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THE NEED FOR ORNAMENT
1.0
Personalization of Transportation Technology in Asia
A
wide spectrum of public transportation is used in Asia, such
as rickshaws, trucks, taxis and indigenous vehicles called
chhakdas. These functional modes of transportation that serve
millions of people are adorned by communities who personalize
them with their own narratives. In essence, the technologies
that would otherwise homogenize the users thrive as platforms
for cultural expression.
Communities
of users personalize their vehicles to different degrees of
ornamentation. The resulting array of graphics, textures,
patterns, motifs, paintings, embossing, composite materials,
talismans, quotes and decorative accessories present us with
an amazing variety of anonymous artists and their indigenous
art. This culture of ornamentation sustains street artists,
who work with different styles of vehicle personalization,
such as hand painting, poster art, paper cutting, audio mixing
and accessory art.
One
can delight in the diverse ways in which different communities
collectively express their identities. This study focuses
on vehicular graphic art as a point of departure to explore
how the need to ornament is fundamental to Asian cultures.
Since global companies are becoming interested in the dissemination
and accessibility of ICT for emerging economies, this study
in particular provokes one to understand the process of personalization
so that future products and services respect this fundamental
cultural need. This study infers that culturally rooted technology
is a means to increasing accessibility of ICT in emerging
economies.
In
this era of globalization, could we therefore deduce that
technologies that provide for personalization can enable cultures
to preserve their identities?
Ranjit
Makkuni, Kalpana Subramanian, Rajesh Gupta
Sacred World Research Laboratory
May
24, 2003 |
