What does it mean to see and look? Can seeing and looking be done without
using the eyes? This article contributes to studies in visual communication
through empirical visual research into human vision, visual impairment and
computer vision technologies, using video-ethnographic methods. These
topics essentially enable a respecification of the concept of vision, the role
of visual and material culture, and the exploration of visual means of communication
in social and cultural worlds. In this article, the authors advance
the understanding of visuality and vision by showing empirically how ‘seeing’
and ‘looking’ are not uniquely human abilities, but rather informational
phenomena that can be achieved through distribution with a technological,
nonhuman sensing AI. This study draws on video-recorded data in which
visually impaired persons (VIPs) use a smartphone with a computer visionbased
app while grocery shopping in a supermarket. Based on video ethnography,
ethnomethodology and conversation analysis (EMCA), they show
the orderly, practical organization of four specific practices: (1) fleeting
glancing; (2) searching; (3) identifying; and (4) locating. In the examples,
these ordinary human practices for achieving visual information are done
while using the technology as a handheld ‘eye’. This research contributes to
studies in visual impairment, visuospatial organization and the use of AI consumer
products in a context of cultural practices for accomplishing the act
of looking at and picking up grocery products. The article contributes new
knowledge on visuality by expanding the concept of distributed perception
and by suggesting a praxeological respecification of achieving visuospatial
perception as an action in the world.