Practicing place with locative mobile technology

Abstract

Places are gathering points for a diverse range of realities: physical, spiritual, cultural, and digital. In the twenty-first century, the boundaries between these ways of knowing and being in the world are increasingly blurred. In this environment, rather than making places, one practises place. This article describes a place practice that brings together ubiquitous technologies, indigenous and speculative ontologies, and integral research methodologies. It presents three case studies focussed around three spiritually significant sites in South Auckland, New Zealand: a cemetery, a marae and a park. Locative mobile technologies augment physical spaces with digital content and can act as mediators between the self, the physical world, digital worlds and other worlds beyond. Technology is not usually associated with spirit. However, in these case studies, technology paradoxically plays a role in supporting the spirit of these places. This work raises legal, moral, cultural, and political issues in the use of mobile technologies in indigenous and/or sensitive contexts. It also presents opportunities for how mobile technologies can shift perceptions of self and place, make institutional knowledge more accessible, and build connections in the spaces where cultures, histories, peoples and realities meet. In these ways, when embedded within a principled practice, these technologies can support the spirit of place