Jac Fennell
Research Interests: Summary
Huge importance is given by people to preserving their memories as a way to understand and maintain who they are and what they are about. Currently technology supports the physical capture and storage of memories through photographs and memory objects, but less is being done to support the emotional context of people and their desire for recollection. Of the existing products that do address people’s need for recollection there seems to be a prescriptive offering of a ‘dose’ of reminiscing value. Having to self-prescribe a time and space to ‘top-up’ on remembering the people and places special to you can seem a very self-indulgent experience that many people find difficult to dedicate time to. How can memorabilia objects create involuntary memory responses? This research work suggests that it is the sporadic and elusive values of involuntary memory that are important to the process of reminiscing and that these qualities could be emphasised in designing new memorabilia systems. The main aim of this research are new design concepts that engage people in moments of involuntary memory recall around memorabilia objects in their home. Through encouraging serendipitous experiences of memory encounters, new technology may be able to go beyond specific memory recall episodes to offer new spaces for imagining and re-creating the past. It may be ill-suited and inappropriate to be reminded of something from the past in the present, but the unexpected shock of reviving the memory may be enough to keep present in consciousness, for later memory indulgence. |