1. Describe the difference between Political Design and Hacktivist Art. Use an example of each and describe how that work fits the category of design or art.

The main difference between designing politics and hacktivist art is that politics tries to change the world directly, and with the use of force. Hacktivist art is done by hackers that have a cause and they attempt to question the problem, usually with humor. Politics goal is to bring major dilemmas to attention and try to fix them. Art makes people aware of the situation and tries to question it to fix it. One example of hacktivist art would be the process of website mirroring. Hacktivists take a censored website and post it to a domain that is uncensored.

2. What does execution mean? How does it relate to computers (ie .exe files). What are some example of executatb;e art? How is execution different from representation? In other words how does each realte to the media paradigms of one-to-many vs many-to-many?

To execute something, means to carry it out or to accomplish something. Execution is the act of accomplishing something. With computers, .exe files are executable files, meaning that something will be carried out if it is clicked. Representation is just the act of presenting something. It is seen by people rather than something that is executed. Representation would fall into the category of one-to-many while execution would be many-to-many.

3. Why do you think Hacktivist artists find themselves hacking capitalist and political structures that most other people revere? What problem or dangers do they see in these forms of power? Use sample projects to answer this question.

I believe that hacktivist artists choose to hack capital and political structures because they want to do things that normal people wouldn’t dare to do. They want to prove that they are capable of doing things that leaders of the country wouldn’t expect. The hacktivist group Anonymous recently hacked into the websites for the Department of Justice and FBI. They did this because of the government shutting down Megaupload.com. They want to prove that they have power, too. And also that they won’t go down without a fight.

4.How do hacktivists confirm McLuhan’s prediction that the ‘nation-state’ wold not survive the advent of electronic media? Do hacktivists challenge or question any critical policies of nation-states? Does their practice suggest any alternatives to the nation-state? Or why are they not really concerned about anarchy?

What is New Media?

It seems to me that Vin Crosbie is a little angry about the way that people have been using the terms “media” and “medium.” He states clearly a couple of times that Internet, radio, TV, magazines, telephones, etc., are not media. They “are vehicles for conveying information within a medium or media.” This quote helped me a little more to understand what he meant. Also, the way that he explained it in terms of transportation really helped with his concept. It is important that we, as new media students, understand what he is trying to tell us before we can further our studies.

The World Needs You to See it With Fresh Eyes

This was a pretty refreshing read. I enjoyed hearing that anyone is possible of changing the world and making a difference. He told his story of how he made a difference, and also the story of Marla Ruzicka, which was also a great one. I thought it was important that he emphasized that you didn’t have to be a martyr like Marla, but you just have to stand up for something. Like Eli said, when the car is headed for a cliff and the driver’s seat is empty, who is going to take the wheel? In the big picture, we each possess the power to change everything. Everyone is fallible. Everyone is imperfect. Anyone can make a difference.