Let’s say there’s been a large-scale disaster such as a chemical spill. As it unfolds, a reconnaissance team of field agents is deployed on the ground to search for survivors, log casualties and identify where help is needed. They have their own food, water, power tools and comms equipment. They even have their own pop-up mobile phone antenna. They have been ordered by their incident commander back at base to be active for 7 hours before returning to debrief her. They feed back information, receive instructions and ping messages between themselves. Each individual is a probe, taking pictures, capturing data, moving through the devastated landscape by touch and by feel. Here is a ‘haptic’ visual interface which is all about surfaces, textures, ambiguous details, blurred effects and delayed comprehension. For a movie example, see Saul Bass’s title credits for ‘Casino’ – http://vimeo.com/14402465