Some of the recommendations from panel:

• Apps to try: Momento, Steps, Reporter – sources of data aggregation
• Pick a small period that matches your journalling, the smaller the better or pick at random
• Artists: Molly Soda, https://www.artblocks.io/curated/collections/memories-of-digital-data-by-kazuhiro-tanimoto
• Database films, diary films – Jonas Mekas’ transition to online diaries

I found getting feedback for my pitch really helpful to scale down my research and ideas. I am going to take on the small period suggestion and in turn get rid of my idea to base the study around an event from my past.

The website is coming together slowly but surely. I am still putting more time into the development of the visuals of the website and do need to shift into implementing the conceptual ideas through the content; sifting through the data and finding what’s relevant and how to present that on the website to convey meaning. In class Steph provided feedback for my YouTube page, saying that I should layer the data on top of or below the embedded youtube videos, instead of having seperate sections to show the physical work versus the data text (layers, layers, layers).

Looking at a reading I had for another one of my classes, Narrating the Self, which ended up being super related to this project of mine…. yay

Nick Seaver’s (2018) piece on algorithms, titled What Should an Anthropology of Algorithms Do? explores the ways in which algorithms shape humans and yet how they’re also made by humans. Seaver (2018) noting:

“… the essence of a contemporary algorithmic system: a steady accumulation of feedback loops, little circuits of interpretation and decision knit together into a vast textile. Every stitch is held together by a moment of human response … Although this weaving can take many forms, everywhere there are people making little stitches, tacking software to the social world” (2018:376 – 377).

Notes that my teacher, Linda Daley, drew from this include;

• “Once algorithms became digital, the human connection to the algorithm became more distant and also more hidden. This makes computational algorithms appear non-human or external to the human (rather than human generated) and gives an alienating, and sometimes magical, quality to them.”
• “Computational algorithms have the potential to threaten our unitary, autonomous, and self-determining sense of selfhood. Many view computational algorithms as a threat to our sense of self who we are on the basis that our human powers of reasoning, consciousness, and intelligence are considered to be the defining features of who we are as human.”

Applications to my website:

Looking at my data and humanising it, finding traces of me in it; my data is an extension of me, exists because of me…

Even just the poeticism of the quote and the romantic language used to describe an algorithm;

• how I can represent my data in a romantic way,
• how I can make code look pretty, &
• how, instead of words, the visuals of the website can represent the feelings and concepts.

Beautiful “Home Sweet Home” exhibition invite by Iza and Jess. Yay.

Organising and booking props has been a relatively straightforward task, the main issue has been regarding the flats and their safety. Originally we wanted to use the studio flats as the walls separating the rooms in our house, however it turned out to be too dangerous with the legs being trip hazards. Generally, flats are placed up in a studio and no one walks behind them, but for our exhibition people would be walking behind them constantly, and in low lighting too. So… Steph explained her previous use of C-Stands to create a barricade, using cloth. We were able to source nine C-Stands for our exhibition, and with Lukes help, 5 thin sheets of white cardboard – exactly the amount of walls we need. We will clip the cardboard between two C-stands to emulate a wall, one that can even be painted on or pinned in. How exciting!

Otherwise, everything is good in prop-ville. We were able to test a few of the LED lights too, and they were super easy to use and lit the room up beautifully. Their battery lasts up to 8 hours, so should be good for our exhibition!

Plans, times and things to do for next Thursday below:

Bibliography 

Daley L (2024) ‘Week 10 Tutorial’ [lecture], RMIT.

Seaver N (2018) ‘What Should an Anthropology of Algorithms Do?’, Cultural Anthropology, 33(3):375-85. Seaver 2018.pdf