Curious Rituals

I have long had a nagging feeling, that our interaction with the ubiquitous communication environment around us is profoundly changing the way we use our bodies, and indeed the way we use space.

A relatively short and profusely illustrated downloadable e-book (viewable for free at

http://curiousrituals.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/curiousrituals-book.pdf) confirms that previously ill-formed concept.

Well, not so ill-formed, courtesy of a sporadic reading of Dan Hill's musings on City of Sound, and elsewhere.  His specialty has been 'urban Informatics', a term that does nothing to describe 'a career focused on integrating design, technology, cities, media and people'.  So I wasn't entirely surprised to find that Dan is the author of the introductory essay in this publication.  But as perceptive as is Hill's contribution, it almost gets in the way of the 'Aha!' moments that follow in the main part of the 'book'.....so scroll down and chuckle.

I am just delaying you from going there if I attempt to precis the thesis or summarize the examples.  Suffice to say that as amusing it is to merely recognize the often bizarre body language of the new age of personal devices, the implications for architecture need to be considered at suitably serious levels.  So off you go, hit the link above.