Empathic Media: Theory-Building and Knowledge-Exchange with Industry, Regulators and NGOs

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This proposed project is founded on one seemingly strange observation: media are increasingly showing signs of being empathic. This reflects not just a niche area of media technology - but, if interest in wearable technology is anything to go by, we are heading towards a society where life is truly mediated. Empathic media refers to the capacity for new media technologies to sense, interpret and act on the emotional states of people, and to make use of people's intentions and expressions in generating textual and personalised media experiences. Cues perceived by what I term 'empathic media' include physiological change (eg pupil dilation, pulse, heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature or respiration), electrodermal responses, pheromones, galvanic skin response (eg sweat), facial/body expressions, voice inflection and sound (potentially beyond human range). In each case, empathic media involve systems that monitor our behaviour by means of bodily movement and outputs, engaging with people in a personalised capacity, and doing this by means of tailored textual experiences.Empathic media are the next step in behavioural media, or those tracking practices associated with some of the world's largest online media companies, such as Google and Facebook, whose business models depend on tracking and making sense of our mediated activities. Empathic media include, for instance, Microsoft's Xbox via Kinect (a plug-in device that visually detects motion) that scans the content of rooms in which they are placed and monitors biometric responses to advertising. Not alone, Sony and Verizon have developed very similar televisual feedback systems. Other empathic media on the horizon include Google Glass (augmented reality glasses); networked wrist watches with tracking and bio-sensors; networked clothing and handbags (with global positioning applications); baby clothes able to soothe babies; and garments able to monitor bodily data for purposes ranging from health awareness and self-regulation to comparing sporting performance with others. Whether used for more precisely targeted advertising, or by individuals to better look after their own health, each form of empathic media involves the ability to sense what is significant for people, and make use of both their expressions and intentions, so acting on their emotional states. To study empathic media in greater depth, I seek knowledge exchange by means of semi-structured interviews (conversations with a purpose) with 20+ start-up and established organisations in the US and UK. This comprises companies involved in producing empathic media; advertising agencies seeking to make use of new creative, interactive and data-oriented opportunities generated from empathic media; regulators in Europe and the UK tasked with managing these technologies; and NGOs concerned about privacy. Importantly, through detailed case study analysis of a range of empathic media, I will assess: (a) the 'affordances' of the technologies themselves (ie what properties they possess and what they enable users, and companies, to do); and (b) the political-economic, social and legal issues that these media technologies raise.Outputs will include one monograph on empathic media that theorises them in relation to existing behavioural practices, explores philosophical implications in regard to whether they can "really" know us, and assesses the adequacy of existing privacy laws and norms. Later outputs entail: two empirical journal papers in world-leading journals that advance theory and understanding in light of interviews conducted; three conference papers at major international Media conferences; three reports targeted by sector (industry, regulation and NGOs) and meetings with end-users to deliver these; key findings placed online; public talks and social media engagement; already agreed mass media appearances on BBC radio; and a journalistic article for The Conversation, an RC-UK/Guardian journalism project.