Monthly Archives: April 2009
My CCEBA Talk
It was recorded from the stream. It is a little choppy, and is overdubbed with the live translation. So its good if you speak Spanish
Invite Everybody
— Facebook has blocked the ability to use this plugin. I repeat: It no longer works. To boot: It cannot be fixed, as Facebook has prevented bulk sends. It was fun while it lasted (RIP, Dec 2009)—
Sick an tired of clicking several hundred times when you want to invite your friends to a Facebook event? Yeah, me too. So I wrote a Greasemonkey script that does it for you. And just to be thorough, I wrote a bookmarklet too (for you non-GM people.)
It is all up at http://TheRedProject.com/scripts along with some other simple utility scripts I wrote, on the newly cleaned up front end to TheRedProject.com, which is my utility & storage domain.
Just to be clear, this code is GPL licensed, so feel free to use it, but keep it open.
State of Emergency on Friday, plus some…
I know, I should write these more often, so there is less to digest in each one. Much activity of late:
1. Permanent State of Emergency
2. New Videos
3. Shows and talks
4. OMG I’m Twittering: http://twitter.com/mandiberg
5. Histoires à l’ère numérique
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1. Permanent State of Emergency
April 7 – 28: Eyebeam’s new window gallery in a Permanent State of Emergency
Date: April 7 – 28; Opening Reception: April 17, 6 – 8PM
Location: Eyebeam: 540 W. 21st, NYC
Cost: Free
http://eyebeam.org/events/permanent-state-of-emergency
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=65632172284
Eyebeam is pleased to announce the opening of State of Emergency, the inaugural exhibition of the Window Gallery, our new rotating gallery space programmed by Eyebeam fellows and residents and viewable on West 21st Street. State of Emergency, a deliberately provocative projection series organized and co-curated by Sherry Millner and Ernest Larsen, includes work by Eyebeam senior fellow Michael Mandiberg, Mary Kelly, Allan Sekula, Walid Raad, Leslie Thornton, Gregory Sholette, Louis Hock, Marty Lucas, Sally Stein, Martha Rosler, Ligorano/Reese, Yvonne Rainer, James T. Hong, and Yin-Ju Chen, as well as Millner and Larsen themselves.
State of Emergency began several years ago as a silent shout-out against the ever-deepening devastation of democracy, a group response to the manufactured “state of emergency” in which we live. This updated version reinterprets that theme to include caustic responses to the ever-deepening economic collapse.
This inaugural exhibition in the Window Gallery is an initiative of senior fellow Michael Mandiberg.
2. Watch my new videos!
They are short, and sweet, and have nice soundtracks…
HOWTO Burn A Dollar Bill, HOWTO Burn the Oxford English Dictionary, and HowMuchItCosts.us
3. Upcoming and Recent Shows and Talks
Last last week we were in Chicago for the latest installment of the Eyebeam Roadshow. We gave standing room only lectures and workshops at Columbia College, UIC, and UI-Urbanan Champaign. EPIC WIN!
In the month before that Marisa Olson and I spoke at Moore College of Art in Philadelphia, I gave a remote lecture at the Inclusiva.net conference in Buenos Aires, and spoke remotely on a panel at Transmediale. I spoke at Columbia’s Studio X on a panel about urban space and the commons, and am slated to talk at Pratt on the 25th of April (time TBA). Talk Talk Talk.
The Postmasters show came down looking pretty. I should have some nice video documentation shortly.
4. OMG I’m Twittering
For real, first Facebook, now Twitter. Oh, the gateway drugs.
5. Histoires à l’ère numérique
I am currently showing at plug.in in Basel: Histoires à l’ère numérique – works from the collection of Espace Multimédia Gantner
04/03/09 to 05/31/09
Julien Alma / Laurent Hart, Lewis Baltz, Nathalie Bookchin, Martin Le Chevallier, VALIE EXPORT, Gita Hashemi, Felix Stephan Huber / Philip Pocock, George Legrady, Michael Mandiberg, Tony Oursler, Suzanne Treister.
Around the year 2000, at the same time that [plug.in] was founded, across the border in Bourogne, France, another pioneer institution for media art was founded: The Espace Multimédia Gantner. Since then, it provides exhibitions of electronic art, events on media art, electronic music and digital culture, a library and a collection of media art works.
As a collaboration between Espace Gantner and [plug.in], the exhibition „Histoires à l’ère numérique“ presents 11 works from the collection of Espace Multimédia Gantner, selected by Annette Schindler and Raffael Dörig from [plug.in].
Hot Tip: Look out for interviews on rocketboom and coolhuntimg in the next few weeks.
Special Bonus: Call for translators for FM.
We are making progress on translations of Digital Foundations into 10 active languages. Spanish is near complete, Polish is just started. Everything else is somewhere in between. For more on how to get involved, see this page. For more information, help, or communication, get in touch with Jennifer Dopazo (jndopazo _at_ gmail _dot_ com).
Rhizome Proposal
The Collected Memories of the Mechanical Turk
Project description
1. An overview
Amazon has a web service called the Mechanical Turk where you can have humans perform simple repetitive tasks for you. They call it “Artificial Artificial Intelligence.” I propose to document the inner life and experiences of the Amazon’s Mechanical Turk workforce by creating tasks that explore the personal memories of these workers, as our lives are transformed by cheap bandwidth and outsourcing that is made possible by the Internet
2. The People & The Project
I am proposing a web project that queries Amazon’s Mechanical Turk workers about their memories, their ambitions, their lives, their ages, trying to gain an insight into the lives of the people of the Global Village/Global-Factory-Town. People whom we interact with in fleeting glimpses as customer service representatives, after being on hold for longer than planned, and before being put back on hold to be transferred to another department.
Amazon’s Mechanical Turk allows you to create tasks for human workers to complete. Often they are rote repetitive tasks that automate some process that could not be done by software. As Amazon dubs it: “Artificial Artificial Intelligence.” I will ask the Mechanical Turk workers about their memory; what they remember and what they forget, what they desire, and what they have lost. And on a practical level, how old they are, what level of education they have, and where they live.
3. The Outcome
These queries will be rendered as an interactive website, displaying the ages, locations, memories, and emotional states of these individuals who make up the Mechanical Turk workforce. It will also be turned into an artist book, somewhat like a book of found poetry, somewhat like a small town census. The book will be gracefully designed, and depending on cost it will be printed in an edition of 1000, or done via print on demand.
Assistants
I will be working with assistants on this project. My current assistants are Patrick Davison (http://www.whereikeepmythingsontheinternet.com/) and Clara Jo (http://www.clarajo.com/). They will be assisting with research, design, and programming as needed
Production Timeline
Assuming a start date of July (based off of a submission deadline of April 2), I expect it to take:
One month to build and design the interface to the Mechanical Turk API (July)
Two months of input from the Mechanical Turk workers (August-September)
Two months to edit and layout the book for printing (October-November)
The whole schedule could be delayed to comply with final grant deadlines.
Project Budget
Artist Fee/Artist Labor:
20 weeks, 20hrs/week, @ $6.75 (minimum wage)
$2700
Studio Cost:
5 months @ $600/mo equivalent (provided by Eyebeam)
$3000
Hosting/Domain Registration 1yr
$100
Research Assistance
($2000 Funded by College of Staten Island/CUNY Grant)
$2000
Payments to Mechanical Turk workers (each task will be $1, so $1000 will lead to 1000 entries.)
$1000
Artist Book costs
$1500
Total
$10,300
Total secured from other sources
$5000
Subtotal required to complete project
$5300
Total requested from Rhizome
$4000
Total funded by artist (from personal salary)
$1300
Curriculum Vitae
Full CV is here: http://www.mandiberg.com/cv/
Full Bio is here: http://www.mandiberg.com/about/
Short Bio:
Michael Mandiberg is known for selling all of his possessions online on Shop Mandiberg, making perfect copies of copies on AfterSherrieLevine.com, and creating Firefox plugins that highlight the real environmental costs of a global economy on TheRealCosts.com . His current projects include the co-authored groundbreaking Creative Commons licensed textbook Digital Foundations: an Intro to Media Design that teaches Bauhaus visual principles through design software, HowMuchItCosts.us, a car direction site that incorporates the financial and carbon cost of driving, and Bright Bike, a retro-reflective bicycle treehugger.com praised as “obnoxiously bright.” He is a Senior Fellow at Eyebeam, and an Assistant Professor at the College of Staten Island/CUNY. He lives in, and rides his bicycle around, Brooklyn. His work lives at Mandiberg.com
Work Samples
HowMuchItCosts.us, 2009
HowItCosts.us is a Google maps upgrade that calculates gas consumption and emissions along with trip directions.
The Real Costs, 2007
Real Costs is a Firefox plug-in that calculates the environmental impact of air travel by adding CO2 emissions data to airfare websites such as Orbitz.com, United.com, Delta.com, etc. It is like nutrition information labeling for airplane emissions. The Real Costs was commissioned by Rhizome.org.
Oil Standard, 2006
Oil Standard is a Firefox plugin that convers all prices on a webpage into barrles of crude oil, exploring the moment when oil replace(d) gold as the standard by which we trade all goods and currencies.
Bush Poll, 2004
There are 153 persons named George Bush in the US phone directory; during the run up to the 2004 election I performed an opinion survey about their political opinions, their polarization over political issues, and their potential reflection of an American people divided over their Presidential representation.
Ping Report: HOWTO CC gets some action
O’Reilly Radar and Boing Boing picked up on the HOWTO CC post, which echoed through the blogs. Some of of the louder echos are: Robin Good’s reposting, which includes ironic stock photographs (something I’ve been meaning to do!)
Permanent State of Emergency
Permanent State of Emergency, video still
April 7 – 28: Eyebeam’s new window gallery in a Permanent State of Emergency
Date: April 7 – 28; Opening Reception: April 17, 6 – 8PM
Location: Eyebeam: 540 W. 21st, NYC
Cost: Free
http://eyebeam.org/events/permanent-state-of-emergency
Eyebeam is pleased to announce the opening of State of Emergency, the inaugural exhibition of the Window Gallery, our new rotating gallery space programmed by Eyebeam fellows and residents and viewable on West 21st Street. State of Emergency, a deliberately provocative projection series organized and co-curated by Sherry Millner and Ernest Larsen, includes work by Eyebeam senior fellow Michael Mandiberg, Mary Kelly, Allan Sekula, Walid Raad, Leslie Thornton, Gregory Sholette, Louis Hock, Marty Lucas, Sally Stein, Martha Rosler, Ligorano/Reese, Yvonne Rainer, James T. Hong, and Yin-Ju Chen, as well as Millner and Larsen themselves.
State of Emergency began several years ago as a silent shout-out against the ever-deepening devastation of democracy, a group response to the manufactured “state of emergency” in which we live. This updated version reinterprets that theme to include caustic responses to the ever-deepening economic collapse.
This inaugural exhibition in the Window Gallery is an initiative of senior fellow Michael Mandiberg.
