Experiment #2 And See What Happens

Note

Playlist Cover Image generated using Canva’s Magic Media from the prompt:

},
{
“endTime” : “2023-09-09 15:47”,
“artistName” : “The Radio Dept.”,
“trackName” : “Pulling Our Weight”,
“msPlayed” : 1791
},
{
“endTime” : “2023-09-09 15:47”,
“artistName” : “Morrissey”,
“trackName” : “I Wish You Lonely”,
“msPlayed” : 4416
},
{
“endTime” : “2023-09-09 15:47”,
“artistName” : “MOTO BANDIT”,
“trackName” : “OBSERVATIONS 1”,
“msPlayed” : 0
},
{
“endTime” : “2023-09-09 15:53”,
“artistName” : “Billy Bragg”,
“trackName” : “Must I Paint You a Picture”,
“msPlayed” : 332373
},
{
“endTime” : “2023-09-09 15:58”,
“artistName” : “The Smiths”,
“trackName” : “The Headmaster Ritual – 2011 Remaster”,
“msPlayed” : 295440
},
{
“endTime” : “2023-09-09 15:58”,
“artistName” : “Simon & Garfunkel”,
“trackName” : “April Come She Will”,
“msPlayed” : 0
},
{
“endTime” : “2023-09-09 16:03”,
“artistName” : “DOPE LEMON”,
“trackName” : “Neon Lights”,
“msPlayed” : 285778
},
{
“endTime” : “2023-09-09 16:06”,
“artistName” : “Dana and Alden”,
“trackName” : “Let’s Go to Trader Joe’s”,
“msPlayed” : 156026
},
{
“endTime” : “2023-09-09 16:13”,
“artistName” : “Jean & Trevor”,
“trackName” : “Back Together”,
“msPlayed” : 405682
},
{
“endTime” : “2023-09-09 16:20”,
“artistName” : “Yo La Tengo”,
“trackName” : “Center of Gravity”,
“msPlayed” : 0
},
{
“endTime” : “2023-09-09 16:23”,
“artistName” : “Good Morning”,
“trackName” : “Out To Pasture”,
“msPlayed” : 155500
},
{
“endTime” : “2023-09-09 16:26”,
“artistName” : “Jessica Pratt”,
“trackName” : “Back, Baby”,
“msPlayed” : 235666

Reflection

Long one, sorry xoxox

The words that come to mind when one mentions Big Data would be; surveillance — human and technological — invasion of privacy, records, scary, daunting, massive and even unnecessary (???). I haven’t looked into it. That is, looked into my own data or even thought very deeply about the data that is being collected of me. I know that it is happening, and I don’t take many precautions online to protect my privacy. I notice the disturbing accuracy of the product advertisements that appear all over my laptop and phone after the conversations I have with others, and even after the thoughts that pop through my mind. I think frequently about what online history I would be confronted with if I went for a job that needed a high security clearance: internet searches or photos taken or conversations had that I ceased to remember moments after actioning them but that have been stored forever and could be interpreted in any number of ways for the rest of my life. Is that kind of record necessary? “Necessary for what?” I suppose is the right question, and from a marketing point of view, it would probably be argued that it is necessary.

Through this experiment, I will try to look at Big Data differently: What are the benefits? For me personally that is, and how can I gain something from the data that I am generating?

As Kitchin and McArdle stated “It is only through such ontological work that we will gain conceptual clarity about what constitutes Big Data, formulate how best to make sense of it, and identify how it might be best used to make sense of the world.” (2016:1). This stirs something in me. I, unfortunately, am not a memory gifted human being. I am forgetful, and I want to remember. I am constantly looking back on my camera roll to remember dates, events, places and people. That is, I am relying on this data that I say I dislike. (Though surely photo mapping is a different thing altogether, because how is it photo mapping creating data for marketing or profit through the locations of my images? Surely there is something more personal about the use of that data? I could go on asking questions forever). I must face it; the capability of technology to categorise, memorise and store data is impressive. And frankly, I could use its help.

I chose to use the Big Data that has been collected from my Spotify account (a less daunting collection of info on me). I didn’t really know what to expect but I was pleased to find my entire streaming history from 2023. An enormous conglomerate of every song I listened to, for how many milliseconds, at what time, and on what day. Spotify is an interesting one because I am already gifted with my Spotify Wrapped yearly and can see a funky, curated collection of my listening data from that year. But even though I am somewhat accustomed to looking at my listening history already, it was much more personable to look at my data in this volume. The fact that I could look at specific days and see exactly what I listened to feels so intimate. Data feeling intimate? A benefit…?

For my work, I chose to pick a random streaming session of mine, from the 9th of September 2023, and I recorded the songs I listened to, in the exact same order and for the exact same amount of time I listened to each song for on that day. When I chose to play music that day, I never thought about the event reoccurring. I can see the benefits in this; I can see how this can assist memory and how it can regenerate experiences or emotions. But on the other hand, I’m not sure if these experiences need to be recreated. I don’t know how I feel about it; it’s like seeing the data is okay but turning the data into the audio I once listened to authentically feels automated? I want to be able to have experiences that are just mine, and if I forget them that is okay because in the moment I felt it. Maybe it’s that I don’t want someone to equate my data to who I am as a person. Am I my data? EUGH. ew ew ew ewe, but like what were people defined by before technological data? How did that affect their identity? They probably weren’t so concerned with labels and meaning?

Intellectually I can understand the benefits data can provide for my memory, and even for reflecting on my life and the stages of myself. I’m just not sure how it makes me feel, and that makes sense; it’s new, it’s complex, it’s uncertain and it’s ever evolving. I think it feels particularly weird to recreate music streaming sessions because I equate the music I listen to to the phase of my life I was in, and that is very feeling based, very intimate. Whereas an image is more quantifiable and tangible for me. I guess the nostalgia is nice, but do I want to linger in the past? HMMM.

Actually, I do think it would be fun to make a playlist that reflects over the same day from every year I’ve had Spotify or something like that. A consecutive evolution of myself over the years and the evolution of my music happening simultaneously. Could I learn something about myself that I have forgotten? Could I learn something new?

Bibliography

Billy Bragg (1988) ‘Must I Paint You a Picture’ [Song], Workers Playtime, Spotify, accessed 09 September 2023.

Dana and Alden, (2023) ‘Let’s Go to Trader Joe’s’ [Song], Quiet Music for Young People, Spotify, accessed 09 September 2023.

DOPE LEMON (2017) ‘Neon Lights’ [Song], Hounds Tooth, Spotify, accessed 09 September 2023.

Good Morning (2022) ‘Out To Pasture’ [Song], Out To Pasture / Misery, Spotify, accessed 09 September 2023.

Jean & Trevor (2019) ‘Back Together’ [Song], Back Together, Spotify, accessed 09 September 2023.

Jessica Pratt (2015) ‘Back Baby’ [Song], On Your Own Again Love, Spotify, accessed 09 September 2023.

Kitchin R and McArdle G (2016) ‘What makes Big Data, Big Data? Exploring the ontological characteristics of 26 datasets’, Big Data & Society, 3(1):1-10, doi.org/10.1177/2053951716631130

Morrissey (2017) ‘I Wish You Lonely’ [Song], Low in High School, Spotify, accessed 09 September 2023.

MOTO BANDIT (2020) ‘OBSERVATIONS 1’ [Song], OBSERVATIONS 1, Spotify, accessed 09 September 2023.

Simon & Garfunkel (1966) ‘April Come She Will’ [Song], Sounds Of Silence, Spotify, accessed 09 September 2023.

The Radio Dept. (2011) ‘Pulling Our Weight’ [Song], Passive Aggressive, Spotify, accessed 09 September 2023.

The Smiths (1985) ‘The Headmasters Ritual’ [Song], Meat is Murder, Spotify, accessed 09 September 2023.

Yo La Tengo (1997) ‘Center of Gravity’ [Song], I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One, Spotify, accessed 09 September 2023.

Experiment Five – GLITCH (Week Five)

August 21, 2024August 22, 2024 phoebehewertsonLeave a comment

Figure 1.

Figure 2.

Figure 3.

Reflection

Here we have a series of variations of ‘glitched’ artworks.

Figure 1 was the intended result of the image glitch experimentation we were doing in Wednesdays tutorial, that is editing an images makeup through the TXT format and returning it to a JPG format to view the results of the code alterations. However, due to a (rude) disagreement (glitch) from my laptop, I was unable to make this conversion at all. Figure 1 is a natural, that is unedited by me, result of a file conversation from a digital camera SD card to an iPhones camera roll. I just wanted to pop that in there to showcase what a glitch can look like in image form.

Figure 2 was my experimentation on a datamoshing website as a place filler for my inability to manually glitch my photos. I had a lot of fun on this website that generated different effects at the click of the button, but I would not classify these images as ‘glitches’ seeing as it is the result of filters and effects that changes the images appearance, not a destruction of its form. Nonetheless, it’s fun to play around with the differing components of photography; you could liken the white & black photo to a film negative.

Figure 3 is my actual attempt at glitching, in my limited ability to do so, which means, like my other experiments, it is a less literal take… As Cameron outlines ” the glitch reveals qualities that are quite specific to the digital image, in particular a mode of abstraction that is indexed to the invisible yet crucial function of underlying codes.” (2017:336). My approach here was to outline the ways a video is compiled of lots of frames, or photographs, something people know but don’t generally perceive unless the video (or moving image) glitches. The video could be likened to the glitch created when a DVD is scratched, and the scene stutters, replays or fails to progress forward. Similarly, when a video fails to load on a platform such as Netflix, the scenes can jolt by in freeze frames. This was the kind of glitch I was trying to emulate.

I created the video through a series of live photos of my friend dancing (movement = helpful), then I screen-recorded my camera roll as I swiped through the live photos and they played out for a second or two. Its an easy way to conceptualise the fact that a moving image is a bunch of photos cut quickly together. Yet, as the frames per second is not the same rate as a conventional moving image, you can see the stutters, replays and blurs between the live photos when they are placed together. Thus, a glitch if you were to believe that the films origins were in video (and not stills).

I had a lot of fun making this short clip; I think it’s cool to see a variation of how I’d normally understand moving image and it feels sort of abstract in that sense. I wouldn’t say I’m bang on the money with its relation to glitching as per the reading, because the glitch is more in form than the videos makeup in binary codes. I think the association is more loosely linked to the idea of a glitch as an error, and how this would be considered a streaming error if one was trying to watch a non-artistic video. I’ve learnt that I do not understand binary codes and how they create images. No idea at all. Beyond me really. I know that things go wrong, but I do not understand enough to ever know how to fix it. Much to learn.

Don’t really know where to go from here? I’m not entirely sure I’m interested in exploring the world of glitches. It would be nice to be able to creatively make and control them but I have had problems with being able to do that. Though, I do think it would be fun to play around with video glitching; changing frame rates and compression rates and such. I did really like the artistry of the glitching in Evident Utensils (2009) by Chairlift. I’m just not sure that the world of glitching and datamoshing aids the revenue I want to go down of representing human feelings in online spaces.

Physical Glitch ???????? Physical Pixel?????

Bibliography

Cameron A (2017) ‘Facing the Glitch: Abstraction, Abjection and the Digital Image’, in Beugnet M, Cameron A and Fetveit A (eds) Indefinite Visions Cinema and the Attractions of Uncertainty, Edinburgh University Press, doi.org/10.1515/9781474407137.

Chairliftband (25 October 2009) ‘Chairlift – Evident Utensil (Video)’, Chairliftband, YouTube website, accessed 21 August 2024. https://youtu.be/mvqakws0CeU?si=SuS8oRzF4EJsnYCa

PhotoMosh (2024) PhotoMosh Web, PhotoMosh website, accessed 21 August 2024. https://photomosh.com/app/

Experiment Four – WHAT HAPPENS TO ME ON THE INTERNET? (Week Four)

August 17, 2024August 22, 2024 phoebehewertsonLeave a comment

Reflection

My first thought in producing a work with dialogue was to edit together screen recording clips of voice prompts on Hinge profiles. My initial idea of placing these voice recordings in relation to each other, to simulate a conversation between the men, didn’t pan out. I found it difficult to find voice prompts in the first place, let alone ones that would be harmonious in an edited conversation. So, I adapted my approach to have the dialogue to be less literal and more symbolic, between the audio of the men’s voice prompts and videos, mostly ones that I have taken and majoritively of women. The dialogue that I was trying to portray is up for interpretation, but I would say that the feeling it produces for me personally, is a commentary on how these men are trying to portray a part of themselves that will entertain the person viewing their profile and yet they are not garnering any response or attention from the people within the videos. For example, the voice prompt of a man humming a tune is lined up with a car crash on repetition; you can see my visual interpretation of the audio. The conversation that the men planned on initiating (flirting or what have you) is not the conversation that is taking place. I do not mean to mock these men, it’s more a comment on intent vs outcome; the men want the conversation to be between them and another person on Hinge, and yet the conversation is happening between my interpretation of their audio and women’s perceptions (girls being girls) But also it’s happening between their descriptions of themselves that I am relaying (and obscuring) to ChatGPT.

I feel that this aligns with Gronlunds (2014) concept that dialogic art is “trying to make [an] image of the internet” making visible “various invisible processes of communication.” (p. 13). That is to say that I am trying to make visible the experience that women have when they view mens Hinge profiles, individually or as a group activity, highlighting the notional nature of online opinions, especially on dating apps; “communication on the internet is both poly-vocal (multiple voices) and notional. ” (Gronlund, 2014, p. 8). I also just think it’s funny to play unrelated videos over the men’s prompts, changing their meaning or blocking them out entirely. I honestly learnt through this making that it is hard to place visuals to feelings, even though I didn’t put that much effort into this weeks experiment, it’s still hard to conceptualise what a feeling you experience would LOOK like.

I think the intent in my making and concept behind it was there, and strong maybe, but I don’t necessarily think it’s clear at conveying this message (especially without the reflection). I tried to go against my desire to make a “perfect” experiment and have left it be in it’s ambiguity, that being whether it missed the mark or not. I would love to further my exploration in realising online dialogues through a longer piece and filming new footage to represent it better. Given the time, I would like to leave behind using other peoples content and just take the time to shoot or scavenge my camera roll for the clips.

I said at the start of the studio that I wanted to create media that felt human, and I think going down the route of dialogic art would be such an aligned way to represent those feelings. Because being human is all about having conversations and making connections.

Bibliography

Emswats (12 May 2024) ‘mayhaps the most random edit ive ever made #dancemoms #fyp’ [TikTok], Emswats, accessed 12 August 2024. https://www.tiktok.com/@emswats/video/7367857534192897312is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7201716469485438466

Gronlund M (2014) ‘From Narcissism to the Dialogic: Identity in Art after the Internet’, Afterall: A Journal of Art, Context and Enquiry, (37):4-13, https://doi.org/10.1086/679372

OpenAI (2024) ChatGPT (GPT-4.0 version) [Large language model], accessed 18 August 2024. https://chat.openai.com/share/81f2e81f-f137-41b6-9881-39af1672ae3c

Category: Experiment #2 And See What Happens