Mar 1, 2009

Paul Duguid on on How to Relate to Digitized Objects

From the Los Angeles Times

Digitizing life's clutter

By Michelle Quinn, Reporting From Oakland

As the goods in our daily lives transform from analog to digital, it's hard not to wonder: Where did all our stuff go?

We take photos, but the leather albums remain empty. The music collection bulges but requires no space next to the stereo. When "War and Peace" lives on electronic reading devices, it can no longer serve as a doorstop or a sign of being well-read....

"We have physical and tactile relationships with things we don't think we have a relationship to," said Paul Duguid, a professor in the School of Information at UC Berkeley. "It will make the world a confusing place if we have to remember things by menus."

Without cultural artifacts lying around, we lose the status we used to derive from them. It's hard to surreptitiously take stock of someone's musical tastes if you have to sneak a peek at their iPod or ask for their computer password.

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Last updated: October 7, 2016