In addressing the guiding question, the focus was on trying to find not just critical or theoretical sources, but also sources that offered case studies as to the role and place of skin in our future embodiment. In this regard, the internet provides an invaluable resource as it is a constantly updating environment where new discoveries are constantly being reported and updated. As such, it is possible to find examples as to the possibility of our future embodiment. While physically publishing a text can take some time, publishing onto a website only takes a matter of minutes to make the information available to anyone with internet access.
The article concerns itself with the rhetoric that Stelarc creates around his art works. For Stelarc, the human body has already become an automaton, acting involuntarily to external stimuli. Stelarc envisages a future shedding of the skin where ‘a body that extrude its awareness and action into other bodies or bits of bodies in other places'. This would enable the possibility of initiating a movement in one location and it manifesting itself elsewhere. Stelarc’s body is open to control. Stimbod enables the body’s movements to be programmed using a touch screen interface. This touch screen becomes itself a skin. The body is to be no longer contained within the skin, but constructed with ‘split physiology, operating with multiple agency.’ For Stelarc, skin is an unnecessary limiting constraint on the body.
Stelarc wrote this source about his own art practice and is largely self-serving. Stelarc is not seeking to explore a thesis relating to the body or cyborgs, but rather just explain his own art practice. As such, there is no referencing to particular sources to give weight to what he is saying. Neme.org, the site hosting the source, is a cultural non-Government organization registered in Cyprus. The source provides a fascinating insight into Stelarc’s practice as well as the possibilities of our future embodiment.
Skinput: Appropriating the Body as an Input Surface
‘Skinput’ was a project to turn the skin into an input surface. Skin is an appealing input device because it is easily accessible by our hands. Skinput works by using a ‘novel array of sensors’ placed in a specially designed armband that picks up the ‘mechanical vibrations that propagate through the body.’ While the source is a scientific research paper, it provides a practical exploration of skin in relation to our future embodiment. The implications that such an input system could have on our embodiment are endless.
Harrison is a PhD student at Carnegie Mellon University focusing on novel input methods. The technology that Harrison demonstrates is actualized technology, not mere speculation. This is important as it shows a real and possible trajectory of technology of the body in recreating our own embodiment. Given the evidence provided and Harrison’s authority, the source is reliable.
The Cyborg's Dilemma: Progressive Embodiment in Virtual Environments
Biocca’s article explores the ways in which the interface is becoming more human in both virtual and augmented reality. For Biocca, the body is an information acquisition system composed of sensory devices. As Biocca explains ‘The body is the surface on which all energy fields impinge, on which communication and telecommunication takes form.' While the human body may have these innate sensors, the quest going forward into virtual world is how to embody the perception of various senses within the virtual. Biocca combines critical theory along with scientific research in the field to provide a viable look into embodiment in virtual worlds.
The source is an expanded version of a keynote presentation that Biocca gave at International Cognitive Technology Conference in August, 1997. The source is located on Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication website, which is sponsored by Indiana University. As such, it comes from a reputable, academic source. Further, the article is fully referenced, allowing the reader to further explore ideas raised in the source. The source was published in 1998, and since then technology has progressed significantly (which is evident when Biocca is discussing screen technology). However, despite the technological short-comings, Biocca’s commentary on the development of embodiment within the virtual world is still relevant.
Sensitive Synthetic Skin in the Works for Prosthetic Arms
This source details how researchers are creating an artificial skin that functions and feels like real skin. Sensitive skin is seen as being essential in our future embodiment with technology. Skin is seen as a conglomeration of sensors that interact with the environment. For our own future embodiment, a synthetic skin would enable greater us to move past our present embodiment. Amputees could have limbs replaced that are covered in a synthetic skin that is capable of actively sensing. Following Stelarc’s vision of disembodiment, we could create new bodies to control that mimic our own embodiment – the possibility of multiple embodiments anywhere around the world that we control from one location becomes a possibility.
The source is hosted on IEEE, which claims to be ‘the world’s largest professional association for the advancement of technology’. The source outlines the advancements made by a collaboration of reputable research associations (NASA, ORNL, NIA) and provides links to other related sources, offering an expanded view of the development of the synthetic skin and its applications. This is useful as it offers further insights into developments of body mapping and prosthesis, which is fundamental to our future embodiment.
The influence of racial embodiment on racial bias in immersive virtual environments
The source presents the findings of a study that examined how racial representations in an ‘immersive virtual environment’ (IVE) affects racial bias. In the physical world, skin plays a central role in identifying race – as it is skin colour that is the primary mode of demarcation. However, in an IVE, people have the ability to design their avatar and choose their skin colour. In many digital environments, people spend large amounts of time viewing and controlling their avatar. This avatar is part of their embodiment, however it is at the same time disembodied. The source maps the psychological implications of racial embodiment in these environments.
While the source is concerned with IVE, the findings could be applied to non-virtual environments in exploring the idea of skin in relation to how we might imagine our future embodiment. Further, the source is a 2009 article by researchers from Stanford University, a reputable source. The source sets out in detail the results of the test and then offers an in-depth discussion. The source has data to back up its ascertains, making it invaluable for exploring the implications of racial embodiment as we are provided with real evidence rather than theoretical hypothesises. While there are shortcomings and gaps in its investigation, the source still provides an interesting investigation of racial embodiment.
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