Since time immemorial, we have judged the character of people using their external characteristics: their clothing, hairstyle, makeup, accent, and so on. With the advent of digital technology, an increasingly detailed image of our identities is now available online. In short, today we represent ourselves both physically and digitally in the world. As yes, these worlds are fairly disjointed, and our representations are likewise disconnected from each other. Just as we choose to dress more or less formally in the real world, we choose to present ourselves online through our metadata in various ways, depending on the perceived audience. However, as technology continues its inexorable progress, these two worlds are collapsing towards convergence. With Engaze, we are attempting to engage the problem of bringing together these two currently disparate representations of a person into convergence in the physical world, and to explore some of the consequences resulting from the encroachment of our virtual representations into the physical world.
This project is currently starting.