[Itself] Evocative Object Essays

[Sherry Turkle]

December 16, 2003


Dear Colleagues,

Some of you have written essays for Evocative Objects: Things We 
Think With. We have essays about gears and essays about ballet 
slippers. We have essays about string and essays about Chinese 
scholars' rocks. We have essays about rolling pins and essays about 
the physics of Saran Wrap. I am grateful to you for your submissions, 
and to those of you who are still working, I am looking forward to 
receiving your essays as soon as possible.

I write because many of you who have been associated with our 
Evocative Objects Seminar series have expressed an interest in 
contributing an essay to this collection. The holidays and the 
semester break may provide the time and the opportunity to involve 
new people in this endeavor.

If you have not been part of this project but would like to 
participate, I invite you to submit a contribution by February 15. I 
would like the final volume to represent the widest range of voices, 
disciplines, and interests as possible.

We live in a time when technology is at the center of our lives. This 
volume will offer reflections on how artifacts carry emotions as well 
as ideas, on the deep connections between technology and human 
development. We are asking for a short (5-20 page) original essay 
about a specific object that has been particularly meaningful in your 
life. It can, but does not have to be, a technological object. It can 
be an object from your childhood, a favorite toy or a first ink pen, 
or one from later in life. The style is yours to decide, but we 
envisage one that is personal, serious but accessible. The goal is to 
bring our work to a broad interdisciplinary audience.

Our theme is things and thinking, as well as the integration of 
thought and feeling. Thus, we ask you to choose an object that has 
provoked you to reflect about mind, body, science, mathematics, 
history, language, feelings, about such categories as the natural and 
the artificial, or about how things "work" in some way that seemed 
important to you - perhaps in childhood, perhaps later. You may 
choose an object that intrigued or moved you, or an object you 
feared. It can be an object that brought a philosophical problem 
"down to earth," an object that inspired you to choose your 
intellectual and/or personal life questions.

Please send all contributions to Olivia Dasté, Project Director for 
the evocative objects volume: <odaste at mit.edu>.

In closing, I want to announce that we will be continuing our 
evocative objects work in the spring semester in a format that will 
enable us to have a more extended conversation than was possible over 
lunch. There will be a day-long Evocative Objects workshop in E51-095 
on Friday, March 5, 2004. Please save the date and consult our web 
page for program details: http://web.mit.edu/~sturkle/techself/.

Best wishes for the holiday season,


Sherry Turkle
Abby Rockefeller Mauzé Professor of the Social Studies of Science and 
Technology
Program in Science, Technology, and Society
Director, MIT Initiative on Technology and Self
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