Eleanor Greenhalgh, Trimester 3, 2012
Trimester 2, 2012.
Description
Outcome: The Dissolute Image
This trimester I realized the 'proof of concept' shown in prototype form in Trimester 2: a distributed archiving technique for storing each pixel of an image at a different URL, thus evading 2.0 content moderation policies. The alpha version of The Dissolute Image is online [| here].
Aims
Aims in Trim 3:
- Learn how to use a database
- * to store pixel data
- * to keep track of 'adopted' & 'available' pixels
- * to assignin pixels to users
- * to remove pixels from the image if deleted remotely by their hosts
Project aims developed in Trim 2:
- Highlight the precarity of remotely hosted data & the relevance of physical location/ server ownership
- Question the logic of censorship by deconstructing the image to the level of pixel
- Encourage reflection on the role, responsibilities and power of the 'host'
- Learn about the usage and possibilities of command-line tools for image deconstruction & composition
- Learn how to use Python for scraping & collection of dispersed online data
Proposal for Trimester 2.1: Consent
While realizing a working version of The Dissolute Image I developed a proposal for further research in Trimester 1 of year 2. This proposal attempts to resolve some of the theoretical problems with the Dissolute Image, namely:
- Aggregation by a single centre
- Curation/ choice of content by a single person
- Wide online availability of content only banned on certain platforms
Proposal: A publishing project expanding the logic of The Dissolute Image to a whole publication, with each item submitted requiring adoption by other/s in order to appear in the final publication. This project will unite my research thus far at PZI - on hosting, physical media and solidarity - to previous recurring concerns with democracy and consent. Notes and rationale are here
Media
Photos
Essay
'Identity Theft' and the Integrity of Natural Objects
Abstract
This essay explores the anxiety provoked by digital media's powers of transmission and replication, with a focus on their threat to traditional notions of authorship. It compares the reactions of contemporary copyright lobbyists such as the MPAA with Donna Haraway's early predictions of the embrace of unlimited data flow, examining the intense anxieties over ownership, identity and integrity provoked by digital media. Finally it looks at how this anxiety might be productively embraced, and the 'death of the author' accepted and mourned as part of a wider understanding of authors as constituted by, and thus vulnerable to, other people.
Additional Information
Misc
- Cookbook entry: Extracting pixel data with ImageMagick
- Annotations
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