Social physics
Social Physics Media Lab professor’s new book ties more than a decade’s research into a new theory of information propagation in communities large and small. via Social Physics – MIT Technology Review Continue reading Social physics
Partisanship, Propaganda, and Disinformation: Online Media and the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election | Berkman Klein Center
In this study, we analyze both mainstream and social media coverage of the 2016 United States presidential election. We document that the majority of mainstream media coverage was negative for both candidates, but largely followed Donald Trump’s agenda: when reporting on Hillary Clinton, coverage primarily focused on the various scandals related to the Clinton Foundation and emails. When focused on Trump, major substantive issues, primarily … Continue reading Partisanship, Propaganda, and Disinformation: Online Media and the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election | Berkman Klein Center
Examples of D3.js
The Big List of D3.js Examples via D3.js examples Continue reading Examples of D3.js
Information politics of the post-truth era
Digital media played a prominent role in the recent US presidential election, with social media platforms channelling previously fringe universes of political culture, rooted in populism and post-truth politics, right into the mainstream of US political discourse. Meanwhile, traditional mechanisms, from polling to mainstream media, failed to adequately capture public sentiment around political events. Are new instruments needed to understand the socio-technical fabric of the … Continue reading Information politics of the post-truth era
Vector Representations of Words
Vector Representations of Words In this tutorial we look at the word2vec model by Mikolov et al. This model is used for learning vector representations of words, called “word embeddings”. Highlights This tutorial is meant to highlight the interesting, substantive parts of building a word2vec model in TensorFlow. We start by giving the motivation for why we would want to represent words as vectors. We … Continue reading Vector Representations of Words
Active Sight: Vija Celmins and Jackson Pollock from Pictorialism to Perception – Image Journal
ON MAY 16 of this year, Night Sky #2 by Vija Celmins, on view at the 2008 Carnegie International at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Museum of Art, was vandalized by one of the museum’s own security guards, who used a key to cut a gouge down the painting’s middle, damaging it beyond repair. While this act was universally condemned in art-world news sources, the disclosure that the … Continue reading Active Sight: Vija Celmins and Jackson Pollock from Pictorialism to Perception – Image Journal
Camera Restricta — Philipp Schmitt
Algorithms are already looking through the viewfinder alongside with you: they adjust settings, scan faces and take a photo when you smile. What if your grin wasn’t the only thing they cared about? Camera Restricta is a speculative design of a new kind of camera. It locates itself via GPS and searches online for photos that have been geotagged nearby. If the camera decides that … Continue reading Camera Restricta — Philipp Schmitt
Mox Nox: The Cartoons of Joan Cornella | Graphics.com
From the publisher: “Spanish cartoonist Joan Cornellà’s viciously funny Mox Nox comic strips have struck such a nerve on social media that his Facebook page has garnered over one million fan followers. A quick glance indicates why. Each single page strip is a wordless, full-color, hand-painted marvel of the comic strip form. Today is Chinese single day – 双十一 via Mox Nox: The Cartoons of … Continue reading Mox Nox: The Cartoons of Joan Cornella | Graphics.com
No direct flight: new maps show the fragmented journeys of migrants and refugees to Europe
Politicians across Europe have talked about the arrival of refugees and migrants in 2015 and 2016 as if it were an unprecedented “event”, a single coherent flow of people “heading for Europe”. There is a focus on the beginning and end of peoples’ journeys – at the expense of almost everything in between. Our new research with 500 refugees and migrants in Italy, Greece, Turkey … Continue reading No direct flight: new maps show the fragmented journeys of migrants and refugees to Europe
How Trump Pushed the Election Map to the Right – The New York Times
Donald J. Trump made good on his strategy of stoking the enthusiasm of white voters, as rural and small-town America endorsed him emphatically, helping to defeat Hillary Clinton and her urban supporters. via How Trump Pushed the Election Map to the Right – The New York Times Continue reading How Trump Pushed the Election Map to the Right – The New York Times
Bird List Song – YouTube
There’s a list of bird singings that I need to learn! via Bird List Song – YouTube Continue reading Bird List Song – YouTube
Whether You’re a Democrat or Republican, Your Social Media Is an Echo Chamber
When I see a liberal writer’s description of Donald Trump, or a conservative writer’s views of Hillary Clinton, I am embarrassed for them both. I wouldn’t let a 5-year-old child make such impolite and obviously extreme statements—and yet, today, extreme views are often applauded. They are a sign of an increase in polarization and political fragmentation that is happening across the United States. The Pew … Continue reading Whether You’re a Democrat or Republican, Your Social Media Is an Echo Chamber
Barack Obama aces mock job interview with Stephen Colbert | Television & radio | The Guardian
President Barack Obama made a surprise appearance on last night’s Late Show with Stephen Colbert to undergo a mock job interview and urge millennials to vote in the upcoming election. ‘The lesser of four evils’: John Oliver is not a fan of Gary Johnson and Jill Stein Read more He sat down with the host to discuss his future job options after he leaves the … Continue reading Barack Obama aces mock job interview with Stephen Colbert | Television & radio | The Guardian
Hover Camera is a safe and foldable drone that follows you
“Follow me” is an up-and-coming feature on consumer drones, and then you’ve also got those that are foldable for the sake of portability. Very few devices carry both advantages, but Beijing startup Zero Zero Robotics has already gone further with its Hover Camera. As the name suggests, this drone is mainly for aerial photography and videography, but what makes it even cooler is the fact … Continue reading Hover Camera is a safe and foldable drone that follows you
Building research plan
The thesis aims to explore an existing global political society and the dynamic process of its internal construction. Internet favors the political dimension of World-society. It is on the Wikipedia that we specifically study the interesting global subjects. Wikipedia demonstrates the interactions between the spatial practices of individuals (culturally, politically, and morally) and the emerging global space as a whole. Hence, we raise the following … Continue reading Building research plan
Yang Fudong – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Yang Fudong (杨福东 born 1971 in Beijing)[1] Yang Fudong was born in Beijing, China, in 1971. He is considered one of China’s most well-known cinematographer and photographer. He is considered one of the brightest young stars in China and the greatest film writer to come out of China ever. Yang first started training to be a painter in the China Academy of Fine Arts in … Continue reading Yang Fudong – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
It’s Nice That | Guy Billout’s brilliantly ironic illustrations make the ordinary extraordinary
Guy Billout’s topsy-turvy illustrations subvert our perception of the world with clever twists and ironic flourishes. French-born Guy came to New York in 1969 and has worked as an illustrator ever since, but it’s taken us until now to celebrate his magnificent work on the site. Offering a subtle but thought-provoking approach to editorial illustration, Guy’s work has been featured in publications including The New … Continue reading It’s Nice That | Guy Billout’s brilliantly ironic illustrations make the ordinary extraordinary
Restaurants have a huge food waste problem; could an app help? | Guardian Sustainable Business | The Guardian
One third of all food produced for human consumption isn’t eaten, and the hospitality sector is an important contributor to food waste. The Winnow System “smart meter” aims to tackle the problem by helping chefs measure and analyse the food they’re putting in the bin. They can use a tablet app to identify the types of food they’re throwing away, and, combined with data collected … Continue reading Restaurants have a huge food waste problem; could an app help? | Guardian Sustainable Business | The Guardian
Wikipedia and the politics of openness: Information, Communication & Society
In Wikipedia and the Politics of Openness, Nathaniel Tkacz unpacks why and how Wikipedia enjoys this particular exemplar status. It is this kind of talk that tells a great deal about what Wikipedia is, even as it might obscure the way it actually works. The very title bespeaks one of Tkacz’s most important claims: that Wikipedia does not exist alone, that it is circumscribed by … Continue reading Wikipedia and the politics of openness: Information, Communication & Society
AN ANALYSIS OF DAVID LYNCH’S MULHOLLAND DRIVE
Like so many others, I thought the movie Mulholland Drive was an inspired work. The power of it does not just emanate from its eerie and mysterious atmosphere, its taste for conspiracy and intrigue, and its poignant love story which ends tragically in betrayal, murder and suicide. The force of the movie comes across in the way most scenes are able to communicate on many … Continue reading AN ANALYSIS OF DAVID LYNCH’S MULHOLLAND DRIVE
— Pokémon Go and the Need to Critically Consider Augmented Realities
Pokémon Go is currently taking the world by storm. The game uses smartphones to overlay the material world with digital elements, encouraging users to travel around to different places in order to progress in the game. via — Pokémon Go and the Need to Critically Consider Augmented Realities Continue reading — Pokémon Go and the Need to Critically Consider Augmented Realities
Jonas Mekas, Walden, 1969 (excerpt) on Vimeo
“Since 1950 I have been keeping a film diary. I have been walking around with my Bolex and reacting to the immediate reality: situations, friends, New York, seasons of the year. On some days I shoot ten frames, on others ten seconds, still on others ten minutes. Or I shoot nothing…. Walden contains material from the years 1964-1968 strung together in chronological order.” – Jonas … Continue reading Jonas Mekas, Walden, 1969 (excerpt) on Vimeo
A Mesmerizing Marathon of Robert Frank’s Movies – The New Yorker
“The life of Robert is an immense onion,” the filmmaker Laura Israel told me recently. “I kept finding things out. Most people, you reach a point, you have them. But with him things are always happening. He wants to change it up. He’s a drifter, flows to the next thing. It’s hard to edit that.” via A Mesmerizing Marathon of Robert Frank’s Movies – The … Continue reading A Mesmerizing Marathon of Robert Frank’s Movies – The New Yorker
Gravité – Flavine Berger
‘Oh, chérie tu sais, Oh, chérie tu sais, …’ Continue reading Gravité – Flavine Berger
Monty Python – Silly job interview
Because it is on Friday, because it is on Monty Python. Continue reading Monty Python – Silly job interview
Rethinking public sphere – Nancy Fraser
Inspiration from Nancy Fraser’s idea of the contemporary public sphere: how to rethink digital space? Reading Rethinking the Public Sphere – Fraser Continue reading Rethinking public sphere – Nancy Fraser
Chris Burden, from shoot to kinetic metropolis
Chris Burden’s Metropolis II is an intense kinetic sculpture, modeled after a fast paced, frenetic modern city. Steel beams form an eclectic grid interwoven with an elaborate system of 18 roadways, including one six lane freeway, and HO scale train tracks. Miniature cars speed through the city at 240 scale miles per hour; every hour, the equivalent of approximately 100,000 cars circulate through the dense … Continue reading Chris Burden, from shoot to kinetic metropolis
Un palmier
Days of being wild, Wong Kar-wai, 1990 Moi, ‘Tu as grandi?’ Elle, ‘Parce que je porte des chaussures à talons hauts.’ Hardly had her voice faded away, the beginning of the film Days of being wild went through my head. Lazy music brought me flying over large tracts of palm trees in the 1960s. Moi, ‘Parce que tu es un palmier tropical.’ Lui, ’Parce que tu … Continue reading Un palmier
When I am Pregnant, 1992, Anish Kapoor
When I am Pregnant, 1992, Anish Kapoor It is astonishing how Anish Kapoor manages to make the act of observation such an intense experience. Matter appears and disappears, and the distinctions between reality and illusion, being and not being, are obscured. In recent years Kapoor seems to be in the process of transforming his themes once again. Rather than working with materials that absorb light, … Continue reading When I am Pregnant, 1992, Anish Kapoor
Wikipedia traffic data and electoral prediction: towards theoretically informed models | EPJ Data Science | Full Text
This aim of this article is to explore the potential use of Wikipedia page view data for predicting electoral results. Responding to previous critiques of work using socially generated data to predict elections, which have argued that these predictions take place without any understanding of the mechanism which enables them, we first develop a theoretical model which highlights why people might seek information online at … Continue reading Wikipedia traffic data and electoral prediction: towards theoretically informed models | EPJ Data Science | Full Text
Ben Tolman, Galaga, Fiction 2014
Ben Tolman, Galaga, Fiction 2014 Via Website Continue reading Ben Tolman, Galaga, Fiction 2014
Parlez-vous suisse romand? – Le Temps
Les helvétismes sont ces mots ou tournures d’expression ou qui n’existent qu’en Suisse – plusieurs centaines sont répertoriées – ou qui prennent un sens légèrement différent dans la Confédération de celui que leur donnent les dictionnaires: ainsi «bâcher» signifie recouvrir d’une bâche en français orthodoxe, tandis que tout Romand sait qu’il est en train de finir une corvée lorsqu’il la bâche… Pesées d’intérêts et autogoals, … Continue reading Parlez-vous suisse romand? – Le Temps
The Big Lebowski | Film | The Guardian
Like a teenager who discovers Che Guevara T-shirts, there is nothing original or particularly inspired about liking The Big Lebowski. So predictable, you’ll say. Dear God, it’s not even the best film by the Coen brothers, have you not seen Barton Fink? Year after year, I watch films that make me cry, films that make me laugh, and films that keep reappearing in my head … Continue reading The Big Lebowski | Film | The Guardian
Small World: An Academic Romance – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Small World uses the main characters (Professors Philip Swallow and Morris Zapp and their wives) from Changing Places and adds many new ones. It follows them around the international circuit of academic literary conferences. It is highly, and self-reflexively, allusive to quests for the Holy Grail, especially to Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene. Characters discuss the romance and aspects of that genre in a way … Continue reading Small World: An Academic Romance – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The mood
‘Feel that that wind? feel that wind move? Yeah, that’s right! It blows everything all over the place!’ – The mood at the end of june Continue reading The mood
New book: Weapons of Math Destruction: How big data increases inequality and threatens democracy
We live in the age of the algorithm. Increasingly, the decisions that affect our lives—where we go to school, whether we get a car loan, how much we pay for health insurance—are being made not by humans, but by mathematical models. In theory, this should lead to greater fairness: Everyone is judged according to the same rules, and bias is eliminated. But as Cathy O’Neil … Continue reading New book: Weapons of Math Destruction: How big data increases inequality and threatens democracy
Nostalgia for the Light – review | Film | The Guardian
It isn’t simply that Patricio Guzmán’s Chilean documentary Nostalgia for the Light is moving: it has a tragic grandeur that really is very remarkable. It is deeply intelligent, intensely and painfully political, and yet attempts, and succeeds, somehow to transcend politics and perhaps even history itself. The film found its starting point in the title of a 1987 book by the French scientist Michel Cassé: … Continue reading Nostalgia for the Light – review | Film | The Guardian
Please Leave | Foreign Affairs
If Europe were a democracy, all of its citizens would have had a say in whether the United Kingdom leaves or remains in the European Union. After all, it is not the just the fate of the British that Brexit would affect, but also the quality and longevity of the entire European project. The EU, as it turns 65, is showing grave sclerosis, and voices—nationalist, … Continue reading Please Leave | Foreign Affairs
Film La Jetée, découvert à la nuit des images
La Jetée est un film français de science-fiction de Chris Marker, sorti en 1962 et d’une durée de 28 minutes. Ce film expérimental, considéré comme un chef-d’œuvre par nombre de critiques et de réalisateurs, est en fait, à l’exception d’un seul plan filmé, un diaporama de photographies en noir et blanc (un « photo-roman » selon le générique), commentées par un narrateur unique. Le film est accompagné … Continue reading Film La Jetée, découvert à la nuit des images
EU referendum full results – find out how your area voted | Politics | The Guardian
Britain has voted by a substantial margin to leave the European Union. The picture that is emerging is of a heavily polarised country, with remain areas coming in more strongly for remain than expected, and leave areas more strongly for leave. Geographically, Scotland and London have voted overwhelmingly for remain, but outside the capital, every English region had a majority for leave. via EU referendum … Continue reading EU referendum full results – find out how your area voted | Politics | The Guardian
How Britain Voted in the E.U. Referendum – The New York Times
Britons voted on Thursday to leave the European Union. The Leave side led with 17.4 million votes, or 52 percent, versus the Remain side’s 16.1 million, or 48 percent, with a turnout of around 72 percent via How Britain Voted in the E.U. Referendum – The New York Times Continue reading How Britain Voted in the E.U. Referendum – The New York Times
Loon for All – Project Loon – Google
Project Loon balloons float in the stratosphere, twice as high as airplanes and the weather. In the stratosphere, there are many layers of wind, and each layer of wind varies in direction and speed. Loon balloons go where they’re needed by rising or descending into a layer of wind blowing in the desired direction of travel. By partnering with Telecommunications companies to share cellular spectrum … Continue reading Loon for All – Project Loon – Google
Jimmy Wales on the Lopsided Geography of Wikipedia – The Atlantic
Now imagine you can’t access Wikipedia. Or you can, but not in your native language. Or there are plenty of entries in your language, but few on the subjects that are part of your daily life. Or those entries exist, but they’re not written by locals like yourself. You certainly have other ways of getting information. But Wikipedia is one of the most ambitious information … Continue reading Jimmy Wales on the Lopsided Geography of Wikipedia – The Atlantic
What Is ‘Brexit’? A Look at the Debate and Its Wider Meaning
A portmanteau of the words “Britain” and “exit,” it is the nickname for a British exit of the European Union after the June 23 referendum asking voters: “Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?” via What Is ‘Brexit’? A Look at the Debate and Its Wider Meaning – The New York Times Continue reading What Is ‘Brexit’? A Look at the Debate and Its Wider Meaning
Fred Turner – From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism
Can this encyclopedia of countercultural romance have anything to do with today’s technological world, a world of broadband connections, TCP/IP protocol and the Internet? The Internet, after all, began during the cold war as an attempt to create a network of computers that would be resilient in case of nuclear attack. Its instigator, the United States Department of Defense, was at the very center of … Continue reading Fred Turner – From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism
A world in motion
The photo of a galloping horse is taken by Eadweard Muybridge in 1878 as the basis of the invention of movies. Continue reading A world in motion
Shenzhen: The Silicon Valley of hardware – Trailer
Premiering next week, Future Cities is part of a new flagship documentary strand from WIRED Video that explores the technologies, trends and ideas that are changing our world. The first of these documentaries takes us inside Shenzhen, looking at how and why the city has evolved so rapidly. We examine the unique manufacturing eco-system that has emerged, gaining access to the world’s leading hardware prototyping … Continue reading Shenzhen: The Silicon Valley of hardware – Trailer
正与反 (Positive is negative, vice-versa)
实验音乐的开始， 是夏日池塘的荷叶。 穿越云层的连续性将你看透， 重力一般的吸引。 数字节奏吹起的热风， 就算你死去， 也逃不过童年的记忆; 白色的芭蕾舞裙， 随着蒲公英的散落， ‘在泥土里’，青蛙说。 黄色的雨衣， 带着机器的偶然性， ‘颜色遍布世界各地’，Youtube说; 你面对着露天商品的吊牌， 开始断定世界都是一样的， 因为你被说服， René Magritte’s ‘Not to be reproduced’ (1937)的人像倒影是一样。 在日落黄昏的植物间， 你转了个身， 留下博尔格斯似的迹象：‘正是反，反是正’。 — lait, 6月11号，第四个夏天来临之前 (English version) The experimental music is playing, It is a piece of lotus leave of a summer pond. The continuity of breaking through rifted clouds gains an insight into you, As the … Continue reading 正与反 (Positive is negative, vice-versa)
Barack Obama slow jams the news with Jimmy Fallon, slams Trump (VIDEO).
With eight months left in his presidency, Barack Obama returned to The Tonight Show last night to tout his accomplishments over the past 7½ years—in the form of, naturally, a slow jam. Host Jimmy Fallon fights hard not to crack a smile as he refers to the most powerful man in the world as “Bareezus,” “Prez dispenser” and “Barack-y with the good hair,” while Obama … Continue reading Barack Obama slow jams the news with Jimmy Fallon, slams Trump (VIDEO).
Inventing the Internet (Janet Abbate)
Given the growing number of recent books that explore the Internet as a religious and spiritual terrain, such as Erik Davis’ Techgnosis, it should not be surprising that the rhetoric surrounding digital technologies has begun transforming into mythology. Even generally measured business publications like The Economist can be caught recounting the activities and ventures of scientists, technologists, and digital entrepreneurs in biblical, epic, and heroic … Continue reading Inventing the Internet (Janet Abbate)
