*CODE & HACKTIVISM

*Edge of Art, Code as Muse

1-In Code art, the artist rarely works alone. Instead she calls upon the power of code to assist. Give examples of different kinds of codes that Code Artists use & abuse to create their work. Gievn this "procedural" approach, how do you distinguish this kind of creativity from art made with pen & ink or paint & canvas? How has the artists' role changes? How has the art changed?
Code artists use a plethra of different code to create art, from pearl to java and html. There is the web code art and game code art and many others. Code art and traditional art require a different kind of knowlege and skill. While code is more mathmatical, art is more knowlege of color and placement.
2-What function distinguishes the artistic use of code from a merely technical use? Give some examples of this function in a few art works from the chapter.
The way the artist simply writes the code can distinguish is from being merely technical, as well as the product at the end of the code. The Jack and Jill game for example. He wrote the code in a way noncoders could understand and also had a deeper meaning that being mererly technical.
3-Give examples of three mususes of browser technology to create art. What was the nature of the misuse/creative use and what was the effect? What issues were raised?

4-Give an example for each of the following: code as syntax, code as tool, and code as experience.
Code as a tool: I-See I think would be a good example of code as a tool. I-See can hack public security cameras so that you may be able to avoid them when walking.
Code as experience: Screenfull.net is an awesome place. It's like your screen was taken over by a million popups or ads but it's just random pictures that are layered over eachother. It's almost like experiencing the entire internet all at once.

*Edge of Art, Designing Politics

1. Describe the difference between Political Design and Hacktivist Art. Use an example of each and describe how that work fits the category of design or art.
2. What does execution mean? How does it relate to computers (ie .exe files). What are some example of executatb;e art? How is execution different from representation? In other words how does each realte to the media paradigms of one-to-many vs many-to-many?

3. Why do you think Hacktivist artists find themselves hacking capitalist and political structures that most other people revere? What problem or dangers do they see in these forms of power? Use sample projects to answer this question.

4.How do hacktivists confirm McLuhan's prediction that the 'nation-state' wold not survive the advent of electronic media? Do hackitvists challege or question any critical policies of nation-states? Does their practice suggest any alternatives to the nation-state? Or why are they not really concerned about anarchy?

Theater of the Oppressed, Augusto Boal

Describe in a paragraph a scene of bullying. Here's a description by Boal: "Remember a particular moment when (you) felt especially repressed, accepted that repression, and began to act in a manner contrary to (your) own desires. That moment must have a deep personal meaning." And yet, you are to consider how that, or a similar moment might easily be experienced by a sibling, friend, classmate, or neighbor.
When I was in elementary school, there was a boy who was a bit 'slower' than the other children, as well as a bit heavy. Most of the children in the class used to make fun of him, calling him dumb or fat. Gradeschool was a very weird time in terms of thought process. I remember bullying that boy along with my classmates and not remember thinking about how it might hurt him. Although I must of thought something, because I was the only one at recess who went over to him and actually played with him on the jungle gym. Maybe I only bullied because everyone else was doing it?

Do the journalists (and the documentary filmmaker) portray hackers as heros or criminals? why is there such confusion about hackers and their ethics? what are the benefits of the hacker ethos? what as the dangers? who is most worried and what are they protecting?
I think the journalists and the filmaker portray the hachers as heros, bringing things to light that most people want to say, but can't, so the hackers do it for them. I think the confusion comes from the fact that being a hacker, you have the knowlage to accquire information that is not normall available to you, and have the ability to use that information the way that you wish. That is also some of the benefits. Large corporations and companies fear these hackers because hackers can bring to light things that the corporations and companies are trying to hide from the general public and don't want the general public to know about. Hackers can also portray a company in a light that the company does not wish to be portrayed in.

what is the relationship between hacking and innovation and creativity? how does that relate to capitalism and profit?
why do most creative projects in our culture eventually become moneymaking projects? ie why does human creativity always get sucked in by the capitalist system? consider: what happened to creativity when there were no TVs, radio and internet? were people poor? uncreative? who benefitted from creativity before there were global markets and global celebrities? who benefits now?
Possibly because every new good idea wants to be the 'next big thing'. Companies will buy your ideas from you, or support and help 'market' your idea, as long as they are gaining some kind of profit. Once the idea does become the 'next big thing', then the company has your idea as well as the profit from your idea. If you have a good idea, there will always be someone there to buy it from you. Also, creative innovation is a skill. Not really a skill that you can learn or teach, but one that some are good at and some are not. The ones that are are in high demand because our society keeps changing and needs new and good ideas to help push it into the future of creative products. People were just equally creative before technology, before TV's and internet. The ideas, however, did not travel as far as fast. Just like the lightbulb, one of our first electrical technologies, was invented before the time of the tv and the internet. Word was spread by mouth oh how this technology helped improved daily life, then a demand began to rise, and a market was created.

Hide this content.

Edge of Art, Autobotography

1-What are some of the reasons for a surge in digital autobiograpical production from "homepages" to "wearcams"?
I think that with the emergence of new technology, people are alway going to find a way to make their mark with it. So I think when homepages weren't personal enough, the 'wearcams' gave them the tool that they needed to show people from around the world who they were, the "I'm here!".
2-What is the role of autobotography vis-a-vis technology's "narcotic effect"?
When we post things about ourselves online, we can see ourselves for who we really are and with either like or hate those things so much, we become obsessed. 3-Jennicam gives us an example of the pleasures of self-disclosure, Mann's WearCams give an example of the dangers of surveillance. Are there dangers in Jennifer Ringley's work (or similar projects)? And what might those dangers be? Conversely, are there any pleasures in Stephen Mann's WearCams?
Well one of the obvious dangers would be that some crazy person could figure out were Jenny lived and potetially cause her harm, but that's not to say that that couldn't happen anyways. Other than that, I really don't see any big danger in streaming your life 24/7.
4-Explain how 2 of the blogging projects reshapes our sense of self, life, or writing.
The 'Bloggin A Birth' by Ada T Norton was very interesting. The four bloggers seemed to become 'one' or 'we' as they blogged about the birth. Why? I'm not sure. Maybe it's the entense joy of the moment that brings the group to blog as one, or maybe they just don't want the readers to be bothered by the fact they might be reading from 4 different people (it could spoil the feeling and cause confusion) so they refer to themselves as we. I think it reshapes our sencse of self, life and writing because the world saw them as one person through their posts experiancing one great event.
5-Pick one of the "moving self-portraits" and explain how the project evokes the mystery of our contemporary lives. What kinds of issues does the portrait raise? I really couldn't find one particular, however, to me, it seems like a lot have to do with how we want people to see us. What kind of 'face' should we show in the company of others or how should we act. I think this has a connection with most every human.
6-Katherine Hayles speaks of the "post-human" in describing the cyborgian entities we have become. How do the artists of this chapter create autobotographies of this "post-human" cyborg? Consider, for example Life Sharing and [phage].
7-How do digital artists examine the commodification of the self? How has the self become another consumer good, or how does a human being get reduced to a "consumer"? Which digital projects raise theese questions and how do they do it?
8-Describe the autobotography of "invented selves" or avatars. How do Female Extension and Darko Maver raise questions about the nature of digital selves. Why do they use invented selves and what are the reasons for doing so and the effects of their choices? Cyborg Manifesto, Donna Harraway
1-What is a cyborg, or rather why is thinking about cyborgs useful for exploring identity? Is identity single? dualistic? paradoxical? What roll does gender play in cyborg identity vs conventional cultural identity?
2-Give two examples of cyborgs in books, comics, games, or films you have seen. Describe the cyborg, explain its role in the work, then explain what new perspectives it brings to identity.
3-What does Haraway mean when she writes “ the production of a universal, totalizing theory is a major mistake” How does the metaphor of the cyborg undermine the totalizing theories or dualisms that Haraway feels are damaging to our society?
4-How does her cyborg challenge the white, male, heterosexual bias of our culture? (this bias, for example discourages or punishes white males when acting feminine, or wild or gay; or it rewards women who act like men or like heterosexuals; it is not necessarily good for white male heterosexuals, as it boxes them into this role too) How does the 'monstrous' liberate us? How is this like code art "perversion"?
5-What is liberating, and what is dangerous about a human/machine symbiosis?
6-Would you consider yourself a cyborg? Explain how you are or are not a cyborg. Would you like to be a cyborg (sometimes, never, only in play, only when serious)?

Hide this content.

Deep Play

1. Clifford Geertz says "every culture loves its own form of violence." In what way do video games confirm this? What forms of violence do they represent? Geertz says the forms of violence are not always the actions that are bloody, but rather the unequal systems and structures that are created by violent means and then perpetuated. Pick a game that reveals not the superficial violence but the deeper structural violence of our culture and explain that form of violence.
One game that came to mind almost instantly was Age of Empires. While physical violence (war) is part of the game, there is other violence as well. You can destroy crops and cattle, or but other continents of from resources in order to kill them.
2. What is arrest and why is it important to art and specifically to game art? Can you describe a moment of arrest in any kind of game you have played? Arrest is something that out of the ordinary that makes you stop what you're doing and makes you think about what you're doing or what you're seeing. This is important in art and game art because it it can give you a kind of epiphany. It would make you realize something that you haven't realized before. Instead of conforming to the norm of art in today's galleries or games, it's different and makes you think.
3. What happens when a game breaks out of representations of violence (Grand Theft Auto) and actually engages (executes) violence (Tekken Torture Tournament)? In what way does representation sensitize or desensitize us to violence vs in what way does play (real enactment) resensitize us? When children play do they ever resort to violence? Can you describe its possible uses?
When we play video games that have a lot of violence in them, we do tend to get desensitized to that violence because there is no real consequences to those actions. However, when there are real physical consequences we are going to get a jolt 'back to reality'. I think it could be useful, especially to very young children playing those games so they possibly don't get desensitized to violence. Another reason it could be good could be to gamers who game too long. If there were bad physical consequences (such as getting shocked), gamers would possibly not play as long and actually go out into the daylight!
4. In what ways to some games reinscribe (ie make it seem natural by so much repetition) rather arbitrary gender roles? Why do games geared to adolescent boys have such strong gender stereotypes? What biological phase are these boys going through? What is the danger if they do NOT adopt gender stereotypes but pursue alternate gender definitions for either women or men? Pick a game that begins to questions gender roles for women and for men (these can be two different games) and describe how they challenge stereotypes.
Games geared to adolescent boys do have strong gender stereotypes because at that age, boys are turning into young men and finding their place in society. It a way for them to figure out how they fit. That men are always the strong dominant hero's and girls are always the meek damsel in distress. They need to fight for their place in the world and to get the girl. It could be 'dangerous' if they do not adopt gender stereotypes because they could grow up thinking differently than others, which is not something most people in our society like. Games are starting to challenge that (or have been challenging that) by switching up gender roles in games. Tomb Raider, with its brave adventurous female 'leader' challenged those gender stereotypes.
5.Why do US Army recruiters use games to both recruit and train soldiers? What is being trained or learned? Why is it effective, or is it?
Because we learn very well through games. Games are the closest thing to the real life without actually doing something. We can't really pretend to 'kill' soldiers in real life without a very high risk of actually doing harm to the 'enemy' so games are a very good way of training without those physical consequences.

Hide this content.

Environmental art as Earth Stewardship
By Sam Bower
"-art has the power to provoke debate, call attention to local and global problems, and unite a wide range of people and organizations to address a common goal."

Collaboration, Public Environments, Artists and Others: A Few Thoughts from Outside the Art World
By T. Allan Comp
"But what I can recommend is the critical role of multi-disciplinary collaboration - with artists, with scientists, with the community, with everyone"

The Plastic Waterfall
“The use of surplus garbage on a grand scale highlights the glut of plastic waste in our consumerist society and its serious long term impact on our global community,” she explains. “We are reminded of the vast island that has formed in the middle of the Pacific Ocean consisting of plastic refuse brought together by oceanic currents.”

• Plastic waste in our oceans


• How unaware we are of this problem

Hide this content.