Monthly Archives: February 2012

The Rosetta Project

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http://rosettaproject.org/

This project is amazing and has such an important meaning. Language is one of foundations of the human species. Each time we lose a language, we lose a little more cultural diversity. A whole history of different people is lost when we lose a language. The prototype for this project is incredible. A three inch nickel disk has 14,000 pages of information etched onto its surface. Digital obsolescence is a major problem and this project focuses on a new way of archival storage. It is important to preserve these thousands of languages. Each one tells a very different story.

10,000 Year Clock

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http://longnow.org/clock/

This is an awesome project. This clock will play a different melody for 10,00 years! It raises a lot of questions in the aspect of long-term thinking. One really interesting question that this project raised was, “If the Clock keeps going after we are personally long dead, why not attempt other projects that require future generations to finish?” That is a really interesting concept and I believe that question will be seriously considered and there will soon be some sort of project that requires multiple generations to finish.

Trek’n’Check

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This is a simple home screen for the application that Nick and I created. We wanted to give the user some different options to start with. We gave the option to check in, look at points of interest, find people, and discover new areas. This application has potential to be a good, but the only problem we have would be getting the wifi connection to remote areas where people would actually be hiking and using the application.

 

 

Inspectacles

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We would make a pair of glasses that would project a computer screen. The user would use a controller and/or keyboard for interaction with the screen. The hard drive could be contained in the mouse and keyboard, and they would wirelessly transmit the image to the glasses.

This was sort of a far-fetched, future type of project idea. We were just trying to put our brains to work and think of something spectacular, but at the same time, it is a good idea.

Contributors: Nicholas Lee

Keychain Breathalyzer

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Place a breathalyzer on every keychain of a push-to-start vehicle. This would make it so that the driver could breathe into the breathalyzer, and if their blood-alcohol content is too high, then the car won’t start.

I feel that this could be a really important thing in the future. To be able to start someone’s car based on the blood-alcohol content would be life-saving, literally.

Contributors: Nicholas Lee

Trek’n’Check

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Trek’n’Check is an application for any mobile device which would allow users to periodically check in at designated points during hikes or nature walks. This app would use a point system similar to Foursquare, where the user would get points for reaching certain parts of the mountain or trail. There would also be an award system if the user reached significant points, such as the peak of a mountain.

 

Contributors: Nicholas Lee

They Rule

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Theyrule.net is such an interesting website. It shows us all of the people that have a part in big corporations and companies. It shows every director and how they are connected to different companies. It is also very interesting how people connected to more than one company become a little fatter. All of these people affect our lives. They make decisions that come into play in our lives. It is weird to think about that, but it is true. These people are affecting us in one way or another.

The Yes Men

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This was by far one of the most courageous things that I have seen. I still cannot believe that one of the Yes Men went on live television as a representative for DOW. Also, the fact that he completely spoke for them and said things that a normal DOW representative wouldn’t have said, like the offer he made. “After 20 years, we are finally taking responsibility for what happened.” These two men had very good intentions while pulling these stunts. They were trying to make people realize right from wrong. They were trying to make DOW chemical take responsibility for what they did years ago. It was a pretty amazing stunt that they pulled and I don’t know if anyone will top that.

Every Icon; John Simon

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This is one of the more interesting projects. To think that it will eventually create every icon that is possible in a 32 by 32 grid is unbelievable. And also, that it will take 10298 years to complete. This goes to show that not every project is simply just done and completed by the artist, sometimes it takes time to complete or make. The only question I have for this project is that, is anyone going to be around to see it finish?

Behind The Wall

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My idea for this project is to create a typography self portrait that will show what people say to me in person compared to what people say to me on the Internet. It seems like a lot more is said through a computer than what is usually said in person. I want this to show the differences in quality and quantity of how people interact with me in those two different ways. Each half of the portrait may look drastically different based on what people have said to me. Why does the Internet make us say things that we wouldn’t say in person? Why does it make us act like who we aren’t?

Edge of Art; Designing Politics

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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?