Literature Review
After we learned about satellite technology in the first two weeks, we focused our research on some topics that we were interested in and that could rely on satellite technology to provide a interesting experiences for people.
I shared out the work and cooperate with my group-mates on the topics of Memory; Satellite Character and Death. We have conducted further literature research and case studies on these themes and we try to get more inspiration from our research.
Memory
I analysed the literature review of memories and I was interested in the topic of memory loss people, because people who have this illness may have emotional needs to recreate their memories. In the research, the dementia patients often receive MCST treatment to help themselves to delay memory loss. To be specific, they often use photo album and music to recall their past and GPS technology can help them find their way home.
I also read some articles about collective memory, collective memories are a community’s shared renderings of the past that help shape its collective identity (Halbwachs, 1950). From this perspective, they are the collective variant of autobiographical memories, which are individually held memories that help shape personal identity. Collective memory is inherently selective (Rajaram and Pereira-Pasarin, 2010; Hirst and Echterhoff, 2012). When people recall the past some details are retrieved while others fail to enter into conversation. The consequence of those items not retrieved has become of increasing interest in understanding how distinct memories become increasingly similar across individuals.
Many existing designs are trying to use high-tech technology to tell people about the memory of the city. And satellite-sensing systems can provide the device with high-resolution images to assist in building city streetscapes. There are different applications of Augmented Reality (AR) in the city using smartphone devices for example the application of the Museum of London “Street Museum” which is a recent iPhone application that provides a view of historical images of the city coordinated with the physical location. The images include everyday situations as well as major events happened there. This new historical information layer across the city provides a unique perspective of old and new London.
This overlapping of digital narratives over the physical place is an excellent example that shows that these new tools have been succeeded in all areas that contribute to the attractiveness of public space whether cultural, aesthetical, educational, design, entertainment, and informational, as it has the potential to enhance the meaning and understanding of heritage and the cultural significance of place, to clarify and explain the meaning behind the urban form and to form a better understanding of the place and its history. All of this will contribute to enhancing the “sense of place” and the attractiveness of public spaces which will increase the social interaction and the people's attachment to their community.
Homesickness
The current era, it is often claimed, is one of big transformations. Though the processes commonly associated with ‘globalization’ are not new, the mobility of goods, information and people has never been so noticeable. This mobility is ‘profoundly transforming our apprehension of the world: it is provoking a new experience or orientation and disorientation, new senses of placed and placeless identity’ (Morley and Robins, 1995, p. 121). Satellite technology build a bridge to connect people around the world to some extent.
According to Joseph Berger (2004), the satellite provider Dish Network offers 50 international or foreign-language channels, including Polish and Portuguese. Across the country, Time Warner Cable offers 37, including channels in Arabic, Russian, German, Greek, Persian, Filipino and Vietnamese. In New York City alone, more than 90,000 of Time Warner's customers get the international channels.
These channels are laying another set of bridges between immigrants here and their native lands, joining jet planes, cheap long-distance calling and the Internet. Immigrants can follow the same catastrophes and laugh at the same homespun jokes as their kin and friends overseas. Relative newcomers can relax in front of a television without being baffled by English. They can also immerse their children in their native tongues, narrowing the generational distance typical in immigrant families.
Pyong Gap Min, a Korean-born professor of sociology at Queens College who speaks English fluently, watches Korean soap operas and movies almost every night with his wife. ''It's very special to me,'' he said. We took inspiration from the literature, and we wanted to design an experience based on satellite technology so that people could feel they are in their home.
Satellite Character
At the same time, we are imagining that if satellites have their own character to provide specific services for human, people can automatically substitute into certain roles when using satellite services, and can exactly feel the importance of satellites in their daily life.
Death
We came up with a hypothesis: Human's memory may exist in many forms in the universe after they passed away and their family can access these personal data through the satellite.
