Rockefeller New Media Foundation Proposal

Abstract

Book of Hours is a stand-alone program that operates upon PocketPC-based handheld computers such as the Ipaq, HP Jornada, and Casio Cassiopeia. The Book of Hours critically comments upon the similarities between the medieval books of hours, which contained schedules of Catholic devotions, calendars of festivals and services, and collections of votive texts based around the High Medieval Marian cult, and shows these similarities to the PDA by turning it into a 'Book of Hours' for the Church of Technopoly. The program calls upon the similarity of the Book of Hours as a medieval PDA, and transposes this cultural structure to that of the handheld organizer. The program generates its own devotional 'hymn' and lush computer-generated illuminations based on information from the texts contained in the Book's data. Users are entreated to follow its daily schedule of rites, such as checking e-mail, making cell phone calls, tracking one's portfolio, and asks for the user to consult the Calendar of High Upgrades and System Scans. In addition, the user can read from devotional passages from the writings of Pope William I of Gates, and Bishop Stephen of Wozniak, and can enter their own passages, thus allowing the Book to modify itself to the user's style of interaction. The Book will hold all information on itself in a file in the PDA's memory, so it's use will be 'remembered' over time.