality, you have taken new habits:  discussing, learning, engaging with the world online, on Zoom, using a co-working platform such as a Miro board, etc. You are using WhatsApp, Discord, TikTok, Instagram or Facebook and many other communication apps on a daily basis, gaming or living part of your life online. This is how you are in touch with your friends, lovers, sexual partners, family… Maybe you even consider yourself “addicted”.

How did we get here? Over the past twenty-five years, the tech industry has built an infrastructure of communicating at distance and of sharing the most intimate parts of ourselves (even the ones we’re not aware of).


Yet, distant communication interfaces are not new: mail - via horse, train, air and more recently, the telephone have played essential roles in the construction of our interactions. And just as the emergence of the phone and the networks in the 19th century enhanced our communication models, the Internet and its palette of services accommodate distance in our daily relations. Each of these systems have set a range of social behaviours that frame our expectations and boundaries. And with every service, we discover how they can allow us to be in a greater mode of intimacy with each other.

Objectives of the course

The aim of the seminar is to reflect on the ways communication and interaction interfaces have modelled our lives and our expectations of relations at distance. We will look at historical case studies, at the field of human connectedness and at how intimacy, sex, friendships, daily conversations are choreographed by online experiences. The seminar is structured as on-going dialogue and the students will work on certain questions each day. In the end, a short essay & a web app experience should be created to showcase an interpretation of the topic.

Structure

The class will be structured around discussions, lectures, presentations of film and literature materials and in-class exercises.

This course will address:

• the affordance of distance for relationships (sexual & non-sexual)
• the field of human connectedness in human-computer interaction

• the ways communities build up around networks 

• the data that is generated and that commodify our conversations

Deliverables

• Assignment 1 (prepare Monday 12.02 afternoon):
  • Read 3 short papers:
    
    1. S. Agamanolis New Technologies for Human Connectedness, 2005
    2. J. Bitton Distance and Sexuality, 2006
    3. D. Leithinger, S. Follmer, A. Olwal, H. Ishii Physical Telepresence, 2014
  • Write 2-3 paragraphs about each paper with your impressions, questions, remarks (what concept is new to you, inspiring aspects, positions you disagree with, etc..) - send notes by email by on 12.2 by 19.00
  • Send a Postcard 
  • Watch Sherry Turkle Ted Talk (see below in references)
    
    
• Assignment 2 (prepare Tuesday 13.2 afternoon): 
  • Read 2 papers:
    1. D. van Bel,  W. IJsselsteijn, Y. de Kort Interpersonal Connectedness, 2018
    2. A. Watson, D. Lupton, M. Michael Enacting intimacy and sociality at a distance in the COVID-19 crisis, 2020
  • Write 2-3 paragraphs about each paper with your impressions, questions, remarks (what concept is new to you, inspiring aspects, positions you disagree with, etc..) - send notes by email by on 13.2 by 19.00
  • Pick 3-4 examples of distant communication project or situation (in art, design, game, pop culture, politics, etc) and prepare to present them in class on Wednesday morning. Post on Miro board on 13.2 by 19.00

• Assignment 3 (prepare Wednesday 14.2 afternoon): 
  • Read 1 paper: T. Gayler, C. Sas, V. Kalnikaitè Material Food Probe: Personalized 3D Printed Flavors for Emotional Communication in Intimate Relationships, DIS 2020
  • Optional paper: A. E. Christensen, M. H. Magnussen, T. S. Seindal, and D. Raptis. 2022. Shaping Romance: Mediating Intimacy for Co-located Couples, 2021
  • Write 2-3 paragraphs about the paper with your impressions, questions, remarks (what concept is new to you, inspiring aspects, positions you disagree with, etc..) - send notes by email by on 14.2 by 19.00
  • Prepare final work - ideation, sketches, tests, etc.
    
    
• Assignment 4 - Final Work: The format of the final outcome is decided by each the students. It will be an online "essay" representation of an interaction at distance (possibly 1-page website, video, or use of hosting platform such as Tik Tok, expanded written essay, filmed performance, games, new object, etc..). Preferably individual work (the works can be in connection with one another). Your work needs to be in adequacy with the intention and the process. The collection of works from each student will constitute together an online exhibition posted on Instagram.
  • +500 words to give context to the piece.
  • 2-3 mn presentation : why you made it, how it relates to the topic
  • fields of application: ...
  • the ideas could represent your position on a topic above or on a case study discussed in class, your new proposal, or your interpretation of an issue
  • potential audience: ...

• Final presentation on Friday 16.2 afternoon. Upload final work on Instagram on the 16.2 by 11.00 & present in class concisely. Send also hard copy via email/wetransfer.

Expectations, Gradings and Presence

Grades for this class are passing or failing. Assignments are general class participation, exercises, readings&reflections through response notes, and final work.
Any assignment that remains unfulfilled receives a failing grade.  

Arriving late may also affect the passing grade.
Contributing to constructive group discussion is an essential aspect of class participation. 

Attendance of all the in-class sessions are imperative (3 mornings session and 1 afternoon session).  
The sessions alternate between Zoom and Toni-Areal: first and third day online (Zoom link provided by email) - second and last day are in presence. 
Zoom-etiquette during online sessions: please be present on screen (no commuting/travelling or doing another activity in parallel of the class), on time, and with camera turned-on as much as possible. 
Classes online and in presence at the same time are not possible.

Timetable