Jonah Brucker-Cohen, Ph.D.

A recap from the talk about Critical Interactive Networked projects from Friday.

Since we’re doing a project based in computer art and technology I might as well emerge myself with the subject of technology and culture. Jonah introduced a lot of his projects with a glimpse of humour which I love. According to him this is a guide to Disruption and Networks :

• Subvert network ubiquity
• Replace interactive contexts
• Misdirect Metaphors
• Place trust in crowds

All of the above can be come in handy when brainstorming the final project. Here are some of Jonah’s work that fascinated me :

Crank The Web

In this project he reintroduces “Journey” back to online systems. It usually takes one click/touch/swipe for us to get from point A to B in the online world so he created this mechanism that people have to physically crank to load a website.

!Alerting Infrastructure!

He also created a piece that asks questions about the value of digital space vs physical space. When people visit the website that he has set up a drill will start destroying an abandoned building one website click at a time.

ContactRot

This project is about losing our memory to cloud storage. The application is a contact book that decays and deletes unused contacts overtime. It forces you to keep contact of people in your life or just simply using your memory more because no one seems to remember phone numbers anymore.

I really like the subject of memory because it is a beautiful and scary thing. It can also be complicated to explain to someone. I tried explaining my concept of memory to people around me for years and I found the most accurate and simple way to explain it in the graphic novel Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli.

“Because every memory is a re-creation, not a playback.” YES. 

Keeping the subject of memory in mind ( no pun intended ) until I find a use for it later on. To conclude the talk :

• Human being is a physical being
• If your work has a physical aspect it will relate to the audience more
• Reflect society with a sense of humour
• Add Technopoly : The Surrender of Culture to Technology by Neil Postman to the reading list
• A way to mess up Facebook is to like everything until there is nothing to like anymore. Maybe its the same with other things.