Chick Click

Sober IT truths from the island-state

by Isabella Chen, Singapore

Abstracting national concerns

Jun 25, 2009 20:29

Still on my info-graphics binge. I stumbled upon this site Capital Words. Interesting to note the number of times some words were said over others. Like "Oil" for example, as compared with "Education" and "Literacy", etc.
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Datanoid

Jun 17, 2009 13:08

The world is about numbers and figures. The death of an individual is a tragedy, the death of thousands but a statistic. We can paint a good picture of a particular country, city, town, village with a few statistics. GDP per head, PPP, agricultural dependency, literacy, etc. Throughout our lives (as privileged, numerically literate, socially aware individuals), we are immersed in environments that show up as words + pictures.
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Reflecting on Web 2.0 as it was

Jun 2, 2009 17:32

Does anyone still remember when Web 2.0 was all the rage? It is one of those things, isn't it? For a while, there was all this hype about it, and then before you know it, it's here, and we barely acknowledge that it is here. To be honest, no one really knew what Web 2.0 was in the first place. I pretended I did, it made for some fun times. At least you got to hang around with other excited people, some of them true futurists who believed Web 2.0 was the next coming of the Matrix, and some just there to be seen and to feel like they were included in the future.
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Imagining recovery

May 15, 2009 00:22

I wrote this while thinking about how the technological developments of the past decades have led us to believe we should consume ever more at ever-increasing breakneck speeds...

There is a great deal of thinking to be done these days, in light of the current credit crunch, which has now acquired the status of a prolonged, systemic disaster. People are starting to rethink the concept of economic recovery and growth, and considering the accelerating rate of our excesses and the continued exploitation of our resources. The wealth of mankind, so far, has been determined by the amount of choices we have at our disposal, and the worth of the goods we consume.
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Facebook and the insecurity industry

May 12, 2009 15:44

Facebook is an addictive substance. It really is. I think about the way it compels me to act, and it's not just like any old thing. Some people go out to take cigarette breaks. I take face-f*cking-book breaks. Just got into work, FB. Back from lunch, FB. Back from coffee break, FB. It's worse on slow days.
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About Isabella Chen

Isabella Chen is a practising digital artist, working with digital tools to create art and hacking tools to make art. Ironically, she makes a living writing about these tools. Mostly because people seem to be far more interested in how they can use them to create their own content. Before technology exploded in her face, she used to write about social issues. But ever since Chris Anderson let slip that Sillicon Valley was the forefront of culture, she's gone into writing about technology. It's cool, and it drives our lives, and many of us live for it. Plus, there's always the appeal of the intelligent machines that can do your chores for you, and the virtual stimulation machine. Not to be confused with the virtual simulation machine. She has a personal interest in that one.