blog

 

 

 

Flash Mobs

 

A Flash Mob in Osaka, Japan

 

I found the information on the flash mob phenomenon we discussed in class on Thursday. David Blum, the creator of Flash Mobs, published a five-part article in Harper's magazine earlier this year. Rather than copy and paste, I'll just link you guys to their website.

 

http://www.harpers.org/MyCrowd.html

 

-daniel pelt

 

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I have a few fundamental problems with the William Mitchell essay. It was a fine study of the obvious. I can liken it to walking through the New England countryside with Emerson, listening as he points out and names all the plants. Interesting enough, but what can I do with them? Mitchell barely even mentions the political implications of such a nomadic, wireless society and if anything needs to be discussed on this subject that is most certainly it. On-demand wireless connectivity, accessibility, and privilege create a common ground for society to function on. And we all know that when there is common ground, blood will be shed to plunder or protect it.

 

Mitchell's history of wireless communication is shortsighted and literal. There have been greater leaps in forming today's social networks than TCIP/IP. Granted they may come in more abstract forms, but the idea of a rhizome (an entity that can exist anywhere at anytime in anyplace inside a network) can be traced back much farther than 1888 and Hertz "invention" of the radio wave. What about Robert Baker's invention of the panorama in 1787? The panorama was a bourgeois answer to traditional forms of feudal art. When implanted in the theater, the panorama allowed the entire audience to view the stage in perspective rather than just the royal box. So there was a shift from the use of a central perspective to the united horizon where everything is considered to be on equal ground.

 

This decentralization of perspective is a phenomenon that runs through out the entire avant-garde art of the 1920s. One could argue that James Joyce and his non-linear narratives such as Ulysses and Finnegan's Wake had a direct impact on the way we view the world today. Joyce's experimental narrative strategy is motivated by his interest in generating reality as opposed to representing reality.

 

Which raises another important question Mitchell failed to ask. What about the reality of a wireless connection? There must be a fundamental suspicion of logic, rendering visual representation problematic. In other words, can you fucking trust it? The idea that Mitchell would even imply encouragement of integration of networking tools and the body is absurdly naive. I could go on but it's 1:00 a.m. and I have to work in a few hours. See you in class.

 

 

-daniel pelt

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Design as the form of art

Two projects re hertzian space and cellular culture: Fashion Victims , Mass Distruction 

(Lior)

 

 

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Pre-existing cell phone projects:

1) This link may (well... does) contain erotica. Sorry. Cyber Save.  Cyber save is a project started by a french photographer. (it's her photos that make it nsfw.) Essentially, you can download this application that has a couple of photo backgrounds for your phone, and it maps what country you are in, what version you're using, if your version is an illegal copy or not. I think the point is a commentary on the nature of people distributing illegal copies of software that is available for free.

-Lou

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Shibuya Epiphany

 

willy nilly list

 

time softening

 

mobile telephone evolving into "the remote-control for your life"

 

 

Social aspect of the mobile telephone

 

Text messaging technology provided a loophole for the young to slip through and into the night, congregating and carrying on relations that were previously regulated by a family through the home landline.

 

lubricating free will=big dollaz

 

I think the climate which lead to text messaging NOT taking off in the United States is an interesting debacle. What are some of the reasons?

Great things happen when you bend technology to your own will and make it do things it was not intended to do. So what can we do with it here in San Francisco?

 

j

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Proposals for Dodgeball

enter your proposals for a game of Dodgeball here

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Sorry I wasn't able to make it for Checkmate....my kitty had a bad accident yesterday which resulted in a fractured femur. I had to take him to the emergency vets, when I found him, at midnight. I posted a link to his pic...but I can't afford the surgery, and desperately trying to avoid the alternative. Hope the game was fun, I got the texts.

 

http://inyourpocket.pbwiki.com/f/mofree.jpg

 

 

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Dodgeball Reaction

 

• From Robert H -The game felt forced in that we were using technology designed for something else. Dodgeball networks people socially, while we attempted to eliminate them. Perhaps if the game had been thought out with a little bit broader timetable. That is, spend tiem to establish the rules thoroughly, not actual playtime. Had the mapping system worked properly, the game might have gone over a little better. I felt like I could of just sent text messages to my teammates and bypasses Dodgeball altogether.

 

• From Lior: My impression is the same as Robert's. Sending group text messages via the ordinary cell service would do just the same. I think that the interesting thing that dodgeball.com brings is having networks of friends being gradually expanded and then having sub-groups, etc. Maybe a game that starts with a small number of people but then involves more and more could be more suitable.

 

• From Karly: Unfortunately, there was some miscommunication within the directions and rules of the game, but we made the best of it. For some reason, when I sent my text message saying "@ Fisherman's Wharf", Dodgeball changed it to "@ In 'N Out Burger, Fisherman's Wharf", strange.

 

• From Matt: My initial impression of the game was quite indifferent at first, with the aspect of how communication and the illustration of how ideas were going to work out. However providing a glimpse of the game would easily overlook the fact that there wasnt enough crucial planning and that there was rather an eloquent amount of fanatical miscommincation. In some sense it seems as though our obsession for trying to find the precise and accurate answer to motivate this game is what ultimatly spelled disaster while simultaneously bringing fourth a comencement of our genuine efforts. In other words we gave it our all but our plans are still somehow retaining dust and dismay on some random shelf. I guess altogether more extreme planning is whats needed for future eventful ideas. Yikes.

 

*From Daniel: The game sucked. There was no cental aspect. Just about every game has a central point. Be it where the players (or their pieces) meet, converge, or end up. In fact... dodgeball sucks. It serves a minimally funtional purpose.

 

• From Robin: The point of moderator didn't really have that much to do with the actual play of the game. At times it was difficult to get the exact infromation and that made the game somewhat confusing. The game would have probably been more succesful if regular text messaging was used instead of dodgeball.

 

*From Lou: The game didn't take place because of a simple communications breakdown. I think some people started from different places, etc., and the no one was clear on the rules. More planning could have been used to make rules clearer, I suppose. The function of the moderators was limited by dodgeball's limitations, so there would have been restrictive lag time if it had worked. Still, it was an interesting concept. I would like to work with a more developed project.

 

*From mr. twiggzlywigglzeebee errr... jsun--- we are not thumb ninjas. Give me a paint ball gun and a 12 block radius. Thats art. i can't shoot anything with my cell phone. But at the core of this investigation was a very human need to make more use of this little cellular gadget as a Remote control to life. I want to put a channel change button on it////// or integrated technolgy that suits all controllers, or make it a broadcasting device, or sound ray gun, a browser interface or remote for video game installations in an urban space,,,,,, ah yes I finally got that all inclusive grapelling hook installed into my phone last week, billboards beware. Whatever i make i want it to be available in a cereal box.

 

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Just to show you what a bunch of those MIT guys can put together, take a peek at these wicked awsome maps. -MW

senseable.mit.edu/projects/graz

Ahhhhhh!!!! Once again those geniuses over at MIT never stop to amaze me, check out the "History Unwired" project, utterly awsome. Now see, why dont we ever think this stuff up? -MW

web.mit.edu/frontiers

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FLIRT Article:

 

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I felt like this article \ proposal included tons of hedges, and I think they were there for a reason - maybe people don't want to be fiddling with their mobiles in the freezing cold, or when it's dark, or when they just want to go home. So I wonder how it would have been different if the artists cased a warmer weather city, which maybe lacked Finland's cellular infrastructure but had a slightly more amenable climate to work with - maybe it would provide the designers more latitude as far as the users' behavior is concerned.

Diane

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The article felt cold and stale initially. It read like an internal document meant for a corporate meeting. I wish I could of read it in its original context at first, ie the book. The images in the book, especially the hologram-ish ones gave it an artistic feel. Some of the ideas mentioned within the text were great. For example I enjoyed the observation that cellphone technology developed into an interface that "shrank" from the web to fit on a cell and has not developed for the way in which we actual interact with cells. I get the sense that we're doing that by exploring some of these issues in class. I also enjoyed the idea of local distribution centers of information as opposed to global blanketing. It brings back a local flavor of whatever area you're in. Not a homogenization and destruction of culture that has taken place with other concepts, like chain restaurants and media.

Robert H

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To me, this article seemed to provide a vivid illustration to one of the worlds major topics: our essential need to be free from the area in which we reside. Althought this article is diversely passionate in many respects, the author seems to remain rigid control over many views, like the interaction with cells for example, all the while unknowingly supressing impulses towards other liberation in other technologies. However, to agree with Robert, I do understand the feeling that we have relatively explored some of these issue during class time, which is why this article in a sense does provide a clear and sober image to the profound aspects of technological freedom. Or maybe Im just not making any sense whatsoever. Let me know. - Matt W

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I like the idea that handheld devices are not meant to be central distributers of information, but rather a launch pad for one to explore one's locality more in depth. That is so simple... I don't know why it hadn't dawned on me earlier.

-daniel pelt

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Unfortunately I have class tomorrow during the Rebar kite flying session... I know, I know. But in hopes of easing your disappointment, even if just a little bit, here is a picture of me flying a kite at my buddy Roy Lichtenstein's house:

 

Hope you feel better!

 

-daniel pelt

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Our emerging urban computing landscape: Familiar Strangers

Response

 

Familiar Strangers is an acknowledgment of boundaries people create and share. By acknowledging these boundaries do we break them down or reinforce them? How does this system of monitoring our relationships, which are created perhaps subconsciously, alter them, or does it?

 

For instance, the author mentions the passer-bys and witnesses to urban crime. If a person saw a crime happening to someone who was a 'familiar stranger,' would that person be more likely to call for help or intervene? The notion that the project would promote 'community solidarity' suggests that they would. However, the Genovese case mentioned seems to suggest that it wouldn't. If people wouldn't help a neighbor, why would they help a 'familiar stranger?'

 

The concept of metaphors for visualizing the 'ebb and flow' of urban spaces is mentioned. Is the Familiar Strangers project one such metaphor, and if so, what could it illuminate about the social interactions of people in the city with the results it provides? Its effectiveness as a metaphor seems to lay in duplicating the way the brain of the urban dweller subconsciously tags entities that it deals with on everyday basis, but to be complete would it not also need to provide some record the way the user reacts to these people? Perhaps this data is already present in the pattern of the user's exposure to the familiar stranger over time. For instance, if the user keeps a familiar stranger at a certain level for a period of x years, that may say something about that user versus one whose familiar strangers have a high rate of turn over. Thus, the 'flow' is charted, but the 'ebb' must be determined by examining the boundaries of the flow.

 

Does the familiar stranger program 'fade?' In other words, if an entity is labeled as a familiar stranger but then the user spends an extended period of time away from that entity, does the label remain the same?

 

-LP

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SOUNDseeing Tours lick the corporate earlobe....

 

 

SoundSeeing Tours for the corporate world could be used in a number of ways. For instance, Human Resource workers could create tours for employees, virtually walking them through a large office building to "show them around." This would save time for the person who normally has to conduct the tours while letting new hires take the time they need to familiarize themselves with their new workplace unrushed.

 

Retail Managers could create tours of their stores, highlighting new products or areas for employees. People could slip on their iPod earphones and walk around at their own pace, taking the time they need to understand exactly what their manager is trying to convey.

 

Conference Casting is another way to use a Soundseeing tour for your business. Listen to my advice on creating a tour for your booth at the next conference you attend.

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An interesting point is why do we really need explanations and guides in order to enjoy and understand art works in the museum. Maybe a specific point of view or narrative (sometimes very dull) just eliminates our own interpretation and disrupts our personal experience.

But then, the artists that interfere with the podcasts take the focus from the artwork to the discussion about how art should be experienced, and that on the expense of the presenting artist.

Maybe the tool will be very effective when there will be a big variety of sound guides to choose from - like multi (pirate) radio stations or the wide internet.

 

(Lior)

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Saw this piece on the Daily Mail - iPod flashmobbers take over Liverpool Street station. Story follows:

 

i-Pod flashmobbers dance in their hundreds at station

 

Hundreds of flashmob clubbers dance in silence among commuters at Liverpool Street station

 

Armed with MP3 players loaded with favourite tracks the "clubbers" arrived on the concourse just after 7pm last night. Students, business people and office workers danced in silence as they listened to their iPods among commuters listening to announcements about late trains.

 

Details of the time and venue were sent by email. The event is similar to the flash mobbing movement pioneered in New York which involved large numbers of people gathering to conduct bizarre activities.

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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=409998&in_page_id=1770

 

Diane

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Questions from reading:

 

Do we now consider "the act of exploration and acoustic, visual, and tactile perception of urban spaces in transformation" as an aesthetic action in its own right?

 

Why always urban spaces? Why not rural spaces? Just because there's a critical mass of people in urban centers? Because of the history of the countryside as subject material for landscape painting or similar, and therefore old hat?

 

How are flash mobs any different from these early Dada interventions into the public space?

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I'd like to go to Finland next August: Mobile Phone Throwing World Championship (last record is 89,00m)

(Lior)

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Captain's Blog:

 

Ha, captain's blog. I bet I'm the only person on the internet to have thought of that.

 

 

I started a production blog for my project.

 

-- Lou.

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Beautiful work Lou, you have a habit for making me jealous of your mad skills. -MW

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Questions/Notes from the Sadler reading:

 

I am interested in the idea of the urban landscape being similar to the “female body” or anatomy, the author notes that “the chunks of female bodies, disarmingly chopped up, were moving accidents, like the rolls and dips of the landscape, perhaps moving in the emotional sense…” however, perhaps it’s a healthier perspective to plainly propose that the psychogeographic landscape is just as complicated and intriguing as human anatomy in general.

 

Can anyone explain the relationship the author makes between Jack the Ripper and psychogeographic landscapes?

 

I noticed on the last page of the reading, the header was entitled “Language, time, and the city.” Although there was modest information on language, the relationship between time and city was deserted. Nonetheless, when thinking of time, I was wondering if anyone could come to any structurally profound meanings behind the idea of daylight savings, and how that one hour of change alters our relationship with the urban landscape, the city, etc.

 

--MW

 

The drift and situationist exploration of the city are in opposition to Corbusian ideal modernist city. But did that ideal ever fully take hold? Was the situationist an over reaction or preemptive move?

 

Organized spontaneity is a rather odd concept. I wonder if the drift is not executed with sincerity, isn't it easy to undermine the "results"? Ansen's posing illustrates this.

 

Humanizing the city seems like a natural comparison, but it does take on a sexist tone when specific to the female anatomy? It ties into the next reading where the drift then is just a personal experience and the resulting "map" a record of that.

 

Roberto

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On the Passion for Maps reading:

 

I find the situations map to read more like a personal history of the city, a record so to speak as opposed to a traditional map that is representational. Was this there goal or intent? If so a static map doesn't seem to correspond to the idea. Maybe the technology wasn't available to render a dynamic map. Perhaps the Taxispotting map from Stamen rendered a more accurate version of the situations map?

 

Roberto

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Second article:

How does not having structure create structure?

 

Third Article:

Should the aspect of the workspace been considered in the overall outlook of the project? If people spend most their time at work instead of other ways of socializing, would that mean that the social landscape that they created not be correct?

 

Do you think the drifts were aimed more towards the subculture of the city or meant for the average person? Were they a way to record the society or just to serve as a record of what is already going on in the underground society?

 

-Robin

 

 

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Situationist Derive through a Situationist Text

 

mapping the Drift technique to a city made of words

 

here is the Map----

 

--------------------Great primarily divorced collective rethinking possibilities republished urban overview put the spectator survey sacrifice means representing parisian terrestrial fragment became the source celebration extraordinary unities with the old maps redeveloping the possibility changing objectivity emphasized intimacy pychogeographiqie Naked internal boundaries love affair reproducing webs traced sense of charting obsessive plaque tournante helpfully explained modern sea sensitive channels patterns circulation belly of Paris arrows it's edges drift explode fragments vast unity of ambiance strolls aimless day to day drifter at a carrefour toward alterations in envisaged pinball with its sounds energy field refusing mechanistic functioning forms nervous ambient confessions reshaped modernism collage rational ideal to extraordinary picturesque sublime people expressed Marx desperation classical notion tadpoles dismal failure discourse organized depressing failure in infancy admitted that literature ambiguities impalpability closed imprecise data compromising commentary disarmingly encountered chunks of female body emotional occultist passage conquer euphoria fetishistic breaking defined calculated action double meaning singular place interior labyrinth luxurious swept energy people passing desires desires passing serious discipline final reflections backwaters indicated naturally inclined geography cafe citizens perceive who idealizing academic social planners nuanced notorious claims weightlessness time nomadism occupation evidence alert face marijuana rational disorder creative margins city sublime drug ghetto leaps consciousness intersecting myriad relations obsessions revolutionizing language legend and possibility.

 

-jsun

 

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