Kin, by cshool + canade, is a system that allows people to give a prayer over the Internet.

[PC, webcam, microphone, and kin. In the main building of Ryokusen Temple.]

At Ryokusen Temple in Asakusa, Tokyo, a network computer that controls Kin, a bowl-shaped sacred artifact (kind of like an upside-down bell that can be hit by a stick) is installed in the main building. One can connect to this computer from “anywhere” and hit the kin using a GUI slider.

[GUI for tele-praying.]

Praying over the Internet without physically attending a prayer would likey be considered impudent, etc. today. But there could be a good, respectable uses of this technology as well. What if one cannot walk /travel, or lives very far away from a temple.. These are some of the things that were discussed at the Digital Stadium show when this work was featured.

By the way, systems like this impose a unique challenge in GUI design. They could have used a button widget for hitting the kin. But the designers decided to make the user’s task deliberately “inefficient” so that users can have something more to do to better appreciate the moment.

via Digital Stadium.