Reiche, C., in: G. Leidloff: "l o g - i n / l o c k e d  o u t", in: O. Breidbach, K. Clausberg und K.P. Dencker (Hg.): Video, ergo sum, Hamburg 1999

Claudia Reiche on:
Gabriele Leidloff
l o g - i n / l o c k e d   o u t

To be connected via data-transmission with the 'world' is perceived by most subjects as a means of increased expression. (Often starting with the first and last Name, ending with the credit card number.) The desire of a personel inscription in the data-streams is paradoxically realised by a multitude of routines, fetching data which have not been knowingly given by the user, to form the specific profile and to form the very image of a human being in the digital connected 'age' as a pattern of data. To be or not to be on the web nevertheless means to be in the web of a technological and epistemological reformulation of what has been called a subject for a long time. This reformulation should be connnected with a certain device, actually developed for the dual use of the military and the civilian world and theatrically representing data-production as a new 'personal entity'. Known as the 'Smart Tee-shirt', this textile web functions as a wearable computer collecting and transmitting medical information of the wearer.

'The Sensate Liner (SL) mesh forms a conductive back plane hosting and integrating sensors for biological phenomenon such as blood pressure, pulse rate (heart rate) ; physical sensors including - barrier penetration, motion, position; environmental sensors such as temperature.(...) Of particular interest is the detection and location of high speed projectiles penetrating the human body. Experimental results utilizing polymer acoustic transducer arrays indicate entrance wound locations can be detected with an acceptable degree of accuracy. (...) With regards to the circuit garment development itself, the goal is to produce (...) a truly flexible and wearable woven computer! Although the initial application is for combat casualty care, the information processing capability of the garment renders it equally useful for other applications including analog-computing!' (Dr. Eric J. Lind, Dr. Sundaresan Jayaraman et al., A Sensate Liner for Personnel Monitoring Applications, https://computer.org/conferen/proceed/8192/pdf/81920098.pdf) The question is: Would these other applications monitor the completely logged-in dummy, it could be you, as a locked-in syndrom?

Claudia Reiche
Forschungsprojekt: Körperbilder, Mediale Verwandlungen des Menschen in der Medizin, Universität Hamburg