User:Mihail Bakalov/Trimester 4/GraduateResearchSeminar/ProjectProposal2

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RESEARCH DIRECTION

Through researching the filtered information provided by Facebook's newsfeed I want to explore how it shapes my perception and constructs my on-line identity.

Introduction

I would like to use the components from my newsfeed as a bases to construct my self-portrait. The goal of this project is building a narrative in the form of a fictional documentary story/film from the filtered world that Facebook is presenting to me. Focusing on how this information describes, reflects and effects me, creating an image of me through constructing my personal online world.

This project builds on Plato's Allegory of the Cave and the idea of constructing a referential notion of the real world and particularly in Plato's idea of how people ascribed forms to the shadows they take to be real, which are as close as people get to viewing reality. In my opinion a similar process can be seen in on-line social networks. Users, by feeding information into the system, such as 'likes' and 'interests', construct a bases for the function of the system. When creating a profile on facebook people enter their personal biographical information, fields of interest, affiliations and favorite activities. From this input the algorithm defines what to present to the user. The creation of the personalized feed is constructed from invisible functions which determine what is displayed, resulting into a filtered version of the world, shifted and translated by the system. I want to take my newsfeed and with its content build a representation of me. The process of creating my self-portrait would include a transformation of the data, for example from one medium to another, with that I will try to bring specific aspect of the content. I could also use another filtration of the gathered content in order to emphasize on the way the platform prescribes to my character.

RESEARCH QUESTION

As more and more people use Facebook, I would like to explore how does the design of the platform and the apparatus hidden behind it, effect people's perception. My main quest would be gathering more knowledge on what kind of reality are these components constructing for me and in return how does that construct my on-line identity.

PROJECT PROTOTYPING/EXPERIMENTING

My prototypes take the content from the newsfeed which represents the environment and social circle, I focus on the idea that it has an effect on me. I would like to use the components from the newsfeed as a bases for my narrative and with them construct my fictional self-portrait. So far in my experiments I'm trying out different interfaces, searching for a way to explore different aspects of the data and to find a suitable way of presenting the specific aspect which would help me build the structure of the narrative. The portrait would be a layout/a map of all the content placed on it. During my current exploration I found ways to point out some of the method which are typical for the functioning of the network social platform. I am taking the element of non-sequentiality in the results that the facebook newsfeed produces and using it in my approach of building the self-portrait of influencing external elements. Taking the out of sequence element and pushing/taking it to the extreme, breaking the feed into small bits, which are left for the user to be explored in a non-linear way. In some further experiments I'll try to touch upon other features of the platform, like the invisibility of the decision making algorithm, which I will try to present as a blind interface. An expected outcome will be an audio-visual story/film/narration about my constructed identity.

To build a better picture of what I want to achieve, I find these projects to have coinciding elements:

– "I love Alaska" from Lennert & Sander - What I find as a similar point to my project is the narration, which is a retelling of the digital footprint from the person. What is achieved by stating the search query is a simplistic straightforward description a personal character. The internet searches are like questions, dealing with topics from everyday live and personal issues, which manage to capture different aspects of the self.

- The Love Machine – From this project I want to focus on the exploration of the function of the facebook algorithms. What happens when you feed in specific data, with what result do you end up and how big is its influence.

- The Oulipo - The most fascinating thing I want to give as an example from the Oulipo is the potentiality of interpretation. The fictional element which a meaning can have, this I find as a similarity to my project. How text can be told in a different way with another meaning.

Prototypes:

• 1st tryout: In this experiment each image contains a newsfeed. It has the visuals taken from the post and the narration, text turned into speech.

https://vimeo.com/115192688

• 2nd tryout: In this experiment features a narration structure where a post from the newsfeed will be broken down into sentences. Each sentence will fill a pixel. A arrangment of the bits of the post would be linear, one after another horizontally put, structuring the portrait.
  

  Narration structure

https://vimeo.com/115536385

• 3rd tryout: This is a working prototype, not a mock-up. It has the same narration structure as the 2nd prototype. A person can navigate through the image with the arrows on the keyboard.

https://vimeo.com/116465103

[add bibliography

add timetable for production]

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//Uncorrected version

RESEARCH DIRECTION

Through researching the filtered information provided by Facebook's newsfeed I want to explore how it shapes my perception and constructs my identity.

Introduction: [You say later: "I would like to use the components from (my Facebook) newsfeed as a bases for my narrative and with them construct my fictional self-portrait." if that is the project put it here.] The goal of this project is building a narrative in the form of a fictional documentary story/film from the filtered world that Facebook is presenting to me. Focusing on how this information describes, reflects and effects me, creating an image of me through constructing my personal online world.

This project builds on Plato's Allegory of the Cave and the idea of constructing a referential notion of the real world and particularly in Plato's idea of how people ascribed forms to the shadows they take to be real, which are as close as people get to viewing reality. In my opinion a similar process can be seen in on-line social networks. Users, by feeding information into the system, such as 'likes' and 'interests', construct a bases for the function of the system.[ <make this clearer- unpack] From the input the algorithm defines what to present to the user. The creation of the personalized feed is constructed from invisible functions which determine what is displayed, resulting into a filtered version, shifted and translated by the system.[ ok: here explain what you want to do in order to make your own filtration, translations-develop your argument]

RESEARCH QUESTION

As we spend more and more time in on-line social networks, Facebook becomes a big source of information for a lot of users. Focusing on the huge effect on people's perception, I'd like to research what is the influence projected from the information that is circulating there. My main quest would be gathering more knowledge on what kind of reality are these components constructing for me and in return how does that construct my on-line identity. ["My prototypes" could go here.]

PROJECT PROTOTYPING/EXPERIMENTING

To build a better picture of what I want to achieve, I find these projects to have coinciding elements:

– "I love Alaska" from Lennert & Sander - What I find as a similar point to my project is the narration, which is a retelling of the digital footprint from the person. What is achieved by stating the search query is a simplistic straightforward description a personal character. The internet searches are like questions, dealing with topics from everyday live and personal issues, which manage to capture different aspects of the self.

- The Love Machine – From this project I want to focus on the exploration of the function of the facebook algorithms. What happens when you feed in specific data, with what result do you end up and how big is its influence.

- The Oulipo - The most fascinating thing I want to give as an example from the Oulipo is the potentiality of interpretation. The fictional element which a meaning can have, this I find as a similarity to my project. How text can be told in a different way with another meaning.

' [this should go earlier>>]'

My prototypes take the content from the newsfeed which represents the environment and social circle, I focus on the idea that it has an effect on me. I would like to use the components from the newsfeed as a bases for my narrative and with them construct my fictional self-portrait. So far in my experiments I'm trying out different interfaces, searching for a way to explore different aspects of the data and to find a suitable way of presenting the specific aspect which would help me build the structure of the narrative. The portrait would be a layout/a map of all the content placed on it. During my current exploration I found ways to point out some of the method which are typical for the functioning of the network social platform. I am taking the element of non-sequentiality in the results that the facebook newsfeed produces and using it in my approach of building the self-portrait of influencing external elements. Taking the out of sequence element and pushing/taking it to the extreme, breaking the feed into small bits, which are left for the user to be explored in a non-linear way. In some further experiments I'll try to touch upon other features of the platform, like the invisibility of the decision making algorithm, which I will try to present as a blind interface. An expected outcome will lead into an audio-visual story/film/narration about my constructed identity.

Prototypes:

1st tryout: In this experiment each image contains a newsfeed. It has the visuals taken from the post and the narration, text turned into speech. https://vimeo.com/115192688

2nd tryout: In this experiment features a narration structure where a post from the newsfeed will be broken down into sentences. Each sentence will fill a pixel. A arrangment of the bits of the post would be linear, one after another horizontally put, structuring the portrait.

Narration structure

https://vimeo.com/115536385

3rd tryout: This is a working prototype, not a mock-up. It has the same narration structure as the 2nd prototype. A person can navigate through the image with the arrows on the keyboard. https://vimeo.com/116465103

[add bibliography

add timetable for production]