No matter how digitized the world becomes, the reality of place and space remains physical. We communicate and create virtually, but we cannot completely eliminate the tangibility of human existence.
As a millennial in the media industry, I am fortunate to be learning and working at a time when technology is developing at an exponential rate. While this digital evolution opens up infinite opportunities, I find myself longing for the authenticity of a physical interaction.
For my graduate thesis project, I am studying the collection, storage and sharing of physical and digital memorabilia between family members across the diaspora. By passing around a box to different countries, I am collecting objects and memories, both physical and digital, specifically about my late grandmother. One the box returns to me, I hope to document the experience of sharing its content with close friends and family.
Before arriving in London, England, where it is now, the box spent about a month in Montreal, where it was filled to the brim with photographs, documents and objects.
Leaving the instructions fairly open-ended, I was surprised to see that people decided to place photocopies of original documents and photographs in the box as oppose to uploading scanned versions on the USB key provided. This reiterated my suspicion that the value of preserving and sharing physical objects remains strong despite the growth of digitization.
The abundance of digital information is undeniable; I have accumulated thousands of photographs on my computer just from the last couple of years, and the thought of printing them and organizing them in some capacity seems daunting. There are differences in the way that digital and printed photographs are preserved, but also in the way that they are shared.
Many studies have been done to understand the interaction with physical and digital mementos in a home setting, such as Daniela Petrelli and Steve Whittaker’s experiment, where the level of intimacy of a memory was measured in relation to the storage place of the corresponding object. Their research concluded that digital mementos were initially regarded as less valuable than physical ones, but prioritized for longterm recollection, especially among women and children.
David Frohlich and Rachel Murphy found similar results with their “Memory Box” prototype, where the removal of an object from a jewelry box triggered an audio recording. The results of this augmented reality study revealed the importance of combing the physical and digital realms for the purpose of gifts and family heirlooms.
As I continue to learn about my grandmother who died too soon, I also hope to contribute to the research that has been done to integrate the preservation of memory in the physical and virtual worlds.
Sources:
Frohlich, David and Rachel Murphy. “The Memory Box.” Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, vol. 4, no. 4, 2000, pp. 238–240. Scholars Portal Journals, doi: 10.1007/PL00000011.
Petrelli, Daniela, and Steve Whittaker. “Family Memories in the Home: Contrasting Physical and Digital Mementos.” Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, vol. 14, no. 2, 16 Jan. 2010, pp. 153–169. Springer Link, doi:10.1007/s00779–009–0279–7.
