Article
IVIC 2021
Ini dummy
Pada suatu masa dahulu kala
The image shows an A.I created image.
Using Playform, I trained the A.I to combine the colours from photos of gardens and the outlines from photos of living rooms.
The living room photos were collected from a survey conducted by the collective. Garden photos were taken from copyright free images on Flickr.
Dr Shureen’s research allows me to reflect on my own living condition, especially on the use of technology in my time of isolation due to the Covid-19 pandemic. A home should not just be a place of shelter from the elements, but it must also be a space for comfort, especially in a time where people are advised to stay at home and limit outside contacts.
Technology has enabled me to live comfortably at home, despite being alone. In this essay, I reflect on how my relationship with technology has changed during the time of pandemic, which is also a part of a “digital zeitgeist” that shapes and colours the virtual landscape of an interconnected human experience.
In the field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and Interaction Design (IxD), it is not uncommon for researchers to publish first-person reports on their experience of technology usage. One of the early works that has inspired me was by Bill Gaver on his experience of living with a video window [1]W. W. Gaver, “The video window: My life with a ludic system,” Pers. Ubiquitous Comput., 2006.. The video window is a screen mounted next to a window, which is connected to a camera that shows the skyline from the same window. In other words, the video window digitally augmented and expanded the views from the window.
I have published a first-person report of living with experimental technology. In order to understand what it feels like to live in a domestic soundscape that is augmented by a remote digital soundscape, I have converted the past activities of my mother into snippets of pre-recorded domestic sounds. The sounds were then played on my phone in accordance with the time of the past activities they represent. So, I lived for a week with my soundscape augmented by a digital soundscape of a remote past [2] H. Baharin and R. Mühlberger, “Living with the sound of the past: Experiencing sonic atomic interaction using the sound diary,” in ACM International Conference Proceeding Series, 2009.. This essay continues the tradition of researchers reflecting on their own technology usage experience.
This image is created by an A.I platform, Playform, by combining the colours from a photo of a garden with the outlines from a living room photo.
Self-Enforced Isolation in a Time of Pandemic
I am classifying my experience of living alone during a time of pandemic as “self-enforced isolation” because I have chosen to limit my social contacts and activities outside my home, even when some restrictions of the first lockdown in Malaysia have eased.
The time lapse video shows the view outside my bedroom
It feels like time moves differently during lockdown.
I barely leave my apartment unit. I only go out very rarely for grocery shopping or to renew my prescriptions at the hospital.
At the time when I was writing the first draft of this essay (19th May, 2021), the number of new Covid-19 cases remained high ever since the pandemic began.
In this essay, I will reflect on what type of technology I used during these times, and how my self-enforced isolation has changed my relationship with technology.
Ubiquitous Comfort Technology
Technology has given me the ability to shelter in place comfortably, whilst the world outside my home is burning in a raging pandemic. Mark Weiser, in coining the term Ubiquitous Computing predicts that computing technology will be everywhere in our environment and becomes a part of the background that we do not notice them anymore, much like how the electric motor has become ubiquitous, powering almost every electrical appliance in our homes [3]M. Weiser, “The Computer for the 21st Century,” Sci. Am., 1991.. During the country’s first lockdown and my subsequent isolation, the extended use may have caused my electrical appliances to have reduced lifespans.
Now, I have a broken ceiling fan in my dining area, and a broken air-conditioning unit in my bedroom. Since they broke only recently, and the number of new Covid-19 cases are still very high, I do not want people coming inside my unit to fix them. Now I have to make do with a standing fan that I take with me, wherever I happen to be at home. The existence and my usage of these appliances are truly in the background of my consciousness, so much so that I only realised how much I depend on them when they are gone. I did not give much thought about my dishwasher until I ran out of dishwasher detergent, and the small sundry shop downstairs of my unit does not sell any. So, these appliances are crucial for my comfort at home, but due to the nature of them being so integrated into my daily routine, I only noticed them when they were absent.
Despite my reliance on motorised electrical home appliances for comfort, I do believe that the most important ubiquitous technology that allows me to shelter comfortably in my home is the internet. The internet has allowed me to shop for food and other essentials without leaving my home. It allows me to maintain social connections with my family through the use of social messaging, video call and gaming. As more people are stuck at home, I find that my family have more time to spend on WhatsApp, which has become my digital dwelling, a place where I have my social interactions.
On the Nature of Daylight: Being at home 24/7 made me notice how daylight affects the ambience inside my home. I noticed this light pattern on my wall one morning.
Dreaming: Collective Behaviour in the Time of Pandemic
In this section of the essay, I will reflect on my technology use, as part of a larger trend of global patterns, brought about by the pandemic. Since the start of the first lockdown, I have been having weird lucid dreams. At first, I thought that it was due to my isolation, but then I read that other people had dreams that are more lucid and weirder than usual during the pandemic T. Nielsen, “The COVID-19 Pandemic Is Changing Our Dreams,” Scientific American, 2020. [4][Online]. Available: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-covid-19-pandemic-is-changing-our-dreams/. [Accessed: 19-May-2021]. I also found that some of my technology usage also follows the pandemic trend, a digital zeitgeist, which I categorise into streaming, zooming, doomscrolling, tracking, and gaming.
Streaming
In 2020, the revenue of recorded music is USD12 Billion, and 83% of it comes from music streaming [5]A. Steele, “Recorded Music Revenue Hits $12 Billion in 2020 Amid Pandemic Streaming Boom,” The Wall Street Journal, 2021. [Online]. Available: … Continue reading. To me, music brings me comfort while noisy environments usually results in sensory overload. I use music to drown out other background sounds in my environment. Unfortunately, just before the pandemic, my speakers started to let out scratching sounds, but it did not happen often enough to warrant new speakers.
However, during the first lockdown, I streamed more music than I usually would before the pandemic, and the scratching sounds started to become unbearable. So, I replaced the speakers with a new system that uses a streaming service that I have not subscribed to. Unwilling to let go of the music library in my existing music streaming service, I am now subscribed to two streaming platforms.
This would not have happened if I did not stay at home more than I used to.
Other than music, in these times of isolation, I had watched more movies than I used to.
The pandemic has forced movie theatres to close, but the global TV and movie streaming subscriptions surpassed 1 billion in 2020 [6]R. T. Watson, “World-Wide Streaming Subscriptions Pass One Billion During Pandemic,” The Wall Street Journal, 2021. [Online]. Available: … Continue reading.
I have found solace in horror movies.
Zooming
Before the pandemic, I video call with my mother, nieces, and nephews almost every day. These days, my video calls with the children tend to be more than once a day. Video conference technology has also allowed me to work with my colleagues in the safety and comfort of my home. I prefer to use Zoom, amongst many other platforms that I do use as well.
Zooming is both a blessing and a curse. Online Zoom meetings sometimes feel longer than they are, and at times can also)be more tiring than face-to-face meetings. However, it is also a blessing that I do not need to meet people face-to-face. I read so many funny stories about video meeting mishaps. From a lawyer who could not turn off his cat filter and told the judge that he is not a cat [8] to a member of parliament in Canada who accidentally appears naked in Parliament video conference [7]“Canadian MP accidentally appears naked while attending Parliament via video conference,” Australia Broadcasting Corporation, 15-Apr-2021..
In one of my many video conference meetings, I have also seen someone naked in the background. And it was not funny when it happened to you, it was awkward, and I did not know what to do.
This image is created by an A.I platform, Playform, by combining the colours from a photo of a garden with the outlines from a living room photo.
Prior to the pandemic, most of my work happened online anyway through social messaging. I have also already conducted part of my classes online. Therefore, transitioning to a fully online classroom is not as difficult. In a sense, workwise, nothing much has changed other than the fact that Zooming now becomes a staple. Zoom records revenue growth of 300% during the third-quarter of 2020 [8]A. Levy, “Zoom investors are looking to a post-pandemic 2021 even with current growth at over 300%,” CNBC, 2020. [Online]. Available: … Continue reading.
Doomscrolling
I am one of the people who got stuck in doomscrolling or doomsurfing [9]A. Watercutter, “Doomscrolling Is Slowly Eroding Your Mental Health,” Wired Magazine, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://www.wired.com/story/stop-doomscrolling/. [Accessed: 19-May-2021].– a habit of endlessly scrolling on multiple social media platforms or websites, checking the status of the pandemic, and reading about it on multiple local and international news outlets. I have also developed a habit of delving into Covid-19 data, looking at the numbers, trends and graphs and reporting my predictions to my family WhatsApp group.
I find this habit very unproductive, as nobody needs my predictions. The only satisfaction it gives me is the ability to tell my family, “I told you so.” But on the upside, my doomscrolling reporting to my family on WhatsApp allows me to connect more with my family.
Tracking
The pandemic has forced me to stay at home, and some apps have become out of use. Since I no longer need to drive to work or anywhere else, I have not used Waze as often as I did. I do not think my driving skills is worse now than before the pandemic, although there are people who have reported about forgetting how to drive and park [10]Haupt, “Think the pandemic made you forget how to drive and park? Experts explain what’s going on.,” The Washington Post, 17-May-2021. [Online]. Available: … Continue reading.
Instead of tracking my driving on the road, I am now keeping a track of my daily footsteps on Health app, as I feel the need to increase my physical movement since I’m always inside my home. Research shows that fitness app download grew by 46% worldwide in the first half of 2020 [11]Ang, “Fitness apps grew by nearly 50% during the first half of 2020, study finds,” World Economic Forum, 2020. [Online]. Available: … Continue reading
.
Gaming: Children Among Us
Research shows that gaming time has increased during lockdown and it has a positive impact on well-being [12]M. Barr and A. Copeland-Stewart, “Playing Video Games During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Effects on Players’ Well-Being,” Games Cult., May 2021.
. The children and I have developed a new gaming routine which provides me with a much-needed social connection in my time of isolation. When the pandemic started and the schools were closed, the children could sleep a little later than they usually do.
An hour or so before bedtime, one of the children would call me on Instagram, and we would start playing the game “Among Us”. Throughout the play, they would maintain an audio link with me so I could hear what was going on their side. Almost always, it was hullabaloo when we play, the kids were always very noisy. This is, perhaps, the only background noise that I can live with. When they started schooling again, they could not play with me as often and I really missed our gaming sessions.
Epilogue
In this essay, I have reflected on my technology use during the Covid-19 pandemic and how my usage and appreciations of technology have changed. I also reflected on my experience using technology in the context of trends that were brought about by the pandemic. Whilst Shureen’s research highlights the plight of people who cannot live comfortably during lockdown due to the large number of people living in a small space [13]S. F. Abd. Shukor, “Comfort Amidst Chaos ,” 2021. [Online]. Available: TBA ., my living condition is the opposite of that.
I live in complete isolation, and technology has enabled me to live comfortably even though I live alone. Shureen’s work shows that although most of us are at home, living in comfort is a luxury, when it should have been one of the basic human rights [14]S. F. Abd. Shukor, “Comfort Amidst Chaos ,” 2021. [Online]. Available: TBA .. It has become a cliché during the pandemic to say, “We are in this together.” Nevertheless, I think a more accurate analogy would be that we are in the same storm, but we are not in the same boat. Some people may not even have a boat during this storm. Some of us are drowning.
Bringing the outside in: I’ve converted my room into a camera obscura. I covered all my windows and only let light in through a small hole.
I’ve always wanted to make a camera obscura. Now it has a completely new meaning that I am stuck at home. I can take the outside in but it’s only an optical illusion. Sometimes it feels like the light at the end of the tunnel is only an illusion.
I argue that technology may be leveraged in tandem with better home design to increase comfort at home and used to work around constraints such as costs and limited space. Comfort at home is influenced by the quality of our indoor environment, which constitutes of thermal comfort, visual comfort, acoustic comfort, and air-quality comfort [15]N. Ibrahim, “Comfort Behaviour And Challenges Adapting To Covid-19 Pandemic,” 2021.
.Fans, air-conditioners, and air filters can be used to regulate thermal and air-quality comfort. Visual comfort may be provided using technology when occupants do not have access to view the natural environments or green spaces from their home. A study shows that viewing virtual nature on television, 360 videos and computer-generated virtual reality can reduce boredom and negative affect for people in health care settings [16]N. L. Yeo et al., “What is the best way of delivering virtual nature for improving mood? An experimental comparison of high definition TV, 360° video, and computer generated virtual reality,” J. … Continue reading
.
Reflecting on my experience, one of the reasons I watched more movies during lockdown is perhaps because I am seeking visual comfort, as I love watching beautiful sceneries, houses, and interior designs in movies.
In terms of acoustic comfort, perhaps, other than providing sufficient noise insulation, we could design soundscapes using technology to provide a pleasant auditory environment in our homes.
Over time, technology will be cheaper, and the government can create policies that reduce inequity in technology ownership. Big data analytics can be used to understand human behaviour and energy consumption at home, hence reducing energy use and lowering the cost of using technology to create comfort [17]P. N. E. Nohuddin, “Behavior Analytics on Energy Consumptions,” 2021. [Online]. Available: TBA.
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These days I feel like I am living in an M. Night Shyamalan movie (‘The Village’ and ‘Signs’). In the “The Village” there is a scene where the villagers run into in a cellar, to hide from a monster known to them as “those we do not speak of.” In “Signs” there is a scene where the family hides in their home, whilst an alien invasion is going on outside.
I love these scenes, perhaps, because they triggered the feeling of adrenaline rush caused by riding a roller coaster. When the roller coaster rolls of a cliff, our body gives us the signals of danger, but we know we are safe.
The monster that is SARS-CoV-2 is unleashing its fury out there, but here inside my home, technology has made me comfortable and safe. Although I live alone, I still have the comfort of social connections.
However, as shown by Shureen’s research [18]S. F. Abd. Shukor, “Comfort Amidst Chaos,” 2021. [Online]. Available: TBA ., I am painfully aware that this is a privilege. Covid-19 is more than a pandemic caused by a virus, but also design problems in need of solutions, a systemic disruptor that may create a new global culture and can be as political leverage [19]M. S. Abd Manan, “COVID-19 as Biopolitics?: Between Digital Contagions & Social Complexity.”. Being comfortable at home should not be a luxury. This pandemic should be a catalyst for more investments in Human-Computer Interaction and Interaction Design research for the betterment of technology for all.
References
| ↑1 | W. W. Gaver, “The video window: My life with a ludic system,” Pers. Ubiquitous Comput., 2006. |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | H. Baharin and R. Mühlberger, “Living with the sound of the past: Experiencing sonic atomic interaction using the sound diary,” in ACM International Conference Proceeding Series, 2009. |
| ↑3 | M. Weiser, “The Computer for the 21st Century,” Sci. Am., 1991. |
| ↑4 | [Online]. Available: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-covid-19-pandemic-is-changing-our-dreams/. [Accessed: 19-May-2021] |
| ↑5 | A. Steele, “Recorded Music Revenue Hits $12 Billion in 2020 Amid Pandemic Streaming Boom,” The Wall Street Journal, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://www.wsj.com/articles/recorded-music-revenue-hits-12-billion-in-2020-amid-pandemic-streaming-boom-11614364260. [Accessed: 19-May-2021]. |
| ↑6 | R. T. Watson, “World-Wide Streaming Subscriptions Pass One Billion During Pandemic,” The Wall Street Journal, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://www.wsj.com/articles/worldwide-streaming-subscriptions-pass-one-billion-during-pandemic-11616079600. [Accessed: 19-May-2021]. |
| ↑7 | “Canadian MP accidentally appears naked while attending Parliament via video conference,” Australia Broadcasting Corporation, 15-Apr-2021. |
| ↑8 | A. Levy, “Zoom investors are looking to a post-pandemic 2021 even with current growth at over 300%,” CNBC, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/29/zoom-investors-look-to-post-pandemic-2021-even-with-big-q3-expected.html. [Accessed: 01-Jul-2021]. |
| ↑9 | A. Watercutter, “Doomscrolling Is Slowly Eroding Your Mental Health,” Wired Magazine, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://www.wired.com/story/stop-doomscrolling/. [Accessed: 19-May-2021]. |
| ↑10 | Haupt, “Think the pandemic made you forget how to drive and park? Experts explain what’s going on.,” The Washington Post, 17-May-2021. [Online]. Available: https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/wellness/forgot-how-to-drive-pandemic-/2021/05/16/2ce5cff6-b4ee-11eb-9059-d8176b9e3798_story.html. [Accessed: 19-May-2021]. |
| ↑11 | Ang, “Fitness apps grew by nearly 50% during the first half of 2020, study finds,” World Economic Forum, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/09/fitness-apps-gym-health-downloads/. [Accessed: 19-May-2021]. |
| ↑12 | M. Barr and A. Copeland-Stewart, “Playing Video Games During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Effects on Players’ Well-Being,” Games Cult., May 2021. |
| ↑13 | S. F. Abd. Shukor, “Comfort Amidst Chaos ,” 2021. [Online]. Available: TBA . |
| ↑14 | S. F. Abd. Shukor, “Comfort Amidst Chaos ,” 2021. [Online]. Available: TBA . |
| ↑15 | N. Ibrahim, “Comfort Behaviour And Challenges Adapting To Covid-19 Pandemic,” 2021. |
| ↑16 | N. L. Yeo et al., “What is the best way of delivering virtual nature for improving mood? An experimental comparison of high definition TV, 360° video, and computer generated virtual reality,” J. Environ. Psychol., vol. 72, p. 101500, 2020. |
| ↑17 | P. N. E. Nohuddin, “Behavior Analytics on Energy Consumptions,” 2021. [Online]. Available: TBA. |
| ↑18 | S. F. Abd. Shukor, “Comfort Amidst Chaos,” 2021. [Online]. Available: TBA . |
| ↑19 | M. S. Abd Manan, “COVID-19 as Biopolitics?: Between Digital Contagions & Social Complexity.” |
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