Project 4 Progress: We Are ‘The Smash Bros.’

By stephensurlin on December 2nd, 2009, 1:18 am 0 Comments

Here are some links for you to see how I’ve interconnected these popular networking sites. The Rhizome page has more information on my project. My ongoing online intervention is a performance piece. I’ve created an ‘online’ musical persona; and with this group I will explore the aesthetics, processes and potential for “human” interaction and expression of self to others (this self is hopefully made more distinct through hacktivist ideologies and practices, like the manipulative quality of HTML).

WordPress.com

MySpace.com

Twitter.com

YouTube.com

BandCamp.com

Rhizome - This site has an extensive explanation of what this project is about.

Category: blog | Tags: course Facebook game hacktivism Internet myspace public remix Rhizome twitter video game youtube | Permalink: Project 4 Progress: We Are ‘The Smash Bros.’

Face.com

By christine on November 23rd, 2009, 2:00 pm 3 Comments

 The Internet has blurred the boundaries between public and private lives, and stories of “the employee who got into trouble at work when photos with embarrassing content emerged online” are common. For those whose weekend photos on Facebook are hurting their reputation at work, an Israeli company thinks it can help.

Face.com, based in Tel Aviv and New York, has developed a facial recognitiontechnology that detects when people add pictures of you on Facebook so you can take them down before they cause any damage.”In social networks, you lose control of your image,” said Gill Hirsch, chief executive of Face.com. “Anyone can upload photos of you without your consent, and this can be uneasy for some people.” The original aim of the service was to make it easier for Facebook users to “tag” photos, or identify who is in a picture. But during the last three months of testing, users asked to be alerted when pictures of themselves are added without their knowledge. While Facebook informs users when other members tag photos with their names, some photos can remain untagged. With this new Facebook App called Photo Finder,  it scans all of the user’s friends’ photo albums. If it finds a match, the user is alerted. It’s also useful to help people find lost photos. 

Some employers have admitted to checking social network profiles of job candidates for embarrassing content, which  has led to a small backlash by Facebook users who say employers need to accept this new reality. One Facebook group is even called  ”Dear Employer: I’m An Upstanding Individual Despite My Facebook Pictures.”

Any thoughts on this issue and how it should be treated? Will this app be beneficial, or should people not post incriminating photos in the first place?

Category: blog | Tags: app face recognition Facebook photo privacy social networks | Permalink: Face.com

Lamebook > Facebook

By diane on September 23rd, 2009, 11:38 am 4 Comments

I’m sorry this post isn’t exactly art-related, but it is digital media and is relevant to our discussion about public and private space. I am actually glad we’re supposed to write blog entries so I can share this discovery with others (who hopefully haven’t heard of this yet). I urge you to visit this website!

Lamebook.com, at first glance, is a website with all the highlights of funny posts from Facebook. Some of the posts being so lame (hence the name) they are actually very humorous. Lamebook’s logo is a thumbs-down symbol, mocking Facebook’s thumbs-up “like option”. If you aren’t drawn in by the random selection of posts on the home page you can choose from categories such as: douchebags/douchebaguettes; personal problems; and typOHs. It’s certainly amusing and I have spent many hours myself reading Lamebook posts. But it’s more than just a fun and entertaining site to visit when you’re bored.

If you have a Facebook account, you probably have seen some ridiculous statuses, photos, comments, arguments, etc. written by some of your couple hundred “friends”. You’d be surprised though about some of the information people post on the internet (even on a private profile) virtually for the entire world to see. Speaking of which, I’m thinking of tying in the idea of private profiles on Facebook and how private they really are for my public/private space assignment. I’d be interested to hear other peoples’ opinions on this concept.

Lamebook mocks our pathetic need to publicly broadcast our hour-to-hour feelings and whereabouts. I thought I was the only one who was annoyed by seeing my Facebook friends’ unnecessary detailed daily itinerary. Looking deeper than just the humor of Lamebook posts, it made me more aware of just how much personal information on millions of people there is and how quickly it is spread over the Internet via social networking sites. I’m sure this causes many privacy issues. There are twelve-year-olds with Facebook accounts uploading photos of themselves and way too much personal information than I’m sure their parents would be comfortable having on the Internet.

I probably spent forty minutes on Facebook today. It is addictive to have so much information and photos on virtually everyone you went to high school with at your fingertips. I also spent about an hour on Lamebook.com today. I learned a bit about today’s social networking culture – but more importantly – I was entertained by hilarious posts.

Category: blog | Tags: Facebook funny humor Lame Lamebook private public Social networking | Permalink: Lamebook > Facebook