Wild Birthplaces of Behavioral Media

Abstract

Interactive digital technology provides an unprecedented new way to communicate through rich behaviors that sense and react to the world. Our most complex designs still pale in comparison to the richness of the behaviors of the simplest living creatures. We do not yet know the key techniques and aesthetics involved in arranging these configurations of creatures, environments, and computers to be able to truly harness this new behavioral medium. Just like living creatures, the behaviors of our technological devices are shaped by the context in which they develop. We need to expose our technology to a vast array of new situations, experiences, and contexts in order to mature programmable technology beyond its status as a simple tool into a ripe new medium. Naturalists studying animal behavior conduct their work in uncontrolled, wilderness field sites because it is only there that you can observe the full range of a creature’s behaviors that have evolved to fit the specific milieu. Likewise, contemporary Human–Computer Interaction researchers are conducting studies “in the wild” where technologies are experienced in situ. This chapter explores using different sites of scientific field work (expeditions, field courses, and field stations) as fertile areas for developing interactive media.