User:Pedro Sá Couto/TW/Dewatermarking
STEPS
The de-watermarking process is separated in 2 steps:
1. Uploading a file to dewatermark
2. Filling the fields for the new watermark
WHY?
In this route of the application users can upload a title that is watermarked. The title can be a book, an academic journal, +++, and it can be both in pdf or EPUB.
I will de-watermark the uploaded file and process it further, adding an anonymous uploader signature that will circulate on the cover of the title.
The uploaders signature is an anonymous watermarks with the technical and personal regards around sharing specific texts. In the end, these stories will circulate alongside the main narrative.
Tactical Watermarks has the primary objective of creating a positive discourse around the act of watermarking. This discourse will enable the creation of a top layer of information, able to embed traces of provenance in different texts. By provenance, I intend to express all the trails not used to surveil users but the ones able to trace historical importance to files and that facilitate precise documentation within an archive or library.
The uploaders signature challenges centralised distribution channels and wonders on how the process of adding stains can be twisted and revived. Stains are what I will call user patches or marks that are difficult to remove and that do not play an active role in archives. While exploring the process of adding imprints, different uses arose: as a way to obscure previous ones, of commenting on the situation and encouraging behaviours, to create relations and communities, augmenting the sense of solidarity in archives, for digital enhancements, marks of quality, etc.
Tactical Watermarks may form a discourse around topics such as anonymity, borders, archives, and provenance.While rethinking watermarks, I explore their hidden layers and aspects of surprise, visibility or invisibility, on different forms of communication. It is essential to acknowledge that watermarks have the power to infiltrate, perform different roles and create parallel streams of information within various texts. When it comes to publishing, Tactical Watermarks create a critical discourse around the right to access knowledge and represent the ones that fight for it!
