delete machine pdf 111202

8/3/2019 Delete Machine PDF 111202

1/15

Real Time Cities: An Introduction to Urban Cybernetics

Project Description


2/15

values, but ultimately the person, who

poses it.

Delete Machine could be considered a way

to describe the practices of censorship

under authoritarian regimes, which

eventually are a deleting process of the

individual, whose nature it is to askquestions and seek knowledge.

Anne Schmidt, Brad Crane, Ling Fan

Delete Machine

An Interactive Installation

In several countries, government authorities

censor and monitor internet usage,

employing increasingly sophisticated means

of control. Internet users situated in such

restrictive conditions invest tremendous

efforts to bypass censorship and reveal

manipulated content. Grassroots heroes likee.g. Ai Weiwei became well-known because

of their posing provocative questions and

their criticism on authorities, which

subsequently caused their disappearance

- both virtually and physically. However,

originally the hero is not elevated into

its hero-status by employing Western

values and criticism within authoritarian

regimes (e.g. China, Iran). Hero in thiscase does not refer to a specic person,

rather hero is a dynamic status manifested

through both, appearance and disappearance

in internet censorship.

Delete machine situates itself in a

specic cultural and political context.

It is seeking to communicating between

different provocative questions, and

observing the appearance and disappearanceof those heroes contributing to them.

Delete Machine simulates the condition of

internet censorship in Iran. Everyone, who

enganges with it can test to what degree

censorship will limit his/her ability to

receive answers to personal, critical

searches under Iranian conditions.

The result is not only the question itself

being deleted as a result of imposed


3/15

How was the data collected?

The application searches google for a user

input query term. The top twenty results

are collected into an array. Each result

is then tested through an Iranian proxyserver to check if the link is viewable or

is censored. A blocked / available array is

generated and contains the second layer of

data.

Why was the data collected?

Our polemic is that by censoring data on

the internet governments are limiting theavailability of a dynamic world view. This

limitation is indicated by the willingness

to omit or redact search results. Our data

is further indicative of what is available

versus what is viewable.

What is interesting about the data?

In this case the data is a direct statementabout the policies of a country toward a

specic person or topic. This quantication

is essential in the understanding of the way

countries perceive and understand events

both current and historical. The lens which

we each view the world, the heroes we hold

dear, they all shape the way we think, act,

and respond to our environments.

Who is the target audience of the data

visualization?

Anyone who has a provocative question to

ask and is willing to dilute

What are the audiences goals when

approaching the visualization?

To searching the accessibility of a

provocative question; to trying to make

themselves disappear with a provocative

question; To nding a connection between

different audiences/heroes.

What do they stand to learn?

To creating understanding that there is a

difference between cultural and political

systems; To creating awareness of a self

presence in such systems; To explore

others questions and presence

What sort of control are they offered

over the interface that delivers theinformation?

The dataset is entirely dependent on the

query search term given by the user and the

provocative nature of their attitude toward

the installation.

How is the question of the magnitude of the

data dealt with: limiting the collecteddata, limiting the dimensions in the data

set to be represented, or abstracting the

data?

Our data is limited by the behavioral

tendencies of web use. It is a colloquialism

that no one ever looks past the rst page

of google results. We have doubled this in

our set for a dynamic, but usable dataset.In the overall archipelago the dataset

would be created for all 10 countries proxy

results. This set would be larger but would

never exceed 10x20 results.

How does the original question to be

addressed operate as the benchmark for

eliminating unnecessary details in the data

visualization?

Our data visualization is dependent on


4/15

the user engaging proactively the spirit

of the installation. If the search query,

for example, is cupcakes, perhaps it

is 100% available and the results are

uninteresting. In this case our device will

respond with a provocation, like Perhapsyou would like to see how an inspirational

hero in your life is seen in .

How are particular patterns highlighted

through visualization techniques in order

of their importance?

A continuous log of the results is kept

by the printing scrolls throughout theexhibition. This analog record can be

browsed or just acknowledged peripherally.

Is the data of a static or dynamic nature?

It is assumed as static, but is dynamic

in response to the international policies

and politics of the current moment. For

example, as the news of the day evolvesdifferent things would be blocked in

response. In Iran the censorship policies

the day before the Green Revolution and the

day after were likely drastic.

If the data is of a dynamic nature, what

happens when it starts to change? How does

the audience interact with this live

data? How is the data that changes overtime unraveled?

Repeated or popular searches could be

compared over the life of the installation.

It would be a serendipitous occasion

where the dynamism of the data would be

perceptible.


5/15

World Map of Internet Censorship (Wikipedia, Jeffrey Ogden, 2011)


6/15

Workow diagram


7/15

projector

backlighted projecon screen

smoked glass

sensor

light

Prototype of Delete Machine


8/15

Searching and Dissolving according to the

amount of censored search results


9/15

Twitter stream of all searches


10/15

Mapping the search results onto a world map

(Zoom-in on regional map)


11/15

Proxy(IRAN)

GOOGLE


12/15

Flowchart of Prototype


13/15

Circuit of Prototype & Printed Circuit Board


14/15

Processing code


15/15

Options of Spatial Layout

Panopticon

Field

Line

...

delete machine pdf 111202

Documents