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The Work I spent a little time with the Persistent Data Confidante web site by Paul Vanouse and Eric Nyberg. At first I had a hard time with the interface... I have an automatic aversion to black backgrounds and "cute" animations.. But the concept and the simplicity of the site was pure Internet and a great example of real interactivity. This project exploits the anonymity of web interactions and encourages the lascivious side of human nature, which makes it "good clean fun." I wonder what percentage of people actually told a truthful secret. I suspect many, because it is easier to tell a true story than to make one up ... as they say, truth is stranger than fiction. I see Persistent Data Confidante as a "transactional" experience. I paid with a secret and received one in return. The transaction was satisfying and led to another transaction, then another, then I was hooked. On this level the project is very successful.
Initially I saw PDC as emotionally exploitive entertainment, like
tv soap operas or the more hard-core Jerry Springer Show. The redeeming
aspect, and one of the most powerful aspect of the Internet, is that it
is participatory. I found myself exploring my own intimate secrets, not
all of which I was comfortable sharing online. The fact that this
project could bring me to a place of personal introspection, is what
sold me on the value of Persistent Data Confidante. After all isn't that
one of the powers of art to make one revisit oneself from a new
perspective?
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With PDC, visitors tell a secret (of at least 10 words) and then are told a secret, which they rate (Vanouse says cu-rate) on a scale of 1 to 10. Over time, as secrets receive more ratings, they are in turn algorithmically rated as to suitability for "reproduction". Eventually, the highest rated secrets mate and are fused to create a "new" secret. Curating as Darwinian selection? Participants get to chose/curate their favorites, yes, but the results of their choices are unknowable--in a not dissimilar way from not knowing how Komar & Melamid's paintings will ultimately turn out. --sd "Curating (on) the Web" |