River of words

We live in a society of cut-up words; I’m interested in the aesthetics of data visualization and what we can make of fragments…made even more interesting when combined with social networking and powerful databases. Check out:

WeFeelFine. Pretty? Useless? Pretty useless? Read more about it at Museum 2.0.

Moveable Type. An installation located in the lobby of The New York Times building. A cool way to regurgitate words.

Digerati – the information elite and lovink it!

I’m part of the creative industries and fairly immersed in network culture. I know this, but it does not sit well. Funny that!

For my latest quest, I’m on the look-out for information about the impact of digital technologies on media practice. As I delve further and further into this web of…the Web, actually, I’m struggling to come up with ‘the goods’! On the plus side however, I’ve re-discovered the thoughts and theories of Geert Lovink – first encountered in my undergrad ‘Digital Media’ class in 2002. The ‘future’ we discussed then, is now. Geert’s articles in my course reader helped my understanding of all things ‘new media’ immensely back then. Yesterday, as I again seek knowledge of the future in the now (Web 3.0 anyone?), his name popped up – again. I found Geert’s archive of ‘thoughts’ on the web and promptly wrote a post about it. Today, I’ve come full circle and wandered into his current home at the Institute of Network Cultures. Serendipity!

Hello Professor Lovink. You’ve appeared at just the right moment and sets me ‘on course’ again. The past and future collide. There ain’t nuthin’ new in that!

San Francisco Emotion Map

This is what I like about the world today. A lot of information presented in one layer…but on closer inspection is densely multi-layered. Simple complexity. This biomap was created by Christian Nold. Somehow I want to incorporate these ideas into my Honours project. I like the idea of ‘tracking’ home movies to see what type of pattern takes shape and meaning is revealed.

Christian Nold is the creator of this biomap.

The San Francisco Emotion Map is the culmination of Christian Nold’s five-week residency and participatory art project that involved a total of 98 participants exploring San Francisco’s Mission District neighborhood using the Bio Mapping device he invented. During his residency at Southern Exposure, Christian Nold worked in the organization’s Mission Street storefront gallery encouraging visitors to stop by and use the devices during the weekdays and on Saturdays when he conducted intensive workshops. The project invited the public to go for a walk using the device, which records the wearer’s physiological response to their surroundings. The results of these walks are represented on this map using colored dots and participant’s personal annotations. The San Francisco Emotion Map is a collective attempt at creating an emotional portrait of a neighborhood and envisions new tools that allow people to share and interpret their own bio data.

Snack culture

While working on one research project looking into digital technologies affect on media production, I stumbled upon this gem from the Video Vortex conference held earlier this year in Amsterdam. It’s a quote from the (always interesting) Geert Lovink. It was written for an upcoming book:

We no longer watch films or TV; we watch databases. Instead of well-defined programmes, we search one list after another. We are no longer at the mercy of cranky reviewers and monocultural multiplexes. what we run up against is the limitations of our own mental capacity. Which search terms will yield the best fragments? What was that title again? Does anyone know that director’s name? What was that band called? What category was it under? Does he know someone else with interesting tastes? Was that reference blogged anywhere? Does she know the URL? Was it under pets or entertainment? Welcome to snack culture: watch a clip and move on.

My ‘home movies’ project is still ‘the road I’m travelling’ for my Honours, but it’s important (to me) that it is somehow related to contemporary culture. I’m also looking into emotional mapping, visualisation, identity,archiving, databases and the ‘cultural DNA of content’ (yet another ‘Lovink term’ that’s bang on the mark for what I want to explore). Things shift and swirl…

Me – write. You – read.

I’ve just written a journal entry for Literary Journalism and emailed it to my lecturer. What the heck, says I…publish it on the blog, as a page.

Black Balloons

I’m sure everyone is ‘over’ winter, working and the daily grind. Take time out, sit back and watch William Lamson. I found this link to his videos on Rocketboom. I didn’t know balloons could be so amusing.