July 9, 2007, 1:19 pm
I came across the term "crowdsourced" today, which I hadn't heard before. From my limited reading, it seems to be based mostly in online exchanges and communities, though more often used by businesses to complete tasks that require a large number of participants. So, excuse any ignorance in the next few sentences, as these questions and ideas may already be answered, or may already be in practice.
Nearly immediately I thought about the work I would like to do, and at this point, plan to do in the coming months; that is, using data to create generative artwork. The big umbrella idea is to utilize data that is otherwise being wasted or used for surveillant motives to create artwork that can foster action in a community. The briefest example I usually try to give to explain myself is that if you knew the person who was littering on your lawn when they drove by, and they knew that you knew that they littered on your lawn, then they probably wouldn't do it - there would be some sense of responsibility for your actions that ultimately being felt throughout your community. So, as an example of a piece I would like to do would be to gather data through the use of measuring tools or sensors about air quality and have the data from that feed into a generative algorithm.
So, the question becomes, is this an example of crowdsourcing? The data collected isn't necessarily "given" to me, though I wouldn't consider it stealing data either. What makes something "crowdsourced"? I'm sure there's more to read, and maybe I'll come across an answer I like. If nothing else, it seems this term would enable some language to better describe what it means to build and retain community today.
By justin | 0 COMMENTS | POSTED IN: text
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