The concept of video telephony has gotten quite old. You would think the latest thing would be used often, but Aram Bartholl says nowadays cheap web cams and fast internet connections made video chat on the computer quite popular. (And it’s also possible to place video calls on all new mobile phones and networks but he’s never seen anybody using it. It’s still just to expensive.) I agree with what he says, but of course one wouldn’t see these on a school campus. So I’ll just add that I aim every now & then. Sadly, I’ve been the one always starting up a conversation. With my imac computer, I can video chat, but it doesn’t always mean a friend can do the same.
Aram Bartholl says, “The general idea of video telephony is quite obvious and seams to be the next step after the good old telephone wich has been around for someting like 100 years. But is the image really a usefull addition to the voice? Is it maybe more interesting to see what the telephone partner is seeing?” In my opinion, one doesn’t needed to see who they’re talking to unless it’s long distance, or else set up a time & place to meet. If you want to see what your telephone partner is seeing, it’s certainly a loss of privacy and most people look at their own screen rather than looking at the other person.
Aram Bartholl also said there’s one very crucial moment about the video image showing a portrait, “If we talk to a person face to face (and this is what video chatting tries to imitate) you normally do have eye contact…”. He believes one of the main reasons why video chat doesn’t really appeal to him is the missing eye contact. Both participants look at their screens, but because the web cam is next to the screen, video chat today is more like observing your friend while they are looking at their screen. Even the tiny cams very close to the screen on labtops don’t really help. The partner’s view still seams a bit offset. Do you think this is a serios problem or a minor problem?
“Here is looking at you, Kid.” is a low tech hardware work around for this minor problem, in my opinion, that Aram Bartholl came up with. The simple screen addon is made of a mirror, some glass with spy mirror foil and an piece of card board and will bring the full experience of eye contact to another. The video image of the partner is literally detatched from the screen by two mirrors and shifted in front of the integrated labtop cam. While the viewer enjoys the video image they are now looking at the same time exacly into the camera behind the spy mirror. In the field of TV industry, this setup is well known as a telepromter. I use to make things to solve problems I had myself when I had the time. Nowadays, society buys there way out of the problem. If you had the time to invent something of your own, what would it be?
http://www.oddee.com/item_96721.aspx
(Link) http://datenform.de/blog/here-is-looking-at-you-kid/
