Transcoding Place

Candidate: Victoria Moulder
Type: Master of Arts (MA), School of Interactive Arts and Technology
Date: December 21, 2009
Senior Supervisor: Ron Wakkary
Thesis: Download Thesis Document

Abstract

This thesis explores a cultural phenomenon called Crude Awakening, which brings to attention a global crisis – our dependence on oil. The case study analyzes the communicative ecology between the live performance and it’s video documentation on YouTube. The research combines close reading and semantic differentials methods as a means of understanding the relationships between what people posted to YouTube, the system design and the live performance. The goal is to define the dynamics of this communicative ecology as a means of interpreting semantic space, sometimes defined as aesthetics, for the purposes of understanding how people interpret- meaning. The findings are to provide a framework for designing software architecture that can contextualize information, and define a broader context for discussing the hybridization of technology and culture in today’s digital world. I argue that digital social architecture, unlike traditional architecture, is a fluid system that evolves and changes along side social movements.