Leah Buechley and Jie Qi, Circuit Sketchbook, 2009

Attempting to find or make a lo-tech new media piece of art may seem like an inherent impossibility as lo-tech and new media appear to be an oxymoron. Jie Qi while a student at Columbia did a summer program at MIT with Leah Buechley, her professor, that dealt with these issues. Together the two of them created what could be defined as a lo-tech new media piece: Circuit Sketchbook.

Circuit Sketchbook is at its most basic level a popup book. Cute designs of animals or city skylines are more childish than anything. That is not the impressive part about this piece. The popup book becomes interesting because of how it both lights up and makes music. Using paper circuits and conductive paint, the user has to place a battery (specifically designed for the project) on a part of the paper and the current flows through the paint to light up the lights or turn on the music. The reason this piece can be considered lo-tech is because the only technology it uses are circuits and the battery, the most basic level of technology or electronics. The reason Circuit Sketchbook can be considered new media is because the artists have used a type of paint that has been specifically developed to conduct a current. This water based paint has a copper component which is how it conducts electricity. Using these paper circuits and conductive paint is definitely a new technology that has not been fully developed, thus making it a sort of electrical new media. With these two aspects, Circuit Sketchbook can be considered lo-tech new media as it represents a different concept of lo-tech (one that is more electrical than mechanical) and new media ideas that can be developed more in the future.