The way we are now

Abstract

'The way we are now' is an innovative photo-ethnographic project. It originates from both practice led research into creativity, technology and embodied mind funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, and research into well-being, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. The research into creativity is underpinned by the writings of Merleau-Ponty, including his claim 'that modes of thought correspond to technical methods', and that to use Goethe's phrase 'what is inside is also outside', a position similar to that taken by social anthropologists seeing technology as skilled practice. The research into activity and well-being in daily life uses the experience sampling method (ESM). Traditionally, the method uses questionnaire diaries and electronic pagers which are pre-programmed to bleep at randomly selected times during the day to indicate response times. The research discussed here uses a mobile phone to indicate responses eight times a day for seven consecutive days, extended to include images taken at each signal with the mobile phone/camera, which has not been done before. The research extends both the subject matter of digital fine art, and the portrayal of subjective well-being and quality of life.