An Interview with Spencer Chang | Are.na Editorial

a lot of times ideas and projects are formed out of a more ambient kind of thinking and talking and doing. Research is not always this thing of sitting down and concentratedly looking through archives or something.

The question behind it was “how can anyone, whether they’re technical or not, create or cultivate their own database?” When I started doing independent research last year, that was one of the main questions that was swirling. It’s fundamental to a lot of the other explorations that I'm doing now, looking at how alternative forms of technology might... See more

It’s research, but not in a traditional sense of research. It’s almost like a personal philosophy research or something. It’s how you form your opinions about a specific category of things. The terms I use most often are “textured” and “resonant” — I think when you see collections that have been cared for over many years and have a very specific vi... See more

“communal computing.” What I care about most is technology as a medium for humanity. I care about making technology feel more like a material that we can use to connect better with each other or express ourselves or create things; tools and spaces that allow us to gather, play, and share in the joy of making things together.

We're all technological beings now; it's ingrained into the way we operate. It's almost an extension of our body. And we already know how we want to shape that technology. We just need to be better supported to do so.