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Archaeologies of Touch: Interfacing with Haptics from Electricity to Computing
A material history of haptics technology that raises new questions about the relationship between touch and media
Since the rise of radio and television, we have lived in an era defined increasingly by the electronic circulation of images and sounds. But the flood of new computing technologies known as haptic interfaces—which use electricity, vibration, and force feedback to stimulate the sense of touch—offering an alternative way of mediating and experiencing reality. In Archaeologies of Touch , David Parisi offers the first full history of these increasingly vital technologies, showing how the efforts of scientists and engineers over the past three hundred years have gradually remade and redefined our sense of touch. Through lively analyses of electrical machines, videogames, sex toys, sensory substitution systems, robotics, and human–computer interfaces, Parisi shows how the materiality of touch technologies has been shaped by attempts to transform humans into more efficient processors of information. With haptics becoming ever more central to emerging virtual-reality platforms (immersive bodysuits loaded with touch-stimulating actuators), wearable computers (haptic messaging systems like the Apple Watch’s Taptic Engine), and smartphones (vibrations that emulate the feel of buttons and onscreen objects), Archaeologies of Touch offers a timely and provocative engagement with the long history of touch technology that helps us confront and question the power relations underpinning the project of giving touch its own set of technical media.
Since the rise of radio and television, we have lived in an era defined increasingly by the electronic circulation of images and sounds. But the flood of new computing technologies known as haptic interfaces—which use electricity, vibration, and force feedback to stimulate the sense of touch—offering an alternative way of mediating and experiencing reality. In Archaeologies of Touch , David Parisi offers the first full history of these increasingly vital technologies, showing how the efforts of scientists and engineers over the past three hundred years have gradually remade and redefined our sense of touch. Through lively analyses of electrical machines, videogames, sex toys, sensory substitution systems, robotics, and human–computer interfaces, Parisi shows how the materiality of touch technologies has been shaped by attempts to transform humans into more efficient processors of information. With haptics becoming ever more central to emerging virtual-reality platforms (immersive bodysuits loaded with touch-stimulating actuators), wearable computers (haptic messaging systems like the Apple Watch’s Taptic Engine), and smartphones (vibrations that emulate the feel of buttons and onscreen objects), Archaeologies of Touch offers a timely and provocative engagement with the long history of touch technology that helps us confront and question the power relations underpinning the project of giving touch its own set of technical media.
452 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 27, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 2, 2023
I recommend this book to anyone who seeks to understand the deep roots and current applications of touch in digital media and computer interfaces.
The author takes the reader on a journey from the earliest touch-based experiments in electricity to today’s applications of haptics in smartphones and VR systems. Along the way, the reader meets intriguing scientists, engineers, and technologists who were passionate about activating touch alongside sight and sound for communicating with others at a distance and manipulating real and virtual objects. The reader ends the book with a deeply improved understanding about haptic media’s past, present and future.
Although the book’s audience is targeting media researchers, and not laypersons, the use of researcher jargon and framing is not jarring for the everyday reader. Most of these theoretical constructs and concepts are introduced to keep novice readers engaged, and the extensive footnotes provide a deeper guide.
The author takes the reader on a journey from the earliest touch-based experiments in electricity to today’s applications of haptics in smartphones and VR systems. Along the way, the reader meets intriguing scientists, engineers, and technologists who were passionate about activating touch alongside sight and sound for communicating with others at a distance and manipulating real and virtual objects. The reader ends the book with a deeply improved understanding about haptic media’s past, present and future.
Although the book’s audience is targeting media researchers, and not laypersons, the use of researcher jargon and framing is not jarring for the everyday reader. Most of these theoretical constructs and concepts are introduced to keep novice readers engaged, and the extensive footnotes provide a deeper guide.
May 7, 2024
An interesting addendum to the series of books I've finished recently spanning the whole sensorium -- unfortunately, I think that this one is least successful in its project; the historiography is shaky at times, and writing is vaguely prescriptive. All of this aside, it's a fascinating investigation of the material-discursive history of the haptic function. The scope of Parisi's project is quite vast and transformative, it just falls flat in the end.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews