I’ve had to rethink my idea a bit, since the immersive and interactive portion required people to go to places and be together with other people. I could still do an immersive experience, but have it be something that’s activated by something else that’s social distancing approved, like vehicles driving by or maybe some thing(s) on my house could be activated by the few people who come to my doorstep (pretty much just the mail carrier these days).

I might also be able to make a fun, uplifting, or educational interactive thing at a business. A lot of local businesses are teaming up with local artists to create gift sets and such (like a gift card and painting bundle). Grocery stores are still open, and Schnuck’s in Urbana, for example, has a tube-like entrance to the store. Maybe I could get approval to do something there. While it’s not exactly a (smaller) local business, it’s an idea.

I’d really like to work on something interactive, while utilizing the new addition to the project parameters. Live streaming a show might be difficult depending on what I do. I’ve been testing out streaming with OBS and Twitch, although I need to do some field tests with a live audience, as well as look into integrating multiple streams.

The other day I participated in a collaborative live stream, and it was pretty awesome. I used an audio reactive program to display the visuals, and I pulled the audio from a live stream that a friend was doing. He then took my live stream and streamed it through his channel (so showing my visuals with his audio). While the program I used was already written, I could replace the program window with a coding window. I’m not sure if there’s a more effective way to do this, but it does give way to live collaborative works.

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I’ve also thought about creating a program that only allows one user to be on at a time. I know this has been done before a bit, but instead of keeping track of how long the single user has been online, my program would obscure or black out the page if there is more than one person on it. This would be an online version of our real-world social distancing. Maybe the information on the page could be related to COVID-19 or maybe it’s even my personal website, but only one person can view it at a time, otherwise it’s all “infected”. Perhaps this will be a personal project rather than my BFA project.

Frank Pasquale – Black Box Society – chapter 1 (pp 1-11)
It’s interesting to me how sometimes a business is considered a legal person, and sometimes it’s not. It appears that this distinction is simply based on laws that were arranged to benefit large corporations the most. Businesses have more privacy rights than people do, which is even more absurd when businesses use the lack of consumer privacy as a means of business.

Our data is being mined to benefit corporations. We know this, yet we still happily hand over our data every day. Is it possible for us to minimize or eliminate the amount of data that is collected on us?


Cathy O’Neill – The era of blind faith in big data must end (Ted Talk, 13m)
In a nutshell, algorithms are made by people, and people are faulty. We have biases (even with good intentions), and we make mistakes. To blindly accept an algorithm’s data as the prime and only truth is only dragging us down. We can still use data and have positive effects, so long as we keep in mind that algorithms are tools, and tools sometimes break.

What kinds of data do we blindly accept in our everyday lives?


Virginia Eubanks – Automating Inequality (talk, 45m)
Data plays a big role in how a company views success, but the data isn’t always correct. In addition, the algorithms which retrieve the data are often made by people who have no real-world experience with what they’re trying to get data on.

How could we measure success without using data?


Janet Vertesi – My Experiment Opting Out of Big Data…  (Time, short article)
As my oldest is starting to work, the ideas of banks and credit cards are becoming a topic of discussion around my house. This article made me rethink my spending habits, and I wonder if I could successfully, and comfortably, go “off grid” with my finances and purchases.

One thing in the article that stuck out to me was the aspect of other people. I’ve been battling my feelings for privacy and my feelings of narcissism for a long time. I’ve been thinking a lot about being tracked, not just by Google, but also by, well, anyone in the world, really. I still remember a huge part of my life where I could essentially remain anonymous. It was lovely. Now, things are just… weird. I’ve “deleted” my social media accounts on multiple occasions, most recently for over a year (I don’t remember exactly how long, but it was a while). A lot of the time, my “friends” just wouldn’t respect my wishes of not having pictures put up before I approve them, and not to tag me in anything before I approve it. I had various reasons for these requests, but, like the author, some people just didn’t get it or didn’t care.

While advertisements are aimed to make companies money, could it also be that our information could be used to design products that we would actually use that would help improve our lives?


Walliams and Lucas – The Computer Says No (comedy skit, 2m)
This short skit highlights how some people take data as the truth over what a living human being says. The little girl was in to get her tonsils removed, but the computer data said she was there for a double hip replacement. She quite obviously doesn’t need a hip replacement, and the viewers are left laughing at the receptionist’s inability to see real-world facts when the computer data contradicted it. While this is laughable, it’s actually happening all around us. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that I, too, have fallen victim to the “data is the truth” trap.

We’re painting data inconsistencies or slight nuances in a bad light. While precise and correct data would be necessary for certain things (administering medicine, for example), I wonder if it’s not such a bad thing to have a larger margin of error in regards to less life-threatening aspects. If you’re using a fitBit, does it really matter if your number of steps is, let’s say even 1000 steps off? You’re up and getting active, and in my eyes, the fitBit data is more like a game anyway. It wouldn’t matter if a virtual character really walked 1543 steps or not because the game could encourage you to problem solve, thus working your brain, which is better than being sedentary most of the time.

I’m still grappling with figuring out what space I want to be in.

Nathan Jurgenson – The Social Photo – (book, pp. 1-15)
When photography was new, it had similar social debates as smartphones and the internet. People were divided as to whether this new technology was helping or hindering us. In a way, I feel it’s a lovely mix of both.

“The center of conceptual gravity for describing how people communicate with images today should be less art historical and more social theoretical.” While professional and social photography communicate with images, it’s the social photography that is moving images toward a language of sorts, and a means to actively engage with other people. When we focus less on the aesthetics of the images and more on the meaning or the delivery, then we can start to really dive into how people communicate with images today.

Did you know that some people think in dialog, and some people don’t? I wonder if this image-based communication is a better way to include more people in the conversation. How possible is it for us to have an actual image-based language? Rather, I suppose it would be a sort of code. But then the code could actually span multiple languages, creating this connection between different cultures. Could memes and images be the “one common language” that we can use to dissolve language barriers?


Jill Walker Rettberg – “What can’t we measure in a quantified world?” (talk, 20m)
While this talk was largely about what we can and can’t measure, as well as the things we use to measure them, the thing that stuck out the most to me is how we are conditioning children to accept being monitored, tracked, and ranked based on their performance data from school. We’re constantly trying to automate our lives, but it’s at the expense of actual human interaction.

Will there become a time when we are reliant on machines and the data? Could we become so disconnected from each other and ourselves that we can’t interact without media (for example: only eating when the app says it’s an optimal time to eat, not when your body tells you to or when you choose to)? On the other hand, maybe we could become the best versions of humans that there ever could be — with the help of all of our tracking devices.


Ben Grosser – What do Metrics Want? How Quantification Prescribes Social Interaction on FB (article)

So, what do they want? They want us. They want us on their applications all of the time. They want your data. They want you to want to give more and more. Ben refers to the graphopticon, which is “a self-induced audit of metricated social performance where the many watch the metrics of the many”. Like a game, we’re rewarded for generating more content. More likes. More hearts. More followers. More, more, more.

Then comes Ben with the Demetricator, which is a browser extension which removes the metrics from Facebook. You can still navigate and use Facebook as you would without the extension, you just can’t see the how many likes or friends you have. Other numerical data is also removed, as to completely eliminate the need to drive the numbers higher. This helps to create a social environment that is more social and less dependent on numerical data.

If we know the numbers are bad for us, and we can (sometimes physically) feel the pain of numerical rejection, then why is it so hard for us to all activate the Demetricator?

• interactive
• live? performance aspect?
• code-based? (tons?)
  https://editor.p5js.org/iamniky/full/fxnucBhtB
• video(s) (animated, really polished)
• projection
• kinda depends on space..
  
  Space available:
  30″ wall space OR 4′ x 5′ floor space
  

Wendy Chun – Programmed Visions, (book, pp. 1-2, and optionally pp. 3-10)
Software is the underlying agent in new media. You don’t have to write code to use it as the Adobe programs are software as well. It’s the software that allows us new ways to navigate and research our world, yet software is difficult to understand. No one knows how everything works, so there is this constant element of the unknown, and so a paradox of exploring the unknown with the unknown.

How can we make software more known? Can we?


Matthew Fuller – How to be a Geek (book, pp. 12-14, and optionally pp. 63-71)
Geeking out is kin to being obsessive. A geek is enthusiastic and driven to know more and more about whatever it is they’re geeking out about. Typically geeks are related to technology, and the new media geeks out there today are living in a sweet time of development and change. Software and digital technologies are blooming and giving us a new way to visualize abstract ideas. However, those who aren’t so enthusiastic about software and such are left in the dust, so to speak. There is a pretty big gap between those who know and those who don’t, and this inevitably leads to the geeks creating and deciding everything regarding software.

What kinds of things can we do to bridge the gap, or at least create a common knowledge or literacy regarding software?


Geert Lovink – Sad by Design (podcast w/ Douglas Rushkoff, 60m)
Social media platforms, and other forms of digital technology these days have an anti-human agenda. Instead of using a product, people are the product. The software is designed to lure, hook, and keep our attention. While we know this, it is very difficult to remove ourselves from these services because they are deeply intertwined with our offline lives; we feel connected to others when we see that they are “online”, as if it were a real meeting place. This, in turn, adds to the sadness that online media provides. We think we are connected, but we miss out on the real-world connections. Instead of smashing the phone, we’re urged to overcome the phone.

What ways can we work towards “overcoming the phone”, or at least not letting it control our lives?


Soren Pold – New ways of hiding: towards metainterface realism (article)
The metainterface is the hidden framework, or main controlling component, of digital media. It aims to be invisible, and psychological tactics are used to cover it up, make it look pretty, and keep us coming back for more. The metainterface is where our data is collected, and where the results of our data is fed back to us.

While generally invisible, you can catch a glimpse of (part of) Facebook’s metainterface by using Safebook. This extension removes everything from Facebook except the functions: the functionality of the spaces to click, type, and more, yet no decoration. This allows us to see many of the ways we give Facebook our information. After using Safebook and turning it off, there is still the eerie metainterface lingering in the background. All the bones and buttons and varying avenues of data collection, they’re all there, just dolled up to grab our attention and take what data we feed them.

Should we have strict guidelines regarding internet usage? What kinds of impacts could this have on future users?

Shoshana Zuboff – The Age of Surveillance Capitalism (video documentary, 50m)
The video stated that social media downright bamboozles all of us all of the time. That’s definitely what social media does, with facebook being a lead bully in that arena. We’re so entertained that we aren’t noticing (or caring) what else is going on.

Why do we feel that we can’t exist without facebook, or other social media platforms for that matter? It wasn’t long ago that we did that very thing, so what’s stopping us from doing it again? We acknowledge the mental, social, and physical effects of social media, including mass surveillance, yet we can’t seem to put the devices down. Why?

Another thing that struck me was how companies are altering their business practices in order to get in the game of surveillance capitalism. It’s strange to think that a successful auto company would get in the business of consumer data collecting. This adds to my fear that our personal data is worth a lot more than we think it is.

Helen Nissenbaum – Mapping Interventions – Digital Democracies Conference (talk, 30m)
The techniques shown are very clever ways for people to use “bad” technology against itself. We’ve been trying to fight against being tracked an monitored, but it seems like a futile effort at times. By reversing the attack strategies to include producing overwhelming and confusing amounts of data, we are able to strip away the barrage of curated psychological attacks.

I wonder how effective these efforts are at covering ourselves from being tracked. Are these tools really effective, or are they more of a nuisance for everyone?


Carole Cadwalladr – ’I made Steve Bannon’s psychological warfare tool’ (Guardian)
I feel badly for Christopher Wylie because he was so young when he was working with Cambridge Analytica. It’s so easy to be manipulated into his position by people who were twice his age and had that much more life experience. While I definitely agree that this whole thing is a disgusting act of greed, I keep thinking back to the “start” of the internet, or at least when it started becoming mainstream. The #1 rule was don’t put anything on the internet that you wouldn’t want everyone to see. So, all the data being plastered all over facebook is essentially fair game. Now, yes, mining that data and using it for malicious causes isn’t good, in fact it’s downright bad. However, it’s almost like a *facepalm*. Google isn’t stealing your search history, you’re giving it to them. Algorithms aren’t stealing anything, they are simply taking what you give them. Stop feeding the monster.


Stuart A Thompson and Charlie Warzel – One Nation, Tracked (NY Times)
It’s pretty scary to think about how much we’re being tracked, and also how easy it would be for someone to figure out who we were without having much more than location data. If a device pings at your house overnight every night, chances are that device is yours. People are creatures of habit, and by studying the movement and behavior patterns through cell phone data points, we can learn a staggering amount about people. Furthermore, we could identify times, places, and conditions in which it would be easy to manipulate those same people, be it by psychological manipulation through curated advertising or more devious and physical ways of harm.

What are some strategies that we could implement to overcome being tracked?


Drew Harwell – Colleges are turning phones into surveillance machines (Washington Post)
On one hand, I see the benefits of having student surveillance on campuses, but that’s a very small hand. I mostly abolish the thought. While it is good that we could potentially avert crises or even help a student become a little better, it seems that it’s at the cost of human interaction. When the devices fail, the people even believe the devices over the other people. It’s ridiculous.

We can clearly see that devices and digitally tracking people is only creating a lack of real interaction and socialization. What are some non-digital ways that we could help students reach their goals and stay healthy?


Jenny Davis – A clear case for resisting student tracking (Cyborgology)
As a parent who has struggled with a (sometimes) defiant teen, I can see the benefits of having a tracker. I’ve looked at getting one for my son, but ultimately decided that would only lead to deception and a lack of trust (not to mention all of that data potentially being sent out to who-knows-where). I also began to think about how I would feel if someone, or a job, put a tracker on me for whatever reason. I would lose my sense of self, and I’d probably go crazy. Sure, I’m not out being delinquent or robbing banks or anything I need to hide like that, but having my privacy is important to me. What’s equally important is having free will to basically do what I want. Sometimes there are repercussions, but there are also rewards. People, just like plants, grow best when they have room to spread. Surveillance and obtrusive monitoring doesn’t allow people to grow and learn, and is counter-intuitive in a learning environment.

If you were paying $100,000 for your child’s college education, would you be for or against student tracking and surveillance? What if your child was performing poorly and/or skipping classes?