Yelena Ye

Data sets have various applications in the real world. Depending on the contents of the data sets, they can be used to analyze the subject groups, to find patterns, to train machines… However, it can’t be ignored that data often carries biases, because of the way it is collected, the people who interpret it, the intention it is used for.  While data sets can’t be purely objective in most cases, it doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t collect them. The patterns and tends reflected by the data sets are useful tools to understand certain phenomenon and demographics.

Data becomes meaningful when we impose a meaning on it. I would categorize the data into those that can be associated precisely back to our personal identity, and will lead to one and only one possibility(like biological data, ID number..) and those cannot. I think the intention behind data collection can be one of the determining factors of data collections. If the data collected is used for analyzing customer satisfaction or analyzing certain performances, I think it is justifiable as long as the collector keep to the boundaries. On the other hand, collecting data of the first category, while recognizing our individuality,  makes me feel uncomfortable.

I guess for me the most common encounter with data collection is my personal data. Take public WIFI service as an example, coming here, it shocks me that I don’t have to put in my phone number in order to get connection. And there will be big, visible security warnings of privacy breaching. In comparison, back in China, I need to put in my phone number to get a verification code in order to stay connected in public spaces. What is most bizarre is when I was in Brazil, I was asked to put in my passport number   for the WIFI service in the mall. ….? And in Brazil, you might be completely immobilized without the tax-payer number. I talked to a local and she told me that it might be the government wanting to track its citizen.

Additionally, coming here, I notice myself experiencing targeted ads all the time. Ads about the products that I browsed before are almost everywhere on the websites. These ads definitely come from the browsing data collected by the websites. So annoying :0

I always joke with my friends, saying that we are almost transparent in front of the government. However, even if we have nothing to hide, I don’t think data collection is justifiable, especially those without our knowledge. Even if it is just a data not associated with your identity, like your IP address, it can reflect where you’ve been to, how long you’ve stayed there, the frequency of you visiting certain places.

I think both art projects portray the individuals behind the data in a thought-provoking and uncanny way. Although none of the data in these projects point to a specific individual, by dismantling each individual data from the large bunk of data set reminds us of the fact that behind each number is a vivid individual. Sometimes we get numbed by the numbers, even though we might feel astonished, these cold numbers are just numbers. This reminds me of a class discussion I had on One Hundred Years of Solitude. One of my classmates pointed out that thinking about the people died in massacres, we might only be astonished by the bleak numbers in the archives. However, in Marquez’s narrative, the death of the people becomes so real and vivid; it is as if the readers are witnessing the death. I think in both cases, artworks and literature have the power to push the society to reflect, to think, to de-normalize the normalized.

Iteration 2 (Oct.31st) 

I successfully made things work!! It turned out that I shouldn’t overburden my p5.js. It can work with simple codes. 

This is me trying to test out the button and the potentiometer. The console.log function is working.

Now I am trying to use the potentiometer to control the volume — it can’t be reflected in the video because I was wearing headphones, but I could tell the difference, and the background was changing. 

the codes: edit link | fullscreen link

lessons learnt 

“serial.write(“x”); ” is very essential to trigger and maintain the communication between p5 and arduino

Before, my serial.write(“x”); only happened once (when I started to run the script), because it was only in the initiateSerial() function. It should also be in the serialEvent() function as well ;’) 

The reason why it worked (but slowly) was because I am printing stuff outside of the if statement. 

Also to maintain realtime communication, I should close the serial monitor in arduino. 

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Pervious iterations 

This week I explored two sets of codes. I tried to play with music & tried to manipulate the images with p5.js. 

Playing with music — visualizing the music

I got my inspiration from a video I saw recently. In Shanghai there is a club that held an event for deaf people — although deaf people can’t hear the music, they can use their body to feel the music beats and use their eyes to perceive the changes of the lightings. Initially I was thinking maybe I can use a sound input to detect the music, however, I got banned from the shop again?? So I gave up on this idea, and this project is a bit underdeveloped ; ; 

editing link | fullscreen link

One problem I encountered was that when I changed the project into fullscreen, the threshold of color changing might not work well. It was a bit difficult to do the math calculation. 

reference: youtube video by colorful coding link 

Image Manipulation

I was trying to play with vapor wave aesthetics in the very beginning because I thought it is fun :). But I ended up referencing this youtube video (link). What I have in mind is that when I hit the button connected to arduino, the effect will be triggered. However, I think there might be too many codes going on inside my computer that it never succeeded. (But when I tried with other codes, it worked.

with arduino – fullscreen link — editing link

without arduino – fullscreen link — editing link

notes ive taken based on the YouTube video: 

#version 300 es 
// GLES (OpenGL Shading Language) – this MUST be the first line of the code

// this is a fragment shader, which computes the color of each pixel in a rendered image

precision mediump float;
// sets the precision of floaating-point variables to meduim, can be lowp or highp as well
// but changing it will affect how floating-point numbers are handled

in vec2 pos;
out vec4 colour;
// int – integer value
// vec2, vec3, vec4 – xD vector;
// vec2 – consists of 2 floating-point nums, to present positions or directions
// vec3 – colors, 3D positions or directions
// vec4 – RGBA colors, 3D positions with an additional component for transformations

uniform sampler2D image;
uniform vec2 aspect;
uniform float t; //time
uniform vec2 centre; 
// uniform is used to declare global variables that remain constant during execution of a shader program for all pixels or vertices. often used for data that need to remain cosistent

const float maxRadius = 0.5;

// SDF from https://iquilezles.org/articles/distfunctions2d/
float sdBox(vec2 p, vec2 b) {
vec2 d = abs(p)-b;
return length(max(d,0.0)) + min(max(d.x,d.y),0.0);
}

float getOffsetStrength(float t, vec2 dir) {
// float d = length(dir/aspect) – t * maxRadius; // SDF of circle
float d = sdBox(dir/aspect, vec2(t * maxRadius));//SDF of a square

d *= 1. – smoothstep(0., 0.05, abs(d)); // Mask the ripple

d *= smoothstep(0., 0.05, t); // Smooth intro
d *= 1. – smoothstep(0.5, 1., t); // Smooth outro
return d;
}

void main() {
// 4. Chromatic aberation – color effect
vec2 dir = centre – pos;
float tOffset = 0.05 * sin(t * 3.14);
float rD = getOffsetStrength(t + tOffset, dir);
float gD = getOffsetStrength(t, dir);
float bD = getOffsetStrength(t – tOffset, dir);

dir = normalize(dir);
// normalize returns a vector with the same direction as its parameter, v, but with length 1.

float r = texture(image, pos + dir * rD).r;
float g = texture(image, pos + dir * gD).g;
float b = texture(image, pos + dir * bD).b;

float shading = gD * 8.;
colour = vec4(r, g, b, 1.);
colour.rgb += shading;
}

references:

Inigo Quilez link

youtube tutorial link

How the internet works

Based on my understanding, the internet works by transmitting information between servers and devices through a complex network of cables, wires, and signals. When you interact with a webpage or send a request for digital content, your device sends a signal to a server, asking for the desired information. The server responds by sending the data back to your device. However, since the information is often too large to be sent all at once, it is broken down into smaller data packets. These packets travel through various routes across the network, and are reassembled to display the required content on your device.

This reminds me of poor image and the exploitation on resources/ environmental pollution.

For poor image, I remember clearly that my professor shared with us how several decades ago, when he was a student, because the network system wasn’t as advanced as today, when he watched pirated movies online, the video quality was always terrible. However, despite the quality of the media productions, this is how these productions got circulated in early days.

(The reading for poor image is this one: In Defense of the Poor Image by Hito Steyerl)

As for the environmental pollution/ exploitation of the natural resources, it goes without saying that in order to maintain the operation of the servers, huge amount of energy is consumed every single day across the world. It reminds me of a piece of work titled Anatomy of an AI System: The Amazon Echo as an anatomical map of human labor, data and planetary resources By Kate Crawford and Vladan Joler in 2018. This piece is not so related to how the internet operates, but the diagram in the piece looks super complex and I think how the internet operates resembles the diagram. The complex process takes place in a way that cannot be perceived by human beings. 🙂

Net Neutrality 

Net Neutrality refers to “the idea that internet service providers […] should treat all content flowing through their cables and cell towers equally”. In other words, the service providers shouldn’t slow down the transmission of certain packages for the sake of their benefits.

Pros:

• It foster an environment for innovation, as there will be less limitation on the transmission of information
• It encourages free expression, and prevents large telecommunications companies to monopolize the market
• Ensures equal access for everyone

Cons:

• There might be chances to pay for priority treatment, however, it is not affordable for every company