Objects in Flux - RMIT Research Repository - RMIT University

Although the connector has ten contacts, the track-pad’s flex
cable indicates that only three conductors are in use (suggesting
ADB communication). By testing the voltage at each of
the contact points I came up with the following assumption.
[Figure 5-26]
PowerBook G3 – internal ADB diagram, 2006.
I stripped the plug from an ADB mouse and attached the
power (blue), data (red) and ground (black) leads as shown
below.
[Figure 5-27]
PowerBook G3 – testing the internal ADB
connector, 2006.
With this connection the mouse is automatically recognised
at start-up and functions as normal. The simple ‘plug
and play’ qualities of the ADB system open it up to a wide
variety of modding opportunities. One possibility that leaps
to mind is the incorporation of my (now redundant) Power-
Book track-pad into an external ADB keyboard (I’m currently
typing on the Apple Keyboard II5 and the track-pad would
look pretty neat in place of the numeric keyboard), but that’s
a mod for another day...
5/ Wikimedia Commons Apple Keyboard II image, http://
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Apple_Keyboard_
II.jpg accesed 20 July 2006.
Telling Stories
These objects were not collector’s items in any
conventional sense, I did not place them on dis-
play, they did not complete or extend an exist-
ing collection, and they did not offer a return on
my investment. I was perpetuating this practice
of consumption because it had become ‘natu-
ral’ to me. Occasionally I derived a degree of
pleasure from the skilled and repetitive nature
of the practice; at other times the activity felt
like a chore. In general however the predomi-
nant feeling was one of absence or remove; the
actions had become automatic. In this regard, I
had become Foucault’s ‘docile body’, construct-
ed from atomised tasks that function within a
larger productive machine. The activity, while
essentially useless, proceeded via the logic of
industrial labour.
Through privileging productive activity, practices
of object modification readily adopt mecha-
nisms and procedures associated with industrial
wage-based labour. Here, as with Gelber’s claim
of DIY, the ideology of the workplace manifests
itself in the form of productive leisure (Gelber,
1999, p. 2). Within practices of object modifica-
tion it is possible to discern a strong ‘work ethic’
that demonstrates commitment and persever-
ance through repetition of action. While, at
times, this mirroring of labour practices pro-
ceeds without conscious reflection (as above),
the self-initiated, self-directed and self-reflexive
nature of object modification generally means
that such mechanisms do not go unchecked.
Unlike wage-based labour, practices of object
modification do not alienate the individual from
the products of their labour. The modified object
therefore becomes a means by which practitio-
ners can objectify their individuality and reflect
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