Crowdsourcing Schematic

ARTIST STATEMENT

The Improvable website would be a hub for improvers and the people who could supply them with great ideas. My main focus for the website would be on flash mobs who perform choreographed dances in public places, whether to make a statement or just in the spirit of stirring things up. There would be two groups, one of idea generators and another of performers who went out and put those ideas into practice. I would also include another sub-hub, directed towards the more political side of things. In particular this second, smaller hub would be to serve in the Wall Street Occupiers movement. The prototype website above shows how I would set up and design this interface.

Crowdsourcing Contributions

Collected Visions

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At first I wasn't aware of what a photo essay was, so I went to the site's archive and started to browse around, clicking on whatever looked interesting. I found this link and realized that these photo essays have the potential to be truly moving. I wanted to something less sentimental and more artistic and personal, so I thought about possibilities and realized that I had the perfect essay topic. Reno Clouds. I have been taking pictures of beautiful Nevada cloudscapes for years, and had quite a few. After narrowing it down to the following 3 images, I wrote an accompanying passage about what the cloudscapes mean to me.

This is a sample of the beautiful Reno, Nevada skies. These cloudscapes occur every so often in the Biggest Little City and they are a great source of creative inspiration.

Young Me/Now Me

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The concept behind this website was not so hard to figure out. I chose to submit my pictures because this seemed like a fun way to show the effects of time. After clicking through quite a few of other people's contributions, the ideas were flowing and I went through some old photo albums to find a good starting photo.

Dear Photograph

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This is possibly my favorite of all the crowd-sourcing projects we had to choose from. The idea of speaking directly to an old photograph and expressing whatever it is that the photograph brings up makes for an interesting dynamic. That is evident when you scroll through the posted contributions to the website.

Dear Photograph:
Here's to making a pile of wood a home.

Participative Systems Reading Questions

Why would it be a good idea to replace the term interaction with conversation when talking about new media?

Artists who set up the project "Learning to Love You More" used the word assignments to make the projects more accessible for non-artists. How else can these types of projects be made more accessible?

Youtube Mixer

ARTIST STATEMENT

This mixer is meant to express the impending nature of technology's advancement. It is meant to invoke a feeling of suspense and tension, while also inspiring viewers with how future technologies may change our world for the better. The videos were all cut by me, except for the Kings of Leon video and the Shift Happens video. The three videos that were filmed by me personally were the OK Button, Wires, and Theramin videos, which were all recorded using the HD camcorder on my cell phone. The arrangement of the videos was meant to look like an electrical component of some sort.

Manovich Reading

Are there any other ways besides the three mentioned by the author (digitization, common representational code, and numerical representation) that digital media is different than analog media?

What is an example of a specific old media piece that is less interactive than a specific digital media piece?