Media Practices from the 20th Century

Presentation at Dot Org Boom introduction, Thursday 14th at 15:00-
Kiasma ground floor seminar room

Used in India is a multimedia installation, which showcases both media devices and narratives of their use, to illumine the nature of street innovation, technology production and social exchange in India. Used in India has been conceived of and produced by CKS, a research and design practice in Bangalore.

Our collection of actual devices and inquiry into user practice suggests that local users are infinitely well versed in innovatively repurposing, repairing, reworking and refurbishing technology to suit their social practices and contextual needs. Be it the use of LED (light emitting diodes) to adorn pictures and idols of local deities or the creation of a mosquito- repellent-cum-mobile phone, India abounds with examples of ‘jugaad’ or street innovation. Such user creativity thrives on informal knowledge networks of production, consumption and transaction, and has largely remained hidden from the view of technologists, product developers and designers in the mainstream.

In our opinion, a closer examination of the ‘scenarios of use’ that have emerged out of engagement with the field, as articulated through our exhibits, will open up new spaces for understanding user needs in India. What has led to such a proliferation of micro-industries in India? What uniquely Indian sensibilities do they cater to? What service and distribution networks and monetizing strategies do they adopt?

Technology companies and designers who wish to cater to the next-generation of Indian users, might then find value in engaging with the stories Used in India wishes to tell, in order to learn more about the multilayered socio-cultural fabric of India and create the products, services and applications of tomorrow.

The term ‘media’ encompasses a vast range of technologies in practice, communication and experiences, which are being constantly reformulated and reinterpreted by theorists and practitioners. However, media is often interpreted along readily available yet specious categories that imagine a divide between ‘old’ and ‘new’, ‘broadcast’ and ‘peer-to-peer’ or ‘digital’ and ‘analog’ media. For the purposes of our inquiry, however, we will seek to transcend such synthetic distinctions and understand media as all forms of mediated interaction. Media devices by corollary come to include the range of tools that enhance and amplify our ability to engage in mediated interactions.

Aditya Dev Sood
Aditya Dev Sood is Founder and CEO of CKS Consulting PL. With foundational training in Design and Critical Theory at the University of Michigan, he is now completing doctorates in Socio-Cultural Anthropology and South Asian Languages from the University of Chicago. This year he initiated the ‘Learning Lab’ project which uses mobile phones for education, funded by Nokia Insight and Foresight. He is directed the ‘Used in India’ media archeology installation and show, which opened at the India Habitat Center in March 2005. He is also the India Director of the ‘Doors of Perception’ Conference. A former Fulbright scholar, he maintains a multidisciplinary interest in social research, technology and design.

Karthikeya S Acharya
Trained as an architect, Karthikeya is interested in conceptualizing and designing the dynamics of sustainable and self-governing systems. His graduate work explored the feasibility of recyclable housing for communities in transit such as the iron ore mine workers in South India. As an interaction designer at CKS, Karthikeya has been principally involved in field-work and related research and documentation activities for the Used in India project. This has given him a first hand experience of diverse street cultures, user practices and design innovations across rural, urban and peri-urban India. He was also the assistant curator for the Used in India installation at the British Council and India Habitat Centre in New Delhi, India.