Appears in: Chorianopoulos, K., Willis, K, Colini, L., Teran, M., (2006). Dousing for Dummies: methods for raising public awareness of invisible communication networks. In Adjunct Proceedings of British HCI conference 2006. Dousing for Dummies: methods for raising public awareness of invisible communication networks Michelle Teran Artist, Canada (misha@ubermatic.org) Konstantinos Chorianopoulos, Katharine S Willis, Laura Colini, Bauhaus University of Weimar (k.chorianopoulos@archit.uni-weimar.de, katharine.willis@archit.uni-weimar.de, laura.colini@archit.uni-weimar.de) Motivation and aims As mobile and wireless technologies proliferate in urban environments the space can be considered as having an existence in terms of several visible and invisible layers. In particular, we consider that there is a physical layer that makes up our everyday direct experience and several invisible layers formed by the audiovisual and communication networks. Yet, due to the ways in which we have traditionally considered space, there are many limitations in current ways of perceiving and thus engaging with these immaterial environments (Willis, 2005). For this purpose, we propose concepts and methods for raising public awareness of the presence and implications of wireless networks, such as closed circuit TV (CCTV) and WiFi nodes. In these environments the physical boundaries of walls, doors and gates, and distances still frame and isolate social encounters, but wireless transmissions increasingly trespass on the situations that take place in physically defined settings. In this paper, we present a series of methods developed by the artist, Michelle Teran, for raising awareness of invisible spaces created by public wireless communication technologies. These methods include public performance, where participation is through a series of walks through the city, and workshops where participants engage in the design implications through a process of locating, examining and documenting some of these invisible networks. Overall, we explore methods and strategies for engaging the public, raising awareness of the limitations of their perception of communications technologies, and techniques that facilitate the debate on the rich opportunities that these invisible spaces might offer. Methods Artistic methods are employed to explore research questions that regard the social space generated intentionally, or most notably unintentionally through the use of widespread public wireless communication technology. 'Life: a user's manual' 1 is a series of public performances that examines the hidden stories captured by private wireless CCTV streams and how they intersect with the visible and spatial environment. 'Life: a user's manual' focuses on the use of wireless surveillance cameras within public and private places that transmit unencrypted analog audiovisual signal on the 2.4 Ghz frequency band. Easily intercepted using a consumer model video scanner, the captured, live images create a sequence of readings and views of the city and its inhabitants which are observed while walking through the streets. 1 The title of the work is taken from a novel of the same name by Georges Perec