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Design brief (we need to pick one, decide one) -- what would we ask the multicode consortium for


Reading material

Hackable systems (FS picks)
Turing complete user
Mckenzie Internationalisation
Ascii imperialism

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http://pelulamu.net/unscii/
the charachter as a design building block

ascii imperialism: --> PDF https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzSX1UzPXs2MY0VldVRZRzZNMXM/edit
Pargman, Daniel
KTH, School of Computer Science and Communication (CSC), Media Technology and Graphic Arts, Media.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-2162-8353
Palme, Jacob
Stockholm University.

2009 (English)In: Standards and Their Stories: How Quantifying, Classifying, and Formalizing Practices Shape Everyday Life / [ed] Lampland, Martha och Leigh Star, Susan, Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2009, 177-199 p.


Seda:

Here, I would have liked to see a short discussion on the assumption of representation in “abstract” letters in characters (which can be combined to express emotions) versus representation of identities in characters: "They cemented the impression that emoji had evolved from visual aids to communicate emotion, to representations of the self. It was also painfully clear that these stand-ins for the human body looked very pale."

How are letters different representations than images? Where does the “semiotic” start? I suppose you have thoughts on this, but right now it is hidden between the lines and the different arguments. Obviously, the discussion of what letters and images are, and how they may or may not be different is a matter that cannot be settled, but I think there is space here to point out that something is happening that makes a huge difference.

possibility of visibility, presence

Redo the exercise we did in malmo/a.pass, but make it more practical, visual:
http://pad.constantvzw.org/p/modifying.apass

communication, universal ...

stickers - platform as a silo

examples?

Maskenfreiheit : https://www.dropbox.com/s/3sqx19s89svtatd/2016-12-21%2019.44.56-26.jpg?dl=0#

- without boxing
- without always being the same

a super problematic design brief   => what could be a design brief of the multicode consortium

examples of how people deal with this ...

Roel: this can not be designed, but people will organise around it (ambiguity, combinations, ...)
Peggy: why do we need diversity -- nowadays, tech wants us to be defined (before: hybridity is possible)
Femke: How to deal with the universalist tendencies of all tech, what cannot be encoded

what shapes the question, visibility vs invisibility
possibility of visibility

"hackable systems"
More resolution, less play (but what about precision, reliability)
Olia Lialina: Turing complete user


"implementing diversity"

adding bits of yourself -> identity

https://www.google.be/imgres?imgurl=http://thenewinquiry.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/paglen-5b.jpg&imgrefurl=http://thenewinquiry.com/essays/invisible-images-your-pictures-are-looking-at-you/&h=410&w=766&tbnid=B3ekJOIXyL-I-M&tbnh=164&tbnw=307&usg=__YihF6GLRIViOvY97SAYiGkAYYHE=&hl=nl-BE&docid=GeIgLLtTLTOurM

https://tni-back-soon.github.io/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/paglen-5b.jpg <-- Trevor Paglen, Invisible Images


(how does exactly relate to 'behind the net'?)

09:07 P + F arrive
09:0? R arrives

10:00


11:00

17:00: 30m presentation

19:00 Peggy leaves

--

Explain the emoji issue, the pandora's box, the 'implementation problem'.

What systems can you set up to implement diversity?
-- brainstorm

Pick one and prototype it
-- any medium?

Seda comments

0) I really like the kick at diversity and capitalistic appropriation throughout the text. So needed.

) Here, I would have liked to see a short discussion on the assumption of representation in “abstract” letters in characters (which can be combined to express emotions) versus representation of identities in characters:
They cemented the impression that emoji had evolved from visual aids to communicate emotion, to representations of the self. It was also painfully clear that these stand-ins for the human body looked very pale.

Femke and I discussed this dilemma in New York (how are letters different representations than images? where does the “semiotic” start?) I suppose you have thoughts on this, but right now it is hidden between the lines and the different arguments. Obviously, the discussion of what letters and images are, and how they may or may not be different is a matter that cannot be settled, but I think there is space here to point out that something is happening that makes a huge difference.

2) It is ironic that the iDiversicons page uses the “standard" yellow emojis in their (awful) website text:
http://www.idiversicons.com/emoticons/ < http://www.idiversicons.com/emoticons/ >

they seem to be not part of the universal project of emoticons somehow. what are the consequences of this? isn’t there a kind of marginalization of the non-universal projects like “idiversicons”? i.e., it is something to point at when people want diversity, but something that is not to be included.

3) I didn’t get this bit: Were Turkish activists arrested because they used “gay emoji”, and the Libyan’s were something else. It went a little too quick for me:
Activists from Turkey were arrested because of their social network accounts, Libya used Big Data to target its opponents

4) In general, I would want to discuss this bit more:

"Despite the apparent commitment to implement encryption, we have seen Facebook, Google and Apple all too easily comply with police or intelligence services to aid the global war on terror. In such a charged landscape, it is difficult to think about the way standards are being handled without a sense of paranoia, and the willingness of these companies to implement diversity through cute emoji should be met with at least some reservations."

I think you need to spell out what is at stake: that expression can lead to problems with states is nothing new. The response is not to say expression should be hard to categorize. One would argue for expression to be protected (legally, technically etc.) I believe something else is at stake here (the paranoia?) but I don’t find it in this paragraph. Or, let’s say, what would it mean for a standards organization to take such retaliation due to some sort of racial profiling seriously? Or, maybe the question is, what are some assumptions of universalist projects with respect to dissemination of progressive (hegemonic western) values, and how these fail to attend to the potential outcomes which they cannot foresee and they do not have the space or capacity to deal with. I think this may be similar to the problems of social networks, like Facebook, really acting in detrimental ways to minorities and individuals when they succumb to government take down requests. I am not articulating it well here, hence my plea for further discussion.

5) Maybe a sentence on why you left out the fifth point would be helpful. "leaving out a fifth comment on the commercial drive of the Unicode Consortium that we feel is actually at the root of the problem."

6) representational turn is the conceptual framing of what you are getting at the whole time, but it is not directly elaborated anywhere (hence also the wish in point (1) to make this discussion more explicit (not necessarily conclude it)). so, maybe consider spending a few sentences on it.

7) Now that I read you saying that "representation policies and politics are being reorganised according to ethnic fault lines” I wonder if racial and ethnic fault lines are the same, a continuation of different forms of othering, or just related but attached to different representational and historical situated politics?

8) I love the conclusion. I wonder if some of it should go to the beginning, too, since it is so powerful

Roel

Is it realistic to 'advance' the project into new territories or would we only be able to formulate some workshop around the material we already have? In that sense a form of the workshop could be to retrace, in practice and conversation the story we describe in our text. To provide a hands-on insight of how 'diversity gets made and implemented'.
Considering we will be working with undergrad design students, taking a more speculative approach by doing things like editing font files to create novel forms of mongrel emoji. To open back up the space of indeterminacy which one looses as emoji become more and more typed. But also demonstrating that this is a space of intervention, specifically for design.

Luis 09/12/16

We would like to have the workshops during opening day, on the 10/01. You would be sharing that day with Nishant Shah and Rop Gongrijp (t.b.c). The idea is we give students a workshop for a day and we close the day with a 30m round table with all our special guests.

On the week of the 18th we will go on the Web Safari and visit, one data center, one cable landing site, RIPE NCC and SIDN (t.b.c). Last ten days 23 to 1st are reserved for student projects and reservations.

Luis 12/11/16

At the moment the format of the month-long "Behind the Net" program is wide open, students will play a big role in organizing it, but the first week I wanted to provide them with input that they can then work with and this is where you come in.

I thought of setting up a track called "man in the middle" (referring to the kind of attack where the attacker sits between the sender and recipient of a given communication), as a metaphor and entry point to discuss topics of diversity in "network culture", the very literal presence of the word "man" there is in itself symptomatic I think.

Whether you would like to present a lecture or do a workshop is up to you really, students are free from other duties during the whole month to fully dedicate themselves to this program, so whatever is proposed will have their full attention and cooperation so a workshop might also be productive for your research.

Luis 01/11/16

For the month of January the whole department of Interaction Design will be involved in a program called Behind the Net, in which we will explore the physical infrastructure of the internet and deal with the shifting narratives around it. We plan to visit a data center and some of the key pieces of Internet infrastructure that we have in The Netherlands, which is a major node of internet services in Europe. These excursions will run in parallel with a series of artist workshops and guest lectures. We are finalising the program at the moment.

As part of the topics relating to "shifting narratives", we would like someone to address issues of diversity in online culture and I thought you could contribute a great deal in opening up that subject.

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PRACTICAL

train: 05:45 Midi -> 09:07 HARDCORE

With regards to bringing your co-authors it is also up to you, I must tell you though that our budget is fairly constrained, at the moment we are offering 250,- eur per lecture and could offer a bit more for a workshop, but this is what we are working with, just so you know. Travel expenses will of course be covered.

Timing?

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Luis Rodil-Fernandez
+31 614 65 85 79

Lector on Critical Approaches to Technology
@ Interaction Design
ArtEZ University of the Arts
Designer in Residence
University of Amsterdam Centre for Play and Civic Media