Social networks are more than the medium through which a large percentage of human interaction now takes place, they are also mechanisms of crowdsourced surveillance. We, the users, are invading our own privacy with each upload and interaction. This occurs not only through the data we knowingly post, but through the cloaked information which is automatically amalgamated to each query. These interactions are logged, timestamped, and geotagged. With this data, it is possible for institutions to efficiently locate and stifle attempts at tangible social reformation.
Through the social network, control is made fashionable — it is surveillance of the masses by the masses. But for whose benefit?
The aim with this project was to create a script which utilized both the Twitter and Google Maps API. It was designed to gather data from a specific user's most recent tweets and then plot his/her positions and projected routes on a map. Since the project was more about the idea of crowdsourced surveillance than the subjective narratives of the individuals, the user data and geography was stripped from the maps.
Download a comprehensive .pdf here
Self-Surveillance and the Social Network
The idea of utopia as a paradise is intrinsically flawed. The very notion of social perfection and concrete ideology ignores the almost certain possibility that the context in which the hypothetical sociopolitical paradigm exists could change. As the sociopolitical backdrop inevitably morphs, the foundations upon which the system was created begin to weaken; this is the essence of social entropy. Every ideology inexorably suffers this flaw, as every ideology is opposed to its reformation.
Still, utopian thinking is an absolutely necessary element in social progress. True advancement does not happen within the confining margins of the conventional discourse, it occurs in abandonment, in revolution, in the ensuing void, and in the subsequent restructuring. It occurs in the institution of a new ideal in place of the old.
Perhaps utopian thinking should be thought of as a means of social progression rather than the pinnacle of societal development or as some idyllic sociopolitical structure.
~ 3ft x 3ft x 14"
Polystyrene, Aqua-Resin & Plaster
Utopia as a Means
Qor is a functional, sans-serif typeface. It was built to be used for both body copy and display. It is available in regular, bold, oblique, and bold oblique and contains 341 characters which span Pan African Latin.
It is available for purchase on
HypeForType &
You Work For Them.
Qor
The entirety of geography, and the human experience of geography, has become commodified. We travel only with endpoints in mind, to spaces where it is possible to exchange, transfer, or obtain things of monetary value. We go from our homes to work to the grocery store to the bank. Then perhaps out to eat with friends, to the bar, and eventually back home. Not only are these experiences guided purely by commodity, but the entire occurrence is tunnel-visioned. The expanse between each destination is viewed merely as geographic hinderance rather than a space with the potential for valuable experience.
The Situationist International recognized this social construct and set to overcome it though the process of wandering, or dérive. In the act of wandering, experience of geographic space, and existence itself, becomes heightened. Within journeys lacking a goal, each moment gains value and significance.
As empirical beings, the pursuit of true experience is invaluable. It is the essence of being, the essence of self.
These photographs are a result of my own wandering. They serve as an indirect self portrait as well as a larger, more objective, documentation. They span thirteen countries and four years.
Dérive
In about 7.6 billion years, the sun is going to expand. When this happens, there is a very good chance that it will consume the earth, and with it, all traces of human existence. Of course it is possible (and in all honesty, likely) that if we are still around when this occurs, we will have long since escaped the confines of earth and moved to colonize new planets and galaxies. Regardless, the imprint we have left on the place of our origin will be forever destroyed.
With that in mind, I've created a series of hypothetical sculptures which, due to their scale, would significantly alter the way in which the earth was consumed. Perhaps it would even be possible (with accurate enough data and highly-advanced mathematics) for an extraterrestrial species to mathematically deduce the existence of these sculptures purely by observing the aftermath of the expansion. If this was the case, the fingerprint of humanity would forever be preserved, albeit in an oblique way.
I'm currently looking for investors to help realize these projects.
Sculptures for when the Sun Expands
Unica Light is one of my absolute favorite typefaces. Sadly, it doesn't support the logic notation or set theory notation. To make the typeface more useful to myself, I created a handset expansion.
You can download/use this expansion for free. It is available for download here:
logic_set_theory_notation_for_Unica_light.zip.
Logic/Set Theory Notation for Unica Light
Baudrillard - The Murder of the Real (1/6)
Uploaded by socialText
Transcribed by Youtube's interactive transcript
Curated by Greg Ponchak
0:07 - 0:52
and uh... about the cause of the week
seven of the operation
although the book of crime
easy-to-read many
illegal magnitude
spread proclaiming the bed belt
david buckner about
in the nineteenth century
well going to change a bit now
inxgroup public-private between the mother question abroad but uh... every day
seems normal
sternberg mother
appendix minors
accomadation beneath that confident that uh... out
for the he said he'd extermination camps
that is what pentagon and uh... all right
1:46 - 2:40
act
the twelve
the wessel
act
the two are well
the grayson and barbara deliverance
orgsubject opportunity
london different peoples
autoclaved three cut
toolkit captain and he went through
beyond a darkened what prejudice retired point in time
history
how we're going to be great
without resided yurman gifted
of the warrant explicit
commented
but more important not being built
what happened husbands who
but we don't know where
how-to magazines
slap that you did not would be to recall that
and
stronger because of the woods
Baudrillard - The Murder of the Real (2/6)
Uploaded by socialText
Transcribed by Youtube's interactive transcript
Curated by Greg Ponchak
0:00 - 0:40
eventually ended input-output auto choked increased
ncorporated plank
he would have been treated intercontinental organs
of information
apart
sixteen britannica is not without netaji
keratin
perpetrated again to the bank
the president of the time
compact
was quick to expand the protection if in fact the leader of all the moments
resumed between the two thousand
but of course
tightened
0:42
had no future
4:30 - 4:46
women who are getting the fate of crisis
rabindra interpret the perfect process
documents compatible
instead of uh... programs
oxygenation
expect the people who
is nothing but the erection
6:06 - 6:09
politics own disappearing instead of punching
without even having perspective
On Baudrillard: The Precession of Simulacra
Uploaded by NegaSado
Transcribed by Youtube's interactive transcript
Curated by Greg Ponchak
0:05
is truth
0:22 - 0:27
for example this man's best example
disneyland simulacrum was just trying to hide the fact that there is nothing
2:22 - 2:30
what it is just trying to suppress the fact
that everything has
been surrendered basically two
capitalism
3:04 - 3:06
the only weapon of power
it's police tragedy
3:21 - 4:40
to dissent
it prefers discourse of crisis
but also why not
that at this hour
take your desires for reality can be understood as the ultimate slovina
flower
susan and all referential world
even the confusion of the reality principal of the principal desires less
dangerous
then contagious hyper reality
so basically
as the catalyst order becomes all-pervasive throughout our lives
those in power tried to
desperately confidences are still in power
but there is no principle no reality principal anymore so
becomes increasingly harder for them to convince us of this
sold a used the scandals in the crisis
try to prove
for example morality order is
an economy to be saved
but there are no longer there
this logic
applies not only to the government
who use the discourse of crisis
but also
all for example conspiracy theorists
applied to this course of crisis which is actually this was
our basically
to convince is that
the world is ending in two thousand twelve we were all going to die
Poems by Youtube
As a response to the the clearly demonstrated potential for social networks to function as organizing tools for revolutionary activity, the regimes placed into question during Arab Spring acted in self defense by shutting down technological communication mediums. This, action served as the inspiration for Aotonomous. It is communicative platform which would ideally run on ad-hoc networks or small scale intranets. Because it operates separate from the Internet, all discussion which occurs through it is free from regulation, suppression, and surveillance. Aotonomous enables the spread of information and ideas to be as decentralized as possible. It will be available for download and distribution soon.
It was hand-coded using HTML, CSS, Javascript, jQuery, PHP, and MySQL.
aotonomous
OAG is a typeface in development. The idea was to create a Western sans-serif typeface which was built using Eastern letter-forms — a merger of East and West.
In the process of this merger, many of the characters have been mutated to the point of non-recognition and abstraction; this was an intended effect, and was meant to mirror the mutation of capitalism as it spread from West to East. The result being the authoritarian capitalism euphemistically referred to as capitalism with Asian values.
OAG
Danny Abdul-Dayem and Anderson Cooper were caught staging falsified
news reports for CNN which urged the United States and NATO to further engage in military action in Syria. The report utilized synthetic gunfire, a soundtrack, and an actor (now known as Syria Danny).
Using Processing, I created a series of programs which warped the already distorted experience which was sold as factual.
You can view the original video on
Youtube and my video on
Vimeo.
Syria Danny
