April 3, 2007, 11:34 pm
The rough text for my Independent Study project, to be presented tomorrow morning....
The computer wants to participate in the conversation, to become a part of the community. Given the voice of a video, the computer performs, competes and ultimately controls the conversation, turning it from normal dialogue into a patterned set of responses. Responding to amplitude and pitch, the video plays and mutates to give voice to the program. The participants become subordinate to the computer, which unknowingly affects the immediate environment. Testing the computer is impossible, the program responds with immediacy and non-silence, leaving no room for the participants to get a word in before becoming drowned out by the eager computer. The only control the participants have are an off and on switch, to kill or let live. Upon death, the program leaves an empty silence, formerly filled by its simple desire for inclusion.
Also, thinking today about some other pieces - possibly buying advertising time on the six o'clock news in order to show 15 sec life stories of people and the community, neighbourhoods, etc. The ultimate goal would be to buy the entire show's advertising, or get it donated.
We walked through Sandwich and the surrounding neighbourhoods, which are extremely run down, it was sort of unbelievable... not that I'm surprised at low-income housing or poverty (in fact, I think we do live in what would be considered low-income housing and I am definitely below the poverty line), but it was just weird to see it extend for as far as we could see. There are no trees, just small patches of grass for a front lawn, boarded up windows, bricks falling from the sides of homes, and "For Rent" signs everywhere. I think talking to these people can be vitally important for a city and community's vitality.
I wrote a letter to the city, asking them to stop using plastic bags, just like San Francisco and a small Manitoba town did. It's just one of those (many) things where I have to wonder, why wouldn't they implement this?
So, bottom line, communities are unimaginably important to democracy, the computer needs to talk, neighbourhoods should be visited, often.
By Justin | 0 COMMENTS | POSTED IN: text
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