Takho is a networked circular table with an interactive top designed to facilitate communication between people in cafés or other similar semi-public places around the world. Takho, using the gestures associated with coffee or tea drinking along with visual and tactile feedback, creates a portal through which users can communicate non-verbally. Each Takho has a unique partner Takho located somewhere else in the world. Through the use of network technology the shapes of objects placed upon Takho appear on the surface of both tables, in light. Takho indicates the intersection or “touching” of objects placed in equivalent locations on both tables through a change of color. Using the table as the interface allows anonymous people to communicate through the language of café gesture. Takho’s simple protocol of gestural interaction allows for intercultural communication, without certain obstacles associated with differences in language and culture. Cultural difference is communicated through the unique rituals associated with the café environment in each location.

Our goal is to design and build networked devices that allow users all over the world to communicate with each other through gestural, tactile and visual interactions. With Takho, people who do not share language, culture or location can find similarities and differences through a shared experience without relying on a common verbal language. In this time of political and international unrest, creating portals through which people around the world can communicate in an intimate manner that accentuates both cultural similarities and differences, has become vitally important. Takho is social hardware that enhances the remote connectivity of people globally through a shared everyday experience and encourages inter-cultural understanding. Public space In order to create a new kind of social interaction, we built on the pre-existing language of everyday objects. Our goal is to encourage inter-cultural interactions by placing these communication tools in places where people gather in everyday life. Installed in public spaces such as cafÈs, stations or waiting areas.

Takho is an accessible object that allows people to take a look into another world. Gestural interaction We focus on visual, tactile and gestural interactions to make the presence of others felt and allow users in separate locations to interact with each other without sharing a common space, culture or language. Network technology, in enhancing connectivity and providing instantaneous communication, makes the world feel smaller and smaller. However, the difficulty of inter-cultural communication still remains because communication depends on written text and verbal language. ÝIn many network communication protocols such as email and instant messaging, it would be impossible to establish communication without knowledge of the recipientís language. Unlike other network communication protocols, Takho explores an alternative way to communicate with others through gestures and visual interaction, bypassing certain obstacles associated with differences in language and culture. Cultural difference and mutual understanding While Takho uses a language of common gestures to bridge the gap between cultures, our goal is also to reveal cultural differences through the experience. In the creation of cross-cultural communication tools there is a tendency to either exoticize the other or reinforce the ìitís a small worldî fallacy that all people are the same. However, we believe inter-cultural understanding will not emerge from either scenario but will only come about through understanding and respect for the differences and similarities between cultures.

 

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